Memories:

Brian woke to the sound of a snoring cyan Pegasus buried in his armpit. Blinking, then rubbing his eyes, he stared into the sky on the morning of the first day of the rest of his life. The sun was just starting to crest, the warm colours of the dawn painted a gorgeous morning sky. Rising slowly, so he didn't wake up Dashie, he stood and stretched. He brushed off the sand that clung to him as best he could. Popping his neck, he walked towards the nearby forest, nature was calling and he needed to take care of business. He entered the woods and an unfamiliar tingling sense came over him. Magic. A fine prickly feeling covered his entire body just enough as to make the little hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

This forest emanated magic. He'd felt it before, the first time he was brought through the portal. Standing there in awe, he nearly forgot what he was there for. After he had finished, he walked back to where he's spent the night to see Dashie still asleep, and still snoring.

Kneeling down next to her, he set a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle shake, only wanting to wake her not scare her.

Leaning close to her, he quietly said, "Dash. Hey Dash, time to get up."

Dashie stopped snoring, groaned and cracked open one eye. For the briefest moment, it looked as though Dashie didn’t recognize him. Then, it was gone and Dash opened her eyes fully and smiled.

"Good morning." Brian said with a grin. Dashie brought a hoof to her muzzle and scrunched up her face. Gently pushing her dad away with her other foreleg.

"Aww, go brush your teeth, you have dad breath."

Brian leaned back, cupped his hands over his mouth, huffed into them, and sniffed; recoiling a little from the morning breath that greeted him.

"Ugh, that is pretty rank." He laughed.

Dash laughed, and stood up. Stretching her wings and legs, she shook off the sand that had covered her coat then trotted off to the woods. Brian looked more closely at the clearing Dash had pointed out the night before. He began to make his way around the lake staying on the beach. He had walked about fifty meters when Dash flew up alongside him, slowing herself to match his pace. Brian rubbed his upper arms briskly; the morning air was a bit chilly to him.

"Dash, I've been thinking and I feel it's for the best that we keep 'me' a secret. You can't tell anyone I'm here. I don't want to get you or myself in trouble with Celestia."

"I was thinking the same thing pops." Dash replied.

"Will we ever let them know you're here?"

"I imagine so… in time. Sure. But for now..." His voice faded. He didn’t want to continue verbalizing the thought.

Dash nodded in conformation. They walked for a minute in silence; the only sounds were birds chirping their morning songs, Brian’s footfalls in the soft sand, and the gentle beating of Dashie’s wings.

"Can I ask you a question? Dash asked quietly.

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

Dash paused a moment gathering her thoughts.

"Why did you wait so long? Didn’t you want to be together as a family?”

Brian thought for a moment and responded in a warm fatherly tone.

"Why did I wait so long? Well… “Brian took a long breath. It was a big decision for me. I had to be certain this was the best thing for you, and to a lesser extent me. I was leaving everything behind. Our house, my job, my whole life was back there. And I didn't want to have to deal with Celestia either, she creeps me out to be honest." Brian paused, gauging Dashie’s reaction. When she didn’t respond he continued.

"But, as time went on, I began to realize that without you in my life... well, my life wasn't complete. I wasn't whole. Does that make any sense?"

Dash looked intently at her pops and nodded mostly to herself.

"More than you can know." She thought, and then smiled.

She fully understood what he meant. For her, without him in her life she wasn’t whole either. It was their mutual connection that caused one to suffer in the absence of the other. Perhaps it was a byproduct of the magic that brought her to him in the beginning. Perhaps it was just good old human instinct to care and love for the young that so deeply bound him to her. Neither would ever know for certain. What they did know was that they were each a part of the other. For the two of them to be separated, truly separated was for each to be unwhole.

“…and after a few weeks I made my decision, I had to be brave, and to heck with the consequences. I quit my job, took care of a few loose ends, grabbed grandma’s painting, and walked through the portal." He stated. Stopping to look at the lake, a thought struck him.

"Is that water safe to drink?" Brian asked pointing at the lake.

"Yeah I think so. I've swum in it before and swallowed tons of it. Nothing bad ever happened." She replied. "And you don’t want to go too far into the Everfree if you don’t have too.” She said while pointing to the forest nearby. “There’s a lot a dangerous things that live in there. Manticores, Cockatrices, Timber wolves… all kinds of dangerous stuff; and these blue flowers, they’re really pretty but if you touch them wild stuff can happen to you.” She winced a little at the memory.

“I remember." Brain said absently. He had already begun thinking about how to build his new home. How large should it be? How many rooms would it need? How big is the Kitchen going to need to be? I’ll need a bathroom too. Annnnd I'm going to need too light the place. These thoughts bounced around in his head while they continued walking towards the clearing.

