Losing Air

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Chapter 1

Twilight ran as fast as she could. She had teleported outside the hospital the moment she had heard, but she did not risk landing directly within the lobby where someone might have been standing. She hit the double doors and sent them blasting in on their hinges. The resounding bang from the doors colliding with the wall caused the orderly in front of her to drop the folder he was carrying with his mouth, sending the papers flying in a mess all over the floor.

“Where is she?” Twilight said to the orderly. Her voice was filled with such dread he actually took a step away from her.

“I-I'm sorry, I-I d-don't know who...”

The receptionist behind the glass wall at the back of the room stood from her chair and motioned to the door to the left. Twilight barely heard the shout of 'Room 56!' as she was already in through the door and running down the hall.

The purple pony's breath came ragged as she ran down the maze of a hallway, which seemed to twist back and forth on itself. As she glanced at each door as she passed, she almost knocked over a doctor coming out of one of the rooms but didn't—no, couldn't—slow down until she reached her destination.

52...53...54...55...56

Twilight stopped running and stared at the door, terrified of opening it, terrified of what she would find on the other side. She took a deep breath to calm herself before leaning her front hooves against the solid wood and giving it a shove. The door swung inward as it opened onto the scene in front of her.

Rarity was sitting up on a chair in the back corner of the room, staring straight ahead, not even registering Twilight's entry. On her lap lay Fluttershy, whose sobbing was so vicious, it could almost be felt from across the room.

Twilight walked slowly into the room, terrified of what she would find waiting on the bed behind the curtain that currently blocked her view. Her movement seemed to snap Rarity back to reality as she looked at the new arrival. Her eyes were full of glass, waiting to shatter, and her mouth turned down slightly at the corners. She looked directly into Twilight's eyes and shook her head, slowly, which only served to fill the unicorn with even more dread than she already felt.

Twilight took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in her throat. She stepped forward to reveal the bed behind the curtain. Her eyes took in the cyan mare in front of her. Tubes were running from Rainbow Dash's face and forelegs linking into various machines that Twilight had only the vaguest idea of their function. One of the machines pumped up and down in time with the rise and fall of her friend’s chest. The breathing machine was keeping the mare alive, despite the state she was currently in.

Half of her mane had been shaved, giving her an odd look that was not helped by the casts on both her forelegs. She had a large split down the front of her chest and on the back of her head, which were obviously surgical in nature, and were now held together with staples. Twilight's eyes glanced across the dozens of bruises and stitched cuts along her friends body.

Not one of these things held Twilight's attention. She swallowed the sob in her throat as she took in her mutilated friend laying on bed. It was sickening to see the usually energetic pony lying so still. A chill went through her body as the consequences of what she saw in front of her struck home. She could not look away from the bandaged stump on the back of her friend’s body right where her left wing used to be.

It took Twilight a moment to realize that Rarity had spoken. She tore her eyes away from the pegasus and looked over at the seated unicorn. Fluttershy had turned her head to look at Twilight, with tears still streaming down her face, and she looked toward her friend as if searching for something. Twilight looked at Fluttershy and shook her head slowly. The light in the the mares eyes seemed to die as she lay her head back down on Rarity's lap.

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, Rarity, what was that?” she asked, looking at her friend.

“I said the doctor should be back in about twenty minutes to check on her. I am sure you have questions for him.”

Twilight sighed and walked around the other side of the bed to sit with her friends. She looked at Rarity, still unable to comprehend the blue mound in front of her.

“What happened?” she asked.

Rarity looked down at the head in her lap. “We aren't entirely sure. Fluttershy found her.” Fluttershy twitched at the sound of her name, but did not move from her position as she began to speak.

“I-I was walking along the border of the forest looking for Angel. He had run off after we had an argument about what he was to eat for dinner and I was starting to get worried. I noticed part of the canopy was broken, so I wandered into the forest to investigate. There was blood everywhere... I couldn't... the smell. When I saw Rainbow I just froze. I-I think I passed out,” Fluttershy said with a sob.

“The next thing I knew, I woke up and Dash was still there in front of me. I could see she wasn't breathing and I didn't know what to do. I was scared to move her, but I knew I had no choice. It took me what felt like forever to get her onto my back before I made my way as fast as I could to the hospital. I'm not very strong, so it took me a long time. I was shaking so hard, I thought she was going to fall off.”

Fluttershy lifted her head and looked up at Twilight. “When I got here the doctors took her into surgery and the nurse asked me a lot of questions. I had no idea the answers to most of them so I just told her what happened and then she left.” Fluttershy sat up suddenly and put her forehooves on both of Twilight shoulders. “I would have come to get you right away but I couldn't move. I didn’t want to leave in case the doctor came back. I'm so sorry,” she said with a whimper.

“It's okay, Fluttershy, I understand. I wouldn't have left her either,” Twilight said, smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring way. Fluttershy seemed to sigh as she lay her head back down and closed her eyes again. The purple unicorn looked up at Rarity with a questioning look on her face.

“I came in with Applejack for our monthly blood donation,” Rarity said with a sigh. “I barely noticed Fluttershy before she ran straight up to us and burst into tears. Once we calmed her down enough for her to tell us what happened, she gave us the same story she just told you. Once she finished, the doctor came out and told us the extent of Rainbow’s injuries. We came straight in here to see her and we have not moved since.”

Rarity looked back at their injured friend in the bed, drawing Twilight's eyes in the same direction. “I don't think we were here very long before Applejack left to find you all and let you know what had happened. I don't know how long ago that was-–I've not really being paying attention to the time.” The white mare looked to her friend and tilted her head to the side.

Twilight sighed recalling what had happened earlier in the night. She was working at her desk in the library, about to get ready for bed, when Applejack burst in through the front door. She was instantly on alert as Applejack had never failed to knock before—especially not so late in the night and so far after closing hours. Twilight was expecting some kind of monster from the Everfree, but when she looked into the eyes of her country friend, she could see only pain. The earth pony was gasping for breath so all she managed to get out were the words 'Rainbow' and 'hospital' before Twilight instantly teleported herself outside the entrance of the medical center.

Rarity nodded slowly as she finished. Once she was done they sat in silence for a few minutes. The only sounds in the room were the beeping of monitors hooked up to Rainbow, the steady wheeze of the breathing machine, and the soft snores indicating that Fluttershy had finally fallen asleep.

Rarity broke the silence. “W-What are we going to d-do Twilight?” she asked her friend, voice cracking under the strain of holding herself together. The unicorn looked up at her friend and saw she was starting at Rainbow. Twilight looked to Rainbow herself with her mouth set in a grim line.

As she opened her mouth to speak, the door suddenly jumped open and banged loudly against the wall behind it. Fluttershy jumped and squeaked as she was torn from the peaceful world of sleep. They looked up to see a pink blur run into the room followed by a tired looking Applejack. Twilight watched as Pinkie came around the curtain and stopped dead in front of the bed. It was as if somepony took a pin to her as she seemed to sink on the spot, collapsing to her knees, and starting to cry. Twilight stood and went to Pinkie, slowly lifting her up, and guiding her to the last free chair in the room. Twilight sat in much the same position as Rarity, laying Pinkie’s head across her lap, and started to run her hoof through her friend’s pink mane.

Applejack coughed and shuffled on the spot, her eyes jumping everywhere but at the bed. “I’ll um, go, uh, get something for us to eat,” Applejack said, running out of the room and down the hall. Twilight didn’t bother to stop her friend, knowing nopony in the room was hungry.

They were used to fighting. Fighting was easy. They had stood side by side and faced down numerous terrors – from monsters in the Everfree, vicious dragons, or even twisted demigods – there was nothing they couldn't face if they were together. It was a simple thing, standing up for your friends or yourself, but when faced with something you couldn’t fight? Couldn’t change? It was a hopeless feeling. Twilight had never been as scared in her life as she was at that moment. She was doing everything she could to hold herself together, she was the leader, the one everyone else looked up to. To break down now would throw everyone to despair, and they had to be strong for Rainbow’s sake. If she woke up—no, when—when she woke up, she would need to be surrounded by love and not tears.

Twilight turned back to Rarity friend and looked her in the eyes. Trying to hold in her tears, she said, “I don't know what we are going to do, Rarity, I really don't know.”

Applejack was the first to leave. She left the morning after Rainbow was admitted, citing her duties on the farm carrying too much weight to be put on hold for long, but made them promise to come get her the moment there was any news. Twilight didn't try to stop her even when seeing through her flimsy excuse. Applejack had been away from the farm for much longer periods when faced with any other crisis, but at least in those there was action to be taken. While not as impatient as Dash herself was prone to be, and not half as vocal about it, Applejack was still not known for her patient temperament.

Twilight watched her friend leave followed closely by Rarity. When given the opportunity to leave without making a social faux pas she jumped on it right away. Rarity apologized to her friends but left quickly and, Twilight noted, kept her eyes firmly away from the injured pony in the room.

The rest of them were there most of the night and Twilight, tired as she was, started to doze. She was jolted awake as the pink mare in her lap suddenly jumped into the air. Her hair returning to its usual buoyancy as Pinkie quickly explained to them that she needed to go get the 'Welcome back from your coma' party ready for their friend. Twilight sighed and nodded as the party pony sped out the door.

Twilight shuffled over in her seat to put a foreleg around Fluttershy, half in comfort for her friend, and half for herself. She looked over at her friend, who had barely stopped crying the entire night. Her eyes were red and raw and her cheeks were not much better. When she finally spoke, her voice had a gravelly texture.

“Will you stay?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course I will, did you need to go too?” Twilight said, smiling sadly at her friend.

“I really don't want to, but I think I need to. The animals will fight and go hungry if I'm not there to sort them out. I'm so sorry, Twilight, you shouldn't have to take this responsibility.”

Twilight smiled at her friend. “Don't worry about me, Fluttershy. I wouldn't have left this room even if all of you girls were still here.”

Fluttershy looked at her friend with concern. “What makes you say that? You have just as many responsibilities as the rest of us. Maybe even more with your duties to the princess.”

“It's not a matter of duties: it is a matter of friendship. Rainbow is, like yourself, one of the first friends I have ever had. I wouldn't be who I was today without you girls. There is no way, when in a time of need, I would be anywhere but here.”

Fluttershy nodded her head sadly and wrapped her forelegs around her friend. That sat for a while in the comfort of one another before Fluttershy stood from her chair. After giving Twilight a small nuzzle, she walked toward the door, stopping at the foot of the bed. Staring at Rainbow for a few moments she sighed, and said, “I love you Rainbow, please, be okay.” She turned her head and left the room as Twilight followed her passage. The second she entered the hall, Twilight heard her start to sob again, the sound quickly receding, as Fluttershy left the hospital ward.

Twilight was not sure how much more time passed before she began talking to Rainbow. She talked of nothing, small town gossip, books she was reading, a play coming up soon she wanted to go see. She caught herself laughing as she talked about Spike tripping on a dead mouse Owlowiscious had left for her on the floor. She had to stop the story to catch her breath and prevent her sides from hurting. She laughed so she wouldn't cry.

Eventually she ran out of things to say and at some point she fell asleep. Her dreams were horrible as she watched her friend plow into the ground. She screamed at Rainbow, begging her to slow down, but the pegasus could not hear her as she hit the ground with a sickening crack only to leap back into the air and repeat the process. Each time she came away more broken yet somehow kept coming back up for more. Twilight's voice was long since dead from the screaming as nothing but a raspy wheeze was coming out when she tried to get her friends attention.

She awoke with a start and fell from her chair hitting the ground hard. Twilight shook her head as she slowly lifted herself back onto her hooves. Using her magic, she floated a glass of water to her lips and gulped it greedily, trying to get rid of the feeling of screaming herself raw.

She returned the water to its place and walked up to her friend's bedside. The purple mare lifted a hoof and ran it through what was left of the prismatic hair she had always envied. She was surprised at how soft it was, given Rainbow's attitude toward self-grooming whenever Rarity was around. She smiled at the thought to them bickering. She was about to sit back down when the pegasus made an odd choking sound and moved her head slightly. Twilight was about to run to get a doctor, thinking there was something wrong with the breathing tube, when the best and worst possible thing happened.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes.

The first thing Rainbow realized was that she couldn't breathe. Something large was forced down her throat, choking her, and for some reason she couldn't lift her arms to get it out. Panic set in as she started thrashing about on the bed attempting to dislodge whatever was in her throat. She saw somepony standing above her but could not make out who they were through her blurry vision.

Suddenly she felt the thing slide up and out of her neck triggering her gag reflex. She tilted her head to the side as she vomited bile off the side of her bed and onto the floor. Her throat felt on fire as she gasped for air and a shooting pain tore up her chest. Her vision blacked out again as she tried and failed to ignore the hot, wet, sticky substance pushing itself out of her torso. She heard somepony screaming and tried to concentrate on it to clear the pain from her mind. It was a few seconds for her to realize she was the one screaming.

She stopped and took a few ragged breaths. Her vision returned to her as she took in the sight before her. She was in a hospital room and there were ponies in white uniforms everywhere. One of them was working his hooves over her chest and she felt the pain die down and a numbness sink in. She looked over to the door to see one of the nurses trying to push a purple mare out of the room.

“No!” she cried, suddenly. Everypony stopped and looked at her. “Twilight!” she shouted again, and her friend was at her side in an instant.

“Rainbow, are you okay? Can you hear me?” Twilight said, gripping onto the side of the bed as if for life. Rainbow nodded at her friend and tried to look down at what the doctor was doing to her chest.

“Rainbow, stop! Look at me.”

The pegasus stopped struggling to see the doctor and looked up at her friend. Twilight's eyes were staring at Dash and her mouth was a sharp line. Business mode Twilight.

“You have been in an accident. These doctors are helping you but you need to stop moving. Can you do that for me?” her friend asked, tilting her head to the side to punctuate her question. Rainbow nodded with wide eyes and immediately ceased all movement of her body. “I’ll tell you everything as soon as the doctors are finished, is that okay?”

Rainbow nodded again. She calmed down and let the doctors do their work as she tried to ignore the throbbing from her body. Her eyes never left Twilight's. After what could have been a minute or an hour the doctors stepped back from Rainbow and talked quietly amongst themselves before turning to the pegasus.

“Ms. Dash, how do you feel?” the closest doctor asked.

Rainbow stared at him like he had grown two heads. “Like crap, doc,” she said, voice rasping with the effort. She coughed and Twilight quickly lifted a glass of water for her friend which she took a sip of. After the fire had settled in her throat, she turned to the doctor and waited. The doctor turned to Twilight with an unspoken question. She nodded.

“What is it, what is going on?” Rainbow asked, panic starting to rise again.

The doctor sighed and let her know her injuries. Two broken legs, multiple cracked ribs, severe internal bleeding, and a cracked skull. The technical terms flew over Dash's head but she knew one thing for sure: she was hurt bad. The doctor continued talking before she interrupted him.

“Twilight, what happened?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight shook her head and sighed. “We were hoping you could tell us that Dash. Do you remember anything about the accident?”

Rainbow looked at her with confusion across her face. “All I remember is going to sleep,” Rainbow said. “After that I woke up here.” The doctor sighed. Rainbow looked into his eyes and noticed something: fear. She could see that he was keeping something from her. Her heart rate increased.

“What is it? What aren't you telling me?” she demanded. The doctor grimaced and looked up at Twilight. Rainbow flushed with anger. “Don't look at her, damn it, look at me!” she shouted, wincing from the fresh pain it brought to her chest.

“Rainbow,” her friend said, drawing her attention away from the doctor. “You've been out for almost a whole day. We weren't even sure you were going to wake and you need to rest. We don't want to put any pressure on you.”

Rainbow glared at her friend. “Tell me,” she said.

Twilight's eyes shone with unshed tears as she looked at Rainbow Dash. She took a deep breath and said, “Rainbow, there was damage to your wing. They tried everything they could, but it was too far gone. They had to amputate. Your left wing is gone, Rainbow. I'm sorry.”

Rainbow sat stunned. She smiled and looked up at Twilight, waiting for the punchline, but the look on her friend’s face quickly shot her hopes down. She shook her head slowly at first before picking up in speed. “No, no, no, no, no, no,” she repeated, unable to comprehend what they were telling her.

She twisted head to the side to get a look at her back, but when she saw the lump where her wing used to be her mind went blank. Twilight jumped forward as the pegasus started thrashing and screaming on the bed, her working wing flapping violently, to help the doctors push her down and restrain her. Shock was plastered across Twilight's face as she watched her friend shake and scream underneath her. Her screams were raw, filled with pain, somehow reminding Twilight of a dying animal.

Blood was once again pouring from the various wounds across Rainbow Dash's body as the mare thrashed about trying to throw everyone off. The doctor across from Twilight screamed something to the ponies behind him but she could barely make it out over the noise of Rainbow Dash.

Another doctor quickly ran in from the hallway and pumped a thick syringe into the bag linked to Rainbow via her IV. Within seconds Rainbow was asleep again and the doctor and Twilight stepped back off the pegasus. The hospital staff did what they could to fix the tearing in the stitches for the third time that day before leaving Twilight with strict orders to get someone the moment she woke again. She nodded dumbly, numb from her friend's reaction, and went to sit back down on her chair.

For the first time since coming to the hospital, Twilight cried.

Chapter 2

Rainbow Dash flew. The ground was so far below her she could only barely make out the buildings that made up Ponyville. She could see the patterns in the land where various crops and orchards were spread. Her eyes lingered over Sweet Apple Acres turning her thoughts to her orange friend. Although she would never admit it, lest she get roped into helping her friend with the hard labor, she admired what her friend did for her family and the community. The orange earth pony was as fiery as Rainbow herself, the competition between the two could attest to the fact, but that didn't stop her from always helping whenever anypony needed her.

Rainbow cast her eyes out to look for the homes of the rest of her friends but, even though she knew their exact locations, she was too high to make any of them out clearly. Over there was Fluttershy's smudge and that odd shape was probably the Library where Twilight was no doubt studying another boring book. The blue pegasus smiled as she thought of her friends. A calm washed over her which was no doubt aided by the absolute tranquility of her current location. There was barely any noise up this high, only the soft sounds of the wind as she cruised lazily through the air.

She stopped flying and perched atop a cloud that was floating by and settled in for her afternoon nap. Her smile faltered as she thought of the Wonderbolts knowing it was only days now before she would receive the letter. She had done everything needed to determine if she would be a member. Her graduation at the academy with honors had done a lot toward her favor but when one of the current uniformed pegasi had stepped down the competition for the spot had still been fierce. She was up against a wide range of pegasi with a myriad of skills so it wasn't a clear cut thing.

Rainbow was the faster flier in Equestria. It was no longer a boast but a provable fact. She was the only pony in recent history able to pull off the legendary sonic rainboom which meant that there was no-one else who could take her in direct speed. The problem was that speed was only one aspect of being a Wonderbolt. She trained hard at everything she could think of to make her a better candidate – agility, maneuvering, strength training, anything she could do to give her a leg over the rest.

She had given it her all and, even though she had convinced her friends that she was a shoe in, she was still worried that it might not have been enough. She looked at the sun and realized half an hour had already past and she hadn't even gotten the nap she had wanted. Grumbling to herself she sat up and stood on the cloud. She sighed before running through her stretch routine, shivering in pleasure at each crack her bones made, twisting herself at unusual angles. This was one of the best parts of the pegsus' day, feeling her muscles grow limber, as she prepared for the exercise to come.

Rainbow walked to the edge and looked over at the ground below to estimate her height. From here she could hit a sonic rainboom easily before getting anywhere near the town. Too many times her practice had led to the destruction of property and she didn't fancy another afternoon of missed training to clean up a mess. She considered for a moment that she probably shouldn't push herself too much and risk an injury, but that thought was quickly squashed. The rainboom was hers and hers alone and there was no way, after a challenge was issued, she would drop it.

The blue pegasus breathed deeply and unfurled her wings. The air caressed her feathers and everything felt right in the world. This is what she lived for. Rainbow closed her eyes and jumped straight down.

After few beats of her wings to gain speed she let gravity take over. Her body naturally compressed into a tight arrow that shot through the sky toward the ground below. The wind was tearing at her eyes but she squinted and kept pushing herself to go faster. She felt the build up around her muzzle as air in front of her compressed into a cone that surrounded her form. She could feel herself about to break past the limit and a grin spread across her face.

She didn't see the bird until it was too late.

They collided in the air and Rainbow was knocked off her flight path. She shook her head, disoriented, and opened her wings to slow her decent to the quickly approaching ground. As soon as she tried to catch the wing a sharp pain went through her back and she went into a spin. She was out of control as the ground came up and for the first time in her life she knew she was going to die. She managed to slow her spinning by extending one wing but couldn't get the purchase on the air to slow her descent.

She made a last ditch effort and aimed for the trees on the edge of the Everfree forest hoping the canopy would catch her fall. The moment before she hit the trees she woke.

Rainbow opened her eyes slowly. She blinked a few times attempting to clear the artificial fog from the drug induced sleep. Waking properly she took a few moments to sit and listen to the sounds of the room. All she could hear was the harsh beeping of the heart rate monitor behind her head and the soft snores of someone sleeping to her left. She took a breath and lifted her head slowly to get a better look at the extent of her injuries.

Her front hooves were in casts and her chest was bandaged tightly preventing her from seeing the cut underneath. She could feel it though, even through the drugs, that and the one on the back of her head. It was a dull throb that seemed to pulse in time with the beeping behind her. She sighed and looked to her left at the form sitting in the chair next to her bed.

Twilight was twisted at an angle with her head and one of her hooves on the bed itself. The chair had been pulled from against the wall so she could sit right beside Rainbow. The cyan pegasus smiled at her friend as she slept, feeling grateful for having a friend who would be there like this for her. She went to lift a hoof to wake her friend when she discovered she could not lift either of them.

Looking down she saw the restraints on each of her legs with a larger band covering her stomach. She was confused for a moment before the reason for the restraints came back to her.

'You will never fly again.'

Rainbow sunk back down into the bed as the beeping behind her increased its tempo. It felt as if she had taken a step back from her body and was looking out her eyes through a telescope. She quickly adjusted her breathing, slowing it down, taking in as much air as she could. She needed to calm down before she had another panic attack. She had gotten them a lot as a filly after her dad had died but only one other time since moving to Ponyville had it happened.

The pegasus thought about the young fliers competition and almost gagged. Thinking about anything involving flying right now was out of the question. But what else was there? Flying was everything to Rainbow. Her passion, her job, even her home – none of it was possible without wings. She needed to do something to distract herself. She needed to get out of this bed.

Twilight woke as the bed shook.

“Five more minutes, Spike,” she said, groggily.

“You're not at home, Twilight.”

