When A Rainbow Changes Coloursby AmegaChaptersWhen Things Go SouthWhen News SpreadsWhen We MeetWhen Things Go SouthAuthor's Note This story is also known as how I need to learn to name things better. These are the names I came up with: "Amazing idea 1" and "Why a rainbow is one not two". Brilliant. Anyway, this will be a 3rd person story. Enjoy When Things Go South "Hey! Hurry up, you're so slow!" shouted a cyan coated Pegasus. "I bet I could've made it around this mountain twenty times now!" This was a Pegasus true, but it was not just any Pegasus, this was the fastest Pegasus in Equestria. The bravest. The loyalest. This was none other than Rainbow Dash. "Well ya could'a just walked with us!" replied a southern drawl, originating from the strong Earth Pony Applejack. Flanking her was the prestigious group of fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and a rather unamused looking purple bookworm, Twilight Sparkle. "Ya aint gotta make a show outta everytin'!" "I agree with Applejack," came the studious voice of Twilight, "you could learn a lot from this immersive experience!" "This imerci-wha?" came Rainbow's reply and attempt to understand the eggheads words, causing Twilight to sigh. "It's a good experience, Rainbow, so come down here already!" Rainbow in turn let out her own sigh and began descending towards her friends. "Fine, but you gotta move a lot faster if you wanna keep up." Landing on the ground with a clop as her hooves hit the rough terrain, she turned to her friends. "Well, come on! This mountain's not gonna climb itself!" She eagerly stated before heading along the track, her friends following right behind her. Today was like most days in this part of Equestria, sunny with a beautiful breeze blowing the fresh air through the land. The group of friends and fillies were spending the day climbing the mountain, mostly to spend time with each other, but they also had their own reasons. Twilight was the one who came up with the idea, wanting to study the terrain that mountains offer in a closer proximity, and she convinced Rainbow easily to come, as she thought it would be cool, and was bored enough without anything else to do. The Cutie Mark Crusaders found out, and like always, thought it was enough reason to try for their cutie marks, getting Applejack to tag along so they didn't get into trouble. Not that she didn't trust Twilight and Rainbow or anything, but, well, they were sometimes horrible at looking after the fillies, especially with them being as energetic as they are. As the group reached a platform close to the top of the sizable mountain, they were met with one of the most beautiful sights they had ever seen. They had a clear view of Equestria, the land sprawling out before them, the lush green fields, the towns in the distance, the diverse landscape, and Canterlot perched on its mountain side in the distance, all combined with the fresh, clean air blowing through the mountains made it feel special, and beautiful. As the other ponies were taken back from the beauty from the view, one Pegasus stood there with a proud smile. "Pretty cool, huh? This is the type of thing I see all the time." Twilight spared a glance her way, then back towards the view from the mountain. "I've seen views like this before, living in Canterlot, but from this angle..." she trailed off, returning her attention back to the view. true to he word, it was facing towards Canterlot, showing what laid beyond the mountain it was perched upon, the forest close to the left of the base and the land behind it, even able to catch a glimpse of the Crystal Empire sparkling in the distance, and Appleloosa in the dusty presence north of the mountain, the ocean visible to the west and far east. It was truly a breath-taking sight, especially for the land bound ponies that were present. Not a minute later everyone was broken out of there stupors by the rumbling of a stomach. Applebloom frowned and rubbed her stomach, looking towards her sister. "Applejack, ah'm hungry!" she pout-fully exclaimed. "Me too!" chirped in Scootaloo, happily buzzing her wings in anticipation of food. "Me three!" squeaked Sweetie Belle in her high pitched voice. "Me four!" the raspy voice of Rainbow Dash added as she joined in on the fillies antics. Applejack let out a sigh as she rubbed her forehoof on her head. "Fine, but why're ya'll asking me, Twilight's the one with the food." "Oh, ah know, but why would ah bug her when ah can bug mah sister?" Laughter sprouted from Applebloom's comment, but quickly settled down as Twilight summoned the picnic basket and blanket on the ground in front of them. While they all sat and ate their lunch, they kept an eye on the scenery, still captivated by it, one filly however was too eager to explore more of the mountain to sit and wait. Quickly finishing her meal, she darted off higher up the mountain, thinking that her friends would catch up to her, unbeknown to her that the ponies enjoying their meals didn't notice Scootaloo's absence. As she climbed higher up the mountain, the group of ponies back at the platform just finished enjoying their lunch. "Hey, where'd Scoots go?" Applebloom asked in concern as Twilight