The clearing was not a large area, about a seven by ten meter oval of saplings and low scrub brush. The big branches from the nearby trees that hung over the clearing were thick, full and heavy. It was a safe place to build a log cabin, close to the lake and difficult to see from the air. If he had to hide out, this would be a perfect place to do it, but ideally he hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. However, this was Equestria, bizarre events are common place, not to mention having to keep a low profile from the princesses.

Surveying the area, the two of them began to plan out Brian’s new home. All the while he emphasized the need to keep his presence a secret. Now that the portal to Earth was be closed, he didn’t want to spend the remainder of his days in a dungeon or worse a medieval torture chamber having experiments of dubious scientific value run on him. Dash dismissed his musings as ridiculous. Ponies weren't like that; they weren't human after all she joked. Brian pondered her words but instinct kicked in and he was not so easily convinced of other ponies’ intentions. The wealth of information about the human world in his head could unintentionally make him a state secret or worse a threat to national security. Call it paranoia or human cynicism, but he planned to stay out of sight for the time being.

"You’re going to love living here!" she exclaimed, while flying a loop the loop in the air.

"I think I already knew that." Brian said smiling.

Taking a small branch, he began to draw a simple outline in the sand of what he wanted the cabin to look like, a simple rectangular structure, deeper than it was wide. Drawing out one bedroom that he marked with the letter ‘B’, he outlined where the kitchen, bathroom, and living room would go.

Dash landed and looked it over carefully. She took the stick from his hand in her mouth and added a second bedroom, wrote ‘RD’ in it and changed the arrangement of the kitchen to the living room. Brian studied the changes she had made and nodded in approval. After a moment more of studying the new arrangement he smiled. It looked an awful lot like their old home on earth.

“Yeah, I think that’ll do just fine.” Brian commented.

Now the work could begin. Clapping his hands together with a pop, his eyes grew wider and he took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the task that lay ahead.

"Right, I'm going to need some tools, a hammer and an axe to start with, and nails and a level… maybe a saw. “ He said with a renewed vigor to his voice.

Seeing her opportunity to lend a hand she excitedly said, "I can take care of that! And breakfast! I'll be right back. Don't run off or anything."

“Run off? What am I a dog?” he said incredulously.

Dash rolled her eyes at him and told him to just stay on the beach until she returned. Jumping up she took flight and headed towards what he figured would be Ponyville. Brian watched her fly off then turning back to his sand drawing; he took stock of the project that lay ahead of him. He was no carpenter not by a long shot; a wood butcher would be more accurate. He felt a little out of his league trying to build a log cabin that he could live in, but this was to be his home for the time being. He was ready and willing to give it his best to see it happen.

This thing isn't going build its self. He thought.

Pushing his sleeves up over his elbows, Brian began to clear brush and pull up the smallest trees in the clearing. He was no stranger to hard work, but this job he had an excitement about, he was thoroughly enjoying the experience. In his mind’s eye he envisioned exactly how every aspect of his cabin would be laid out. All that remained was to see it built.

His mind wandered as he worked and the reality of being in Equestria began to set in. He was in a completely new world, no debt, no obligations, no responsibilities, and he was building a hideout in the Everfree forest. A goofy smile crossed his face as he thought about the whole situation. He was here with his daughter and it made him immensely happy. More importantly, his life made sense again.

Flying over Ponyville, Dash had a wide smile that reflected her inner joy, her father was home now and she could hardly contain her excitement about that fact. From above she watched ponies milling about town starting their day, opening up their shops and kiosks.

Movement in the morning sky caught Applejacks attention, looking up she saw Rainbow Dash flying overhead and she waved good morning to her friend. Rainbow saw Applejack below waving up at her, Dash returned the wave and flew on to the hardware store.

As she landed, a cold tingling feeling started to spread across her head, then quite suddenly her mind convulsed and reeled, she felt as though she had started to fall while her body went rigid for a moment and a faraway look crossed her face; she all at once didn’t know why she had come to town. She looked around wondering to herself, why in Equestria she’d come to the hardware store, and more importantly why was she awake so early. She stared at the store front for a moment, trying to recall how she arrived there. When nothing came to mind, she shrugged to herself and opened her wings to take off when her body went ridged and her mind started to reel and flip again, the tingling was less intense and then she could remember. Oh yeah dad needs tools. D’uh I must need some coffee or something. She thought.

Feelings of confusion and mild disorientation lingered in her mind; shaking them off she entered the shop and set about getting the tools her pops had mentioned. The store keeper asked if she was taking up a new hobby as she paid for her items. She jokingly said she was and quickly made her way out. Dash took to the air and turned towards the market to look for breakfast. Darting low overhead a rainbow trail etched its way through the calm morning air.