Twilight sat up with a start. She shook her head to clear it of the drowsiness she still felt and took a few seconds to remember where she was. Once she got her bearings she looked up at the pegasus in the bed. Rainbow was awake but Twilight couldn't see her eyes as she was currently staring at the wall opposite to where her friend was sitting.

“Rainbow?” she asked tentatively.

“I need you to take off these restraints,” her blue friend said to the wall.

“I don't know if I-”

“I'm not crazy, Twilight, and I'm not an animal. Take them off me.”

Twilight grimaced at her friends tone but complied. She used her magic to undo each of the straps on her friends legs and body. Once they were all off Twilight stood from her chair. Rainbow looked down at her front legs as she raised them into the air slowly. The joints popped from the added weight of the casts which caused Twilight to shudder.

“How do you feel?” she asked, immediately feeling foolish for letting the question leave her mouth. Rainbow sighed and ignored the question.

“How long am I in here for?” she asked, looking at her friend for the first time. As Twilight looked into her friends eyes she was surprised at the anger she saw there. She knew she wasn't the cause but it was hard to think straight when one of your best friends looked like she wanted to punch you in the face.

“Your cuts are already healed. The combination of magic and modern medicine has made the process only take a few hours. The bones will take a little longer but not much. You should be able to walk around on them by tomorrow at the latest. You were lucky they were only fractures otherwise it would have taken days to heal.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed at her friend. “Yeah, lucky, that's what I am.” She shook her head and once again looked at the wall.

Twilight sagged as she watched her friend. She was at a loss – what could she say to her? There was nothing she could say that would matter to her friend at the moment but she had to try. For Rainbow's sake.

“Look, Rainbow, I know this is big but we can-”

“Shut up Twilight.”

Twilight stopped talking. Bile rising in the back of her throat.

“What do you want me to say?”

Rainbow turned to look her friend in the eyes.

“Nothing, I want you to leave.”

Twilight was stunned. She couldn't move for a few moments as Rainbow stared at her.

“Get out!” Rainbow screamed suddenly, causing Twilight to jump. “You think I care what you think? You're just an egghead, you know nothing about what I'm going through, you couldn't possibly! You barely even know what it is like to have friends. We're just an experiment to you. Stop pretending that you care and just leave me alone.”

Tears filled the purple unicorns eyes as she stood from her chair and walked to the door. She turned back to Rainbow before stepping through it.

“I know you can't see it now, but your friends are here when you need them,” Twilight said, before walking through to door and into the hallway. She walked slowly down the hallway taking nothing in as her mind ran over what just happened. She felt physically ill. It was as if Dash had slapped her across the face. She knew, in her head, that her friend was not acting rationally. That due to the trauma she had just gone through she was expected to act out. It was all perfectly reasonable and made complete scientific sense to Twilight.

Then why did it hurt so much?

She found herself outside the hospital and in the daylight. She was about to head home when she remembered she had promised Applejack to let her know as soon as Rainbow was awake. She really didn't want to see anyone right now but a promise was a promise and her friends deserved to know. She was closest to Carousel Boutique so she went in that direction to let Rarity know what was going on. The bell chimed as she entered the shop.

“Will be just a moment!” Rarity's voice called from the storeroom out back.

“It's just me, Rarity, take your time,” Twilight called back.

Twilight walked to the racks to look at her friend's stock as she waited for Rarity to finish. She walked through the rows of clothing taking the time to actually look at the things she saw so regularly that they had become part of the scenery. As she looked at the designs, really looked, it struck her how talented her friend was. She always knew Rarity was an amazing designer but to look through her pieces was like a journey. No two items were the same and not a single one of them was garish or bland.

Judging from the rest of the items in the store Twilight realized her perceptions about Rarity's style were completely wrong. She had seen her friend design for pop stars, fashion shows, and even dresses for her friends for the Gala but they were all usually so, well, fancy! It was obvious in retrospect that most of the fashionista's clothing would not be designed with formal events in mind. While everything Twilight had seen was made for showing off the things on the racks were different. They were beautiful while remaining subtle.

The purple mare's breath caught as she saw a simple blue dress with stars across the hem. It looked similar to her gala dress but much more toned down for casual wear. Twilight got tears as she looked at the dress, realizing that she knew practically nothing about one of her closest friends passions all because of assumptions she had made.

Was is like this will all her friends? Was it like this with Rainbow?

“Sorry I was so long darling I was having some trouble with the fabric rolls in the store room.” Rarity stopped walking as she saw Twilight. Tears were streaming down the purple mare's face. Rarity rushed over to her friend and wrapped her arms around the mare.

“Twilight what is it? Is it Rainbow?”

Twilight sobbed and shook her head. She sniffed and wiped her eyes dry before looking back up at Rarity.

“Sorry, it's nothing, I'm being silly.” Twilight said, smiling at her friend. “Rainbow is awake; I just left the hospital. I thought I would come let you know, and also ask you for a favor. Could you possibly let the other girls know? I've not had much sleep these past two days so I'm a bit tired and was going to head straight back to the library for some rest.”

Rarity smiled and nuzzled Twilight. “Oh darling of course. I'm so sorry I've not been back to the hospital sooner but I have been rather busy here, and with Rainbow Dash in the coma I didn't really see much point until she woke. I will leave right away to tell the others and head to see Rainbow now. You go home, get some rest, we will be fine.”

“Thank you, Rarity, I appreciate it,” Twilight said, with a smile. “Oh, before you go though, this dress?” Rarity stepped forward to look at the dress her friend was pointing at.

“Ah yes the summer range. That is based slightly off your gala dress in fact, I hope you don't mind?” Rarity said, looking at her friend hopefully.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “Of course not, Rarity, it's your design! I was actually wondering if I could buy it. I don't have the bits on me right now but could you put it out the back for me and I will come back another day for it?”

Rarity gave her friend a stern look. “Don't be silly, Twilight, you will take the dress now.” At the look on the purple unicorn's face Rarity raised a hoof. “And I will not hear another word about it. I trust you for the bits so don't worry about rushing back to me either. If there is ever anything in this shop you like, don't hesitate, you just let me know.”

Twilight hugged her friend. It was just another thing to add to the list for toward making more to to spend with her friends. She spent so much time in her library, nose in a book or hooves in her lab, that she was worried about all the things she was missing.

First things first though – she needed to sleep. She took the bag Rarity offered her with the dress inside and left the store for the short walk home. Twilight entered the library as a green mare was leaving. The mare wore a grin and a set of saddlebags that were overflowing with books. The purple unicorn smiled at her as she walked past and into the library where Spike was standing just beyond the doorway.

“Twilight, you're back!” Spike said, running up to his adoptive sister. “Is Rainbow okay?”

Twilight looked down at her assistant. Did she take him for granted too? “She will be, I think, we just need to be there for her. You look like you are doing okay here by yourself? That pony that just left looked happy.”

Spike beamed under the praise. “Yeah! There haven't been a huge amount of customers but I've spent enough time rearranging this place to know it pretty well by now. I was even able to make some recommendations!” her assistant said, with a grin. Twilight looked down at him with a smile.

“Do you mind doing me a favor and holding the fort for another few hours until we close? The past couple of days have been hectic and I need to get some sleep,” Twilight asked. The dragon nodded quickly and reassured her that everything was under control. She headed toward the stairs and walked them up to her room. Putting the bag down next to her cupboard and, using her magic, she set the dress on a hanger. Rarity would have her hide if she let it sit in the bag all night.

She threw herself into the comfort of her bed and thought once again of Rainbow. The look in the pegasus' eyes as she ordered Twilight out of the room was ingrained in her mind. She didn't know how exactly, but knew that, no matter what, she would do everything in her power to help the pegasus in her time of need. She lay for a time, thinking about her friend, before drifting off into a fitful sleep.

Rainbow seethed as her friend left the room. Who was Twilight to look at her that way? The pity in her friend's eyes disgusted her in a way that almost made her physically ill. She didn't mean to snap at the unicorn but Rainbow couldn't stand to be in the same room as anyone who would treat her like a charity case. She is Rainbow Dash – the fastest flier in Equestria! There are things people are meant to feel when they see her. Wonder, awe, excitement, even jealousy. What she saw in her friend was something she didn't want to see from anyone ever again.

After a few minutes she calmed down and realized that what she had just experienced would be how she was treated by everyone from now on. She had to get out of this damn hospital before she went crazy and attacked some poor nurse or something. After about fifteen minutes a doctor came in and explained to her pretty much everything Twilight had. She would be free to go the following day if everything went to plan with her bones. It couldn't come soon enough for Rainbow. He left, promising her some food would be arriving soon. It was only after he mentioned it did Rainbow realize how hungry she was. A few days of food through a tube wasn't really the same thing as eating a decent meal.

After a few minutes the food arrived and she dug in. Typical bland hospital fare that was barely discernible from cardboard but Rainbow barely noticed. Once her stomach was satisfied she looked around the room for something to do. On her bedside table was a bag with what looked like a pile of books inside.

'Probably something Twilight left here by mistake,' Rainbow thought, as she reached for the bag. Even if they were egghead books it would still give the pegasus something to do besides stare at the wall. As she opened the bag she noticed it was the entire Daring Do series. She stared open mouthed for a few seconds before realizing Twilight must have had them brought over for her.

Tears came to Rainbow Dash's eyes as, for the first time since she woke, she thought of Twilight without the anger. The mare had looked disheveled from a lack of sleep or even basic hygiene. It occurred to Rainbow that she had probably been there since she was admitted. Of all of her friends it had been Twilight who had waited by her bedside. It had been Twilight who had gotten her something to do for when she woke so she wouldn't be bored. It was Twilight who had told her everything about why she was in the hospital.

It was Rainbow who had thrown everything Twilight had done for her back into the unicorns face. Rainbow was disgusted with herself. She had, once again, allowed her emotions to get the better of her and driven away one of her closest friends who had obviously dropped everything to help her.

The blue pegasus shook her head and resolved to apologize to Twilight the moment she could. She just hoped that she hadn't hurt her friend too much with her pigheadedness.

At that moment the door burst open followed by a spray of confetti that coated the room in a layer of paper squares. Rainbow was shocked only for a moment before Pinkie Pie jumped into the room with a large banner trailing behind her. It took only seconds for the banner to be affixed from one corner of the room to the other. It read: 'Welcome back from your coma Rainbow Dash'. The pink pony stood at the foot of the bed with a smile on her face so big it looked like her teeth took up half of her head. Rainbow gave a short laugh.

“Hey Pinkie,” she said, smiling at her friend. The rest of her friends followed and Rainbow braced herself for the onslaught of sympathy and pity that she knew was coming. She knew her friends were only there because they cared about her but she couldn't really change the way she felt about that kind of thing. Having Pinkie there to distract her was great as the pink earth pony never looked at her any differently. Rarity schooled her face well but Rainbow caught the unicorn every now and then staring at her with a solemn expression. Applejack spent most of her time in and out of the room, getting things for the others, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Fluttershy was quiet, as was to be expected, but every now and then when Rainbow caught her eye there was something else in there that the blue pegasus could not put her hoof on.

The girls stayed for about an hour before the doctor came back to run some tests on Rainbow Dash. Visiting hours were coming to a close so most of the girls said their goodbyes and left. Fluttershy was alone and lingering in the doorway. Rainbow knew the timid pegasus wouldn't get the confidence to say what she wanted without some prodding so she sighed and resigned herself to the task.

“Hey, Fluttershy, you've been weirdly quiet this whole time. What gives?” Rainbow said. Fluttershy looked at her friend as tears started streaming down her face.

“I'm so sorry, R-Rainbow Dash, this is all my fault.” she said, breaking down and crying on the floor. Rainbow was confused.

“What are you talking about?”

Fluttershy tried to catch her breath between sobs. She looked up at her friend on the bed. “Did they tell you I was the one to find you?” she asked. Rainbow Dash nodded to her friend.

“Of course they did, Fluttershy, if it weren't for you I probably wouldn't be alive. How could this possibly be your fault?”

“Because I passed out! When I saw the blood I just dropped to the ground. I have no idea why, it's never happened to me before, I swear! I brought you here are soon as I woke. I think if I had have gotten you here sooner you might still be able to fly. I'm the reason you will never fly again.” Fluttershy stood and walked over to her friend. “I'm so sorry, Dash, I'm so, so, sorry.”

Rainbow sat stunned. She knew in her head she shouldn't blame Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus did everything she could and it is not as if she decided to faint. Something in the back of her mind though wanted her to latch on to this. To give in and blame Fluttershy. To hate her with everything she had just so she could have something to fixate on. But that would just be the same mistake she had made with Twilight. She sat for a long time with Fluttershy sinking closer and closer to the floor before coming to a decision.

“Fluttershy, can you do me a favor and press that red button there.” Rainbow said, indicating the switch to her left. Fluttershy nodded and walked to over to press the button for her. After a few minutes a nurse appeared and Rainbow asked her to get the doctor who had done the surgery on her wing. The nurse nodded and left. About ten minutes passed in silence when the doctor arrived.

“You wanted to see me Ms. Dash?” the doctor said.

“Yeah doc I have a couple of questions. When you were doing the operation was there ever a possibility of saving my wing.”

The doctor frowned as he looked at Rainbow. “Now, Ms. Dash, I understand that you would be upset but I assure you we did everything we could. From the moment of impact there was nothing that could be done to save your wing. The nerve damage was too extensive. I'm sorry but there was nothing we could do.”

“So even if I had gotten here sooner?” she asked.

The doctor was confused. “Sooner? Ms. Fluttershy here brought you in as soon as she found you. I don't understand.”

Fluttershy chose this moment to speak up. “Sir, I'm sorry, but I fainted. When I saw Rainbow I fainted and I think that if I had gotten here sooner then you could have-”

“Is that what this is about?” the doctor said, relief running through his face. “Ms. Fluttershy I think you misunderstand the amount of time you would have been unconscious for. When exposed to a great trauma it is extremely rare for someone who has fainted to be out for longer than a few seconds. The longest I have ever heard is a minute. Also as I said, the damage to Ms. Dash's wing was done on impact with the ground. Even if we saw her the moment after impact there is nothing we could have done.”

Relief flooded through both Fluttershy and Rainbow's faces as the doctor left to continue his rounds. Fluttershy jumped forward and hugged her friend tightly getting a groan of pain from her friend.

“Oh, gosh, sorry Rainbow,” Fluttershy said with a blush. “And thank you, for doing that I mean. I would have thought you would have been angry with me.”

“I wanted to be,” Rainbow said, looking up at her friend with a sad smile. “I really wanted to be, to have someone to blame for all this, but I don't think it is that easy. I said something to Twilight earlier that I regret and I didn't want the same thing to happen with you. I thought I would get all the facts for once before coming to any conclusions.” Rainbow smiled slightly. “Hey, maybe the crash finally knocked some sense into me?”

Fluttershy smiled at her friend and gave her another, gentler, hug. “Is there anything you want me to do before I go?” she asked.

“Yeah, if it's not too much trouble, could I get you to ask Twilight to come and see me when she can?”

Fluttershy smiled at her friend and nodded. She left shortly after and Rainbow sat thinking for a time. She didn't know what she was going to do now. Flying was her life. 'Guess I'll just have to take things one step at a time,' she thought. Reaching over with her mouth she grabbed the first Daring Do book in the series. She had read it many times but just needed to lose herself in it to clear her mind.

It wasn't long after when the book fell to side of the bed. The only sounds in the room were the gentle beep of a heart rate monitor and the soft snores of an exhausted pegasus.

Twilight took a deep breath as she prepared to open the door to Rainbow's hospital room in front of her. She had woken that morning fully rested after sleeping right through the afternoon and night. As it was a Sunday and the library was closed she wasn't surprised to find Spike gone when she woke. There was a note that he had left mentioning that Fluttershy had stopped by a few hours after Twilight had gone to bed and that Rainbow wanted to see her when she woke. She was about to rush out when she caught sight of herself in a mirror and decided a shower first was the better option. After cleaning herself and filling her stomach she made her way over to hospital. The walk had given her time to think of what she was going to say, but standing here in front of the door her mind was as blank as it had been when she woke that morning.

She closed her eyes, counted to ten to calm herself, and opened the door. Rainbow was sitting up on her bed with casts no longer on her arms. As Twilight met her eyes the pegasus on the bed grimaced. The purple mare sighed stopped at the foot of the bed and waited. They stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Rainbow coughed.

“Look, Twi, I'm sorry about what I said. I was being stupid, and scared, and I treated you like absolute crap. I understand if you’re still mad at me but I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry.”

Twilight stood before her friend with her jaw almost touching the floor. In all her time spent as a friend of Rainbow Dash she had never heard the cocky pegasus give an apology on that level. The fact that she had been expecting more anger from her friend made the whole thing have double the impact it would normally have had. Twilight picked her jaw up, quickly ran over the her friend's side, and wrapped her arms around the pegasus. Rainbow sagged in relief and returned the gesture.

“I was so afraid you were still mad at me,” Twilight said.

Rainbow smiled. “I was afraid you wouldn't want to talk to me again. I said some pretty awful stuff, Twi.”

Twilight pushed back from her friend and gave her a smile. “You were upset. I would never hold anything against you that you said while you were in that frame of mind. I'm just glad you are here now and talking to me. I really do want to keep you as a friend.”

“I know. I really am sorry Twi. I know you care about me, about all of us, I just lashed out. Are you sure you can forgive me?”

Twilight smiled a genuine smile for what felt like the first in a long time. She nuzzled Rainbow for a moment then stepped back. “No matter what, you are my friend. Whether you hate me today or love me tomorrow – nothing can change that. I know I'm new to the friendship thing but trust me when I say that I care about you, Rainbow, and I doubt there is any force on this planet that could make that change.”

Rainbow sighed. “I know that Twilight. I know you’re always here for me. And I know that you were here for me non stop until I threw you out. The girls filled me in. Thanks, Twi, for everything.”

Twilight felt a warmth on her face as Rainbow spoke. “Well I couldn't leave you here alone. Like I said you guys are all the best friends I've ever had. You mean so much to me that I couldn't even think of doing anything else. I know you would do the same for me.”

Rainbow smiled and switched the conversation to lighter topics. They talked for a time about nothing. Idle gossip and unimportant things and Twilight got a sense to déjà vu from the day before. At least Rainbow was awake this time. The doctor came in to run some tests and decided, must to Rainbow’s disappointment, to keep her for one more night to ensure no unnecessary stress was placed on her bones.

The two mares talked until the sun got low in the sky and it wasn't long before they were both dozing. Morning Glow, a middle aged mare from the nursing staff, brought in some blankets and lay them over the sleeping form of Twilight who had curled up into her usual chair. She had spoken to the purple unicorn a few times since she had arrived at the hospital. Once you had been working in health care for as long as she had you understood when the term ‘visiting hours’ did not apply. As she was leaving she stopped to look back at the two and sighed.

“Young love,” Morning Glow said, before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Chapter 3

Twilight awoke the next morning with a dull pain her neck. She opened her eyes to see Rainbow staring at her with a smirk on her face. She shook her head to clear the fog and sat up to look at her friend who was trying hard not to laugh.

“What?” Twilight asked, confused.

Rainbow lost control and burst out laughing. This went on for a long enough for Twilight to start to get annoyed at her friend. Her expression must have attested to this fact as Rainbow, after looking at her face, quickly stifled any further laughter.

“Did you know you snore?” Rainbow said.

“I most certainly do not snore!” Twilight said, brushing her mane back with her hooves.

“Whatever you say Twi,” Rainbow said, with a giggle.

“Well I'm glad to see you are feeling better today,” Twilight said, standing and stretching. “I bet you can't wait to get out of here.”

Rainbow sighed. “You don't know the half of it,” she said, doing her best to stretch within the confines of the bed. The doctor chose that moment to arrive and give Dash the checkup she had been waiting for. After some manual checking and a scan with his magic he smiled at the pegasus.

“All clear, Ms. Dash, you are free to go. Just head to reception and sign the forms there and everything should be taken care of,” the doctor said, leaving the room to the girls. After collecting her books into her saddlebag Twilight looked up at Rainbow.

“Ready to go?” the unicorn asked asked.

Rainbow gave Twilight a grin and gingerly made her way off the bed. She got all four hooves on the ground fine and gave her front legs a quick shake. Satisfied with the results she went to take a step forward and immediately fell. She tilted left and crashed into the bed she had just vacated before falling to the ground with a thud.

“Oh my gosh! Rainbow!” Twilight said, rushing around to her her friend up. Once she was on her hooves again the purple mare looked at her friend cautiously. “What happened?”

Rainbow looked frustrated. “I don't know. It's like my sense of balance is off. It's not the weight, it's...I don't know, something else.”

Twilight nodded with understanding. “Of course, I've read about this. As pegasi spend half their time in the air their equilibrium is aided heavily by their wings. The loss of yours has likely thrown that off. Would you like me to go get a wheelchair?” the purple mare asked. One look from Rainbow told her that was not an option. The pegasus took a tentative step forward and with only a small stumble managed to stay upright this time. She sighed and looked over to her friend.

“Look, Twi, can you, um...”

Twilight smiled at her friend and walked over to stand on her left side. Not actually touching but close enough that if she were to slip the unicorn would be there to support her. The pegasus' cheeks were red and a frown was plastered on her face.

“I know this is hard for you Rainbow. I'm only here for support – you can do this!” Twilight said, hoping to reassure her friend. Rainbow's jaw set and, with a look of determination, she started to slowly walk forward. Twilight stuck closely by her side. Once out into the hallway they picked up a rhythm and were starting to speed up when Rainbow slipped. Twilight caught her right away and helped her back onto her feet. Rainbow huffed in annoyance and started moving again, albeit, slightly slower this time.

They made it to reception and filled out the required forms, thank Celestia for universal health care, before walking out of the hospital and into the sunshine. Rainbow sighed as the wind hit her face. Twilight notices the pegasus' remaining wing stretch out and catch the breeze. The pegasus stood for a few moments before sighing and retracting her wing to her side.

“That felt awesome and horrible at the same time,” Rainbow said, frowning at her friend. “I thought that everything would feel different but the problem is that it doesn't. When I spread my wings just then my instinct was to fly. It felt like I could just take a few stops forward and take off and everything would be right again.” Rainbow stopped talking and Twilight noticed a wetness to her eyes. The blue mare coughed and shook her head.

Twilight looked around for a few moments before turning to her friend. “So, where to?” she asked. Rainbow opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it again with a confused expression on her face.

“I really don't know. My reaction is to go home but I won't even be able to get up there. Also, with my balance the way it is, I don't really want to be standing that high up,” Rainbow said. Twilight looked at her friend and tried not to let the sadness she felt show on her face. She knew she had to be strong for Rainbow and she didn't want a repeat of what had happened between them earlier.

“Well, if you want, you can come to the library? We have a spare bed that you can stay in until you get your balance back which, knowing you, probably won't take all that long. We can sort out your house too and see what can be done about it. Maybe it can be lowered to the ground for you? You should have no trouble standing on the clouds. You are still a pegasus after all.”