rolled up the blanket and blinking both it and the basket away. "Ah thought she was with you," was Applejack's response. Eye's going wide, she starts scanning the area for Scootaloo. "Dash, help me find Scootaloo, she's gone missin'!" Rainbow Dash was about to take off into the sky, when a shout caused her to snap her head in that direction. There, higher up the mountain, but not fully at the top, was Scootaloo, waving while standing in front of a dead tree. "Hey guys, I'm up here!" Scootaloo shouted down to the ponies below here, a large grin etched on her face. "Scootaloo, get down from there," Twilight shouted, worry dominant in her voice, "it's dangerous!" "Relax, I'm fine!" Scootaloo casually responded, "It's completely safe!" She started walking higher, but her hoof got stuck in a hole in the ground. She pulled to get her hoof unstuck and after a minute almost had it out. "Come on, stupid hole," She mumbled in frustration, still trying to pull her hoof out of the hole. Finally it came out, and the force made Scootaloo stumble back, but once she recovered, she noticed a weird thin black object of some sort fell out with her. It had strange engravings, and some sort of star symbol across one side. Suddenly the mountain started shaking, parts of it breaking apart. Rainbow Dash was the first to notice, and after informing Twilight, helped Applejack get the fillies to safety while Twilight shielded them with her magic. Rainbow looked frantically for Scootaloo, before spotting the filly looking scared higher on the mountain. "Twilight, you've got to grab Scoots with your magic, NOW!" Rainbow cried out to her friend, fear clear in her voice. Twilight looked at her with mirrored concern and tried to explain. "Rainbow, there's something blocking my magic from going any further than it is now, I'm afraid I can't do anything." Twilight's voice was weak, and had doubt laced in her tone. She knew there was nothing she could do. She felt useless by that thought. "Rainbow Dash, Please help!" Scootaloo shouted in desperation as the ground beneath her started to crack. As the ground beneath her crumpled, she screamed for her life, unable to hold the fear was holding her tightly, the old, dead tree falling directly on top of her. "Don't worry Squirt, I'm coming!" Rainbow shouted as she took off to help her sister. She wasn't going to let anything happen to her, after all, she promised to look after her. As Rainbow passed Twilight's shield, she felt a force slowing down her flying, but for the sake of Scootaloo, she flew as fast as she possibly could. But she knew she wasn't fast enough. By the time she got to Scootaloo's position, whether it be to grab her or pull up beside her to shove her out of the way, the tree would hit them. There was only one thing she could do, and she was ready to do it, no matter what. As the tree approached the filly, close to touching her, she felt two hooves shove her out of the way. Hitting the ground, her momentum made her roll across it for a bit, before stopping, tears in her eyes from the pain she felt. That was when the mountain stopped breaking apart. Scootaloo rose from her spot, her legs and back bruised from the impact, to take in her surroundings. Just over some rubble behind her, she could see the tree that almost hit her. Climbing over, she saw a sight that shocked her. Blood. So much blood. and underneath the tree, where the blood came from, was Rainbow Dash, her idol and sister. She stopped, too scared to go any closer to the body. Not a minute later, Twilight and Applejack showed up, only to freeze at the sight of their friend, and unable to stop the fillies behind them from stepping forwards and seeing it them selves. The fillies, were paralysed with fear, as the broken and trapped body laid unmoving under the tree, a branch sticking into its chest. Applejack dry-heaved, and Twilight threw up, not used to the intense sight before them. It was quite, until they heard a soft moan. They looked over to Rainbow's broken body, tears matting down the fur in their faces to check if they heard what they think they did. There was another soft moan, this time clearly coming from Rainbow. Twilight and Applejack ran over to their friend to help her in anyway possible. Rainbow looked up to the two bodies standing over her. Applejack immediately started pushing the tree off of her, although it was to no use. She turned to Twilight, fury in her eyes. "Twilight, don't just stand there! Use yer magic and SAVE HER!" "I can't," Twilight's tears flowed harshly down her face, "my magic's being blocked here." "Shuddup and try harder! Ya need to do SOMETHIN'!" her voice echoing through the mountain tops. "Ya can't let her die!" her tears flowed from her eyes, streaking down her face. "I-It's okay," a weak voice came from beneath them. Their heads turned to face Rainbow as she spoke her final words. "T-Tell the others that t-they're the best friends I've ever h-had." "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, I'm useless. I can't even do anything!" Twilight said in rage and sorrow, not caring of how much of a mess she looked like. "I-It's ok. You did what you could," Rainbows tears poured