Ponies busied themselves with shopping or chatting over coffee. The scent of their coffee reached Dash and brought to mind her dad making it in the morning and how wonderful it made the kitchen smell. She fondly recalled when she was little, how he’d bang around the kitchen first thing in the morning, trying to focus on getting her breakfast. She smiled to herself about the times he’d put the coffee pot in the fridge instead of the milk jug that was in his other hand; as a child it almost always made her laugh.

Landing in the edibles section of the market, Dash looked around for things that her pops would like; apples, carrots, some nice fat grapes, more apples. Dad likes apples... I think. And a small block of smelly white cheese. He had always maintained that if it didn’t smell like a dirty sock it wasn’t good cheese. Rainbow Dash never agreed with that notion, she felt that if it smelled that bad it should be thrown out. Even so, he seemed to like it so she added it too her purchases. She scooped oats from the bulk bin into a bag and picked out a yummy looking bundle of hay for herself, paid for the lot and started to head for home. As she was trotting along testing the weight of her saddlebags and gauging her flight dynamics, she slowed her pace until she had stopped. A confused look began to form on her face. She stiffened and her mind reeled and flickered again, as though someone turned on a strobe light in her head. She blinked a few times and relaxed. The weight of her saddlebags caused her to look down in confusion and study all the food she’d just purchased. The situation was wrong, she couldn’t remember coming to the market or buying any of the food in her bags. Her mind raced with questions yet nothing she saw added up.

“What am I doing? I don’t even like this kind of cheese. Sweet Celestia, it smells like vomit and sweat socks.” She whispered mostly to herself while staring at enough food for half a week. She couldn’t recall why she needed so much, and what in the world did she need an axe and hammer for. Confusion painted her face while she struggled to make sense of what she was seeing in her bags.

“Did ya forget something there sugar cube?” A familiar voice called out. She looked up and to her right she saw Applejack walking towards her. She opened her mouth to speak when her mind twisted and clicked, for a moment she was dazed and confused. Her mind began to clear and the situation began to make sense again. Oh yeah! All this is for dad. I so need to get my head screwed on straight. Mentally reeling a bit from the confusion, she put on her game face.

“Umm. Hey AJ. Naw, I didn’t forget anything.” Dash replied, still trying to recover her sense of things.

Just play it cool RD, we can get through this.

“Well ya looked a might confused there for a moment. Everythin’ okay?” Applejack held a look of worry on her face as she drew closer to her friend.

“I’m good.” Without giving AJ the chance to respond Dash popped open her wings and took off.

“See ya later AJ, I gotta get going. Really busy today…” Dash said as she flew off.

Applejack waved her goodbye as Dash rose into the sky and faded into the distance. Shaking her head, Applejack walked back to her stand, and wondered what was up with Rainbow Dash.

Dash flew on towards the lake taking a wide arcing path around Ponyville. Hoping it didn’t look like she was heading directly to her pops. An unsettling feeling persisted in her mind though. How come she forgot why she’d gone to the market? She could remember why she was there now, but at that moment it was completely missing. What the hay is happening. She shook off the feeling and headed to her dads future lakeside estate.

Landing at the campsite she wasted no time in breaking out the supplies and perishables. Brian was busily clearing brush by hand as best he could; he was already sweating, dirty, and smiling from ear to ear.

He stopped his deforestation efforts and helped Dash unload her purchases. Examining the tools he smiled with satisfaction. She pondered the idea of telling him what had happened but believed that the risk to his safety would be too high. She would not be responsible for his being taken away if she could help it.

“Yeah these will do great” he said thanking Dashie. Pulling out his wallet Brian stopped.

“Um, Dash... I can’t pay you for these right now.” He said sheepishly, holding out a twenty to her.

“Why did you bring cash?” She laughed. “It’s not gonna do you any good here.”

“Force of habit.” He replied, feeling a bit silly he returned the currency to his wallet.

“Don’t worry pops, I got you covered. Look, you paid my way back home and now you’re in my world.” Her voice softened. “Let me treat you for a change.” Taking a bite of apple, she offered him one as well.

Taking the offered fruit he sat on the ground and with just a bit of wonder stared at the apple in his hand. The look on his face was as if he’d never seen an apple before. Staring at the apple he realized that this would be the first Equestrian food he would eat. He wondered if he could even eat the food here, would it provide what he needed, like food from back home. What would he do if he wasn't able to derive any nutrients from it? What if fruit and vegetables were poisonous to him? Pondering these things he thought, “Well, when in Rome…” Slowly he brought the apple to his mouth and took a juicy crunchy bite. It tasted amazing.