Rainbow laughed without mirth. “Barely...” she muttered, before standing and looking Twilight in the eye. “Doesn't matter anyway, clouds can't sit on the ground for too long, they just turn to fog spread thin before disappearing altogether. Your place sounds fine for now.”

Twilight sighed as her friend started walking. This was going to be tougher than they both thought.

They arrived at the library and Twilight left to organize the bed for Rainbow. Spike was nowhere to be seen so the pegasus walked around the library looking at the books to try and kill some time. Most of the books on the shelves were of no interest to her but she stopped at the physical health section and looked at the bindings. Her eyes raised on a book which she gently removed with her mouth and took over to the couches to read. She had been skimming the book for about fifteen minutes before Twilight came back down.

“Sorry I took so long, Spike is still asleep up there and I was trying not to wake – hey, what are you reading?”

The pegasus laughed at her friend as Twilight blushed slightly.

“Sorry,” Twilight said, “Can't really get out of librarian mode no matter what else is going on.”

Rainbow held up the book in her mouth so Twilight could see the cover.

“Oh wow, Rainbow, 'Core Strength and Balance Training'? You're getting right back into it, huh?” Twilight said, a smile almost touching each ear.

“Yeah, you know me. I want to get sorted out as quickly as possible. Get back into a routine, you know?” Rainbow said, leafing once more through the book.

Twilight was confused. “Routine? Half the time I saw you you were just flying around doing tricks. The other half you were napping,” she said, smiling at her friend.

Rainbow looked up at her with a small frown. “Is that really all you think I did?”

Twilight froze. This was exactly what she had been thinking about the day before. How well did she really know her friends? She decided that honest was the best policy.

“Well, honestly, I kinda did. That was all I ever saw you do and I never really questioned my initial preconceptions. I know you are a hard worker but I had just thought you worked fast so you wouldn't have to work all day,” Twilight said. She walked over and sat next to Rainbow on the chair. “After you said what you did to me about friendship I realized that not everything you said was wrong. I visited Rarity and noticed that I had no idea, besides the dresses she had made for us, what she did at the boutique. I assumed she just made fancy dresses but taking the time to actually walk through her store made me notice things I hadn't before.

“I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry, Rainbow. I didn't mean to offend you and I would really like to know more about your life – if you wanted to tell me that is,” Twilight said, smiling at her blue friend. Rainbow considered Twilight's words for a few moments before nodding.

“Yeah I guess we can talk about it. I mean, it's all kind of out the window now, but me going over my old routine with you should be fine. Could we maybe get some food first though? My stomach feel like it's about to eat itself.”

Twilight noticed her own hunger the moment Rainbow brought it up and the two of them quickly left to the kitchen. She placed some refreshments and a simple meal of oats and fruit in milk on the table. The two of them dug in greedily and filled their stomachs before Twilight used her magic to float the bowls into the sink and made their way back to the couches in the main room. Once they were comfortable the pegasus started her story.

“Well, I first wake up at four AM,” Rainbow said.

“Wait – what! Four AM!” Twilight said, her mouth hanging open. “But I know you don't go to bed until at least midnight! How is that possible?”

Rainbow laughed at her friend. “Calm down or you'll wake up Spike,” she said. Twilight grimaced and looked at the top of the stairs as if expecting the grumpy dragon to be standing there. When they were sure the coast was clear Rainbow continued. “Yeah, you are right, I don't go to sleep until midnight. But it's not at least midnight, it is exactly midnight, every night. I also nap fifteen minutes every day at eight AM, midday, four PM, and eight PM. It's called polyphasic sleep and it's way more efficient then sleeping eight hours every night. I can't remember the pony who invented it but I am way more rested off five hours than I ever used to be off eight.”

Twilight grinned at her friend. “His name is J.S. Szyponeski. The stallion who invented it that is. I've been wanting to try it for years but, even did attempt it a few times, but always quit after a couple of days when I felt like I was going to pass out. How did you manage it?” Twilight said, bouncing on the spot in excitement.

Rainbow smiled at her friend. “Yeah I should have known you would know all about it. The first few days were really hard but once you get past it and reboot yourself it's amazing. You know how you get tired in the after noon and feel like you need a nap but force yourself through anyway?” Rainbow said, pausing for Twilight to nod. “Well I don't ever get that feeling any more. I'm not even tired when I go for my naps but I fall asleep almost instantly and wake and keep going. It gave me an extra three hours in the day to train so from the moment I heard of it I knew I had to do it.”

Twilight was amazed. She would never have guessed that one of her close friends had accomplished something she had been struggling to do for the past few years, but knew that if anyone could it was Rainbow Dash. She always knew that when the pegasus put her mind to something she would give it her all. This was just more confirmation that she needed to know more about her friends. What she had learned in the past ten minutes could potentially change her life. Extra hours to study every night! Before it had been an unreachable dream, but now she knew it was within her grasp. She immediately added a note to her mental checklist to get Dash to help her get on the same sleep pattern before turning her attention back to Dash's routine.

“Okay so where was I? Oh, yeah, I wake at four AM every day. I usually have about two hours before the sun starts to come up so for the first hour I do a stretching routine that helps limber me up for the day. After that I head out for some running. I love flying and all but you get a huge cardio workout from the movement with running. I've heard swimming is better but Ponyville is too small for a heated pool and there is no way I'm getting in the lake that early. I tried once and trust me – it's colder than it looks.”

Twilight listened enraptured as her friend detailed the rest of her day. She went from workouts, to flight practice, to weather work, to sleep, and back through all of them again in various combinations. The purple mare was stunned with how full the pegasus' day was and wondered when she ever got time to see them all. She asked this once Rainbow had finished.

“Oh, well, you can't do the weight training every day. So on every second day I use those periods to rest. That is when I'll usually go visit you, Fluttershy, or Pinkie. I don't see Rarity as much because she is just as busy as me and I don't like interrupting her. Applejack always thinks I'm slacking off and tries to rope me into work which, unless I want to be dead the next day, I cant really do if I want to stick to the routine. Saturdays I only do the morning stuff, I take the rest of the day off, and Sundays is complete rest. Nothing but stretching.”

Twilight shook her head with a smile. “I can't believe I didn't know all this about you Rainbow. I knew you wanted to get into the Wonderbolts but I had no idea you trained so hard for it!”

“Well, yeah, Twi,” the pegasus said. “I mean, like, they're pro athletes. I have to be in peak condition if I even want a chance to get in.” Rainbow shrugged as if she hadn't just dropped a bomb all over Twilight's views of her.

“Rainbow!” called a small dragon, atop the stairs to the bedroom. Rainbow cringed as she saw another pitying face come down the stairs. To her credit Twilight picked up on this right away and headed off the inevitable questions.

“Spike, with me in the bedroom, now,” the purple mare said, walking up the stairs to cut him off halfway. Spike frowned but walked up her without asking any questions. “Now Spike, I didn't mean to cut you off there, but before you go out and attack Rainbow Dash with questions listen to me for a moment. She is going to be staying here for a few days until she gets back on her hooves. I don't want you bugging her about her injury or doing anything that might upset her. She is not in the best place right now so I want you to promise me you will be on your best behavior and try to treat her like you always have.” She gave her assistant a small smile. “Do you think you can do that for me?”

Spike frowned but nodded. “I get it Twilight. I just wanted to make sure she was okay but I guess she has heard that a lot huh? I'll make sure to keep out of her way.”

Twilight smiled at him. She knew she could count on Spike to understand. For a baby dragon he understood quite a lot more than she gave him credit for considering his age. It might have something to do with him putting up with her quirks over the years. She promised him she would get him a ruby to make up for the extra hassle of another mare in the house and his eyes lit up at the prospect. After leaving the room he went to Rainbow who grimaced as he approached.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash, I hear you are going to be staying with us for a few days,” he said, grinning.

Rainbow nodded. “Uh, yeah Spike, just until I sort some stuff out, you know?”

Spike smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it's going to be great! Do you think you can find the time to tell me some more stories about the Wonderbolts? I love when you tell them – you put so much action into it.”

Rainbow was surprised and then looked up at Twilight who was smiling. The pegasus sighed in relief and looked down at the dragon. “Sure thing buddy. We are gonna have to go get a few things from my place first but how does tonight before bed sound?”

“It sounds great! Did you guys need anything before you left? Breakfast?” Spike asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Already sorted, Spike, thanks anyway. Did you want us to get you anything while we were out?” she asked. Spike shook his head and the girls got ready to leave. Twilight reattached her saddle bags and they left the library.

“Did you want to head straight to your house now?” Twilight asked.

“Nah, it wouldn't be much use. We are going to need some help getting it out of the sky. I know just the guys for the job. Let's head to the enviro office and see if they are still there. Work for the normal guys doesn't start for about an hour so they should still be there drawing up the plans for the week.”

The headed to the small industrial section of Ponyville which was little more than a few office buildings. The main export from their small town was farming, which were usually run from the farms themselves, so there wasn't much need for a large presence of buildings within the town dedicated to them. As they walked Twilight noticed that Rainbow was talking less than usual and looked over to her friend to see what was wrong. She noticed Rainbow concentrating on the ground in front of her and understood right away.

“Wow, Rainbow, I had completely forgotten about your balance. I would offer to stand by your side again but you are doing great! I've not even noticed a misstep since we left the library.”

Rainbow smiled. “Thanks. I have to concentrate but I should have it sorted in no time at all. Then it's back to being awesome,” Rainbow said.

Twilight was happy to hear her friend refer to herself in that way. It was the first time since her accident she had said anything remotely cocky and was glad for her to be mending. Twilight turned to her friend. “Just take it easy. Those legs aren't one hundred percent yet and I don't fancy another trip to the hospital today.”

Rainbow laughed. “You and me both, Twi, you and me both.” They stopped as they arrived at the environmental office. Rainbow grimaced as she looked at the door.

Twilight put a leg around her friend. “Did you want me to go in and bring someone out?” she asked.

Rainbow shook her head. “No, I need to get this over with eventually. Might as well do it now. It will be good practice.” She took the lead, walking forward, and pushed the door open with her head. The reception area was small and dominated by the large desk which a brown earth stallion sat behind. He held up his front hoof to them without looking up from the forms he was filling out with the quill he held in his mouth.

“Be wif yu im a mimmite,” he said, mumbling around the quill. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“I think we can find our own way out the back, Cruncher,” the pegasus said, forcing a smile.

The stallion immediately dropped the quill causing ink to streak across the paper he currently working on. He looked up with wide eyes and stared at the pair behind the desk.

“Ms. Dash! You're back!” he said, jumping up from his chair and giving Rainbow a grin. The moment his eyes hit the lump on her back where her wing was supposed to be his expression fell. He walked around to put a hoof on her shoulder. “We are all really sorry about what happened, Ms. Dash, if there is anything you need don't hesitate to ask.”

Rainbow shrugged his hoof off and pushed a grin onto her face. “Don't worry about it, Crunch. I'm just here to see Thunderlane about a favor he owes me. Anything I have to sort out about my job? I don't think I'll be back at work anytime soon, heh,” Rainbow said, her grin losing some of its height.

“Of course, don't worry about it. I'm sure we can find a place for you when you are ready to come back. Take your time though, get some rest, we will keep everything under control,” he said, smiling at her. Rainbow nodded and tried another smile, which came out more as a grimace, before leading Twilight to the hallway in the back of the room.

They went past a few doors before Rainbow led them into a larger room. When Twilight entered she saw it was a meeting room. There were no desks or chairs but a bunch of blackboards around the room with crude cloud drawings and a bunch of lines that looked right out of a sports playbook. Twilight noticed there was a large map on the side wall of the Ponyville greater area divided into a grid of squares. She saw that each board had a letter and number in the top left which corresponded to the grid on the map. The purple unicorn smiled in appreciation at the organization of the weather teams work load. Even knowing next to nothing about weather control she could already see the basics of what was going on. Must have made it a lot easier on the team to work it all out.

Twilight stood admiring the walls for a few moments before the door behind them opened and the sounds of various conversations spilled into the room. Once the weather ponies were in the room their talking came to a halt as they noticed the blue pegasus in the room. The pause lasted for a few moments before Rainbow cleared her throat.

“Sup guys,” she said, another grin on her face. They all rushed forward at once and began speaking together. Rainbow raised a hoof and, to Twilight's surprise, they all stopped talking. “Okay, so I've been out of commission for a while, bring me up to speed. Thunderlane, I assume you've been running the show in my absence?”

“Yes, ma'am, indeed I have. We have been on schedule fine even without your help. I had to hire a couple of newbies, to make up for losing you for a few days, but they are temps so you can decide whether to keep them or not,” the dark grey pegasus said.

“How is the situation over Everfree?” Rainbow asked, arching her eyebrow.

“Everything is fine. Nothing big has rolled out in the past few days.”

Rainbow nodded. “Alright, get on with it, I'll be waiting in the break room when you are done. I need a favor from you, Thunder, so come see me okay?” she said. Thunderlane nodded and turned to the boards to began barking orders to the rest of the pegasi in the room. Twilight followed Rainbow as she left the room and went straight through the door on the other side of the hallway. The entered the break room and sat on one of the couches to wait. Twilight turned to her friend.

“So what was all that about in there?” the lavender mare asked.

“What?” Rainbow asked, her eyebrow raised.

“The way you barked orders. It was like you were there boss or something.” Twilight said, with a smile.

Rainbow frowned at her friend. “That would be because I am Twi. I'm the manager of the Ponyville weather team.”

Twilight stared at her friend in shock. “I knew you were good at your job but I honestly had no idea you were the manager here.”

Rainbow laughed at her friend. “Yeah, I guess it comes from the motivation to keep everything in my private life organized. I make sure everything runs smooth and efficient so I can spend more time out of work doing the things I need to to get into the Wonderbolts. I like being a weather pony, but it isn't where I want to be the rest of my life, you know?”

Twilight nodded at her friend with a smile and looked down at her hooves. She didn't know if she could handle any more surprises like this from a pony who she thought she knew so well. She looked up at her friend again. “Wait, what about the charts? Was that you too?”

Rainbow smiled her usual cocky grin. “Yeah, pretty neat, huh? I thought of it while following the plans for a Wonderbolts routine one night. It was laid out simply and made things look way cooler. Had the added bonus of making things more fun too. The first day I set it all up the guys loved it. A lot of them are into hoofball so it became a game between them to set up the 'plays' to see who could most efficiently deal with their square that day. They even put little bets on it now, all in good fun of course,” she added, noting the look on Twilight's face.

“Well color me impressed Rainbow Dash! You just keep surprising me today,” Twilight said with a smile. At that moment Thunderlane came through the door and smiled at his leader.

“So, I'm going to assume you aren't back with us for good yet? I heard you only got out of hospital today,” he said, concern etched over his face. Rainbow shrugged and looked away from him.

“Nah, not yet. I got some stuff to sort out but I wanted to stop in and see how things were going. So, tell me, how is it really?”

Thunderlane sagged slightly. “It has been impossible. I know I've been your second in command for a while now but I had no idea how much you had to do to sort this place out. Every morning since you left I've had to get up two hours early just to plan the day out. How did you manage it?” he asked.

“Trade secret,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “Seriously though you look like you have it pretty handled. I'm glad I left you in charge.”

Thunderlane beamed under the praise. “That means a lot, thanks. I just hope the Everfree doesn't toss out anything too major – I'll probably break under the pressure of reorganizing everything,” he said, laughing.

Rainbow laughed along with him causing Twilight to smile. She looked in her element, no pun intended, here talking with her underling. She asked him if he would drop by the cloud house with them and help her drop it to the ground so she could get some things. He agreed and the blue pegasus excused herself to the bathroom. Once she was gone Twilight turned to Thunderlane.

“You really seem to respect her,” she said.

Thunderlane smiled and nodded. “Yeah she is amazing. You have no idea what it was like here before she got promoted and sorted everything out. She has really changed the way we handle weather around here. Everyone is so much more relaxed and the sky is always sorted each day. With the old boss it was more a rush to try and get everything that was supposed to be done the day before done by the end of today.”

Twilight nodded. “Sounds like you have pretty big shoes to fill,” she said.

“Don't I know it,” he said with a sigh. “I have been working my flank off and it's only been four days! I have no idea how she does it, but I sure as heck am not letting the place turn to hell before she comes back.” He turned to look Twilight in the eye. “So, how is she, really? She may be my boss but she is my friend too, and I can tell when she is hiding something.”

Twilight grimaced. “It's not really my place to say, but just know that I will take care of her and try to get her back to where she was before.”

Thunderlane sighed and nodded before running a hoof through his white and silver mane. “I hope that’s possible, Twilight, I really do.”

They arrived at the cloud house fifteen minutes later. Rainbow had parked the house close to her work so as the make the commute short which, in the air, was only a few minutes flight. After another ten minutes Thunderlane arrived with another pegasus and they proceeded to bring the cloud house down to the ground.

“Hey, be careful, I got a lot of stuff in there,” Rainbow said, grinning. “You break anything and you own me a beer Thunderlane.”

The stallion grinned. “I’ll get you a drink anytime you want, Rainbow,” Tunderlane said, giving her a sly grin of his own. Rainbow Dash just laughed at him and shook her head.

“In your dreams buddy,” she said.

A look of feigned pain came across Thunderlane’s face as he clutched his chest with a hoof. “You toy with my emotions too much boss.” The stallion held the pose for a few moments before dropping the act and laughing with his colleague. The stallions carefully lowered the house and within ten minutes the job was complete.

“Need anything else before we go?” Thunderlane asked.

Rainbow shook her head. “Nah that was all. Thanks for the help guys,” the blue pegasus said. They said their goodbyes and left leaving the two mares alone in front of the house. Twilight cast a quick cloud walking spell on herself and walked up the steps and along the pathway to her friends house. Rainbow took the steps slowly to ensure she didn’t spill and followed behind the purple mare. As they approached the door Twilight noticed something.

“The rainbows aren’t flowing,” the purple mare said, frowning.

Rainbow looked up at the normally flowing colors. “Yeah because of the lack of pressure this low. Hence why we make rainbows in the sky - the materials kind of separate on the ground.”

Twilight nodded and opened the door for her friend. They entered into a living area that Twilight was not surprised was extremely ordered. If you had have asked her the day before she would have assumed Rainbow’s house would have been a mish mash but, after what she had learned, she knew her friend's home would not have been in any other condition. Rainbow demanded the best from herself and her job so there was no way she would accept anything less from her house.

“Did you need a hand getting anything?” Twilight asked.

“Nah, I only need some basic stuff, it’s not like I pack like Rarity or anything,” Rainbow said, grinning. Twilight laughed and nodded her head as the pegasus turned to walk up the stairs. Rainbow halted momentarily before gritting her teeth and making the climb. As Twilight waited, she walked around the first floor of the house, admiring the architecture. It was obviously heavily inspired by Cloudsdale as that was where Rainbow had spent most of her life. It was at that moment Twilight realized she had no idea why the pegasus had even come to Ponyville in the first place. Rainbow Dash was obviously more in her element around those that could fly. She made a note to ask her friend about it at a more appropriate time when she heard a small knock at the door. She walked over and opened it revealing a small grey pegasus with a golden mane standing on the cloud with a smile on her face.

“Oh, hey Derpy,” Twilight said to the mail mare with a smile.

“Hi Twilight! I didn’t think I would run into you here. I was worried for a moment when I saw Rainbow’s house was gone but when I saw it on the ground I assumed she was back. Is she here? I have some mail for her.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, she is here, but she's upstairs at the moment packing some things. I’ll take her mail if you like? She will be staying at the library for a few days so if there is any more mail for her can we please get it delivered there?”

Derpy smiled and reassured Twilight it would be done. She handed the small pile of letters to the unicorn and gave her a quick goodbye before leaving the cloud to finish her rounds. Twilight placed the letters on the coffee table in the center of the room and briefly wondered how some of the furniture didn’t sink through the cloud. Must be some kind of lasting charm on the wood. She reached for her magic, let it run over the table, and smiled when she found the charm. She was just starting to try to reverse engineer the process when she heard a cough from behind her. Twilight quickly spun and tried not to look guilty as Rainbow stood at the foot of the stairs with an eyebrow raised.

“I wasn’t going to break anything, I swear,” the purple mare said.

Rainbow laughed. “I know you wouldn’t mean to break anything, Twi, but I know how you can get when you see something you don’t understand. What do you say we take you a nice small lamp home and you can play with it there.”

Twilight squealed with unrestrained glee. “Thanks! I know that enchantments like this as a dime a dozen where you come from but I have never really seen them tailored this way. The coupling of the lightness spell with the -”

“Yeah, I don’t really care about the theory part. I just like it when my stuff isn’t broken to pieces on the ground,” Rainbow said with a smile. Twilight blushed and thanked her friend again.

“Were you talking to someone down here? I thought I heard voices.”

“Oh, right, Derpy came by with some mail for you. I put it on the table.”

Rainbow put down her bag and sat down on the couch to leaf through the mail. She looked disinterested for most of them but Twilight noticed her friends expression change as she stopped halfway through the pile. Her hooves shook as she opened the letter and carefully unfolded the paper inside. Once she began reading her hooves stopped shaking and tears pooled in her eyes. A few drops made their way out and fell to the paper below. Rainbow suddenly jumped up and ran from the room to the kitchen where she proceeded to empty her breakfast into the trash can.

Twilight stood stunned and rushed into the kitchen and over to her friend. “Rainbow are you okay? What's the matter?” she said.

Rainbow spat into the bin. “Read the letter,” she said, her voice dead.

Twilight grimaced and walked back into the living room. She approached the letter with a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. As her eyes landed on the page she started to read.

Dear Ms. Rainbow Dash,

Your performance in the recent Wonderbolts tryout competition have given us a chance to get to know you and the skills you would bring to the team. While we believe you still have a long way to go we think that your time will be best spent developing your skills with us in a full time role. It is with great pleasure that we wish to offer you a position in our touring lineup.

Our initial training session for the new recruits is in one month time where we will begin working out the routines for our next tour. Your role as a rookie will be one of training and learning how we achieve what we do as the Wonderbolts - it is not just about passion, but also about careful planning and commitment.

We would love you have you with us and look forward to hearing from you to discuss your contract. Please drop by the academy as soon as you are able.

Captain Spitfire

The Wonderbolts

Chapter 4

Twilight couldn’t move as the tears came to her eyes. She let them fall from her face and mix with the tears already dampening the page from Rainbow Dash. She ran back to the kitchen to find Rainbow staring out of the window. She looked at her friend for a few moments while trying to decide what she should say.

“Rainbow, I-” Twilight stopped talking, unable to find the words to console her friend. She walked forward and put a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder. Her friend turned and knocked the hoof away. Twilight was shocked and looked up into her friends face. The look from the hospital had returned.

