I hate being Alone

by ArclightBrony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 2062

Rainbow Dash learns exactly how strong friendship really is... And that friendship truly is magic.

Rainbow Dash learns exactly how strong friendship really is, and how loyal her friends really are to the Element of Loyalty.

A brief tale of love and forgiveness; A true "feelgood" story. I'll be very sad if you don't tell me what you thought of it. :'(

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-03 02:44:02 UTC

Friendship is Magic

This story was written in one sitting, without ANY breaks, and with absolutely NO pre-planning or editions. Submission was immediately followed the completion. Enjoy! ^3^☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

I hate being alone.

Rainbow Dash--the proudest, fastest, and most loyal of ponies ever to grace the visage of Equestria and the majestic sky above it with her full color spectrum--lay atop the only cloud that sat in the Equestrian night sky. Tears collected in the beautiful amethysts that were her eyes and obscured the sight she now had of the beautiful, harmonious world that she loved so much to soar so high above. She closed her eyes and, with the cyan fur that covered her deceptively strong forelegs, dabbed away at the tears that congregated in front of her irises. It was with pained and dread filled hesitation that Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, and as she did so, another deluge of tears washed over her eyes in sight of the unmatched beauty before her.

It would be night time before the better part of a minute had passed. The sun hung above the farthest horizon of snow-capped mountains with a dim, fiery glow that was weak enough to look directly at. Only a scant bit closer than the farthest horizon was another line hills that held a shape somewhat like that of a chicken's egg, or rather, a dragon's egg. These hills were dotted with trees. Some bore fruit, and others did not. With the keen vision of a Pegasus, Rainbow Dash could see that brazen glow of Celestia's high hanging orb gave the apples of those trees an appearance much like the sun itself as the light reflected off of the wax that covered the flesh of those fruits.

At the base of these hills was an abnormally dense miasma of fog. As the last of the sun's light shone through the mist, it conveyed the illusion that many small, dying fires were concealed beneath it. It was as if the mist itself was made of fire.

Above this conflagration of mother nature's natural beauty was what Rainbow Dash thought to be the true crown jewel of everything that made Equestria the inconceivably gorgeous realm that it was: The sky city of Cloudsdale. The clouds that held up the ancient city bore the same brazen glow as the mist that covered the ground so far beneath it, and the waterfalls refracted the golden light in such a fashion that each flow of water sparkled with colors that rivaled that of the rainbows that were so lovingly forged in Cloudsdale. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she relived the prior events of the day.

Despite the mind numbing beauty of the scene that splayed itself out for miles before her, Rainbow Dash wallowed in guilt and shame. Guilt for having caused the tragedy in Ponyville behind and beneath her, and shame for being unable to bring herself to turn around and look upon it. With her attitude, perfectly crafted form and tantalizing, six colored mane, Rainbow Dash was no doubt quite the beautiful creature inside and out; The mare or stallion with the guile to captivate the heart of the Rainbow would be a fortunate pony, indeed.. Still, Rainbow Dash had never felt more pitiful or ugly in her entire life. I'm supposed to be the element of loyalty. Stupid, stupid, stupid! In a fit of regret and rage, Rainbow Dash bashed her forehead once, twice, and thrice with her forehoof, only succeeding in giving herself a worse headache than she already had.

Only an hour before, Rainbow Dash had attempted one of the most complex and reckless stunts in her entire life. The finisher for her series of twists and spins was one of the sonic rainbooms that she had become so adept at conjuring as of late, and this was where everything went wrong. As Rainbow Dash  basked in the thrill of her ludicrous speed before the final push, she realized that her wings were pulled inward too far, and that she was going much faster than she had anticipated at such a low altitude. Her original plan was to release the sonic and optical burst just as she entered Ponyville and then to soar directly overhead as her colors and thunderous roar struck terror into the hearts of everypony within the borders of the town. It was supposed to be a harmless prank. It was supposed to be funny. It was supposed to be fun.

All did not go so well. In order to compensate for her excessive velocity, Rainbow Dash had to fly directly through Ponyville, and not above it... And she did so. She was sure she could do it safely. She was sure she could weave in between any ponies she encountered without any problems. I thought. The entire ordeal lasted for less than a second, but Rainbow Dash remembered every detail.

As she weaved in between the first two houses, Rainbow Dash notice that Ponyville was particularly empty. As she made the first turn, Rainbow Dash passed only Lyra and Bon Bon, but with several feet to spare.

She then took another turn to the left around Sugar Cube Corner and through the town square, passed the statue of Princess Celestia and passed several unoccupied market stalls. Nopony seemed to be outside this late, and Rainbow Dash expected her entry to be much easier. As she soared around another corner, Rainbow Dash wondered if she could make it out of the town without anypony else seeing her. Immediately after taking the final turn that would lead her across a straight stretch of dirt between several houses, Rainbow Dash decided to become gutsy and close her eyes, thinking she could fly perfectly straight and dart out of Ponyville with flying colors. At the time, she had even laughed at the thought of flying colors.

Her boldness would be her undoing. Soon after closing her eyes, Rainbow Dash collided head on with something soft. In a split second, Rainbow Dash knew how badly she really had messed up.