“Well pops, whatcha think? Pretty good huh?”

“Dashie, this is amazing.” he said through a mouthful of half chewed apple. “Seriously, this is probably the best apple I’ve ever had. And I don’t like apples that much.”

“Yeah, all the food here is like that. Better get used to it. “She said glad he was impressed.

Brian finished eating his apple and grabbed another. He continued to be amazed at how delicious it tasted. Eying the grapes he plucked one off the stem, stared at it a moment and popped it in his mouth. Crisp and juicy, then a familiar smell hit his nose.

“Mmm, smells like stinky foot cheese.” He said with a smile digging into the bag of groceries to retrieve his precious cheese.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and said. “Yeah. Just the way you like it.” She made a disgusted look and feigned retching causing her father to laugh.

“I’m gonna get fat if everything is this good. Can I get fat from fruit?” Brian wondered.

“Just wait till you try Pinkie Pies treats. They are frikken awesome. If anything makes you fat it'll be those."

Brian paused and his smiled faded, he thought about the inevitable day that he’d be revealed to the others. How would they react? Would they run screaming in fright? Or perhaps they’d be more open to him being around. Not likely seeing how given they are to fits of panic at the slightest of provocation. The prospect of meeting all her friends excited and frightened him. Word would get back to Celestia no doubt, then who knows what would happen. He started to imagine being chased like an animal by hoards of the royal guard, being arrested then sent to some dark dungeon and rotting there all alone, forever. All too keep the purity of Equestria safe. Putting these thoughts away he continued eating. Brian pondered as he ate; the reason that the food tasted so good may be because of the innate magic that permeated their world. An errant thought popped into his mind. I wonder if can do magic here? If I ever have the chance I bet I can ask Twilight about that. Smiling to himself he finished his meal.

Once Dash had finished eating she walked to the lake and noisily had a drink of water. Turning to Brian she said, “I have to head to work; you’ll be okay without me for a while right?” Dash asked as she stretched open her wings to take flight.

Looking over to her, he swallowed the last of the food in his mouth.

“Of course I will. Go on, head to work, I’ll be fine here. I have lots to do.” He replied and then looked back at his patch of ground, again envisioning what his cabin would look like, and more importantly how he was going to build it.

“Alright then I’ll be back tonight.” Dash said. She flew over to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. Brian patted her on the shoulder and told her he loved her.

“Love you too pops.” She called out as she flew off.

Hefting up his axe, Brain felt the weight and tested the blade. Nice and sharp. Good, if anything comes out of the woods after me, at least I'll have this to defend myself with. He continued to clear more brush and small trees at a much faster pace.

Whistling as she flew, Rainbow Dash headed to the weather maintenance and modification office where she was employed.  She had some concern that having taken three days off of work with little notice may have put the other weather ponies in a bad way. Few could bust clouds like she could, and far fewer were as fast, whatever work had built up she was ready for it.

Weather ponies were landing and taking off from the arrival/departure area of the WMMO, Dash raced in and sported a trick landing to the delight of the several pegasi that were preparing to land. Yep! I still got it! She proudly though to herself amidst the cheers, hoots and hollers of the pegasi that had the privilege to witnessing her aerial prowess.

The PA system crackled to life and a pedantic voice started droning on about some weather related warning, it fell on deaf ears mostly. More health and safety crap again. She quickly moved off the landing area and headed towards the more crowed main office. Like a choreographed dance, other pegasi landed nosily behind her and quickly ran off to their various destinations. All the noise, commotion and even smells of the WMMO were a welcome sight and sound to her, it was a subtle sign to her that all was right with the world.

Greeting the other workers warmly, she popped her head into the shift manager’s office and told her that she had returned to work. Dash clocked in and snatched her work sheet off the rack; looking it over she quietly grunted to herself. There was a LOT of cloud busting to deal with as well as two rain storms to the south and a fog bank that popped up overnight that needed clearing. This wasn’t a normal amount even for her. Clearly someone had added extra tasks for her to tend too. She jogged to the departure area and checked for approaching pegasi. The PA system burst to life again announcing a local storm front would be moved near the Vanhoover area later that day, and that teams two and six would be handling it. "None of my concern" she thought.  When the signal crew flagged her that the takeoff lane was clear she sprinted a short distance down the runway, took flight and bolted upwards in to the big blue. All the busyness, noise and activity of the WMMO faded out, replaced by the rushing of wind in her ears. She smiled broadly thinking, “Today was going to be a good day”.