“Get. Out,” Rainbow said. Twilight shook her head. No, this wasn’t happening, not again. She grit her teeth, looked into the blue mare’s eyes, and tried to will herself to be strong.

“If you think you are going to get rid of me as easily as you did the other day, Rainbow, you have got another thing coming. You need your friends now more than ever, and I won’t let you make the same mistake you did before. Now, I know this is tough, but you can’t keep pushing me away. You need to let me help you get through this,” Twilight said, staring into her friends eyes.

The pegasus glared at her friend as an expression of pure anger overtook her face. Twilight took a step back in shock. She began to open her mouth to say something when Rainbow suddenly leaped forward and pushed her into the wall. Twilight bounced off the cloud and fell to the floor and immediately started shaking. Her chest hurt where the pegasus had hit her. She looked up into Rainbow’s eyes in fear as the pegasus began speaking.

“Don’t think that just because you spent a day asking me questions that you know everything about me. I put up with your coddling because I thought that was what friends did, but you have just proven to me how stupid I was. I am Rainbow - fucking - Dash. Don’t you dare stand in my face and tell me what to do,” Rainbow said, breathing hard. “You think I need you? I don’t need anyone - especially not some conceited little unicorn who thinks she knows what is best for everyone. Kind of ironic when you can barely even take care you yourself without having a meltdown. You are so pathetic the way you clutch at Princess Celestia’s tail trying to get even the smallest amount of recognition. If I didn’t know you any better I would think that you were in love with her, but I do know you better and I know that you are too much of a social weirdo to even recognize if you did love someone. Now get the hell out of my house before I throw you out.”

Twilight sat on the floor with tears in her eyes. She was shaking, unable to move, staring into the pegasus’ eyes. With Rainbow standing over her, breathing heavily, her mind took her back to memories she didn’t want to relive from Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns. As Rainbow took a step toward her she flinched and started crying freely. Sobs wracked her body as she found her legs and fled the kitchen.

She only made it halfway to the street before teleporting herself away from the house and into her room in the library. The door was closed so she threw herself into her bed and dug herself under the covers. She tried to take deep breaths to stop her body from shaking, like Celestia had taught her, but she couldn’t force the adrenaline she felt to leave her body. She lay there, for what felt like hours, crying to herself and glancing fearfully toward the door. She gasped as the door opened but, rather than Rainbow, she saw a small dragon enter the room. He walked over to her and climbed up onto the bed beside her. He lay next to her as she cried; running his claw through her mane. After a few minutes Twilight was asleep.

Spike lifted himself from the bed and gently closed the door behind him so as not to wake the sleeping mare. He walked to the supply closet and took out some stationary. He had a letter to the Princess to write.

Rarity approached the building at the edge of town with apprehension. After four days this had gone on long enough and she wasn’t about to let one of her friends throw the rest of her life away. As she entered the tavern she suppressed the urge to shudder. The entire floor was covered with a layer of filth, and everything else seemed to be dirty as well. The stallion behind the bar appeared to be cleaning one of the glasses with a dirty rag. Rarity gagged as he spat into the glass and continued to wipe. The place did not even have any proper seating, just upended barrels placed randomly around the room as makeshift stools and tables. There were not many ponies here this early, but she spotted the one she was after right away. She approached the mare and cleared her throat.

“Well, look who it is,” Rainbow Dash said, swaying from side to side. “The prissy princess Rarity come to save the wayward mare. Hey, Berry, check it out, I’m about to be reformed.”

The purple earth pony next to Rainbow started laughing so hard she fell to the floor. Rarity gasped and was about to help her up when she noticed the mare was snoring softly. Rather than wake her she turned back to her friend.

“Rainbow, please, come back to the boutique with me. We will get you cleaned up, sorted out, and your friends can help you work through this.”

Rainbow scoffed. “I have plenty of friends right here,” she said, gesturing at the sleeping mare beside her.

Rarity grimaced. “Yes, well, I am sure Ms. Punch is a delightful mare, but you have people who care about you and want to help.”

Rainbow’s lip curled downward as she listened to her friend. “You know why I like Berry? She doesn’t judge me or try to make me feel better all the time. She is the only person I’ve met since everything happened who doesn’t treat me like I’m some porcelain doll that is about to break.” Rainbow reached forward and took a swig of the frothy drink in front of her. “Do me a favor, Rarity, and just get out of here. I know you probably have something shallow to dedicate your time to so that you can impress all the people who continuously treat you like dirt. Why don’t you go get on that?”

Rarity sighed as she looked at her friend while trying not to let the pegasus get under her skin. “Well can you at least tell me what happened between you and Twilight? The dear has not left her room since leaving your house and she refuses to talk to anyone about what happened. The princess herself is coming by tomorrow to make sure she is okay, but I am sure anything you can tell us will definitely help.”

Rainbow looked down into her glass. She knew what she had done was wrong and immediately felt horrible for it afterwards, but didn’t want to face Twilight after seeing the look in her eyes. The unicorn had been terrified of her. Rainbow didn’t know exactly why the purple mare had had that reaction, but she knew that she had been the cause of it. With nowhere else to go, and only herself to blame, she had come straight down to the tavern and never really left. She slept each night on the couch at Berry Punch’s house but, as that was just down the street, the two spent most of their time in the bar.

Rainbow looked up at her friend and said, “I have no idea why Twilight is the way she is. She’s Twilight, you know? Always overreacting to something. I’m sure she’ll be fine once she talks to her precious princess.”

Rarity looked at her friend with a frown. She knew the pegasus was lying but didn’t bother to point it out as she knew it would get them nowhere. There wasn’t much more she was going to get out of Rainbow, in her current state anyway, so she decided to cut her losses.

“Well, Rainbow, when you are ready to be an adult and stop this childishness you know where you can find me,” Rarity said, walking toward the door. She almost reached it when Rainbow called out to her.

“Hey, Rarity!” the pegasus said. Rarity turned back to look up at her friend. The pegasus smirked. “Don’t let the door hit your flank.”

Rarity sighed in disgust. “Some element of loyalty,” she said, and left the building leaving Rainbow alone with her sleeping friend.

Rainbow sat shaking with rage as she tried to calm herself down. As if she gave a buck about her stupid element right now. Just because she had done a few things a certain way didn’t mean that ‘loyalty’ had to define her life. She scowled into her glass as she tried to think of a good comeback to shove in the white unicorn’s face the next time she saw her. After a few minutes she gave up and took a long draw of her beer. Her drink was almost empty so she looked up at the old stallion behind the bar.

“Hey, Tapwater, get me a double whiskey,” she said. The stallion eyed her for a few moments before looking up at the clock and then back to her. Rainbow scoffed. “Like I give a crap what the time is, just get me the damn drink,” she said. He turned, shrugging, and brought her another glass. That was another reason she liked this place. People minded their own damn business. After a few minutes Berry groaned and shook her head. She picked herself up off the floor and sat back on her stool. Rainbow noticed her looking sideways at the door.

“So, are you reformed yet?” Berry said, grinning. Rainbow laughed and shook her head. “Sounds good to me. Hey, Tap, a couple of shots for my friend and I. Whatever is cheapest.”

It had taken attempts by all four of the girls over the next few days to talk to both Rainbow and Twilight, but nothing they said seemed to have any effect. Neither of the mares wanted to talk, Twilight remaining distant, until the Princess came to take her back to Canterlot for a short stay. The girls were confused by the reaction of the Princess to take Twilight from Ponyville, but trusted her judgement.

Rainbow had grown more hostile over the rest of the week. The pegasus had reduced Fluttershy to tears and Pinkie had decidedly flatter hair than usual when she exited the bar after her own attempt at cheering Rainbow up. Applejack was the worst as when she left the bar she was bleeding from a cut in her mouth. Some coaxing from her friends revealed Rainbow had said a particularly nasty thing about her and her brother that caused the two of them to come to blows. It was getting dark so they decided to call it quits for the night and head home, but planning to try again in the morning.

As the girls left they didn’t notice Rainbow leaving through the back entrance of the bar. Tap might have been a relaxed sort of pony, but there was no fighting in his bar. You start a fight, you leave, that was his motto. Either by yourself or you get some help. So, Rainbow left, avoiding the front entrance so as not to run into Applejack again. Although she didn’t want them harassing her she also didn’t want to restart the fight. She was saying things she always regretted afterwards, but for some reason she couldn’t hold her tongue when she saw the way her friends were looking at her. She barely made it twenty meters when Berry came running out after her.

“Hey, Dash, wait up,” Berry Punch said. “Screw Tap’s place. There is this new club opening in Canterlot tonight and I managed to get a couple of door passes. What do you say we go on a road trip?” the purple mare said with a grin.

Rainbow thought to herself. There was no reason why not. Nothing here in Ponyville she needed to do anyway. She had enough bits to last for a few weeks so there was no reason to stop the party now. She nodded to her drinking buddy.

“Sure thing. Let’s stop by my house and I’ll get something to wear,” the pegasus said.

The two of them left in the direction of Rainbow’s house and arrived in time to see the last piece of cloud dissipate where her house used to be. Rainbow stood with her mouth hanging open. She had completely forgotten about her house being on the ground, and now almost all of her possessions were smashed to pieces in the dirt. The clouds had obviously turned to fog a couple of days before as the few things she could see that weren’t smashed to pieces were obviously waterlogged. There were no clouds in sight now.

She swore as she walked through the wreckage to try to find anything she could salvage. Berry Punch chose that moment to vomit all over what used to be her kitchen table. Tears came to Rainbow’s eyes as she came upon her trophy for the best young flyers competition. It was broken into pieces but the model of the pony on top was still in pristine condition except for one thing. One of the wings was broken off. Rainbow started laughing to prevent herself from throwing up, and crunched the trophy under her hoof. She turned to Berry Punch.

“Got anything I can wear?” she asked.

“I’m pretty sure I can rustle something up.” Berry said, grinning.

The music banged and the lights flashed. Rainbow Dash stood as the room spun while she tried to get her bearings. She had lost Berry a while ago on the dance floor, and the effects of too much alcohol and a lack of food were catching up with her. She ran for the bathroom, pushing past the waiting mares, and vomited into the open toilet stall. The sound of clapping and laughter behind her caused her rage to flare up, and she bucked out to kick the door closed.

Once she had composed herself, she made her way to the sink and cleaned out her mouth, before pushing her way past the girls waiting to come in to the bathroom. One of them stuck out a hoof and tripped the pegasus which, due to her still awkward balance, sent her sprawling to the floor. As the girls laughed she launched up from the ground and pushed the mare who had tripped her against the wall with one of her legs against the mares throat.

“Oh my god, get off me you wingless freak!” the light pink mare said, staring at Rainbow in disgust. Rage flared through the pegasus again and she brought back a hoof to slam into the overly made up face of the girl in front of her. All of a sudden she found herself off balance and floating through the air. It took her a moment to realize a pair of unicorn stallions had her lifted between them with magic and were walking toward the door. She struggled as they threw her from the club and she landed hard on the concrete outside.

“Consider this a two week ban. We catch you fighting here again and you won’t ever be coming back,” the bouncer in front said, before walking back inside.

As the door closed the music became a muffled droning of bass. Rainbow picked herself up and tried to dust off the now ripped dress she had borrowed from Berry. She caught the people in the line looking at her and talking behind their hooves. A quick glare saw their gazes turn to any other direction than the irate pony in front of them.

“Yeah, I thought so,” Rainbow said, muttering under her breath. She walked away from the club and started roaming the street to look for a carriage stand. As she didn’t really know the area it was about fifteen minutes of walking before she realized she was hopelessly lost. She had no idea where to go to get a carriage and the street she was on seemed to be deserted so she had nopony to ask.

As she walked she noticed a gap through the buildings where she could see ponies walking past the opening on the other side. She turned right away and walked through the alleyway hoping to find her way back to the general population. She had made it halfway down the alley when a pair of earth pony mares stepped out in front of her. They both had completely shaved manes and odd symbols dyed into their coats.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” the smaller, brown mare asked. “Seems we got us a lost little lamb don’t we sister?”

The larger grey mare’s eyes never left Rainbow Dash. “Eeyup,” she said.

“Did you need any help, ma’am? My sister and I here are in the helping department, ain’t that right, sister?”

“Eeyup.”

“O’course we need to extract a little, how do you say, fee. You understand, don’t you, miss?” the smaller mare said, a wicked glint in her eye. “You just hand over all your money, and we’ll let you go without a fuss.”

Rainbow knew she was in trouble. She looked passed the two ponies toward the exit. She could see many ponies walking past but not one of them looked into the alleyway, and the sounds of music coming from the buildings around her didn’t give her much of a chance to yell for help. Being Rainbow Dash meant something though. She couldn’t just give in to some bullies without putting up a fight. She also didn’t want to get hurt.

The mares started to advance on her so she turned tail and began to run. She heard their hooves close behind her and hoped that her physical fitness and training would be enough to let her outrun them. She put on as much speed as she could when all of a sudden her front leg twisted to the side and she came crashing down on the concrete. She hadn’t even noticed the third pony behind her until she hit the ground.

She tried to push herself back up, but a great weight was on her back pinning her to the ground. She struggled against the larger mare now sitting on her and kicked out her hooves in desperation. She connected with something soft and the smaller mare hit the ground next to her with a hard thud. The brown pony cursed and stood again, leaning her front hoof back and kicked the pegasus hard in the face. Rainbow’s world spun as she struggled under the weight of the bigger pony, and tried to throw her off.

The two standing ponies started to kick her, and it was all she could do to cover her face with her forehooves. She was panicking as she finally realized that she might die here. The gang members were giving her everything they had and didn’t seem to be letting up. Rainbow started to see black on the edges of her vision and struggled to keep conscious.

All of a sudden the assault stopped and the weight on her back was lifted. She heard the sounds of a struggle and tried to lift her head to see what was going on. All she could see was the silhouette of somepony standing at the entrance to the alleyway. The mystery pony’s horn was awash in a purple glow as the three mares floated, unconscious, in the air between them. The last thing she saw was the unicorn drop the ponies in a heap on the floor and start running toward her before the darkness on the edge of her vision overtook her.

Twilight had arrived in her old room at Canterlot castle earlier that afternoon. She had consented to coming along with the Princess only because she knew the alicorn understood what she was going through. Her friends had tried to cheer her up but she just wasn’t ready to talk to them about some things. She had been in the palace for two days before a knock came to her door. Twilight sighed, she dreading this moment, and went to open the door. She was surprised when she found a different alicorn to the one she had been expecting.

“Princess Luna?” she said, confusion etched on her face. The princess of the night looked down at her a smiled.

“May I come in, child?” the princess said, smiling at the bewildered unicorn.

“Of course,” Twilight said, stepping back and allowing Luna to enter. “Please have a seat.”

Luna walked to the offered couch and lay down sideways along it. Twilight walked over to the couch opposite and sat herself down in a more formal pose.

“Sorry, Princess, but what can I do for you?”

Luna smiled. “I was hoping you and I would be able to have a little chat,” the alicorn said. “My sister thinks it is best that you are left to your own devices to sort out your problems, but she doesn’t have the knowledge that I do.”

Twilight frowned in confusion. “I’m sorry, Princess, but I don’t understand. Knowledge?”

Luna looked at Twilight with a small frown. “What do you know of my powers, young one?”

Twilight looked thoughtful. “Well, you can raise and lower the moon, obviously. Flight, along with standard boosted alicorn magic. I’ve seen you be able to veil yourself much better than any unicorn I have ever heard of. Also you can walk through ponies drea-” Twilight stopped dead, the blood leaving her face. Her voice became a whisper. “You can walk in ponies dreams.”

Luna nodded. “I know what you told Celestia of your ordeal at the hands of the ponies in her school, she told me herself, but I need to know - was that really the extent of it, or, is what I have seen in your dreams a more accurate portrayal?”

Twilight couldn’t answer. Her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes and she lay down on the couch. Sobs came from her as she broke down in front of one of the most powerful beings on the planet. She was about to stop herself when she felt the alicorn lift her into a hug. She clutched at the night princess and cried herself raw. They both sat for a long time after Twilight had cried all of her tears and talked of her time in Celestia’s school. Once they were finished Twilight turned to Luna.

“So, what should I do?” asked Twilight.

Luna frowned. “I cannot say for sure as - and you know this better than anyone - I am not really the go-to mare for social situations,” she said with a smile. “But what I do know is that you need to confront your inner demons. You are not the little filly you once were. You are a strong, capable mare, who is much more equipped to defend herself both magically and emotionally than she gives herself credit for.” Luna looked Twilight in the eyes. “Your friend needs you, more than you know, and I think that standing up for yourself to her will do wonders for the both of you.” The princess smiled as she looked down at Twilight. “Besides, if anything goes wrong, you always have the might of a couple of alicorn princesses to back you up,” she said with a wink.

Twilight giggled and gave Luna a smile. “Thank you, Princess, for everything,” she said.

“Think nothing of it my dear. I admit I don’t normally go to these kind of lengths for every pony, but I can always find the time to help someone I consider a friend.”

Twilight’s eyes became glassy once more, but this time the tears were of happiness. She embraced the princess one last time before Luna stood and left the unicorn alone with her thoughts. With not much else to think about her mind kept going back to Rainbow Dash. She knew what she needed to do now and be she would be damned if anybody, especially Rainbow, were going to stop her.

As she had to do was kill time until morning to catch the next train so she decided to give her ‘point me’ spell a try. She knew it wasn’t likely to work from such a distance, but thought she would give it a shot anyway - practice makes perfect after all. She took out a pencil and cast a small anti-gravitational field around the object. It floated in the air in front of her in a bubble of zero friction where it slowly turned end over end. After concentrating on her friend, and casting the incantation, the pencil quickly spun around and started glowing at one end. Twilight was confused. The light should not be glowing this brightly if the subject was so far away. She had a sneaking suspicion and walked to the balcony of her room.

It took her a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but once they did she could see the lights of Ponyville in the distance. The pencil was aiming in the complete opposite direction - right into the heart of Canterlot. Twilight was confused only for a moment before realizing that Rainbow Dash must have come to Canterlot for some reason. At this new knowledge she decided to go see her friend right away. She was worried her resolve might waver if she delayed now.

She collected her small saddlebags and loaded them with some supplies, before heading out of the castle and into the streets of Canterlot below. The guard ponies at the gate seemed hesitant to let her out without an escort, and after a few minutes arguing she gave up and allowed two of them to trail her. The guard kept out of sight as Twilight walked into the busy nightlife of Canterlot for which she was thankful. What she didn’t need was to draw attention to herself. Well, more than a floating, glowing pencil in front of her would, anyway.

The streets in the center of the small city were lined with ponies out enjoying the music and festivities. Twilight had always been a night pony due to her love of the stars, but it had not been until Luna had returned that the night scene in Canterlot really picked up again. She took in as many sights, sounds, and smells as she could but also tried to stick to her course as much as possible. She had no idea what condition she would find Rainbow in, and thought it best if she kept her attention on that in case the pegasus had been drinking.

She was confused slightly when the spell led her all the way through the center of town, and into a much quieter side of the city. It was a mostly industrial area with few clubs, and fewer people, on the streets that she found herself weaving down. The pencil was glowing brighter and brighter as she turned down an empty street. It seemed to be pointing towards one of the buildings when it suddenly started twisting in the air gently. Twilight knew that Rainbow was close, but was confused as to why she was moving so fast, when the pencil suddenly stopped. It was pointed at the entrance of an alleyway between two of the buildings.

Twilight rushed to the alley and gasped in horror at what she saw inside. Rainbow lay on the ground underneath a large mare while two other mares proceeded to kick at the pegasus who was barely shielding herself with her hooves. Rage flared through Twilight as she saw the violence in front of her, and her power flicked through her horn. She first picked one of the mares attacking Rainbow using her telekinesis, and promptly slammed her into the other mare. She then lifted the larger mare off the pegasus, and dumped her from about twenty feet in the air onto the bodies of the other ponies. This all took about three seconds, and all three earth ponies were knocked unconscious.

Twilight noticed the guard ponies running to catch up with her and she levitated the trio, grunting with effort, toward the mouth of the alley. As she saw Rainbow’s head drop to the ground she suddenly lost her concentration and the mares all fell in a pile with a thud. Twilight ran to her friend’s side while the guards shackled the mares together behind her. She screamed her friends name, but Rainbow did not move. The guard ponies finally reached her side and one of the took off running toward the crowd.

She was not sure how long she lay there with a bleeding Rainbow on her lap, but all of a sudden she was being pulled away from her friend by the other guard pony. She began to fight him off before she noticed the medical ponies step in and start performing first aid on the pegasus. She let the guard hold her as the medics put Rainbow onto a stretcher and magically lifted it into an awaiting chariot. Twilight dashed forward before anyone could say otherwise and jumped onto the carriage beside her friend. She nodded her thanks to the guards as the chariot sped away to the nearest medical center.

Twilight didn’t know what to do, so for the first time in her life, she prayed.

Chapter 5

Rainbow awoke slowly. The pain in her chest was almost as bad as the throbbing in her head. She opened her eyes to a dimly lit room and looked down at herself. She was covered in bandages but was clearly not in a hospital. She sat up on the bed and tried to climb out, but her head span so quickly she was forced to lie down again. The door opened and a purple mare walked into the room. Twilight’s eyes caught Rainbow’s and she could see the unicorn sigh in relief.

“What happened?” Rainbow asked. Twilight shuffled her hooves and looked at the ground.

“I came across you in an alley getting beaten by a bunch of ponies. We went to the hospital where they cleared you of any broken bones.”

Rainbow looked around at the room. “So where am I now?”

“They wanted to keep you overnight, but I asked Celestia if we could come back up to the palace instead. I just...well...I assumed you wouldn’t really want to wake up in a hospital,” the purple mare said, her eyes not quite meeting Rainbow’s.

Rainbow frowned. “Why would you do that for me?” she asked. “I’ve treated you like crap. Hell, I’ve treated everyone like crap,” she said, sighing. “I really don’t know why you bother, Twi.”

“Because you’re my friend,” Twilight said. They locked eyes for a few moments before Rainbow had to look away.

“I'm really sorry, Twilight. For everything,” the pegasus said.

“It’s okay.”

Rainbow looked up at her friend with a fierce look in her eye. “No, it’s not okay. I took your kindness and threw it in your face. Don’t think I didn’t see the way you looked at me after I hit you. I’m disgusting. The girls told me you wouldn’t come out of your room for days, and what did I do to help? Went and got drunk in a bar and tried to forget about it,” Rainbow said, turning her head away in disgust. “Rarity was right, I’m supposed to be the element of loyalty, but I can’t even be there when one of my best friends needs me the most.”