out of her eyes as her body felt cold and numb, "I-I knew this might happen. B-but promise me you'll do something for me." The two ponies in front of her gave a sorrowful nod. "Take care of Scootaloo, Please. And thank you, for all you've done for me..." Her words trailed off as her tears stopped flowing along with her breathing, her eyes shutting for the last time. Behind them the three once innocent fillies were huddled up together crying and in shock, with Scootaloo in the middle, as she could only weep and cry and say one sentence: "It was all my fault." When News SpreadsTwilight was sad. That's an understatement. But she wasn't the only one. Ponyville was sad. One of the six brave heroes that risked their lives all the time for them, killed so unfairly and cruelly, for no reason. No monsters, no threats, no reason. It's been five months since that day, the day that loyalty died. Equestria was sad, but as time kept moving on, so did the ponies, and as such, the memory of loyalty's death wilted in their minds as time had passed. Twilight had spent more time than usual holed up in her library, practicing her magic as much as possible, out of fear of being too weak to help any other of her friends, and out of regret. Rarity was hardly active and didn't even put her makeup on some mornings, still forced to wear a smile as she worked in her boutique, which she had closed during the first month of her friend's death. Pinkie lost the energy that usually surrounded her, seen working at sugarcube corner with a slouch and flat hair, and walking slowly around poniville at all hours of the day for the three months after Rainbow's death. Luckily she was the first to start coming to terms with Rainbow's death, now seen with curly hair and a smile on her face, but sadder than it used to be. Fluttershy hardly ever left her house, and was prone to sudden outbursts and tears at any small reminder of her fillyhood friend, and relied on the animals to encourage her to do things at all or help around the house. Applejack smiled less, and hated to be alone, especially when working on the orchard, usually finding her mind wandering and tears streaking down her face as it landed on Rainbow's crumpled and twisted body beneath the tree. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo all saw therapists and had nightmares while sleeping, fortunately being helped by Luna through them. Scootaloo became wrapped in guilt and sorrow, after all the death of her idol was all her fault. The death of her sister. However bad she was though, through the support of her friends, other ponies and a certain princess, she was being pulled away from the dark thoughts that once ran through her mind. However bad it was, everyone was in the slow process of moving on and past this tragic event, at least, until twilight received a note from Celestia... Twilight awoke groggily, not wanting to move out of her warm and comfortable blankets. Cracking open an eye, she looked to the clock on the wall. It seemed she had slept until the one in the afternoon, again. Getting up, she stretched before heading downstairs to get some food. This was becoming an unhealthy routine for her, and Spike was all too wary of her attitude nowadays. As she entered the kitchen, she found Spike eating a late lunch. Passing him to get to the cupboards, she yawned a greeting to him. "Good morning Spike." Spike turned to look at Twilight with an eyebrow raised, "You mean Afternoon, right?" "Yes I mean afternoon, Spike," Twilight replied unable to hide a giggle. Spike smiled at how happy Twilight looked. It hurt him to see her so distraught, and it was refreshing to see a smile grace her lips. She was closed to recovering, and soon so will her friends. Spike knew that everything was going to be alri- *BUUURRRPPP* Spike was surprised to have suddenly been roused from his thoughts the scroll. He looked over and spotted a small black "R" next to the seal. He knew what this meant. Whenever a scroll had a "R" marked on it, it was about Rainbow Dash. The mark was there in case Twilight wasn't ready to talk about Rainbow Dash and to be saved for later. However, this was marked as important, which meant it should be read immediately. Spike however wanted to make sure Twilight was ready to read it. He looked over to Twilight and announced a sentence he had come to hate. "It's about Rainbow." Twilight's expression quickly darkened, and she let out a shaky sigh. "It's ok," Twilight let out, voice shaking slightly, "I'll read it myself." Grabbing the scroll in her magic, she unfurled it while walking into the foyer of the library. Looking at the letter she saw the familiar My faithful Student, Twilight and begun reading out loud. "My Faithful student Twilight, It is unfortunate that I have to bother you in your time of recovery, especially with such an upsetting topic. However, there is a task I have to ask you and your friends to do for me. If you do not choose to perform said task, I understand, otherwise it is important that you get started post-haste. A month and a half ago, I found reports from Appleloosa about a strange mare doing shady work in town. More research into the matter revealed