She spent her day clearing clouds from in and around town, big fluffy ones, small wispy ones; they all needed to be attended too. She arranged the rain storms and even managed to take care of the fog bank. Catching up on three days of cloud busting left her exhausted by days end. As her day was nearly over she approached the last collection of white cotton like fluff she quickly came to a stop in midair. In her mind everything became confusing and fuzzy; a tingling sensation spread across her head then her mind twisted and reeled, the safe and familiar became threatening and strange.

What am I doing up here? She looked around a moment confused and unable to say for certain why she was there. Slowly she scanned the ground below looking for a familiar landmark, nothing seemed known to her. She couldn’t recognize the terrain below and she began feel very far from home. She had no idea what she was doing or why she was there, and that began to terrify her, all she wanted now was get somewhere safe. Nearly in a panic she dived towards the ground; clearing the lower edge of the cloud bank the sight of Ponyville caused to stop in mid-flight and scream.

“NO! This can’t be real! How can I be… here?”

Her mind raced to figure out what was happening. Where’s dad? Am I really in the cartoon? This has to be a dream. The rising terror in her caused tears to form in her eyes and the confusion made it hard to concentrate. She needed to find her home, to get away from this place. Primal instincts began to take over and she raced around for a few minutes looking for something, anything familiar. Then all at once it stopped. She began to get stiff, her head felt tingly, and then her mind pitched and for a moment felt like it untwisted. Her terror faded and she remembered what it was she was supposed to be doing. She calmed down a moment and gathered her thoughts.

What the hay is going on? Why can’t I remember? What’s wrong with me? Shaking off the last of the feelings of disorientation and confusion, she turned to the last batch of clouds and finished breaking them up. Breathing a sigh of relief, she checked the sky for any clouds she may have missed. Smiling to herself at a job well done she headed back to the WMMO. The whole flight back her mind was in turmoil about the episode over Ponyville. Landing at the WMMO, she made her way to the employee area and signed off on the work orders she’d completed, filled out her time card, and grabbed the work sheet for the following day. She walked down the hallway to the departure area studying her work order.

A large blue Pegasus stallion set down on the landing gantry ahead of her. Taking off his flight goggles he heartily greeted Rainbow. Looking up she recognized him, it was Thunder Charge. A good worker in her opinion, maybe not the fastest around but could work circles around most without a break.

“Hey Rainbow, good work out there today.” He said smiling broadly.

“Yeah, thanks” she said weakly.

“Everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.”

“Naw, I’m good Thunder, just tired. You would be too if you had three days to catch up on.” She said with a fake smile while she passed him in the hallway.

“No Way! I’d be ready for another shift.” He said with pride. Looking at her face he softened his tone and a little softer he said. “Well, try to get some sleep tonight if ya can.” He said with a look of concern.

Rainbow opened her mouth to respond as her mind flipped again. She staggered a moment and blinked. Looking around she caught site of Thunder Charge and gasped. Her mind raced to identify the creature that was standing in front of her. It looked similar to her in form, but it appeared to be a male. Backing away, she wasn’t clear on what he wanted or why he seemed to be talking to her. Her heart began pounding in her chest as the first wave of a panic attack hit her.

“Hey, are you sure you're...” His sentence was cut off by a blood curdling scream from Dash.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!!” Dash turned around and bolted for the takeoff and landing area screaming for her father. Several other pegasi stared at her as she ran down the gantry. Without waiting for the signal crew to give her clearance she took flight.

A short heavy set Pegasus in a generic off the rack white shirt ran out of an office to see what all the commotion was about. Thunder stood there with a dumbfounded expression staring after Rainbow Dash. The supervisor looked up at the stallion and asked what the heck just happened.

“I don’t know... One second Rainbow Dash and I were just talking. The next she freaks out and screams at me to stay away. She acted like she didn’t recognize me. Then she flew off.”

“Rainbow Dash did that?” The super asked surprised, looking out into the sky where Dash had flown off too. She was one of; if not the best cloud buster he had. In all the years that she worked for him she never behaved like that. Sure, she might over react at times and was cocky, all the cloud busters tended to be. In this line of work you had to have a little attitude. But this was way outside her normal behavior.

“Do you want to file a report?” The super asked in a serious tone.

“On RD? No way! She’d wipe the floor with me.” He responded half-jokingly.

“Okay.” He nodded slowly. The super walked back to his office shaking his head. This was the last thing he needed right now. He hated drama; it was bad for the bottom line.

Rainbow Dash raced away from the WMMO at break neck speed. She flew high into the air so she could see anyone approaching; she half expected to wake up from a nightmare.