Twilight looked to her friend. “Look, what happened to me...it wasn’t entirely your fault. You were just a...trigger,” she said, once more looking at the ground.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Rainbow asked her friend. Twilight shook her head and the two fell into an uncomfortable silence. Rainbow coughed sending another wave of pain through her body. “Ugh. Do we have any painkillers or anything? I feel awful.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh, right! Sorry, I was supposed to give these to you as soon as you woke.” The unicorn’s horn started glowing in a wash of purple magic and one of the drawers next the Rainbow’s bed opened. A small bottle of pills flew out and were quickly joined in the air by a glass of water from the table. The cap popped open and two pills were deposited onto Rainbow’s hoof. Once the pegasus had taken the pills Twilight returned them to the drawer. After a few seconds the pegasus sighed in relief.

“Wow, those work fast,” she said, smiling at the feeling.

Twilight grinned. “Yeah, they are pretty strong. Magic fused to make them hit the bloodstream right away. You can have have some more in a few hours once those two wear off.” The unicorn started to walk toward the door when the pegasus’ voice stopped her.

“Wait, why were you out there?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight looked confused. “Huh?”

“In the alley.”

Twilight grimaced. “I was looking for you actually.”

Rainbow frowned. “Me? But...how did you even know I was in Canterlot?” she asked.

“Well, actually, I was kind of going to tell you off,” Twilight said, wincing slightly at how silly it sounded when said out loud. “After talking with Princess Luna, she convinced me that the best thing for me would be to face you and tell you how I felt. I cast a spell to find you and when it wasn’t pointing toward Ponyville I went to investigate.” The purple mare shrugged. “Guess you’re kind of lucky I did. If we had have gotten there any later I think you would have more than just a few bruises.”

“Yeah, Twi, I kinda owe you my life,” Rainbow said, giving her a sad smile.

“Yeah, I guess so. I haven’t really thought about it. So what actually happened? Why were those mares attacking you? Why were you in Canterlot?”

Rainbow motioned for her friend to sit. “I might as well start at the beginning,” she said. Once Twilight was comfortable she started her story. Picking it up after Twilight left her house and going through everything that she could remember happening since - which, to be honest, was less than she liked to admit. Once the pegasus finished her tale Twilight stood and paced around the room.

“So it was just a random attack. Something should really be done about these gangs. You could have been killed,” Twilight said.

“If I had have just given them my money like they wanted they would never have attacked me. Typical Rainbow Dash thought she could get out of there. It’s my fault I’m here,” Rainbow said, shaking her head.

Twilight looked furious. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for those mares actions. They are criminals who prey on the weak and should be-” Twilight stopped with a grimace. “I didn’t mean-”

“It’s okay, Twilight, you’re right. The sooner I accept what happened to me the better off I’ll be,” Rainbow said, sighing. “It’s just...hard, you know?”

Twilight’s heart broke as she looked at her friend. There was nothing she could say that would make this any easier so she just reached a hoof over to the bed. Rainbow took it with a smile and the two sat in silence for a while. After a time Rainbow started snoring. Twilight removed her hoof and stood up to leave the sleeping mare in peace.

She was almost out of the room when Rainbow whinnied as if in pain. She quickly turned around to see her friend in the exact position she had been a moment ago. The pills would not have worn off yet so the pegasus should not have been uncomfortable. Twilight shrugged and went to leave again but before she could turn around Rainbow started screaming. The unicorn rushed over to her bed and started to shake the pegasus, but she would not wake. After a few seconds the blue mare stopped screaming and fell back into silence but Twilight could see the tears streaming down her face while she slept.

Twilight remembered Luna’s words from the night before. Your friend needs you, more than you know. Twilight frowned as she realized there was only one way that the princess could have known what was happening to the pegasus. Her dreams. She didn’t want to leave Rainbow but knew there was nothing she could do for her while the pegasus slept. She left the room and set off at a trot to try and find the princess. It was late afternoon so if Luna was not awake yet she would be soon. Twilight arrived at the throne room to find Celestia leaving. The white alicorn smiled down at her student with concern in her eyes.

“Twilight, my faithful student. How is Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight gave her mentor a sad smile. “Physically? She is fine. I am worried about her though. She fell asleep before I left and seemed to be having a nightmare. I tried as hard as I could but couldn’t wake her. I was going to ask Luna if she knew anything. Do you know if she is awake yet?”

Celestia frowned down at her student. “A ponies dreams are a very personal thing, my student. I doubt Luna would part with that information lightly.”

“I understand, Princess, but I wasn’t going to ask her the content. I just wanted to talk with her to see if she could give me anything that would let me help Rainbow Dash.”

Celestia gave her student a shrewd look. “And you believe yourself to be best for this task? Was it not less than a day ago that you would not leave your room due to the pegasus in question? Don’t you think if there is something wrong with Rainbow Dash that it should be left to someone with more skill in that area.”

Twilight set her jaw and looked up at Celestia. “I do, Princess. I know what has happened in the past, but I also know that my friend needs me. If I were to do anything less than try to help her I would never be able to live with myself.”

Celestia gave her a genuine smile. “That sounds like an excellent lesson in friendship, my little pony. If you must see her I believe Luna to be in the castle library.”

Twilight gave a sigh of relief and thanked her mentor. She left quickly in the direction of the library. Although a lot bigger than her treehouse in Ponyville the Canterlot castle library was still considered quite small in academic circles. A majority of the books were stored in the Canterlot public library down in the town to prevent ponies from needing to enter the castle just to find a book. That being said most of the dangerous books were kept in the castle in separate wings. Twilight was well known throughout the castle, from her time spent living in Canterlot, so was given no resistance when she entered the main wing of the library.

She found Luna tucked away at a desk behind the stacks and was about to interrupt the princesses reading when she noticed the alicorn’s eyes. They were nothing but pure white. It reminded Twilight of the descriptions her friends had given her of herself when the elements were channeling through them. She stood awkwardly for a few moments before the princess blinked and shook her head. Her eye’s had returned to their normal green. Luna turned her head to look at the purple unicorn standing nearby with a fearful expression on her face.

“Apologies, Twilight, I am told it is quite an odd sight to look upon me while I am dreamwalking,” the princess said with a small smile.

Twilight shook her head and dropped her gaze from the Princess. “No, Princess, I am the one who should apologize. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

The princess shook her head. “You did not interrupt me. I normally retire to my private quarters before dream walking, but this one called out to me so I took it here. Please, have a seat, Twilight,” Luna said, motioning the chair next to her.

As Twilight sat she noticed the books that had been laid out on the table. At once the unicorn understood. “History books. You’re catching up on everything that has happened since your, um, leave.”

Luna laughed. “Well that is the nicest way I have heard anypony put it so far. Yes, Twilight, I have been coming here for many months to catch up on the history of the world. You would not believe how much everything has changed in a thousand years. I only started after you helped me on Nightmare Night those few months ago. Before then I had tried to resume my duties as normal, but I didn’t realize how much had changed in terms of speech and custom. It was only when you taught me how to carry myself a bit less, shall we say, royally, that I decided it was time for me to catch up. I have been here every day since, reading, while not on my night duties.”

Twilight frowned. “But, Princess, when do you sleep?”

“I don’t,” Luna said. “Although it can be refreshing it is not actually required of alicorns to sleep. You must have noticed Celestia only sleeps for a few hours each night?”

Twilight stood with a stunned expression. She shook her head and said, “To be honest, Princess, I didn’t really see her much while I lived here. I know I was her personal student, and a lot of ponies assume that meant I spent a lot of time with her, but in reality I only saw her for a few minutes each day. I would update her on my progress and she would, if needed, assign me new material.” Twilight looked up at the princess with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you don’t have to sleep though! I would kill to not have to sleep - I could get so much more done each day.”

The princess laughed at Twilight’s excitement. She smiled down at the mare. “All part of being an immortal goddess I guess,” she said with a wink. “But I am sure you did not seek me out to talk of myself. Please, Twilight, what brought you here this evening?”

Twilight sighed and looked down at her hooves. “I’m sorry to have to talk to you about this, Princess, and I know it is very presumptuous of me, but I need to help a friend and I think you can give something that will enable me to do that.”

Luna looked down at Twilight. “Am I to assume that this friend is Rainbow Dash?” The unicorn nodded. Luna continued, “And you want me to tell you of her dreams.” It was not a question.

A pained expression crossed Twilight’s face. She swallowed and looked up into the princesses eye’s. “I won’t ask you to tell me what was happening in them. I know a ponies dreams are the most private of places. But I also know that Rainbow is having nightmares and I need to know if there is anything I can do to help her.”

Luna looked down at the unicorn with an unreadable expression. After a minute of silence she sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but I cannot help you. Rainbow is in a very hard place right now and taking advantage of my power to reveal things that she is not ready to reveal would not help her. In fact I think that kind of betrayal of her trust would be even worse for her. I cannot in good conscience abuse the power that I have over my subjects. Again, I am sorry, Twilight. I know your intentions are pure.”

Twilight nodded, tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m sorry for putting you in this position, Princess.”

Luna’s expression softened. “I understand, child. You wish to help a friend and for that I cannot fault you. Just know that if there was anything I could do to help you I would do it in a heartbeat. You and your friends are the reason I am here today so I will stop at nothing to help you. I am trying as I can to ease Rainbow’s pain in her sleep, but I need you to be there to ease it while she is awake.”

Twilight gasped suddenly. “When I came in, you were...”

“In Rainbow’s nightmare, yes,” the princess said with a nod. “She will wake soon, and I know she would appreciate not being alone right now.”

Twilight understood the dismissal and nodded her thanks to the princess. Although disappointed she couldn’t fault Luna for what she had said. To know that the alicorn was doing what she could to help her friend while asleep was a comfort to the unicorn. As she was almost around the corner she heard Luna call out to her.

“Twilight,” Luna said. Twilight stopped and turned her head to look back at the princess. The alicorn looked like she was trying to decide whether or not she should say something to the unicorn. At last looked up at Twilight’s eyes. “Give her something to live for.”

Twilight stood, feeling a tickle in her eyes, as tears once again threatened to spill forth. She nodded at the princess and left.

Rainbow woke again in the night shortly, took some more pills, and fell right back to sleep. Twilight was curled up on the couch in the room. She had slept a little here and there but Rainbow’s nightmares had kept her awake for a lot of the night. She was up to watch the sunrise through a gap in the window and the sight gave her hope that today would be a fresh start for her friend.

The splinter of light projected into the room made it’s way over to the bed and the pegasus stirred. Twilight sat up and watched her friend wake. When the pegasus noticed her audience she blushed slightly.

“Hope I didn’t snore too loud,” she said, forcing a grin.

Twilight smiled at her friend and shook her head. She wished the pegasus had just been snoring. After a deep breath to calm her nerves the unicorn stood from her position on the couch and walked over to sit on the side of the bed. Rainbow looked at her with confusion. Twilight tried to smile but failed.

“I want to tell you what happened to me when I was a filly,” the unicorn said, her voice barely a whisper.

Rainbow’s eyes widened and she sat up in the bed. “Listen, Twi, if you aren’t ready to talk about it, you don’t have to. Don’t do it just because you feel bad for me or something.”

Twilight shook her head. “I want to tell you. I feel like it’s a piece of my life that I’ve kept hidden away for so long it’s gone toxic. I need to tell someone and I feel like you are the only person who will listen,” she said. Twilight suddenly looked Rainbow in the eye. “Actually, what am I thinking? You probably don’t want to hear about it anyway. You have enough on your plate as it is. Just forget about it,” the unicorn said, standing from the bed and beginning to walk away.

“Stop,” Rainbow said. “Twilight, you have done so much for me that I don’t even know how I’m going to start paying you back. Letting you get some peace of mind is literally the least I can do for you. Please, I want to hear it, from you.”

Twilight smiled a sad smile at her friend. She sat back down on the bed and made herself comfortable. “Well, it all started when I first got my cutie mark. You already know that story. You know I was Celestia personal student, but what most don’t know is that that part didn’t come until later. As I was still a filly I had to go to her school to study. Only after I completed the two year course there would I be able to enter under Celestia’s direct tutelage.

“For the first few lessons everything was great. I was learning so much and the teachers were fantastic. I didn’t really get a chance to talk to any of the other fillies as the workload was pretty heavy - I had started halfway through the first semester. Well, like I said, everything was fine - until lunch.” Twilight paused. “Sorry, Rainbow, do you mind if I...” she said, gesturing to the glass of water beside the bed. Rainbow nodded and the unicorn telekinetically lifted the glass. After soothing her throat, and returning the glass to the table, she continued.

“Where was I? Right, lunch. I got to the cafeteria and almost every table was taken. There only seat I could see was one with a bunch of other fillies already sitting that I recognised from my class.” Twilight paused. “Something you should probably know about me that might explain a few things. When I was a filly, while I didn’t have a lot of friends, I wasn’t as antisocial as I was when I first came to Ponyville. I had a few other people, neighbours and such, that I would play with from time to time. I wasn’t Little Miss Friends or anything, but I didn’t shy away from friendship then.

“Anyway, back to the story. I got my lunch tray - mac and cheese, I still remember - and walked over to the table. I didn’t think anything of it and sat down on the seat, and all of a sudden the rest of the fillies stopped talking and looked at me. They all stared at me for a few seconds before looking up to one of the other fillies at the table. Her name was Sunshine.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Sunshine gave me a look that I had never seen a pony give somepony else before. I didn’t know it at the time but that was the first time I had ever seen another pony hate. She looked me in the eye and said, ‘Look who it is, the little princess’ pet. If you don’t get off this table, right now, you’re gonna regret it.’

Twilight looked up at Rainbow. “I was terrified. I had no idea what to do so I just sat there. Sunshine grew angrier by the second but I was just frozen - I couldn’t move at all. That was until Sunshine reared back and spat into my face. I jumped back in surprise and fell off my chair. The other girls started laughing at me and one of them took the opportunity to tip my lunch tray onto me. I ran to the bathroom and cried. After cleaning myself up I went back to class.

“I thought that would be it,” Twilight said with a sad smile. “I thought if I ignored them it would just stop. But Sunshine made it her personal mission to make my life hell. In class they would cast spells on me whenever the teacher wasn’t watching. Small things like electrical jolts and pinches at first. I would usually find my saddlebags filled with water at the end of the day. I started bringing books to school in plastic wrap so they wouldn’t get ruined. Whenever we were in the halls they would trip me, kick me, heck, I even got bitten a few times. I wanted to say something to a teacher but they threatened me. It wasn’t the kind of thing you talked about anyway,” Twilight said, sighing.

The unicorn lay down further onto the bed. “None of the other kids would talk to me. No-one wanted Sunshine to pick on them too so I was pretty much just ignored by everyone else. I got asked by a teacher once and I had to make up a lie saying I didn’t like talking to ponies, and that I preferred it that way.” Twilight shook her head. “I still can’t believe she didn’t realize how poor of an excuse that was. Maybe she didn’t, I really don’t know, but nothing changed.”

Twilight sighed again. “It all came to a head one day when I was eating lunch in the bathroom. That was the only place I could really go to be safe. Until that day. I heard them come in and I knew that they were looking for me because I heard one of them say they saw me come in here. I stood on the toilet, shaking, but when they came to the locked stall they just unlocked it with a spell and pushed the door open.” Tears had begun to pour down Twilight’s face. “They grabbed me, threw me to the ground, and started kicking me. There were about five of them. I can still remember their laughter. Sunshine didn’t laugh though, she just kept kicking, and kicking. I thought I was going to die. The other girls had stopped and were trying to pull Sunshine away from me but she just pushed them away and kept kicking me.

“The last thing I remember is her rearing back to stomp on my head and then I blacked out. I woke up a few days later in the ICU unit of Canterlot hospital. Turns out one of the teachers heard the noise and came in to stop Sunshine. She was expelled immediately, but as none of the other girls were seen attacking me they weren’t punished. Celestia herself came to ask me what had happened but I couldn’t even tell her the truth. I was too scared, I said it was just a one off thing, and the other girls weren’t involved,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “The rest of the girls got off free and I was pulled out of regular classes. I was tutored by a few of the teachers and stayed in the library pretty much the rest of my time there. I rarely saw anyone else.”

Twilight stopped and took another drink of water. “So, that’s about it, I guess. After that I had panic attacks for a while but it passed when it settled in that the bullying had stopped for good. I had even managed to stop thinking about it for the longest time. Especially after I met you girls. I felt like my life had finally come together, you know?” she said, smiling up at her friend.

Rainbow looked on the verge of tears. “But...when I pushed you...I was...oh god...”

Twilight nodded. “It felt like I was in that bathroom again. I never thought I could feel that scared again, but when it happened I just turned into that little filly. I froze up. Once I ran I couldn’t even leave my room. I just kept having panic attacks. Spike was the only one I let in. He was just a baby when this all happened and was still with Celestia at the time, but he did know about my panic attacks. He was really helpful in calming me down.”

Tears were streaming down Rainbow’s face. “Twi, I am so sorry. I can’t even...I...I’m sorry,” the pegasus said.

Twilight gave her friend a smile. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault, bad things happen sometimes and we can’t control them. I know that now. I just freaked out a little is all. You are only the second pony I’ve ever told the whole story to. The first was Luna after she confronted me the other night about the dreams I had been having the past few days. That was when she convinced me to come see you. So I could have a chance to stand up to someone like I never got with Sunshine.”

Twilight smiled. “It came back again when I saw you on the ground getting beaten by those ponies. When I saw what they were doing I could only see myself on the ground in that bathroom.” Twilight took a deep breath. Her mouth was set in a line. “This time I was strong though. I stopped them. I saved you. They won’t hurt any ponies for a long time.”

Twilight jumped as Rainbow threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around the unicorn. While shocked at first she quickly returned the hug and smiled. The two sat that way for a long time until Rainbow finally disentangled herself from her friend.

“Thanks for trusting me, Twi, it...it really means a lot,” Rainbow said, smiling at her friend.

“I should have told you all long ago. I had blocked it out but I hadn’t realized how much it still affected me,” Twilight said with a frown. “It feels really good to tell you though. I’m just sorry it made you feel so bad. I should actually thank you - you doing what you did helped me get passed something I didn’t realize I needed to. So thanks.”

Rainbow shook her head. “I can’t accept your thanks, not for that. I know it helped you but for all the wrong reasons. I’m sorry Twi. I know I keep saying that but it’s true. I’ve been so ready to lash out at other ponies that I’ve not really taken the time to think of the effect it’s having on them,” Rainbow said, frowning. “I want to get better. I want to stop being that pony. Can...can you help me, Twi?” Rainbow said, looking up at her friend hopefully.

Twilight smiled. “Of course you can Rainbow. Come on, let’s go home.”

Chapter 6

They arrived at the Ponyville train station in the middle of the afternoon. There were four ponies and a dragon waiting for them on the platform. Twilight had sent word ahead. As Rainbow Dash saw them, she grimaced, and turned to Twilight.

“What should I say?” she asked.

“Whatever you think is best. I trust you to make the right decisions, Rainbow,” Twilight said with a smile.

Rainbow gave her a weak smile of thanks and stepped off the train. She stood in front of the ponies who were all giving her smiles. All except one that is. Rainbow decided it was best to tear the bandaid off fast.

“Listen, AJ, I’m sorry about the stuff I said.”

Applejack looked up at her with a stunned expression. “You’re sorry? I’m sorry! I know you were hurtin’ and I let my emotions get the better of me. I should have been there for you - heck, I went in there with the specific purpose of being there for you - but instead I let my pride get in the way of our friendship. Can you forgive me for startin’ that fight?” Applejack said, kicking at the ground. She let out a surprised yelp as Rainbow Dash threw her hooves around her.

“I needed the sense knocked into me. You weren’t the only one who was letting their pride get in the way. Thanks for trying,” Rainbow said. Applejack smiled and returned the hug. They broke apart as the rest of Rainbow’s friends rushed in to give the pegasus their own hugs and words of support. After the initial rush everyone started to calm down.

“Oh my gosh, I totally have to throw you a party, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing on the spot. Her grin threatened to spread off the edge of her face if it got any wider.

“Thanks, Pink, but could you give it a few days? I kind of want to settle down a little you know? Get back on my hooves,” Rainbow said, smiling at her friend.

“Of course, Dashie, whatever you need,” Pinkie said with a softer smile.

The friends said their goodbyes and the trio of Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike went back toward the library. As they were walking Twilight looked sideways at Rainbow Dash.

“Your balance seems to have improved a lot since we last walked like this,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Rainbow said with a shrug, “although I don’t know if it’s more that my balance is getting better or that I had a lot of practice while drunk. Seems easier now that I’m sober.”

They walked in an awkward silence the rest of the way to the library. Once arriving at the treehouse Twilight showed the pegasus to her room. It was a slightly smaller version of Twilight’s room. Right next door was the room the unicorn and Spike slept. On the floor was, Rainbow noticed with surprise, the things she had collected from her house when she first went there with Twilight.

“But… how?” Rainbow said with a frown.

“Spike,” Twilight said with a smile. “After I had calmed down he went to your house to find out what had happened. When he got there you weren’t around but the front door was still open. He noticed the bags and brought them over for you.”

Rainbow looked over at the dragon who had his eyes lowered to the floor and his hands behind his back. His cheeks were tinged pink as he looked up at her and said, “Sorry, Rainbow, I didn’t mean to take anything. I just… well… assumed you would have wanted it here when you came back.”

Rainbow gave Spike a grin and wrapped a leg around his shoulders. “You did great, Spike, thanks.” At the confused look of the others, Rainbow continued, “I assume none of you have seen my house since that day?” she asked. When they both shook their heads she explained what had happened to her cloud home. Twilight was horrified by the time Rainbow had finished.

“But that’s your home,” she said. “Everything you owned was there. Your whole life.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said with a grimace, “you’re right, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I just have to try to look forward.” She looked down at the ground. “But maybe we should go check it out now? I kinda left in a hurry last time. There might be something I can salvage.”

Twilight nodded her head and emptied the contents of her saddle bags. She brought another bag out for Rainbow which the pegasus hung around her neck. Once they were ready they walked toward the door.

“Did you need me to come too?” Spike asked. “I can help carry some stuff, if you need.”

“Nah,” Rainbow said, shaking her head. “There really isn’t all that much worth finding.”

They left the library and headed toward the pegasus’ cloud house. Once there they picked over the wreckage to find what they could. There wasn’t much but they found a few things of Rainbow’s worth keeping, clothes and mementos mostly, and tucked them away in the saddle bags. They were starting to leave when Rainbow paused.

“Hold up, Twi,” she said, running back into the wreckage. She walked over to the trophy she had smashed the days before and slowly picked up the pieces with her hooves. It took her a few tries but she finally tucked them away into her bag and walked back over to the unicorn.

“Ready to go?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow nodded and they walked back to the library as the sun set over Ponyville.