this Pegasus mare to have very certain characteristics that have sprouted interest. I sent a team of royal guards, ten of them, to apprehend the mare. To my surprise, they came back beaten and broken. According to reports, they were all taken out by the same mare alone. More reports from them confirmed my suspicion about the features of the mare. Twilight, it pains me to say this in case it gets your hopes too high, but all evidence points to the fact that... that," Twilights voice wavered more as she read the last line again. Her legs shook at the information she just read, tears starting to stream down her face. "What does it say twilight?" Spike inquired, concern evident in his voice. "Spike, get the other girls." Spike was about to ask why when Twilight turned to him. "NOW!" Spike ran as fast as he could to get the girls, fearing Twilights sudden anger. Her legs finally giving out from under her, she fell to the ground. Looking again at the line that caused her this distress, she shook more. the fact that Rainbow Dash is still alive. The girls ran over to Twilight's library as fast as they could, all worried about what could have made Twilight's reaction be so intense. The fact that it was an important message from princess Celestia herself didn't help calm them either. Spike was riding on Applejack's back, his mind unable to come off of Twilight's reaction and that scroll. Just what was written on it? As the girls closed in on the library, Pinkie slammed the door open and stepped inside, followed by the other three mares and spike. As they approached Twilight, they shared looks of concern over their friend, shaking on the ground. Applejack was the first one to voice her concern. "Sugarcube, what's goin' on?" her voice broke the uneasy silence. Twilight's ears perked up as she registered that she was being talked to. Shakily getting up to her hooves, she turned to address her friends. "Girls, there's something I need to tell you," she sighed as she levitated the scroll in front of her. "Earlier today I received a message from princess Celestia, marked as important. It says, that...," her voice was shaky as she once again sighed, "That Rainbow Dash may still be alive." The room was filled with gasps before complete shocked silence took hold. They stayed that way for a couple seconds, unsure about how to feel about what they were hearing, until Pinkie broke the silence. "WHAT!? AREYOUKIDDINGMEOHMYGOSHTHATSSOAMAZINGIHAVETOTHROUGHATLEASTTENPARTIESFORTHISITSGONNABEAMAZ-mmpphhh!" Pinkies rambling was cut off as Twilight shoved her hoof into her mouth to silence her. She looked at her with sadness in the eyes as she has to dampen her friend's mood. "I said might, there's still a large chance, an astronomical one, that this mare simply looks like her, and Rainbow, our Rainbow, is gone forever..." She started to lose volume, her voice drowning in her sadness. She was surprised when she felt Applejack nudge her. "But there's still a chance right?" Applejack asked, getting her answer in the form of a nod from Twilight. "Then doesn't that make ya feel glad?" "Yes - I mean no - I mean... I don't know," Twilight confessed, completely befuddled by her emotions, slipping onto her flank, "What are you meant to feel when you're told one of your best friends that died in your hooves and that you helped bury, might still be alive?" Twilight looked over at Applejack as she wrapped a hoof around Twilight. "Ya feel hope Twi," she said softly, looking into her friends eyes as Twilight looked at her like a sad puppy, "hope that ya might get ya friend back, even if it's a might." "Yes darling, I agree completely," Rarity chimed in, flipping her mane expertly, "I have become much too uninvolved in these last few months, and it is simply unacceptable. We've been too busy feeling sad for ourselves after Rainbow's awful demise, but that's to be expected. Now's the time to grab onto new hope and move on. Even if it's not our Rainbow, we can certainly put all this to bed and move on." Fluttershy meekly looked towards the ground, and then up to her friends as she mustered the courage to talk. "I agree with Rarity... if that's ok with you," she barely whispered. Twilights vision was then filled with pink as she looked up to see Pinkie Pie beaming back at her. Grabbing her cheeks, Pinkie started her own encouraging speech. "They're absolutely right Twilight!" Pinkie shouted in her face before wrapping her forelegs around the unoccupied side of Twilight. "Even if Rainbow was gone for good, she wouldn't want us to sit around like grumpy frowny wrounies, she'd want us to keep being the bestest of bestest best friends," she blurted out, almost loosing everyone with her speech as she nuzzled Twilight while tightening her grip. Letting go, she took a few steps back, waiting for Twilight to make up her mind. Looking to her friends, who all gave her encouraging looks back, she let out a small smile. "Thank you, all of you, for helping me come to terms with my feelings," she thanked as she stood up, leaving Applejack's grip, "It's truly a blessing that I have all of you as my friends to encourage me to hope for the future. However, there is one more