To her left was Rarity, who wore a look of horror like Rainbow Dash had never seen.

Beside the fashion unicorn was Pinkie Pie, her eyes closed in the middle of one of her iconic joyful jumping jigs. Behind Pinkie Pie was Spike, bearing a mass of parchment too large for him to see passed.

To Rainbow Dash's right was Twilight Sparkle, who spoke to Applejack... Who was wearing the same look of horror on her face as Rarity.

In front of Rainbow Dash was a creme colored Pegasus with a pink mane who she was particularly close to. It was Fluttershy that Rainbow Dash had hit at such a speed, and Fluttershy's face was in complete shock before she could even have time to feel the pain.

As Rainbow Dash soared on, scared and frightened out of her wits, she saw noticed that Fluttershy had contracted a familiar purple aura around herself. Rainbow Dash had only one thought as she retreated, ashamed of her recklessness: Oh, by the Sister's, don't be hurt, DON'T be hurt! At the speed at which she was flying, Rainbow Dash was gone and out of sight before anypony could even react. She couldn't bring herself to turn around and face her friends; Especially not Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash bashed her forehead once more with her forehoof for good measure, feeling like a total jerk and a complete coward for running. She had spent far too much time crying since the ordeal to shed any more tears, and so she sat hunched over, sobbing and choking like a blithering idiot for a long time before the pain finally left her ribs, and she could breathe again. Fluttershy... I'm so sorry.

Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves on her cloud, only to rest back on her flanks and stare at the cloud between her hooves, shame making her unable to raise her head. I hate being alone. At that moment, a purple hoof rested on her shoulder.  Rainbow Dash resisted the urge to curl up into a ball and die, and she resisted the urge to fly away as fast as she could... And then Twilight Sparkle's other hoof rested on Dashie's left shoulder, and her chin on Rainbow Dash's head.

"It would take a lot more than a stupid mistake to pull us apart, Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do with herself. She didn't know why Twilight wasn't mad at her, and she didn't know exactly how she got up into the cloud with her, but she didn't care. She just wanted to disappear. "I'm sorry."

Twilight Sparkle said nothing, and broke the one sided embrace they shared. Momentarily, she sat behind Rainbow Dash, where she could see how Twilight had achieved this feat. From Twilight's shoulders sprouted wings of her own, but these were not normal wings. They shimmered with a dim purple and held sparkles that resembled those of Princess Luna's mane, and were partially transparent. Magic wings... What else can she do?

"Rainbow, Fluttershy isn't even mad at you." Rainbow Dash couldn't help but gasp, but still couldn't look at Twilight Sparkle in the eye. She simply kept staring at her wings, finding a mildly mind numbing comfort in the way they rippled in rhythm with the glow of Twilight's horn.

"Is she hurt...?"

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash, and then back at the horizon, where the sun had completely hid behind. Pure starlight lit the irises of the unicorn that were so much like Rainbow Dash's own, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but smile just a little bit. "She was, Dashie, but not as bad as she could have been. I softened the blow greatly with the same kind of magic I used to make these wings." She gave them a weak flap for emphasis. "Starswirl the..." She didn't bother to finish, remembering that her friend probably would not care. "Anyway, she only had a few bruises, but I healed those rather quickly. She just wants to know how you're doing, Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash couldn't believe it. She ventured to look Twilight in the eye, who looked back with perfect forgiveness and sincerity on her face. "You're not all mad at me?"

Twilight scooted a little closer tickled Rainbow Dash's nose with her own, and then hugged her. Rainbow Dash sat still, bewildered. "Rainbow, you've stuck with us through thick and thin... What kind of friends would we be if we deserted you after you only messed up once?"

Rainbow Dash gave in to the release of the few tears she had left as she returned her friend's embrace. She could say nothing but "Thank you," as she buried her face in Twilight's chest. Twilight only responded by humming softly and contentedly to herself.

Rainbow Dash lay on her cloud this way for what could have been hours beneath the Equestrian night sky, each mare keeping the other warm until Luna's moon directly overhead. Rainbow Dash turned her head upward just enough to see the moon, and was suddenly confused. Why is the moon turning purple? Another thought occurred to her. Why is the cloud turning green?

Rainbow Dash broke her embrace with Twilight Sparkle to find herself beside her, laying atop a green bedspread. She looked up to see a purple, glowing orb that illuminated the assortment of adventure and magic books that littered the bed spread. Oh... It's Twilight's magic light! The one she makes when we read together! Rainbow Dash lay back down beside Twilight and hugged her again, chuckling to herself.

Twilight Sparkle awoke, lifting her unkempt mane from her eyes. She too looked up at the light, and back down to Rainbow Dash and hugged her back. "Have any good dreams, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash pulled away just enough to look into the unicorn's eyes, who looked so much like her own, and held her at arms length. After a moment, she just smiled and buried her face in Twilight's chest as she did in the dream. She giggled.

"Yeah."

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼I didn't lie; This was written in one sitting. Did you see any errors? Please leave a comment about it, and tell me what you thought!

Please? ^3^

And if you want more stories like this, perhaps you should throw a watch my way!