Rainbow woke screaming. The nightmare still gripped her as she threw the covers off. Her body was sticky from sweat and her heart was still racing as she dropped her legs off the side of the bed. She sat up and waited for the fog to clear from her mind. As it did she noticed a quiet wheezing outside of her room. She jumped off the bed and walked over to the door.

As she pulled it open a purple mare fell into the room and hit the ground with a thud. Twilight had been sleeping up against the door, but hitting the floor had soon cured her of that. She jumped up and looked around in a panic to get her bearings. Once she realized where she was she looked up at Rainbow with a small forced grin.

“Guess I, kinda, fell asleep there,” Twilight said.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “How long were you out there?” the pegasus asked. Twilight looked sheepish.

“I’m not really sure to be honest,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “I woke at some point to your screaming but when I poked my head in you were still asleep. I was just going to sit for a few minutes until it stopped, but I guess I fell asleep at some point.”

“I was screaming for that long?” Rainbow said, frowning. “No wonder my throat is killing me. It only felt like the dream lasted a second.” She looked up at Twilight. “I’m really sorry, Twilight, I didn’t mean to keep you awake.”

Twilight shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. I just want to make sure you’re okay,” she said, looking at the mare with concern.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, nodding, “I’ll be fine.”

The two stood for a moment looking around the room trying not to meet the others eyes. Twilight coughed.

“Right, well, I might go downstairs and get some coffee. Don’t think I can get back to sleep right now. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Actually I’ll come with. Coffee sounds great right about now.”

Twilight walked into the kitchen and started making the drinks. Rainbow sat at the table and watched the unicorn. She smiled as she thought about everything that Twilight had done for her in the past week. Not only had she put her life completely on hold, but she had also done everything in her power to make sure Rainbow was happy.

‘Am I happy?’ Rainbow thought. She didn’t really have an answer to that. She had lost the anger she felt but still felt… empty? She was just living each day as best she could while trying not to think of the future. What would she do with her life now? She was a pegasus with a talent for flying who couldn’t fly. Even thinking in those vague terms brought bile to the back of her throat.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Twilight placed a steaming mug in front of her. After the unicorn was seated herself she looked at Rainbow with a frown.

“You looked like you were thinking pretty hard there. Mind if I ask what about?” Twilight said, smiling a small smile.

“Nothing,” Rainbow said. She wasn’t ready to talk about it. Not yet. Twilight nodded and the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes while taking sips of the hot coffee in front them.

“I have to make it up to the guys,” Rainbow said, bringing Twilight out of her own thoughts. She tilted her head to the side and gave Rainbow a confused look. Rainbow smiled. “The others. I said some bad stuff to them and I want to make it right. I know they forgive me, but I need to try at least. It will give me something to do over the next few days anyway.”

“That’s a great idea, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, nodding at her friend. “It will be good to keep your mind busy too.”

Rainbow nodded and smiled at her friend. She knew Twilight would understand. That was one of the main reasons she decided to stay with Twilight. At first it was because she was the only one who had been there but now it was more than that. She knew she could trust the unicorn. After what they had shared it felt like they had grown closer as friends.

Plus she was certainly easy on the eyes.

Rainbow stopped the mug halfway to her face. Where had that thought come from? Twilight was a friend and nothing more. Sure, objectively she was cute, but Rainbow doubted Twilight even felt that way about other mares let - alone her. She shook her head and buried the thought before it grew out of control. That was just what she didn’t need - another thing to worry about right now.

The two sat for the rest of the night (or morning depending on your perspective) and chatted about nothingness. Distractions to keep Rainbows mind busy were hard to come by at that hour in the morning so they filled them with gossip.

It seemed like no time at all before the sun was rising and Spike made his way down the stairs. Twilight smiled and passed the dragon a mug of freshly brewed coffee. Rainbow raised her eyebrow.

“Um, isn’t Spike like, a baby?” she asked. “Should he really be drinking coffee?”

“I breathe fire out of my mouth and you think a little coffee is going to hurt me?” Spike asked, an eyebrow of his own raised. Rainbow nodded and shrugged; conceding the point.

Twilight laughed and set about making them breakfast. Rainbow raised from the table to offer her a hoof but the unicorn quickly shooed her away.

“You are my guest,” she said in a tone that brooked no argument. The pegasus sat back down and wondered how she could repay Twilight. She was planning to help the others but after everything the unicorn had done she needed to find something more for her. After a few minutes, Twilight had finished a simple breakfast, and the three of them ate in silence.

Twilight explained what their plans for the day were going to be to Spike.

“So would you mind being the librarian here again? Possibly for a few days?” Twilight asked, giving him a hopeful grin.

“Yeah, no problem,” Spike said. “But I really should ask for a pay rise.”

“Wait, you get paid?” Rainbow asked.

“Of course he does,” Twilight said, laughing. “What do you think I am? A slaver?”

“More like slave driver,” Spike said, looking sideways at Rainbow with a grin. Rainbow laughed at the mock hurt on Twilight’s face, the other two soon following the pegasus, breaking into laughter of their own.

After breakfast the two ponies got ready and said their goodbyes to Spike.

“Where to first?” Twilight asked.

“Applejack’s.”

Watching the two stubborn mares argue was beginning to grate on Twilight’s nerves. While she understood both of their perspectives, she knew neither of them would back down, so it was time to intervene.

“Enough!” Twilight shouted, causing both of the mares to stop and look at her. “We all get it. Rainbow, you want to make it up to Applejack. Applejack, you don’t think there is anything she needs to make up for. Now, Applejack, can we please move past this and just give Rainbow something to help you with already? We know you don’t need the help but it would make everyone feel better.”

Applejack had the good graces to look sheepish. She looked up at Rainbow and said, “Alright then, think you can handle some cart pullin’?”

A few minutes later the apple cart was attached to Rainbow. She pulled with the ease of a practiced athlete and started heading toward the fields.

“I’m going to head into town for a while, Rainbow, is there anything you wanted me to get?” Twilight said.

“Nah,” Rainbow said, “Applejack and I have it covered.”

The unicorn nodded and left the two to walk toward the field. Applejack gave Rainbow a smile.

“Nice to see you and Twi getting on again,” she said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, smiling. “She’s been really great. I just don’t know how I’m going to make it up to her.”

“Now Rainbow,” Applejack said, frowning, “you know we don’t expect nothin’ of ya. I’m sure Twilight feels the same way and is just happy to be helpin’.”

“I know that,” Rainbow said. “It doesn’t change the fact that I want to repay her though. She has been amazing through this whole thing - even after the way I treated her. She deserves it,” Rainbow said with a small smile.

Applejack gave her friend a sly look. “‘Deserves it’, huh? Sounds like you got a thing for little ol’ Twi there.”

Rainbow sputtered and almost tripped on a tree root causing Applejack to fall over laughing at the pegasus. Rainbow gave her a disapproving frown while she waited for the earth pony to compose herself.

“Aw geez, Rainbow, I was just kiddin’. Didn’t expect that reaction,” Applejack said with a smile.

Rainbow grimaced realizing the corner she had backed herself into. “It isn’t like that, I swear,” she said. “I mean, I like Twi, I just don’t know if I ‘like’ like her, you know?”

“Sure thing sugarcube,” Applejack said, the smile not leaving her face. “You keep tellin’ yourself that.”

Rainbow scowled at her friend and started pulling the wagon forward again. Applejack got her to stop between each tree as she bucked the apples free. It wasn’t long before Rainbow realized just how much time they were saving. Applejack would have had to reattach the wagon each time she moved between the trees. Without the help Rainbow was providing it would have taken her almost double the time. She smiled as she took comfort in the fact that there was something she was still able to do to help her friends.

The two talked as they worked and before Rainbow knew it Twilight was walking up the path toward them.

“I thought you girls might like some lunch?” Twilight said.

“It’s lunch time already?” Rainbow asked.

“Time flies when you’re workin’ hard RD,” Applejack said. “I know this ‘hard work’ thing must be new to a pony like yourself,” she said.

Rainbow smiled at the familiar ribbing from her friend. It felt good to have things back to some semblance of normalcy for a while. When they finished the break they continued on with Twilight in tow. After the first couple of trees, Twilight started plucking the apples from adjacent trees, adding them to the cart. While not as fast as Applejack’s bucking they got an extra tree for every three they would have done without her.

Applejack smiled at the mares. “If I knew how much faster this would have been I would have hit you in the muzzle ages ago, Rainbow,” she said. The three of them laughed and spent the rest of the afternoon working and chatting. Once they were done they headed toward the house for dinner at Applejack’s insistence.

“I’m telling you girls it’s the least I can do for ya,” Applejack said. “Not only because of the help you’ve offered, but also the company. I’m usually out there alone, which I usually prefer, but it can get lonely sometimes. It’s faster for Big Mac and I to work separate fields so I rarely get anypony to talk to. Was good havin’ you girls out there today.” Applejack stopped with a thoughtful look on her face. “In fact, I might have a talk with Big Mac. Even with just Rainbow I managed to get the harvest done a lot faster than I would have otherwise. Might look into hiring someone extra to help out for harvest - maybe even cider season too. The extra money we make will offset the cost of the hiring and give us more time in the day to do others things around the place.”

Rainbow smiled as she thought about what she had achieved. Even though it wasn’t her intent she had given Applejack something that might make her life easier. Also, it could mean a job for some pony out there. She considered helping Applejack with the farm herself but dismissed the idea. She wasn’t sure what she wanted out of life anymore but she knew it wasn’t to be a farm pony. That didn’t rule out the possibility of helping her friend every now and then though. Not that she would admit it to Applejack but the day of hard work had left her beat and felt good.

The arrived in the house to dinner being served up. They noticed that Granny Smith had already laid out two extra places for them at the table. Applejack noticed Twilight’s confusion.

“You think Granny wouldn’t feed someone who’s been helping us all day? Where do you think I got it from?” she said, grinning.

Twilight smiled and sat down next to Apple Bloom as she listened to the excited filly tell her all about her crusading adventures that day. She listened politely while watching Rainbow Dash out of the corner of her eye. The pegasus was talking to Big Mac, and the way her forehooves flew about she knew it had to be something exciting. Mac sat watching the pegasus in confusion, which Rainbow Dash either didn’t notice, or didn’t seem to care about.

Once dinner was complete Applejack thanked them again for their help, and the two started to head back to the library. Twilight noticed the smile on Rainbow’s face.

“Feeling better?” she asked.

“Yeah, Rainbow said, nodding to her friend. “I’m glad I was able to help a friend. Although my legs are killing me. Don’t tell Applejack but I have a newfound respect for how strong she is to buck AND pull that cart each day.”

Twilight laughed and the two walked in a comfortable silence back to the library.

For the first time since her accident Rainbow awoke in the morning fully rested. She jumped up in shock and looked around the sunlit room in disbelief. She shook her head as she realised it must have been the exhaustion from pulling the cart. She walked out to find Twilight already up and in the kitchen preparing breakfast. The unicorn grinned as Rainbow entered.

“How are you? How did you sleep?” she said, obviously already knowing the answer.

“Like a rock,” Rainbow said, grinning herself. “I can’t believe I didn’t have any nightmares.”

“Me neither! I even checked on you a few times to make sure you were-” Twilight froze, realizing what she had said.

“You checked up on me?” Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight grimaced. “I’m really sorry, Rainbow, I just wanted to make sure you were okay and-”

“It’s okay, Twi, I’m not mad,” Rainbow said. “I know you are just worried about me. But maybe try to be a little less creepy about it, huh?” she said, smiling.

Twilight blushed and nodded. After the unicorn returned to the stove Rainbow allowed herself a small smile. She was actually flattered Twilight had come into her room. Was nice thinking she had someone that cute watching over her at night. She tried to stop those thoughts again. Twilight was just worried about her - that’s it. Nothing more to it. Probably.

The pegasus shook her head and grumbled to herself as she walked to the table and sat. After a few minutes they were joined by Spike and the two struck up a conversation while they waited for Twilight to finish. The unicorn lay plates of pancakes in from of them which Spike eyed with uncontrolled joy.

“You barely ever make pancakes! What is the big deal?” he asked.

“Well,” Twilight said, “Rainbow worked pretty hard yesterday. I thought she might like the extra big breakfast.”

“Well, you won’t hear me complaining!” Spike said. He paused. “Well, okay, you just did, but you won’t hear it again!”

The mares laughed as they all dug in to the food. Once they were done Spike started clearing the table.

“Where are you headed today?” Spike asked.

Rainbow was about to respond that she didn’t have the faintest when Twilight suddenly spoke up.

“Pinkie Pie’s,” she said. “I saw a few of the girls yesterday and we determined a schedule over the next days of whom Rainbow can help.” Twilight paused and looked over to Rainbow. “I hope that’s okay?” she said with a meek smile.

Rainbow grinned. She really wasn’t sure what to do over the next few days and was just going to see what happened. Twilight, being Twilight, had once again gone out of her way to help her. She smiled up at the unicorn.

“Heck, I can’t argue with Ponyville’s best organizer, can I?”

Twilight blushed and Spike stifled a laugh with his claw. She looked up at Rainbow. “Is it okay if you head down there yourself for the morning? I’ll be up after lunch, but I have to take care of a few things around here beforehand.”

Rainbow nodded at the mare, and left the library to head toward Sugarcube Corner with a smile on her face. Today was going to be awesome.

Today had been a nightmare.

Rainbow grimaced as she once again dropped the eggs against the floor. She cursed and made to pick them up, but instead slipped in the sauce she had dropped earlier and fell face first onto the floor sending up a puff of flour. Pinkie helped her up and the pegasus went, once again, to get the mop and bucket. She had spent more time cleaning her own messes than she had actually cooking anything.

Rainbow sighed in frustration. Pulling a cart had been easy. She hadn’t needed her wing so she hadn’t thought about it all day. It wasn’t until trying to handle the small ingredients that she realized how much she had relied on her wings to do even the simplest of things. It wasn’t just balance. Pegasus used their wings to hold things too. Even the most flightless of pegasus still used their wings for regular everyday chores. She hadn’t realised how little she used her hooves for this kind of thing until she tried.

She found her right wing constantly coming around from her back to hold things in place and automatically letting go of them with her hooves. This, obviously, made the object in question fall to the ground. It took her two bags of flour before she realized what was happening. Her reflexes assumed her left wing was there to take the slack and it was safe to let go of with her hooves.

So she had switched tactics. After crushing the fifth egg between her hooves she stopped trying that too. Watching Pinkie handle everything with ease only made it all the more frustrating. She started down at her hooves and wondered how those cloppers could ever do anything with accuracy. She envied earth ponies for their dexterity in using their hooves. Being a pegasus had not trained her in their use and made her feel like a foal.

Pinkie had been encouraging but she was starting to see the grimaces on the earth ponies face each time she reached for another ingredient. She had all but given up by the time Twilight arrived.

When Twilight looked at Rainbow she knew something was wrong. She took a moment to look around the room and nothing looked too out of place. Pinkie bounced over to her.

“Hey, Twilight! How are things? Rainbow has been wonderific in helping me today!”

Rainbow scoffed. “Don’t bother, Pinkie, you know as well as I do that I’ve been nothing but a nuisance today. I don’t even know why I bothered.”

Twilight frowned as Pinkie looked over at her friend with sadness in her eyes. “Don’t say that, Dashie, you’ve been a great help! Sure you broke a few things but that doesn’t matter. You helped me and you made me happy to be with a friend for the day.”

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah okay, Pinkie,” she said, eyes not leaving the floor. “Twi, can we just go?”

The two left the shop with a sad Pinkie waving from the door. Rainbow said nothing as they walked toward the library. Twilight took a breath.

“Did you want to talk about it?” she asked.

“Not really,” Rainbow said.

Twilight frowned and the two of them finished the journey in silence. When they arrived home Rainbow went straight up to her room and closed the door behind her. Spike looked at Twilight with a questioning look in his eyes. Twilight just sighed and shrugged.

A few hours later, after the sun had set, Rainbow left the room and headed to the shower. She knew she was being stupid in not talking to Twilight but she couldn’t help it. Pride was a lot harder to beat than she first thought.

As she stepped into the shower she closed her eyes, and went to turn the handles with her wings. At once cold water hit her and she jumped back in shock. Realising her stupidity she quickly reached forward with her hoof to turn the hot but, in her haste and lack of practice, she broke the handle off. Scowling she turned the cold off with her wing and stepped out of the shower.

She stopped as she caught her reflection in the mirror. A sad, wet, deformed pegasus looked back at her. She started shaking in rage and lurched forward with her hooves. The mirror smashed and fell to pieces around her. Her forelegs started bleeding slightly where the glass had hit her as it fell but she barely noticed. Rainbow fell to the floor.

Suddenly the door behind her burst open and Twilight rushed into the room.

“Rainbow what is… oh my god, you’re bleeding!” she said, rushing forward. She dropped to the floor and took the pegasus hooves in her own. After giving them a look over she cast the minor healing spells she had learnt to seal up the wounds. They weren’t fancy but they would stop bleeding until she could get some bandages on them.

“Rainbow, what happened?” Twilight said, looking at the pegasus. Rainbow raised her eye’s to look into Twilight and the unicorn gasped as she saw the tears flowing free.

“I’m pathetic,” Rainbow said. “I’m so damn pathetic.”

Twilight quickly wrapped her with her forelegs and Rainbow gripped onto the unicorn as if for life. Her body shook as sobs overtook the mare she was holding. Twilight’s chest was wet with tears as she held the pegasus close. She ran her hoof down the pegasus’ rainbow mane as she tried to think of something to say.

“No, Rainbow, you’re not,” she said. “You are the furthest thing from pathetic I have ever seen. I know you, Rainbow, and I know how strong you are. I have seen the things you do, how you treat your friends, how you stand up for us all.”

The pegasus was looking up at Twilight. The tears were still flowing but she had stopped sobbing. She seemed to be hanging off Twilight words. She looked afraid.

“You are the strongest mare I know,” Twilight said. “You are the bravest, most courageous pony I have ever seen. Something bad happened to you and you have handled it the best you could. No-one blames you, and no-one thinks you’re worthless. You are amazing, Rainbow, you really are. I know you’re going to get through this. You get through everything. You are Rainbow - fucking - Dash. And I love you,” Twilight said, tears running down her face to join those on her chest.

Rainbow looked at her in shock. “You… you mean it?” she asked.

Twilight nodded and pulled the pegasus close again. Rainbows world was spinning. ‘She said she loved me,’ she thought, ‘what did she mean by that?’

Only one way to find out.

Rainbow lifted her head and brought her muzzle up to Twilight’s. The purple mare’s eyes widened in shock, and Rainbow thought she had made a terrible mistake. She was about to break from the mare when Twilight’s eyes closed, and the unicorn sighed, leaning into the kiss. They stayed that way for a few long seconds before breaking apart and looking at each other in awe. Twilight smiled and hugged the stunned pegasus.

“Come on,” Twilight said, “let’s go get those arms wrapped up.”

Chapter 7

“So, what now?” Rainbow asked.

The two mares sat in the kitchen with the pegasus’ forelegs bandaged tight. Twilight had tended to her wounds in silence but the two could not keep from sneaking glances at each other. With nothing left to occupy their hooves the silence had gotten awkward.

“Well I don’t think you will need a trip to the hospital, but it would pay to keep the bandages on for a couple of days so they don’t start bleeding again,” Twilight said, not quite meeting her friend’s eyes.

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Rainbow said, frowning.

“I know,” Twilight said, nodding, “but I’m pointedly avoiding the elephant in the room.”

“Look,” Rainbow said, sighing, “If you want to just forget about it it’s okay. I understand.”

Twilight’s eyebrows lifted. “No, that’s not it at all, I’ve just never really… you know…”

It was Rainbow’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “Like, never?”

Twilight frowned. “After everything I’ve told you the past few days what makes you think I would have?”

Rainbow grimaced and looked down at her hooves on the table. “Sorry, Twi, I didn’t think,” she said.

“It’s okay. It’s just everything is going to be pretty new to me. What about you? Have you been - wait, no, I don’t really need to know and it isn’t any of my business,” Twilight said, her cheeks turning pink.

‘She is so cute,’ Rainbow thought. She smiled at the unicorn and rested her head on her hooves. This only caused Twilight to turn a deeper shade which in turn made Rainbow laugh.

“It’s okay, Twi, I don’t mind. I had a few hook-ups when I was in flight camp. Nothing serious and nothing since then. I’ve always been too busy. Never really the time to find anyone, you know?”

Twilight nodded more for something to do than in agreement. She fidgeted for a few moments before looking up at Rainbow Dash.

“So what do we do now?” she asked.

“I really don’t know,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “I’ve never really been in this situation before. Is this something you want?” she asked.

Twilight nodded and smiled which instantly sent a warm feeling rushing into Rainbow’s stomach. The pegasus smiled again and held out her hooves across the table. Twilight paused for a moment before slowly bringing her own to meet them. When they touched both mares smiled.

“What do you say,” Rainbow said, “we just take it slow. Neither of us are in any position to be making any major life decisions right now. Obviously.”

Twilight laughed and nodded her head. “Sounds good to me,” she said, the smile not leaving her face as she looked at Rainbow.

“Well, this is awkward,” a green dragon said from the doorway.

Twilight let out a squeak, jumping back so fast the chair she was sitting on tilted backwards and, with a crash, sent both itself and it’s occupant to the floor. Rainbow’s head hit the table as she collapsed in laughter with Spike following close behind. The unicorn picked herself up off the floor with a scowl that she couldn’t quite keep as straight as she would have liked.

Once they had calmed down Spike continued. “So, you and Rainbow, huh?”

“Um, kinda sitting right here?” Rainbow said.

Twilight giggled. “I guess so, Spike, it just sort of crept up on us. We aren’t really sure of anything yet so would you mind keeping it to yourself?”

“Yeah, no biggie,” Spike said, walking to the fridge.

“Wait, what? You’re okay with this?” Twilight asked.

Spike shrugged. “It’s not my life. You can do what you want - you’re a grown mare. Besides, it’s nice to see you live a little for a change.”

Twilight opened her mouth to defend her living choices when she noticed the sly expression on the dragons face. She took a breath and smiled before leaning forward to swat him on the head. This prompted Rainbow to start laughing again.

After dinner the three made their way to the bedrooms. Rainbow hesitated at the door.

“Um, Twi, could I get you to come in with me for a moment?”

“Well, I don’t need to stick around for this, I’m off to bed,” Spike said, covering his eyes and walking into the bedroom shared between himself and Twilight, who blushed and started stammering.

“It’s not that,” Rainbow said. “I just need to talk to her for a bit.”

Spike shrugged and made a point to pick up his earmuffs, placing them over his ears, before walking over and shutting the door on them.

“Why that little… “ Twilight said, glaring at the door.