thing you should know." "Why, whatever could be more shocking than news that a dear friend might still be alive?" Quizzed Rarity, the confusion strong in her voice. "We have been tasked by princess Celestia," she paused for dramatic effect, "to arrest her." "WHAT!?" Author's Note This probably took me longer than it should've due to being busy, but I'm still bugged by something. Did I spell "frowny wrounies" right? I know it's not a real word, but it's still bugging me for some reason. Was gonna make it o=longer, but then I thought "nah, that's good." I was pretty tired when I wrote the second half out, so tell me how it turned out, K. When We MeetTwilight looked out the train's window as her friends slept soundly. She couldn't sleep, the prospect of finding Rainbow alive was enough to excite her, terrify her, and anger her. If Rainbow really was alive, didn't she deserve to be one of the first ponies to find out about it? All the conflicting thoughts kept Twilight awake, as well as the memories of what happened when Rainbow died. The dread, the sadness, the feeling of total uselessness. Trying to rid the thoughts from her head, she decided to re-read the parchment Princess Celestia had sent her, or more specifically the last paragraph. As surprising and seemingly impossible as it sounds, it is a possibility that we must consider no matter the extravagance of such a claim. However, there is a task I must ask of you. Being her closest friends and linked by the elements of harmony, I must ask you and you friends to apprehend her at once. I will again apologise for the wound which I may have opened, but your connection with her is an important asset, and if all else fails you still have training in combat. Please take your time to consider this request and know that I will support whatever decision you come to. Princess Celestia As much as that logic seemed flawed to Twilight, looking over it made it obvious that it made perfect sense. Not the "Rainbow Dash coming back from the dead" thing of course, but if she did come back from the dead, she and her friends had to be responsible to apprehend her. Why it had to be her was something she wanted to know and kept asking, even though she already had the answer and knew it made sense. After all, they were her friends, and had a connection through the elements of harmony. The combat training was also a good backup, as they are after all heroes of Equestria, receiving combat training is a no-brainer, it even helped them take on the changelings in the invasion. They were better than most guards, but not near the elites, except Dash, who was always better at those things. Fluttershy was the only one without training, but even then Twilight knew that she and her friends can take down Rainbow - wait no. Twilight shook her head to free herself from that line of thought. 'I don't need to fight Rainbow' she told herself as she laid down on her bed. 'Right?' The train pulled up at the Appleloosa station early in the morning. Twilight and her friends groggily got off the train, tired from not having a good night of sleep. The quintet of ponies groggily made their way towards Braeburn's house, where they had arranged to stay. Braeburn was away for the day, something about a town meeting or something. They didn't really bother to read the note properly in their tired state. After three hours of napping, the five ponies decided to split up to search around town for clues to "Rainbow's" whereabouts. Spreading to the far corners of the town, they decided to meet back up at sundown. As they separated on their own paths, one thing was on all their minds: I hope we find her. 9 Hours later Twilight walked back to the house with her head hung low. Hours of searching and the closest thing she got was "I think I saw a blue Pegasus once" from a senile earth pony. After readying herself, she opened the door to find all her friends, besides Fluttershy, around the coffee table centred in the living room; looking around at her friends to gauge their facial expressions. None of them looked very promising though. Twilight sat down on one side of the table and let a sigh escape her mouth. Looking up with determination, she asked the question she dreaded the answer to. "Did anyone find anything about Rainbow?" "'Fraid not sugercube," Applejack solemnly stated as she pulled her Stetson down to cover her eyes. "Nope," Pinkie stated flatly, hardly moving from her spot, unlike her normal self. Rarity looked at Twilight with sad eyes as she delicately chose her words. "I'm afraid not darling, however, we do have a week to find her. I'm sure with enough searching we can." "Hey Fluttershy," Pinkie flatly greeted to her recently arrived friend. "Hello Pinkie." "You're probably right, but I don't know what to think," Twilight sulked placing her head on the table not noticing Fluttershy's arrival. "But what if she isn't here?" "I'm sure we'll find a lead soon dear. It just... takes patience is all," Rarity tried to comfort her friend. "Um... actually, I kinda found something," Fluttershy meekly stated, pawing at the floor softly. "But how long will it take!? What if it's just a wild goose chase that means