“Where in the hell am I!?” She yelled out in frustration. Her panic attack in full swing now caused her to start breathing heavily, she broke down and cried. All she could think about now was finding her daddy; he would know what’s wrong and how to fix it. He always knew how to make everything better; he was always there for her. Trying to recall where her father was; her mind kept going blank, one moment she could almost bring his location to mind and it would vanish as though someone had plucked it out of her head. Thinking back she tried to recall the last thing she could. Slowly she started to get fragments of the past, but she wasn’t sure if they were hers or a movie she’d seen. A fog in her mind began to clear a little and she remembered their living room... Her father was there, he was crying. There were other ponies there. A white one… a bright pink one… and they had come to take her away.

“NOOO!” She cried in desperate recollection.

She had let them take her away... let them take her from her home and more importantly her father. Struggling to piece together what had happened afterwards, she closed her eyes tightly and focused on that day. Fragments of things long ago or yet to happen, she couldn't say for sure, began to surface in her mind about that day. That horrible day when they had arrived, the big one with the kind voice said she had to leave and her father wept telling her that he loved her. Rainbow Dash's heart broke seeing his face twisted in torment. She wanted to reach out and hold him... comfort him in his pain.

The memories began to fade and Dash tried harder to recall what had happened. The purple one had approached her, the horn on her head was glowing brightly and Dash wasn’t sure what was about to happen, then there was a bright flash, and she was...

Rainbow Dash blinked several times, and stared out into the sky unsure of what she was doing, or why she was hovering in midair. Looking around and then down she saw Ponyville below.

Drawing in her wings she gracefully dived towards town. Falling for a few moments she smiled at the speed and feeling of being in control. Unfurling her wings, she slowed her decent and effortlessly did a barrel roll. She relished the feelings of freedom that flight brought her. In a daze she descended delicately towards the ground, a pink movement caught her attention. Standing on her bedroom window sill Pinkie Pie waved excitedly at Rainbow Dash. She could just make out Pinkie pies voice calling out her name.

Pinkie Pie watched her friend slowly descend towards the ground. Excitedly she continued to wave, calling out to her again.

"Rainbow Daaaash!" Pinkie Pie said in her signature sing song way. Dash caught site of her friend and banked around and headed towards Pinkie Pie. Pinkie backed into her room above sugar cube corner, as Dash landed with a delicate thud on the window sill.

"Hi Dashie!" Pinkie Pie said practically glowing with joy. Her expression softened as she began to realize Rainbow Dash wasn't 'right'. Then she asked what she felt was a very important question. "Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash's answer was both the honest truth and a lie. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

Pinkie Pie eyed Rainbow Dash for a moment, and then laughed. "Okay then silly. You just looked REALLY out there for a second."

"ptfffff.. No way. I'm as good as it gets. Though I think I had a long day a work today." Dash said, as much to herself as Pinkie Pie. “I... I uhh…“ Dash went taut and she felt the twisting in her mind and silently cried out, “No. Not again.” A moment later she blinked a few times, relaxed and stared at pinkie Pie. Trying to piece together in her mind what was going on and where she was this time, she focused on what she could.

Okay, I’m at Pinkies. I can remember Ponyville and dad. Okay. Good. I think I’ll be alright. Play it cool and everything will be fine.

Pinkie Pie stared at her friend; a knowing began to form in her fluffy cotton candy mind. Not letting on that she was suspicious, Pinkie Pie welcomed Rainbow Dash warmly.

The two talked briefly about cloud busting and how the twins were getting along. Then slowly Rainbow Dash began to feel like maybe she needed to talk to someone about what was happening to her. She hated the idea of openly discussing this problem… this weakness. This was bigger than her, and she didn’t know what she could do. Perhaps Pinkie Pie could help her understand what was happening. Pinkie rambled on about how she’d had a conversation with butterfly that morning and how it wouldn't laugh at any of her jokes. “Don’t even start with me about the fiasco with the balloon.” Pinkie Pie stated with a stern look on her face.

Gathering her courage, Rainbow Dash waited until Pinkie Pie had to stop to take a breath. A feat that seemed to take far longer than any normal pony should. Maybe she can breathe and speak at the same time. When Pinkie Pie finally did stop for a moment Rainbow Dash quietly asked Pinkie Pie a pointed question.

"Have you ever... forgotten someone?" Rainbow Dash’s rose eyes scanned Pinkie Pie’s face for any telltale signs of what she might be thinking.

Pinkie Pie blinked at Rainbow Dash tilting her head to one side, and then her eyes grew wider than usual. The understanding in her mind that had started when Rainbow fist arrived grew and then clicked into place. The awkward silence began to make Rainbow Dash feel as though she should have not asked her question. Pinkie Pie’s answer could not have stunned Rainbow Dash more if she'd claimed to have invented the question mark.