“Oh he’s just messing with you,” Rainbow said with a chuckle. Twilight nodded her head and smiled. Rainbow leaned her head against the door and pushed her way in with Twilight following closely behind. Once they were in the room Rainbow sat down on the side of the bed. She motioned for Twilight to join her.

“What is this about, Rainbow?” Twilight said, taking her place next to the mare.

The pegasus sighed and looked to her hooves. “I want to tell you about the dream I’ve been having.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. She had been waiting for Rainbow to start opening up, and was both excited and nervous to have it happen. She took a breath to calm her nerves.

“Whatever you want to tell me, Rainbow, I’m here to listen.”

Rainbow turned her head and gave the unicorn a smile. She took a deep breath herself before saying, “When I first starting having the dream it was the night after I left the hospital.”

The pegasus forced breath from her nose and stood from the bed. “I don’t even know why it’s so hard to say. It’s stupid.”

Twilight looked up at her friend. “I’m not going to judge you, Rainbow, you’re safe here,” she said, motioning the bed beside her. Rainbow frowned but took her place on the bed again anyway. A war seemed to play across her face before she swallowed hard and turned to Twilight.

“It starts out the same every time. I’m in flight camp and the other foals there are laughing at me. At first I’m confused - I was teased a bit in fight camp but nothing major. I go to ask someone why they are laughing at me when one of them starts chanting ‘cripple’. The rest join in and that is when I look around to see both my wings are gone.

“I turn back to the kids but they’ve changed. They are all the ponies from Ponyville - still chanting. I push through the crowd and see you and the other girls sitting there. I rush forward to get to you but somepony steps in my way. When I look up it’s my dad. His expression, its… disgust. I ask him why he’s looking at me that way.”

The pegasus sighed and looked Twilight in the eye. “All he says is, ‘You’re worthless. You’re barely even a pegasus.’ At that moment the clouds seem to just stop supporting me. I drop and fall to the ground below. I know I’m going to die and I can’t do anything to stop it. I always wake when I hit the ground.”

Twilight had tears in her eyes. She knew the pegasus thought of herself as not being a pegasus any more, but didn’t realize the depth of it. She chose her next words carefully.

“Rainbow, I hate to ask, but why is it your dad?”

Rainbow grimaced and looked away. She coughed to clear her throat and even though Twilight couldn’t see the pegasus’ face she knew the mare was crying.

“He left us. When I was pretty young. I don’t remember much except that he used to be drunk a lot. I still remember the smell of his breath each night. Phoenix whiskey. It’s weird, but that smell always makes me scared and relieved at the same time. It’s like, a fucked up version of home, or something. I don’t know.”

Rainbow paused for a few moments and Twilight lifted her hoof to stroke the pegasus’ mane. Rainbow shivered under the touch and turned to look Twilight in the eyes.

“Those were the last words he said to me. When I was a foal I was really behind on my flight. I couldn’t hover or do any of the things most foals my age could do that the time. He was screaming at Mom like normal, but somehow I could tell it was different. He never hit us or anything. He would usually scream and yell and break something then go back into his study to drink more.

“But, like I said, that night was different. He just wouldn’t stop screaming at her. I was so scared. I was barely six and I ran up to him and kicked him as hard as I could. He was so shocked he just stared down at me. I was so scared he was going to hit me I just curled up into a ball. He looked at me and said, ‘You’re worthless. You’re barely even a pegasus.’, then he grabbed his coat and left. We never saw him again.

“He is pretty much the reason I push myself so hard now. I just want to prove him wrong, you know? I know it sounds dumb but after what he put my mom and I through… I just want to be better.”

Rainbow finished her story and Twilight sat stunned. She had no idea what she could say that would make anything okay. Her own family life was a picturesque view of happiness. Loving mother, father, brother. She knew things like this happened to people, but always just assumed it was someone else. Not someone she would know.

She opened her forelegs and Rainbow entered them gladly. She ran her hoof down the pegasus’ mane again as Rainbow cried into her chest. It wasn’t the wracking sobs of earlier, but a more deep and personal emotion. The pegasus had confided in her more than Twilight could have ever hoped, and the unicorn realized that she didn’t know what to do. She, for the first time in her life, stopped trying to think. She let her emotions take over.

Reaching her hoof under the pegasus’ chin she lifted Rainbow’s eyes so they would meet her own. Still wet with tears the pegasus almost looked fearful.

“You are not worthless. You are perfect,” she said, lowering her muzzle to the pegasus’. She could taste the tears from Rainbow mixed with the roughness of her tongue. The pair fell backwards onto the bed and kissed more urgently. Rainbow clutched Twilight’s head in her own hooves and pulled the mare closer. The two broke apart and Rainbow buried her head into Twilights chest again.

“Thanks, Twi, for everything.”

Twilight didn’t respond. They lay there for a while before Twilight heard Rainbow start snoring softly. Using her magic the unicorn disentangled herself from the pegasus without waking the sleeping mare. Once Rainbow was tucked into her bed Twilight walked to the door. She turned back to look at the sleeping form on the bed before mentally blowing out the candle on her bedside table.

“Goodnight, Rainbow Dash,” she said, closing the door behind her.

For the second night in a row Rainbow Dash didn’t have any nightmares. Their day today was spent with Fluttershy helping her with some odd jobs around her house. Rainbow struggled at first but, with some help from Twilight, managed to pull through the day. They were on their way home when Rainbow stopped in the general store to grab some super glue. Twilight gave her a questioning look as she placed the item into her bag but Rainbow just shook her head.

“Just something I’m working on. I’ll show you when it’s done.”

The next day was spent with Rarity helping her around the boutique. Although frustrated at first with the task she had been assigned (“Oh I know I have clothes horses, darling, but seeing the way the fabric falls on a live mare really has no substitute.”) she had quickly come to enjoy being able to watch Twilight.

The unicorn spent most of her time reading, and Dash was angled just in such a way that she could watch the mare out of the corner of her eye without arousing suspicions. The two had continued to keep their relationship a secret, but it was more a lie of omission than anything else. They would tell people when they were ready and not a moment sooner.

Rainbow was clothed in a particularly frilly number when Rarity huffed in frustration.

“No, this simply won’t do, your body type is all wrong. Twilight! Come over here a moment, darling, I need your help.”

Twilight looked stunned for a moment as she was pulled out of her book. After shaking her head to clear it she stood up and walked over to the designer. She was, much to her discomfort, soon wrapped in the same fabrics as the pegasus pony. Once she was done Rarity looked between them with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“No, you aren’t right for it either. Might I say though that the two of you make a delightful couple,” she said, winking.

Twilight stood stunned as the pegasus’ sputtered. Rarity raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

“What? You think I didn’t notice you, Rainbow, staring at Twilight all day?” she said with a smirk. Rainbow blushed. “And you, Twilight, I know how fast you read, and you’ve not moved from the page you were on for the past twenty minutes. You did, however, manage to position yourself to steal glances at Rainbow every time you thought I wasn’t looking.”

Twilight had the decency to look ashamed. “I’m sorry, Rarity, we didn’t mean to keep it from you, we just wanted-”

“No, no, Twilight, you don’t need to explain yourself to me. I understand why you would want to keep it under wraps for a while and your secret is safe with me. And Fluttershy. And Applejack.”

“What!” Twilight said. “You’re going to tell them?”

Rarity laughed. “Oh they are the ones who told me, darling. The three of us went out to dinner last night and Fluttershy brought up how the two of you seemed very close. You probably thought you were being coy at her house too didn’t you?” At the expressions on their faces Rarity smirked. “And Applejack mentioned that Rainbow Dash had let something slip that she didn’t mean to when working on the farm. It doesn’t take a math genius to put two and two together.”

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. “Let something slip?”

Rainbow grimaced. “Well, I didn’t really say anything, but I might have, um, face planted when she brought you up in that way.” At seeing Twilight’s expression she quickly added, “Not that she brought you up in that way or anything! What I mean to say is, uh, that she mentioned I might like you. And I fell. On my face.”

Twilight smiled at the blush filling Rainbow’s cheeks. She heard Rarity practically squeal with delight.

“Oh my gosh you simply must let me make you two some matching outfits!”

“No!” the two mares said simultaneously.

Rarity frowned at her friends. “Well, I know you two aren’t particularly interested in fashion, but I can assure you I-”

“It’s not that, Rarity, really,” Twilight said. “I’m sure you would make the perfect outfits for us. We just, well, don’t really want to advertise it right now.”

“Or course, darling,” Rarity said with a smile. “As I said, your secret is safe with me. Well, us. Can Pinkie know? I don’t like the idea of one of our friends being left out. Especially with how she reacted last time we kept a secret from her.”

The three of the grimaced at the memory. Rainbow shuddered as she tried to forget her argument with a pile of rocks.

“I don’t see why not. What do you think, Rainbow?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah fine with me. If the rest of you girls know there’s no reason to keep it a secret any more,” Rainbow said. “But just Pinkie Pie. It’s not really anypony elses business after all.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You want me to tell Pinkie and have her not throw you a party right away to celebrate?”

Twilight and Rainbow grimaced. “You’re right,” Twilight said. “We’ll talk to her this afternoon.”

“Well whatever you do tell her I think it is important that the six of us go out the celebrate. It’s not everyday that one’s friends find a special somepony, and it would be a shame to just sweep it under the rug. We simply must go out tonight!”

“I don’t know, Rares, it’s kinda short notice,” Rainbow said.

“Nonsense. I plan to celebrate my friends finding happiness and I will not hear another word about it. There is a new restaurant in town I have been dying to try out anyway. I will talk to Applejack and Fluttershy to see if they are available, and you two can deal with Pinkie. Now be off with you - I have an outfit to pick out.”

The two mares looked at each other with looks of despair. While a seemingly easier chore, they knew that breaking the news to Pinkie that they had planned a party without her would be tough, even though it was barely a party at all.

Rarity dismissed the two to Sugarcube Corner and they left. About halfway there Rainbow turned to Twilight.

“So, we’re marefriends now, I guess?” she asked.

“I guess so,” Twilight said, nodding. “I mean, we pretty much were, right? We just never said it out loud.”

Rainbow nodded and smiled. The two of them walking in a comfortable silence the rest of the way to the bakery.

As expected, Pinkie Pie was happy at the news, excited at the prospect of a party, slightly sad at the fact she didn’t get to plan it, but happy that her friends would all be together. The earth pony saw them out the door with a promise of a surprise for the weekend which left the pair both happy and nervous.

“Well that went better than I thought it would,” Rainbow said, a bemused look on her face.

“Yeah, me too, I was worried she would be upset but she really just seemed happy that we were happy,” Twilight said. “Which, now that I’ve said it out loud, sounds exactly like Pinkie would react.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, nodding, “I guess you’re right.”

“What do you think her surprise will be?”

Rainbow shook her head. “With Pinkie you will never know.”

The two arrived home and spent most of the evening enjoying one anothers company. When the time came to getting ready, Twilight excused herself to her room, while Rainbow had a quick shower and threw on a dress. It had taken all up about ten minutes. She had been waiting on the ground floor of the library for an hour and was almost falling asleep. Spike had left for the crusaders clubhouse about half an hour beforehand for a sleepover so the pegasus had no-one to talk to. When the door to Twilight’s room opened Rainbow sighed in relief and jumped off the couch. As the unicorn stepped out onto the top of the stairs Rainbow’s mouth fell open.

Twilight was wearing a stunning blue dress that complimented her coat and mane perfectly. It was almost the same as her gala dress, but not as formal and hugged her figure in much more flattering ways. As she walked down the stairs Rainbow just stared.

“You’re going to catch a fly if you keep your mouth open like that,” Twilight said as she reached the floor. Rainbow would have almost been convinced if Twilight’s grin didn’t betray how much she enjoyed the pegasus’ attention.

“Twi, you look amazing,” Rainbow said.

“Thanks,” Twilight said, smiling.

“Where did you get that - wait, Rarity?”

Twilight nodded. “I found it when browsing her clothing line the other day. She said it was based on my gala dress. I’m glad you like it.”

Rainbow looked down at the simple dress she herself was wearing. She felt underdressed and her face must have reflected that.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow, you look fine,” Twilight said, wrapping her forelegs around the pegasus. The two kissed which soon became deeper as Rainbow pulled Twilight closer. They broke apart with heavy breaths and looked into one another eye’s.

“Let’s go to that party before we don’t,” Rainbow said.

Twilight nodded and locked the door behind them as they walked toward the restaurant. The pair arrived and were shown to the table where all the others bar Pinkie were already waiting. Apparently they were all as excited as Rarity at the news and were glad to join them for dinner. After a few minutes of conversation the party pony joined them. She was carrying a purple box wrapped in a light blue ribbon on her back.

“Howdy guys! Sorry it took so long to her here - this thing is heavy!”

Twilight levitated the gift in front of herself and Rainbow Dash. She was about to open it when Pinkie stopped her.

“You might want not want to open it here. Perhaps you should go outside to do it. I don’t think the ponies in here would appreciate it,” Pinkie said, grinning.

Twilight and Rainbow exchanged a look before excusing themselves to walk outside. The girls watched through the window as the two sat down on a bench.

Applejack looked to Pinkie. “What did ya get em?” she asked.

“Oh,” Pinkie said, smiling, “just something they might enjoy.”

They watched as the unicorn lifted the lid off the box only for both of the mares to turn a deep red and the lid to slam back down. Twilight’s horn shimmered and the box suddenly disappeared. Once they arrived back in the restaurant Pinkie was bouncing in her seat.

“Did you like it?” she asked.

“It was, ahem, very thoughtful of you, Pinkie,” Twilight said with a frazzled look. “If you don’t mind I am just going to head to the bathroom to freshen up.”

“I’ll come with,” Rarity said with an evil grin. The two left the others at the table.

“I have no idea what just happened,” Fluttershy said, frowning. Applejack laughed and pat the mare on the hoof.

“You will when you’re older, sugar cube.”

Fluttershy frowned but her expression soon changed as her eyes widened and her cheeks turned pink. This caused Rainbow and Pinkie to laugh which made the shy pegasus’ blush deepen.

Once the others returned they placed their orders and spent the rest of the night chatting and drinking. Rainbow was pointedly staying away from anything alcoholic so Twilight did the same. Many congratulations were given to the new couple and many a laugh were had at their expense, but all seemed happy with the company of one another.

“I dare say we should do this more often girls. I rarely get to see all of you in one place unless there is something threatening Equestria. Especially if you are going to start wearing my outfits which, by the way Twilight, looks absolutely stunning on you,” Rarity said, beaming at the unicorn.

“Well I don’t know about no dresses. But I like seein’ yall and would be glad to make it a more regular thing,” Applejack said.

After dinner the girls said their goodbyes and went back to their homes. Twilight and Rainbow walked together in the cool night air back to the library.

“Did you have fun tonight?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, smiling, “I really did. It’s great to see everyone happy.”

Twilight smiled and the two fell into a comfortable silence. As they were walking the unicorn shivered. Her dress was great to look at but didn’t offer much in the way of warmth. She gasped in surprise as she felt a wing drape over her back.

“I hope this is okay,” Rainbow said. “I know we aren’t telling everypony but-”

Twilight cut her off with a kiss.

“Thanks, Rainbow,” the unicorn said, smiling.

The two walked the rest of the way home and entered the dark library. When Twilight lit the candles their attention was pulled to the purple box in the room. Rainbow gave Twilight a sly smile.

The unicorns horn lit up, and the lock to the door behind them clicked.

“I quit.”

Rainbow stood in front of Thunderlane who looked stunned.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Rainbow laughed. “Pretty sure you know what it means. I sent a letter of resignation to the manager in Cloudsdale today, but I thought it would be better if you heard it from me yourself,” she said, smiling at the stallion.

Thunderlane shook his head. “But you can’t quit - we need you here!” he said.

Rainbow smiled. “Look, Thunder, I had a great time working here, but it’s not the place for me any more.” She lifted her good wing and looked at it. “I know there is more to weather than just flying, but it’s what made it appeal to me in the first place. I love you guys, and I love the fun we had, but I need to find something to do with the rest of my life. And weather ain’t it.”

Thunderlane sighed. “Yeah I get where you’re coming from. No-one expected you to stay around forever anyway. We knew the Wonderbolts would snap you up sooner or later and-” he stopped at the expression on Rainbow’s face. “I’m sorry, boss, I didn’t think-”

“It’s okay,” she said, forcing a smile. “It’s rough, but I’m handling it.” She walked to look at the map of Ponyville. “Won’t lie and say I’m not gonna miss it though. It was great working with you guys. We had some good times.”

“Hell yeah we did,” Thunderlane said. “It won’t be the same without you, boss.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Don’t go getting all mushy on me now, Thunder, I’ll think you’ve gone soft.” The two laughed.

They said their goodbyes, with promises to catch up soon, and Rainbow left the weather office. It had been a few days since the weekend and Rainbow had discussed her decision with Twilight to leave the weather team. Although hesitant at first, Twilight soon understood that she couldn’t keep working there, she had to find something new.

Rainbow’s hoofwork had increased in accuracy too since starting up her project. She had spent an hour each day piecing back together her young fliers trophy and was hoping to surprise Twilight with her achievement that afternoon. It was almost complete and she wanted to show the unicorn that she had been working hard and had improved.

Rainbow paused as she thought about her marefriend. She still had no idea how she was going to make it up to the unicorn for everything she had done, but felt more comfortable now that the two of them were happy together. She still had no idea why Twilight had chosen her, broken as she was, to be her marefriend. She tried to stamp down on those thoughts but they still managed to creep in every now and then.

‘As long as I keep moving forward I’ll be fine,’ she thought. She just hoped moving forward wasn’t the same as running away.

The pegasus stopped at Roseluck’s store to pick up some flowers.

“Oh, who is the special somepony?” Roseluck asked.

“Someone who makes me very happy,” Rainbow said, smiling.

Roseluck grinned. “Ah, a mystery is it? Well, small town like Ponyville, I’ll find out sooner or later. I wish you the best of luck,” she said.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said, grinning. After grabbing the flowers in her mouth she walked back toward the library. Her heart leaped as the familiar building came into view. She realized she had already started to think of the place as home. A sigh escaped her as she went to push on the door, but she paused when she heard voices beyond.

“Twilight, I saw the way you looked the other night, are you sure this is what you want to do?” the voice Rainbow identified as Rarity said.

“It’s what I need to do. For Rainbow,” Twilight responded.

For Rainbow? What was she talking about? What had she done?

“Twilight, as much as I admire what you are doing, you simply can’t do this to yourself.”

Rainbow heard Twilight sigh. “It doesn’t matter any more. It’s done.”

“Well then let me at least ask you this,” Rarity said. “Do you even love her?”

Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t move as she realized what they were discussing. ‘No’, she thought, ‘there is no way. Twilight would never do that to me. She would do anything for…’

Rainbow stopped thinking when she heard Twilight sobs.

Her heart sank. She knew. She had known all along. It was too perfect - the way everything had gone. It was all a lie. It was fake. Twilight was doing what she always did - tried to fix things. Tears came to Rainbow’s eyes as the flowers fell from her mouth. She looked down as they hit the ground. She felt herself start shaking as the tears flowed down her face. With a stomp she pounded the flowers into doorstop.

With a deep breath she turned and walked away from the library. She had an appointment with a bottle of Phoenix whiskey that she intended on keeping.

Chapter 8

“I don’t want no trouble,” Tapwater said from behind the bar.

“I just need booze, I don’t plan on staying, can you sell me a bottle?” Rainbow Dash said to the stallion.

He considered for a moment before shrugging and nodding. She pointed to the bottle she wanted and he grabbed it down for her. It was half empty already so he only charged her half the bits. She threw the bottle into her bag before walking toward the door. She almost made it when Berry Punch finally noticed her from the stool on the other side of the room.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” the mare said, jumping up and running over to the pegasus. “I’ve not seen you since Canterlot! Crazy party right?”

“Yeah, right, crazy,” Rainbow said. Berry sensed her mood and changed tack.

“So, you going out drinking? Need some company?”

“Not tonight, Berry,” Rainbow said.

“Okay, that’s cool, I get it. Hey, we’ll catch up next time, alright?” Berry said, turning to walk back to her stool.

Rainbow turned and left the dismal tavern walking out into the street. She looked at the clouds. Looked like rain. She didn’t really know what she was going to do but didn’t feel like being around any ponies right now. Taking the bottle from her bag she held it in her good wing and started walking toward the outskirts of Ponyville.

She opened the bottle and sniffed. Memories of home and fear rushed to the pegasus. Phoenix whiskey was the last thing she had ever thought she would be forcing into her mouth, but at this point she was beyond caring. Her dad was right anyway. Taking a swig of the bottle, and grimacing at the burn, she kept walking out of town. She skirted the forest - she was angry, not suicidal - and walked until her hooves hurt. The bottle was almost empty and she was starting to stumble quite a bit when she noticed the drop off in front of her.

“I’ve walked all the way to Ghastly Gorge?” Rainbow said aloud. She giggled to herself as she walked up to the edge. As she looked over she could see the ground hundreds of meters below. She felt a familiar thrill as her wings - no, wing - flew open. She longed for that rush, that feeling of air against her face, that… freedom. Rainbow had tried as hard as she could to get passed it but there were some things that you never fully recovered from. She was broken and would never be the same again.

Rainbow looked up and noticed a section of cliff that was slightly broken away from the rest. There was a bit of a gap but the view would be way better from over there. She walked cautiously along the edge trying to overcompensate for her drunken state. As she reached the edge she saw a few tree roots she could walk across and, holding to the trees spawning the gap, she made her way over them. She stumbled about halfway across but caught herself before she fell. Her heart leapt into her throat but she continued on anyway. She wasn’t going to let some cliff beat her.

Once she had made it across to the small clearing she walked to the edge of the cliff. Sitting down, she let her hooves dangle over the edge, swaying in the wind. She watched as the sun set and felt the drops of rain start to come down. She looked up at the clouds again. They were angry clouds. Everfree clouds. She could see the small pinpricks in the sky that she knew were pegasi, struggling against the alien weather, trying to get it under control.

Funnily enough looking at weather ponies working didn’t make her feel any better.

She looked back over the edge of the cliff and tried to take another drink from the bottle only to realize it was empty. With a sigh she threw the bottle over the edge. As she watched it sail through the air she suddenly grew envious of it. She would give anything in this world to fly again. But she never would. She watched it tumble end over end and saw the point of no return. If it was going to survive it would need to pull up right now. The bottle crashed to the ground.

Tears came to Rainbow’s eyes but she swiped them away. She stood and stepped as close the the edge as she dared and screamed. She screamed in anger, in rage, in pain, in despair. She screamed at the unfairness of her life. She screamed at the betrayal she felt. She screamed at her weakness and self-pity. She screamed until she cried. When the tears started flowing she couldn’t stop them. Heaving sobs wracked her body as she fell to her stomach.

