At the End of the Rainbow
While I was was returning home after a hard day's work, I thought about how I was one happy working and living here on the farm of my family. Certainly some stallions mock my thinking, like some Canterlot stallions.
They can have many things, but they don't have what I have. They do not have a loving and united family like mine. My family is everything to me. They don't have a large orchard in which me and Applejack work every day, picking the most delicious apples under the clear blue sky, sensing the smell of them dancing through the nostrils in the most charming waltz.
They don't see rainbows every day like I do. It's a privilege for me, in the middle of the afternoon while I do my work, look up and see fantastic rainbows of different shapes that disappear in the blink of an eye.
Is Rainbow Dash practicing her flight routine over the orchard. She flies very fast and skillfully and she denominates herself the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria. Of course a little careful would also be very good. AJ has lost count of how many times we had to take money from our savings to buy a new door to the barn or to fix the roof of it.
This happens not only with us, Twilight Sparkle will bankrupt the public treasury because of damage to the library. The funny thing is that nobody considers in making Rainbow Dash pay for the damage. But she's just Rainbow Dash and the city is proud to have a future Wonderbolt.
Even if this future Wonderbolt has the ability and strength enough to destroy the city accidentally.
I remember exactly how I met her. It was long before A.J become her friend. Much long before ...
******
It was a few days after Applejack go Manehattan and I was alone in the fields. I felt really alone even Granny Smith being with me. I had a good friend named Caramel, but he was visiting his grandparents in Baltimare and I was too shy to make other friends. Apple Bloom just drooled, slept, ate and burped, but she was just a baby. I miss that time, she was so quiet.
It was early in the morning and I was bucking some apple trees, when I heard what could be the sound of an explosion. Startled, I looked around, thinking in Granny Smith and Apple Bloom who were inside the house. Our home, like the barn and chicken coop were intact. I sighed relieved and then I saw the most beautiful thing of my entire life. A bright and glorious rainbow pointed directly to the barn.
It was a very special rainbow, had not rained, so I could only assume it was magic. Without thinking about, I wished it to bring my little sister back home.
Only then I remembered that they were shooting stars that fulfills wishes, but that rainbow was so bright and more colorful than normal rainbows.
Granny Smith said that at the end of the rainbow was a pot of gold protected by a guardian. The farm was not going well financially and some more bits would help a lot. I dropped the baskets full of apples on the ground and follow the rainbow to the other end.
Part of me said that I would find what I wanted there. The other part scolded me for leaving the job. A third party would be imagined as the guardian and how many bits would be inside the pot. A fourth also warned me to be careful.
My heart pounded as I ran towards where the rainbow ended. I sincerely wish that the guardian had something to tell me about Applejack and a good amount of bits to the farm. However, nothing was there. I turned to back my work when I heard a high-pitched voice, was a filly.
"Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Where are you?"
When looking at the direction where the voice came, I saw a different filly of all other fillies that I had seen in Ponyville. Her coat was cyan and for the wings was evident that she was a pegasus. A rainbow maned pegasus. I had never seen a pony with more than two colors in the mane. At most three colors, but six colors never.
She seemed to be very young, but she already has a cutie mark, a cloud and tricolor lightning. Her eyes are a common magenta, but putting it all together, it seem to be stronger than normal magenta eyes. She looked worried and their small wings buzzed when she soared to the sky and then return to the ground, always calling the same name. She sat on the floor, apparently tired.
"Excuse me, but you saw a yellow pegasus filly with a pink mane?"
"Nope." I replied simply, talk to fillies was not exactly my strong point.
"Okay, thank you. But if you see her, could you tell her that I'm looking for her? My name is Rainbow Dash."
"Mah name is Big Macintosh." I replied almost automatically, remembering what my father taught me about manners.
"Pleasure, and sorry to have to go so fast, but I really need to find her."
I felt I should help her, she was desperate as if something really bad happened to that Fluttershy filly.
"Maybe I can help you. I know this place since I was small."
"You can? Thanks."
"But what happened? I've never seen you or Fluttershy in Ponyville."
"Of course not. We live in Cloudsdale."
"And she fell from there?"
"It's my fault. I tried to protect her from some bullies and challenged them to a race. Was going so fast I did not see what we had done Fluttershy fell of the cloud where she was." Her voice was pure bitterness, guilt and fear.
For a moment, I forgot my sorrows and how I missed Applejack.That desperate filly was not be older than my little sister.
"Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy, where are you?" She cried again.
We walked in silence for a long time and sometimes she screamed for her friend. I could see the guilt in her eyes as my sadness and loneliness in my eyes. Something that even in her despair, she can't fail to note.
"Big Mac?"
"Uh?" I replied, a little surprised by her call me by my nickname.
"What happened to you? You look sad about something."
I was not sure what to say. I could lie and say it was her impression, or could tell the truth I've been wanting to tell someone a few days. My mother always taught me that honesty is the best way.
"I have a little sister named Applejack. She went to live with our aunt and uncle in Manehattan few days ago and I miss her so bad. Besides Caramel, she is my only friend. I have another sister, but she is still a baby. Today a bright rainbow appeared in the sky ... and I made a wish for it." I admit, a little embarrassed. "I decided to follow it until the end to find some answer about my sister and maybe a pot of gold. But all I found was you, no offense."
"No problem."
We continued walking, and I felt a bit relieved to have talked about it with someone and happy for her not mocked me.
"My mom always said that things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end if not always in the way we expect. I hope it will be that way for you too." She suddenly stopped, looking among the bushes in front of us." I think I found my friend really an unexpected way. It was very nice to meet you, Big Mac, and thanks for the help. "
"Goodbye, Rainbow Dash, you're welcome."
I watched her go into the bushes and then soars to Cloudsdale in Fluttershy company. She gave me a brief final goodbye with the hoof.
A few days later, I had the joy of seeing A.J coming back to us. At night, before going to sleep, I asked her what had made her come back.
"You may not believe, Mac, but I wanted to come back as soon as I got there. I missed you, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom so bad. So a few days ago I was on my bedroom window when a loud noise caught my attention. Was a rainbow that pointed straight to here. At that moment I knew that here was my home and exactly who I should be. "
*******
A part of me never expected the brilliant rainbow really bring my sister back to me. But as Rainbow Dash's mother said, things we lost come back to us in the end, even the way that we never imagined.