nothing!?" Twilight waved her hooves in the air wildly to exaggerate her point. "But I-" "It's all just a waste of time!" Twilight was losing her cool fast. She wasn’t even listening to the talk going on between her friends. What if she was at fault? What if this is her punishment of karma to reminder her that- "EVERYONE!!!" The room went silent as all eyes transfixed onto the usually quiet butter Pegasus. With a quick eep she hid behind her mane and cast her gaze to the ground, small tears welling in the corner of her eyes. "S-sorry." Rarity was the first to speak up after realising their unintentional ignorance of their friend. "No dear, we're all sorry for not listening to you in the first place. What was it that you wanted to share with us darling?" "W-well, I was just saying that I might have found something." She was almost shaking under the gaze of her friends as their eyes begged her to continue. "I was outside a café when I spotted a large pony. He looked kinda scary at first, but he turned out to be really nice! But when I described Rainbow Dash, he said he might know where to find her." Her friends were at full attention now, Pinkie now excited enough to jump onto the table. "WHERE!? WHERE IS SHE!?" Pinkie yelled, unable to hold in her excitement. Fluttershy shook a bit but continued, "U-um, I-I think it was called Silent Trigger's Bar." They wanted to find Dash, that was a given, but what had worried them is that when asking Braeburn about that place, he almost begged them not to go. It was the only place in the town he wouldn't dare step hoof into. He said something about criminals and outlaws, but the girls hardly listened (especially Pinkie Pie) as they were too focused on finding out the credibility of the myth of their lost friend. What if she was being held captive? Or something worse... they had to find out to be sure. Approaching the run down old shack that apparently constituted for a bar, the girls couldn't help but feel angst. This was the last clue they had to find out the truth to this rumour of Rainbow Dash still being alive. They didn’t know if they would ever find out any further clues towards her 'existence.' The front door they approached was old and well worn, looking like a prop from an old play rather than an actual functioning door. Nether the less, they ventured on into the 'bar.' Stares greeted them as they entered the room, sizing them up. Tension grew into the room before everyone dismissed them, going back to whatever they were doing beforehand. Twilight let out a relieved sigh that their figure hiding cloaks keep them unrecognised, even if Rarity couldn't stop herself from adding a few gems on the hoods rim. Moving to a free table one the other side of their room, they took notice of their surroundings. Thug ponies filled the room, playing card games, talking in harsh whispers, drinking and trading things under the table. Pinkie stalked slowly toward the table, eyes scanning and interrogating everything they landed on, Fluttershy hid from the room behind Rarity, who scanned the room with a scowl. Applejack cast suspicious eyes over everypony in the bar, even making the thugs avert their eyes from her accusing gaze, as Twilight briefly glanced around before staring straight ahead, the table dead in her sights. Settling into their seats, the quintet kept eyes on the ponies everywhere in the room. "Ok girls, we have to get information about Rainbow as much as we can. Applejack, get some drinks for us so we don’t look too suspicious," Twilight commanded, her tone straight and serious as Applejack nodded in agreement, before leaving to get some drinks. "Good, now Rarity, I need you to be careful and get as much information from..." Twilight's words trailed off as she heard the hush whispering from the table directly behind her. There were two ponies seated at the table, a tough looking chestnut brown earth pony, whom twilight decided to call Chestnut, and a cloaked pony with their backed turned towards Twilight and her gang. Twilight could have sworn that voice sounded familiar. Quieting her questioning friends with a hoof, she leaned further in to hear the conversation better. "The deal might need a slight change," the masculine voice of Chestnut carried had a tone that seemed to rebuke compromise. That didn’t stop the cloaked figure from speaking up though. "Our deal is already over, don't do anything rash." 'Wait, that voice-' "I think you'll find that it's more than reasonable. How about I get all the goods, and you can walk out of here without a broken leg or two." There was anger evident in Chestnut's voice. "L-listen, we can talk this out. There's no need to fight." There was nervousness in the mare's voice. 