She wanted nothing more than to throw herself off this cliff. She longed to feel the wind in her mane again. To feel the rush of a dive. To feel the exhilaration of flight even if only for a moment. She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t see any reason to live.

But she didn’t. She couldn’t do any of those things. She was worthless. She was barely even a pegasus - no, scratch that - she wasn’t a pegasus. She was barely even an earth pony. She couldn’t even get up the guts to kill herself. She was nothing but a charity case.

And what a glorious charity case she had been. Suckered hook, line, and sinker. She tried to stop thinking about Twilight but couldn’t get her image out of mind. She had wanted it to be true so much she had stopped listening to herself. She had ignored the little voice inside that knew she wasn’t worthy of Twilight. She had known all along that it was too easy.

She stood once more and walked to the edge. The rain was coming down harder now and would soon get out of control. She closed her eyes to feel the gusting wind against her face. A lone wing spread and caught the wind bringing a shiver of pleasure to her body.

It would be so simple. One small step and she would be happy for the rest of her life. She shuffled forward.

“Rainbow! Stop!” a voice called.

Rainbow opened her eye’s and spun to look at the mare calling to her.

“Twilight?”

Twilight sat in her favourite chair at the library reading a book about plant life. The light from the fire combined with the afternoon sunlight coming through the windows made it easy for her to read even with no candles lit. Spike taking his afternoon nap, and Rainbow was out, so she had taken the time to catch up on some much needed reading.

She loved having Rainbow live with her, but the extra time spent with the mare had cut into her usual schedule. Not that she would have traded that time with her marefriend for anything in the world, of course, but it was nice to get a little time to yourself every now and then. She floated the glass of wine to her muzzle and took a sip. She savoured the fruity flavor as she flipped to the next page in her book. Yep, this is the life. She smiled and settled in to the couch further.

Twilight jumped as a knock came at the door. Scowling at her interrupted evening she stood and walked to the entrance of the library. She opened it to find a white unicorn in the opening in front of her.

“Rarity! What a pleasant surprise!” Twilight said, forcing a grin. She loved Rarity, she really did, but seeing her friend threw her comfortable evening out the window. She chastised herself for thinking that way. She came to Ponyville to make friends and should never think of them as a burden.

“Hello, Twilight, sorry if I’m interrupting anything. I was just in the neighborhood and thought I would stop in for a quick chat.”

“Of course, Rarity, come on in,” Twilight said, this time giving a more genuine smile. Rarity entered the room and noticed the book and wine glass in front of the fire.

“Oh my, I am interrupting, I am dreadfully sorry my dear,” Rarity said, biting her lip.

“It’s okay, Rarity, really. Would you like a glass?” Twilight asked, motioning the wine.

Rarity brightened. “Well I wouldn’t be one to turn down a nice wine, and you my dear do have impeccable taste in it.”

Twilight smiled at the compliment and floated another glass from the kitchen. She poured the wine for her guest and topped up her own before gesturing to the couch. Rarity sat and Twilight took the seat next to her.

After taking a sip of the wine, and sighing in pleasure, the white mare turned to Twilight with a serious expression on her face.

“Twilight, I need to talk with you about something. Is there anypony else here?” Rarity said, looking around the room.

Twilight frowned. “Spike is asleep upstairs, he will be out for a while, and Rainbow is in town. I’m not sure when she will be back. Is everything okay?”

Rarity sighed and looked as if she were trying to decide her next words carefully.

“Rainbow is the reason I am here, dear,” she said, pausing to take another sip of wine. “I need to talk to you about, well, you and her.”

Twilight looked at her friend in confusion. “What about Rainbow and I?” she asked.

Rarity bit her lip. “Now, Twilight, I am not normally one to pry into others affairs, pardon the pun, but when I see one of my friends making a mistake I simply cannot remain silent.”

Twilight’s expression turned to ice. “You think I’m making a mistake?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

Rarity sighed and looked Twilight in the eyes. “Yes,” she said.

Twilight stood up. “How dare you? What right do you have to come into my home and tell me how to live my life,” Twilight said, fuming.

Rarity stayed seated and kept her voice low. “Nothing. Nothing gives me the right. But, as I said, I feel it is my duty as a friend.”

Twilight grit her teeth and sat back down next to her friend. “What makes you think we are making a mistake? Rainbow and I are happy together.”

“Oh no, darling, I don’t think you and Rainbow are a mistake,” Rarity said. “In fact I think the two of you are perfect for each other,” she finished, taking another sip of wine.

Twilight’s anger evaporated to be replaced with confusion. “Then what are you saying?” she asked.

“I think you know what I’m saying. Rainbow is in a very vulnerable place right now and we all know how relationships that start out under those circumstances work out. You are her crutch, my dear,” Rarity said. “Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe she loves you - to be honest I think she has for a while - but if the two of you get together now then I doubt there will be much of a future for you if you start it out under such circumstances.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Twilight asked.

Rarity paused halfway through lifting the wine to her muzzle. She floated the glass back to the table before turning to Twilight.

“You… know it might not work?” the white unicorn asked.

“Of course I do, do you think I’m stupid? I’ve read all about relationships that come out of hardship and, except in stories, they never work out. A relationship that is built on something bad has no foundation when that thing starts to go away.”

Rarity looked confused. “But, if you know, then why?”

“Because Rainbow needs me to,” Twilight stated. “I know it probably won't work, I really do, but I can’t let her suffer alone. Rejecting her when she came to me would have crushed her. I couldn’t do that to her, not after everything she had been though, just so I could have a better chance later. I’m not that selfish,” Twilight said, picking up her own glass and taking a deep drink. She put the now empty glass down a little too hard on the table.

“But you love her,” Rarity said.

Twilight shrugged.

“Twilight, I saw the way you looked the other night, are you sure this is what you want to do?” Rarity said, stepping toward Twilight.

“It’s what I need to do. For Rainbow,” Twilight responded.

“Twilight, as much as I admire what you are doing, you simply can’t do this to yourself.” Rarity responded, shaking her head.

Twilight hung her head and sighed. “It doesn’t matter any more. It’s done.”

“Well then let me at least ask you this,” Rarity said. “Do you even love her?”

Twilight looked into her friends eye’s and opened her mouth to reply. Her words caught in her throat as she broke down crying. Rarity reached forward at once with her forelegs and wrapped them around the crying mare. She ran her hoof down Twilight’s mane as she waited for the librarian to finish.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, let it out. You’ve been so strong for so long, Twilight, it’s okay to not be for a while,” Rarity said.

Twilight looked up into her friends eyes. “Of course I love her. With all my heart,” she said.

Rarity smiled. “I know you do, Twilight, I just wanted to hear you say it.”

The two mares sat for a few minutes before Twilight pulled herself out of Rarity’s grasp. They sat back up on the couch and Twilight took one of Rarity’s hooves in her own.

“Thanks you, Rarity,” Twilight said.

“It’s nothing, darling, I could see you were bottling things up,” Rarity said. “I would be an awful friend if I let that continue. So, what are you doing to do now?”

Twilight forced a laugh. “Nothing really I can do. Just keep being there for her and hope for the best I suppose,” she said with a shrug.

Rarity shook her head. “I’ll not have it, darling, not when the two of you are so happy. I will think of something. Just give me some time and we will work out a way to make sure the two of you work.”

Twilight smiled at her friends words but knew that it was just a matter left to time now. She and Rainbow both had a lot to sort through, and she could only pray that their relationship would survive it. They talked for a while longer before Spike came down the stairs. After flushing at seeing Rarity he quickly excused himself and went back up the stairs to the bedroom. The girls were laughing when Rarity noticed the sound of rain start to come down around the house.

“Oh, I didn’t know there was any rain scheduled for today, how odd. Twilight, darling, I hate to cut this short but I really should get back to the boutique before it starts in earnest. I have Sweetie Belle tonight and, don’t tell her I told you this, but she is just dreadfully afraid of thunder the poor dear.”

Twilight smiled at her friend. “It’s fine, Rarity, go on ahead. Thank you again for today. I really needed it. I’m glad I have someone I can talk to about everything.”

“Of course, Twilight, any time you need you know my door is always open. Seriously. Any time at all,” Rarity said.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Twilight said with a smile, leading Rarity to the door. She opened it with her magic and Rarity went to step outside before pausing.

“What is this?” Rarity said, stooping down.

Twilight looked around the mare to see a pile of torn flowers on the ground.

“They look like they’re from Roseluck’s store. See the ribbon?” Twilight said, frowning.

“Yes, I see, what would they be doing here like thi-” Rarity stopped, her eyes suddenly going wide. “What time was Rainbow due back.”

“No specific time, but now that you mention it it is getting kind of late, she is normally home by-” Twilight stopped, coming to the same realization that Rarity had. “You don't think she…”

Rarity grimaced. “I think she did,” she said.

Twilight’s breath caught in her throat. What had Rainbow heard? Nothing good by looks of what was on the ground in front of her. Rarity looked at her with concern in her eyes.

“Did you need me to do anything, darling? I can’t help but feel a little responsible.”

“No,” Twilight said, shaking her head, “you go on home. I will find Rainbow and explain everything. We will be okay. Trust me.”

Rarity smiled at her friend and said her goodbyes again. After the mare left Twilight closed the door and started to think.

“Aw, she’s gone already?” Spike asked from behind her, causing Twilight to jump.

“Yes, Spike, sorry,” Twilight said. “I need to go out for a little while. Will you be okay?”

“Yeah, no sweat,” the dragon said. “I’ve got some reading to catch up on anyway.”

Twilight nodded to the dragon and rushed into her study. Picking out a pencil she cast the series of spells and soon the end was glowing and pointing outside of the library. She put on a raincoat and walked to the door. After opening it and pulling up her hood she floated the pencil in front of her.

“It will be okay, Rainbow, just don’t do anything stupid,” she said to herself, before starting a trot into the rain.

“Rainbow! Stop!” Twilight said, her heart in her throat as she saw the pegasus about to step off the edge of the cliff.

Rainbow spun to look at her.

“Twilight?”

The two mares stared at one another across the gap.

Rainbow’s lip curled up at seeing the mare. “What the hay do you want?” she said.

“I’m here to find you. I didn’t think you would be this stupid!” Twilight said, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

“Stupid?” Rainbow said. “What are you talking about?”

“Look at where you are standing. Do you want to die?” Twilight asked, starting to shiver from the cold raindrops coming down around her.

Rainbow snorted and looked away. “I’m fine out here,” she said, before looking back to Twilight. “You are right about one thing though - I am stupid.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight said, frowning.

“I thought you actually cared about me,” Rainbow said. “Turns out I’m just a gullible idiot. Go figure, huh?”

“Rainbow, I know you think you heard-”

“Don’t you dare try to spin this around! I did hear you, and I know exactly what you said. You did this all for me. You don’t care about me, not really. I’m just something for you to fix so you can fill another page to send to your precious Celestia,” Rainbow said, turning to look back over the edge of the cliff.

“Fuck you, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. Rainbow turned to look back at the unicorn with her eyes wide. “You think after everything I told you, after everything we shared, that I give one bit what Celestia has to say about it? I trusted you, Rainbow, I confided in you. And you can’t even do the same thing for me,” Twilight said, shaking more from anger than cold now.

“Don’t trust you? I told you everything about me!” Rainbow shouted. “Don’t tell me I don't trust you, I gave you everything, and you threw it in my face!”

Tears were streaming down Twilight’s face now. “How? By doing everything I could to help you? Even at expense to my own happiness?”

Rainbow grit her teeth as she stared at the unicorn. “You think I care about your happiness? You used me, Twilight, and you made me think you had feelings for me. You should have known it would come out sooner or later. You disgust me.”

Twilight looked at her friend. “Made you think? That is absolute bull, Rainbow, I never lied to you about anything.”

“What? You can’t tell me that - I heard you talking to Rarity. I know you faked it,” Rainbow yelled, taking a step toward Twilight and away from the edge of the cliff.

“You heard what you wanted to hear. You didn’t even try to talk to me. You just chose not to trust me and ran away. Well I’m sick of it, Rainbow, I’m sick of you running away. It isn’t just you anymore. We’re together now. We affect each other.”

“But… you said… I don’t…” Rainbow said.

“Exactly. You don’t even know what I said. How long did you eavesdrop? Long enough to hear me confess that I loved you? Long enough to hear me confess that I know we most likely won’t work but I was willing to do it anyway? I’ve been fighting myself constantly, trying to convince myself I was doing it for your own good, but that is a lie. I did it because I’m selfish. I wanted you to be mine, and some part of me didn’t care if I know it was a mistake, I just wanted it to be real. I’ve cared about you for a long time, Rainbow Dash, I love you!”

The two mares stared at one another. Tears mixed with raindrops streaming down Twilight’s face. Rainbow stood with her mouth open trying to take in everything the mare had said.

“I… I was just so scared. It made more sense that you didn’t want me. It still does. Why would you?” Rainbow said, staring at Twilight in confusion.

“Because I see you. I see the real you. The one you hide from everypony,” Twilight said. “I know that the walls you hide behind are there because you’re scared. I know this because you trusted me enough to show me behind them. I trust you too, Rainbow, I trust you with everything.”

The rain was pouring now. Rainbow could still see Twilight, but the weather combined with the alcohol had started to make everything blurry. She took a step closer to the unicorn.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I’m so sorry,” the pegasus said, breaking down and crying herself. “I love you, too. I really, really, love you!”

She ran toward the ledge where Twilight stood and reached for the tree roots separating the pair. Twilight rushed forward herself and reached for Rainbow with her hooves. The pegasus stumbled as she remembered the gap. It had grown treacherous from the rain and she could barely get a grip as she tried to hold on to the roots. She edged her way over going only centimeters at a time. Twilight was leaning out as far as she dared to try to grab the mares leg.

Rainbow’s hoof slipped.

She started to fall, but before the panic could set in she found herself captured in a field of purple light. She looked up to see Twilight’s face twisted in concentration as she lifted the pegasus from the gap and onto the ground beside her. When the pegasus was released from the magic Twilight fell to the ground panting. Rainbow reached over and the two embraced. They sat there for a minute while Twilight caught her breath. Finally they looked into one anothers eye’s.

“I thought I had lost you,” Rainbow said.

“Never in a million years,” Twilight said, smiling up at her.

The two kissed a deep, passionate kiss as they lay on the edge of the cliff. Rainbow could feel the tears in her eyes, and knew Twilight was crying too, but the rain was washing them away before they could show.

“Come on,” Twilight said. “Let’s go home.”

Rainbow grinned at the mare and stood up. She took a step away from the ledge and turned around to help Twilight when the ground suddenly gave way. Twilight’s eyes widened as she began to fall, her horn lighting in an instant, only to be cut off when her head hit one of the roots with a sickening crunch. Twilight was knocked out cold.

Rainbow leapt forward onto her stomach and swung her hooves to catch the mare.

She missed.

Twilight fell.

Rainbow screamed.

Chapter 9

No.

This can’t be happening.

No.

Rainbow watched as Twilight fell as if in slow motion. The unicorn became smaller and smaller and soon the rain was too thick to see her any more.

Rainbow jumped up and ran as fast as she could. She tore to the path down the side of the gorge, racing down it as fast as her legs would take her, her heart thumping in her throat. She forced herself to slow when she almost slipped, catching herself at the last moment, and concentrating on the path with everything she had left.

By the time she reached the bottom of the gorge an hour had passed, and she was standing in six inches of water. She rushed to where she could see the overreaching cliff above her and looked around. She could not see Twilight at all.

Tears came to her again as she - no, wait, there. She could see the unicorn laying face up in the water. Rainbow rushed over and grabbed her. She shook Twilight and screamed her name but the unicorn didn’t move. The water was starting to flow so she looked around for some cover. She spotted a small alcove in the wall of the cliff that was a few feet off the ground and, throwing Twilight over her back, sped off to it. She climbed up and lay Twilight on the ground.

“Twilight!” she screamed.

Twilight didn’t move.

Rainbow leaned her ear down to the mares mouth but couldn’t make out any sound over the rain. She watched Twilight’s chest but it was not rising so, taking the unicorns mouth in her own, she started pumping air into her lungs. She paused to press on Twilight’s chest, alternating between both, trying to get the mare to breathe again.

She didn’t know how much time passed but she stopped once she collapsed from exhaustion. She lay on the ground staring in shock at the still form of Twilight in front of her. Tears came to her eyes as she crawled forward and wrapped her forehooves around the mare.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, this is all my fault,” she said. She looked out at the rain which was only coming down harder now. The bottom of the cliff had turned into a roiling mass of water that was too treacherous to attempt to wade through. She curled back up against Twilight.

She didn’t remember falling asleep.

As she woke to daylight the horror of the night before hit her in full. She had killed Twilight. She looked over to the prone mare who had grown cold in the night. She felt all feeling slowly leave her body as she grew numb. She had no idea what to do.

After standing she noticed the rain had stopped, and the water in the bottom of the gorge had drained, leaving only shallow pools. She lifted Twilight onto her back and started the walk back up the gorge.

The return trip took hours and was leaving her exhausted, but Rainbow refused to stop. She needed to get Twilight back to Ponyville. After reaching the top she walked into town and straight to the hospital. The pegasus knew there was nothing they could do, but didn’t know where else to go. Once she stepped through the doors the doctors rushed over but a yell from Rainbow forced them to stop.

A nurse brought out a gurney and Rainbow laid her marefriend on the cold slab. The doctors had Rainbow take a seat as they took the body away. They questioned her and she told them what happened.

This is when Rainbow started to lose time.

She remembered the police ponies coming in to ask her questions. She remembered her friends coming and talking with her. She remembered seeing Celestia walk into the hospital and she probably talked with Rainbow too.

Rainbow couldn’t remember the details.

She knew all those things had happened, but she couldn’t tell you what she said to any of those ponies. She had sat for what felt like hours feeling nothing. The atmosphere around her because unbearable and she excused herself to the bathroom.

As she splashed water onto her face she looked around the room. All of a sudden she saw Twilight laying on the floor with a group of ponies around her kicking. She saw Twilight rush in behind her and cast a spell cleaning the cuts on the pegasus’ forelegs. She saw Twilight helping her clear the apples with Applejack. She saw Twilight smiling at her in a beautiful dress across the table in a restaurant.

She saw Twilight confessing her love.

This was all her fault.

Everything Twilight had done had been for her. Even at her lowest, Twilight had been there, every step of the way. Twilight had trusted her and she had thrown that trust in the unicorn’s face.

She collapsed on the floor.

Rainbow had rejected every pony because she didn’t deserve them. She knew she was worthless. She knew she should just end it all. But Twilight had seen otherwise. It was Twilight who had shown her what friendship could be. It was Twilight who had given up everything to be there for her.

It was Twilight that had shown her true love.

As Rainbow Dash sat on the floor she felt in more danger than she had standing on the edge of that cliff. She could feel the darkness, feel the anger and pain, and she wanted to let it in. She wanted to wallow in it, to give herself up, to let go.

But she didn’t.

Because Twilight wouldn’t have wanted her to.

It had taken the pegasus too long to see it, but she saw it now. Twilight had been right all along. No matter what happened to Rainbow Dash, she was still Rainbow Dash, a fighter.

She was strong.

She was loyalty.

The tears came then, but they were not of despair. They were off missed chances and choices that could not be unmade. Tears of regret. She took a breath and stood to stare at her reflection in the mirror. She missed Twilight - she always would - but she would not give in to her pain again. She would fight it with everything she had. She would fight to make it right.

She would fight to be the mare Twilight had seen in her.

Fluttershy came in to check on the pegasus and hesitated at the look on Rainbow’s face. The timid pegasus had expected pain, but instead found only determination. Rainbow turned and wrapped her arms around the yellow mare. Fluttershy started crying and Rainbow comforted her. After a few minutes the two broke apart and walked out of the bathroom together.

Rainbow knew it wouldn’t be easy, but she knew she would try.

For Twilight.

Rainbow stood at the edge of the cemetery as the funeral took place. She could make out the ponies in the distance as they crowded around the newly dug grave. Half the town had come out for the event. She could make out the princesses as they stood side by side at the front of the crowd. After what felt like a millennia the crowd started to disperse.

She waited until everyone was gone and she made her way over to the grave. When she arrived she started shaking. A pain took hold of her and it was all she could do not to fall to the ground. The gravestone read:

Here lies Twilight Sparkle.
May her love of friendship forever be our guiding light.

Rainbow couldn’t stop the tears from pouring out of her face. She had thought she had cried dry, but she was wrong.

“Hi, Twi,” she said, whispering. “I hope you don’t mind I missed the funeral.” She took another step forward so she could see the casket in the still open grave.

“I know you wouldn’t blame me, I know I shouldn’t blame myself, but I do. You gave everything for me. You made me want to be a better mare. For that, I thank you.” Rainbow stopped to wipe the tears from her face. “Everybody expects me to break, but funnily enough I actually feel strong. You made me strong, Twi, I’m just sorry it took me so long to realize it.”

She walked forward some more and pulled the flowers out of the bad around her neck. She passed the hole and lay them on the ground in front of the grave stone.

“I’m going to miss you, Twi, I love you.”

Rainbow turned from the grave and started to leave the cemetery. She had only made it a few paces when she heard the soft flutter of wings behind her.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” she said without turning.

“Hi, Rainbow,” the yellow pegasus said. “We missed you today.”

Rainbow shrugged. “I figured I would be the last person anypony would want to see there. Especially her parents. And the princesses.” She heard Fluttershy move forward and felt a wing wrap around her.

“Nopony blames you, Rainbow. We know it was an accident,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “I know. It doesn’t matter though.” Rainbow turned to face Fluttershy. “I’m leaving,” she said.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Rainbow, you can’t! You need to be around people who care about you right now. You can’t run away.”

Rainbow smiled a sad smile at her friend. “It’s not about that. It’s about me. I need to find out who I am. Twilight was trying to show me, but I was too stubborn to look. I need to go out there, into the world, and find where I belong.”

She turned to look at the grave again. Fluttershy joined her.

“Don't worry, Fluttershy, I won’t be gone forever. Just until I work out what my purpose is. I can’t stay here for that. Too many memories.”

The yellow pegasus started crying. Rainbow extended her wing and draped it around her friend.

“It feels like we’re losing two friends,” Fluttershy said. “I know that isn’t how it is, but it feels that way.”

“I know, Fluttershy, and I’m sorry.”

“No, Rainbow, it’s okay. You just make sure you are okay. Be okay then come back. Okay?”

Rainbow smiled at her friend. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

The two friends hugged before Rainbow turned and began walking away.

“What do I say to the others?” Fluttershy asked.

“Tell them…” Rainbow said, pausing to look back at the mare. “Tell them I’m tired of losing air, and I want to find it again.”

Fluttershy nodded at her friend and watched as Rainbow walked out of the graveyard and out of their lives.

“Come back soon, Dash,” she said.