"Like the way you keep forgetting your Earth dad? And by Earth dad I mean…" Pinkie Pie looked from side to side as if she was checking for someone who might be listening in on a secret. She leaned closer and whispered hoarsely. “…your human father.” Pinkie Pie blinked again and smiled almost proud of her answer.

Rainbow Dash sat in shock. Her mind raced to sort out and come to terms with what Pinkie Pie had just said,

"W-What?" was the only thing she could stammer out.

"You keep forgetting your earth dad and the time you spent there. What’s his name anyway? Then other times you can't remember your life here. It makes you really sad and that makes me sad that you're sad and I don’t want to you to be sad and I don't wanna be sad that you're sad...."

Pinkie Pie stopped taking when it registered that Rainbow Dash was backing away slowly. The tears in her eyes a mute witness to how upset she had become upon hearing Pinkies explanation.

"How... how could you know that? Rainbow Dash whispered, her voice cracking.

"Oh! That’s easy. I walked into my room and I heard someone say, 'NOOOO" and I ran to the window and looked outside to see who it was. And it was you, waaaay up in the sky, you were trying to remember what happened on a really bad day, then you looked like you didn't wanna be there, or here, I don't know which, and you couldn't remember us and got really scared and that made me scared for you, then you went all..." Pinkies eyes looked left and right at the same time and her tongue hug limply out of the corner of her mouth. "But then you could remember us but not your earth dad! That’s when you started to fly to town and I started to wave at you so I could try to cheer you up ‘cause you're really, REALLY sad that you keep forgetting, but you don't always know that you are sad. And to top it all off you don't know why any of this is happening to you!"

Rainbow Dash stared at Pinkie Pie in shock, unsure if she should run away or hug her. Unsure what to do, Rainbow Dash slowly let herself down to the floor overwhelmed by what she'd just heard. Pinkie Pie looked at her friend with a soft caring expression.

"Dashie. You need to tell Twilight what's happening. She can help you with all her weirdo unicorn magic."

“No Pinkie Pie I can't." Dash replied quietly.

"If you don't, you can't get better. You don't want to be like this forever do you?"

"Of course I don't. But I can't let anyone know…” Her voice trailed off.

“...that Your DAD is here." Pinkie Pie said in a whisper.

Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide again and she leapt across the room landing on Pinkie Pie pinning her to the floor. Staring her in the face she spoke calmly but firmly.

"Pinkie Pie you can never tell anyone that. Ever!"

Pinkie Pie looked up at Rainbow Dash and for the first since meeting her all those years ago, she felt a little afraid. She had seen Dash behave in all manner of ways, but this was different on a whole new level, she was dead serious.

"Okay Dashie. I won't..." Pinkie Pie let out a nervous laugh.

"Pinkie promise." Rainbow Dash said her wings slowly opening.

Pinkie Pie smiled and recited her oath of eternal 'mums the word'

Satisfied that she would keep silent, Rainbow Dash let Pinkie Pie up. Walking to the window Rainbow Dash sat down with a thud, looked out over Ponyville and sighed. Pinkie Pie slowly walked over and sat with her friend. Together they sat in silence, watching the long shadows of evening begin to crawl across town. A light breeze blew in the window carrying with it the sweet smells of a summer evening. A stillness echoed in Pinkie Pie's room as Dash gathered her thoughts. Trying to analyze what she knew and put everything in some sense of order.

She brought to mind of all the events in her life, or from her perspective... lives, both on earth and Equestria, in hopes that she could in a way use these to keep herself as she was at that moment. Every time she 'shifted' she was robbed of one set of memories or the other. Sometimes her life on earth was missing, and others her time life in Equestria was removed. Most times she was able to recall both lives and seemed to have no issues telling the difference between them. Dash pondered why this was happening, what could cause it and most importantly how to fix it. Was it magic? Did she take a blow to the head and can’t remember it? Maybe she had a brain tumor. Was it a poison joke relapse? A half an hour passed and the two of them simply sat there in contemplation. Rainbow tried to make some sense of her situation, and Pinkie Pie struggled deeply with an issue that had plagued her for several years; on one occasion keeping her up all night. "This is maddening! Why can't I taste my tongue?!

At last Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie, seeing that she was deep in thought, RD touched her on the shoulder. Pinkie refocused on her friend and a small smile crossed her face.

"Thank you Pinkie."

"No problem Dashie. I'll always be here for you." She replied cheerfully, giving her blue friend a gentle hug. "What are you going to do now?"

Dash sighed and stood up on all four.

"Go home I guess. I don't know what else TO do."

Pinkie nodded in understanding and said, “I hope that you find help soon Dashie.”

Pinkie Pie’s peaceful expression melted into one of sad concern for her friend. An idea started to form in the back of her mind. If Dash wouldn’t seek help, she would do it for her.

“Me too Pinkie Pie, me too.”

Rainbow Dash climbed up on to the window sill and took flight. She slowly climbed into the air and veered towards her cloud home.

When she arrived, she let herself in and moved with purpose from the kitchen to the linen closet and her bedroom. Grabbing blankets and pillows, she filled her Saddle bags with toiletries, dishes, more food, and sundries. Mouthwash, can’t forget mouthwash. Really? Oat flavored? Sorry dad, it’ll have to do. She hoped she could gather everything and get back to her father before slipping into one of the other Rainbow Dash’s that she kept becoming. “Maybe if it’s going to happen, it should be here and I won’t freak out so bad.” She paused a moment at that thought. “Great now I’m starting to accept this BS.” Straightening her neck she gathered her courage and thought, “I can’t let it get the better of me.”

As she loaded her bags a quiet noise caught her attention. Unsure what it was that she actually heard she stopped what she was doing and listened carefully. Silence was her response. An eerie feeling crept into her head. Something was in her house with her, she could feel it. She threw her saddlebags on and made for the front door. A distant shout of pain stopped her in her tracks the fur down her spine started to stand on end. She turned and looked around at her empty home, straining to hear anything more.

“I’ve seen enough horror movies to know this is a trap.” She thought to herself. “There is NO way I’m going to find out what that was.” Bolstering her courage, she moved again to the front door. Almost immediately another cry of pain came to her hears, it was closer now, maybe even in the house. It sounded like a pony crying out in pain. Reaching the front door, she grabbed the handle in her mouth and opened it. A loud shout of anger called out, almost echoing with in the walls of the entryway to her home. She froze, shaking with adrenaline and some fear, she turned slowly to see who was screaming in her home. She saw nothing. Nopony was there yelling at her. She looked around, now she was more confused than anything else.

“Hello? Anyone there?” She whispered. Silence.

A familiar voice cried out loudly in pain startling her badly and causing her to yelp. After a moment she recognized the voice, it belonged to her father.

“OH GOD! Dad!” she gasped. Bolting out the front door she took to the skies and forced herself to fly as fast as she could manage. She headed straight to the lake and where her father was supposed to be. A dim beautiful rainbow trail peeled across the darkening sky. The light of day was nearly spent when the lake came into view. Much to her great relief she saw pops standing next to the lake. He appeared to be using his shirt as a towel to dry his hair. He was unharmed and there was no one else around. She pondered what she had heard. Thinking about it, she wasn’t completely certain that she’d actually heard anything; it could have all been in her head. Wonderful! I’m going completely bonkers.

“Dashie! You’re back.” Brian called waving up to her out as she landed on the sandy beach. He walked over to her but before he could say or do anything she dropped her bags to the ground and pulled her father into a tight hug.

“Aww Dashie... I’m happy to see you too.” He said a little surprised at her hug.

Recovering herself, she pulled away and playfully punched him in the shoulder, smiling broadly.

“Yeah yeah... whatever.” She said. “Don’t go and get all sappy on me.”

“Oh? Really now, is that how things are going to be?” He said with a gentle mocking in his voice.

As he looked at her closely, her eyes said she’d had a terrible day and was just covering. Knowing her as he did, he decided to play it off and let her be ‘the cool one’.

Eager to distract herself from her ever worsening condition, she looked at the area pops had cleared for his cabin, he’d even dug out the earth for the foundation.

“Wow dad this is looking great.” She said with a  bit of awe in her voice.

“It’s not much yet. But tomorrow I’ll start to lay the foundation… I think. There's lots of good sized rocks around here too, and in the lake.” He stated with some pride.

Brian’s stomach growled. “Oops. Sorry about that. I think I’m hungry.” He said grabbing his belly with both hands.

Dashie smiled and told him he sounded like the old coffee pot they had when she was growing up. Rainbow Dash walked to her saddle bags and withdrew some of the food stuffs she had taken from her home. She had brought pasta with white sauce, some garlic bread and apples. Brian sat down lit a small camp fire and began to spread out the food. Dash passed him plates and he portioned out servings of food. The two of them ate mostly in silence, with the occasional smile or grunt of approval. Each had their own difficulty that day, and neither felt like talking too much.

After eating, Rainbow Dash unloaded the blankets and pillows. Brian was feeling exhausted and just wanted to sleep. After hurried good night’s they fell to sleep quickly.

The fire light dimmed to the sound of snores and whinnying. A pair of teal eyes on the edge of the forest appeared and watched the two. Dashie began to twitch in her sleep.