'It can't be...' The chestnut pony brought his hooves down onto the table hard, making an audible bang and drew the attention of the bar. "Now listen here! If you don't hand me what I want, I'll make sure you won't be in shape to do 'business' for a long time. Got it?" The threat was backed up as a group of large stallions came up behind Chestnut, obviously under his employ. The mare was visibly trembling from beneath the cloak, fear emanating from her. Twilight was getting ready to step in when the mare took a deep breath and looked up to the stallion. "No." Chestnut was caught off guard as another pony hit him across the face, a brawny Pegasus' hoof colliding with his jaw with a sickening crunch. Chestnut hit the ground with a thud, his goons wearing a look of confusion before adopting a much more aggressive stance. Twilight looked around the room, more ponies secretly watching the negotiation now standing up, readying for a fight. The cloaked mare sunk back behind her sudden entourage as a goon sent a blow to the Pegasus. Within moments a bar fight broke out, the entire bar thrown into chaos as the girls hid beneath the table. Tables and chairs flew overhead as Twilight and her friends were cautiously on the lookout. Unknown to the guards however, Chestnut had snuck around, now directly behind the cloaked mare. Jumping on her from behind, he snatched her into a choke hold. "You little bitch!" His growling was venomous enough to poison the whole ocean. "Now you're gonna get it!" The mare thrashed around trying to get a hold of anything. Twilight charged up a spell to knock Chestnut out, when the mare's hood fell off. Cyan fur. Magenta eyes. Rainbow mane. The shock made Twilight fire off the spell early, merely knocking Chestnut off and not out, her brain unable to register what was happening, even when Rainbow Dash was knocked to the ground. "Rainbow?" Twilight almost whispered at this point. Rainbow Dash was on the floor, face contorted into pain, close to crying even. She didn't hear Twilight, even as she was staring straight into Rainbow's eyes. "Fine, you win. Do it." The sentence Rainbow muttered to herself reached Twilight's ears, but she couldn't make sense of it. Do what? Who wins? Chestnut? But Chestnut can't even hear her. Twilight's rapid fire thought were cut off as she notice a change in Rainbow's eyes, nothing really physically, but almost as if a stranger had stepped into her skin. It sent shivers through Twilight's spine. Rainbow's face quickly changed from pain to a dark grin. She got to her hooves and spun to Chestnut, her smirk never leaving her face. "So, you ready to get beaten by a girl?" Rainbow's personality seemed to do a one-eighty, her nervous mild responses and attitude replaced by cockiness and sarcasm. It befuddled Twilight almost as much as Chestnut, before he was floored by a strong kick to the face from Rainbow's rear leg. This was much more like Rainbow than how she was acting before. Maybe it is her? With a strong flap of her wings, Rainbow propelled herself forwards, delivering a powerful kick to the face of one of Chestnut's goons before hooking and slamming another's face into the corner of a table. Anyone could tell she was getting into this, maybe even too into it. The grin on her face didn't waver as she dodged a lunging stallion, slamming him in the gut with her forehoof. The scene was almost too much for Twilight to watch as she knocked out teeth and made ponies spit up blood. She remembered Rainbow being violent and rash, but not this violent. The way that she was delivering blows that would almost kill those it hit with a grin on her face, it was almost compared to a monster. Rainbow was surrounded by four ponies at this point. She lashed at one, managing to get a blow in before being jumped by the stallions. Struggling to escape, she managed to get halfway out before being held down again. She struggled as each of the stallions held each of her limbs, their superior strength keeping her stationary. Chestnut staggered up to her, holding his now bruising jaw. "You little bitch, I'm going to make you pay for that!" "You know, after that first hit you took, I was pretty sure your jaw was broken. Oh well, I guess that can happen later," Rainbow almost looked like she didn’t care about the position she was in, save for a somewhat nervous look on her face, "I guess it's sort of a miracle you're still talking." A hoof collided with the side of Rainbow's face, knocking it to the side. Spitting out blood, Rainbow reared her head back and slammed it into Chestnut's head. "Aurgh- Hold her head still!" He ordered his goons as he rubbed his head. Rainbow soon had a goon's leg around her neck, almost choking her. "That's it you're not walking out of this alive!" He seethed through gritted teeth. Grabbing a bottle off the table next to him, he smashed it open and pointed the sharp end towards Rainbow. He raised it up, ready to strike, before a chair slammed into the back of his head. His body hitting the ground, all that was left was the male pegasus that kicked him in the face earlier standing behind his unconscious body. The goons dropped rainbow in surprise as they got pinned by more ponies behind them. The brown pegasus watches Rainbow pick herself up, and finally speaks up while she looks over the cuts from stray glass and bruises from where ponies were able to land hits that adorned her body. "Where's the money?" He sounded impatient, and even had a little disdain in his voice. "Yeah, yeah. Calm ya tits, I've got it right here," Rainbow quips, throwing a bag full of bits to the stallion in front of a confused Twilight. 'Why would a stallion have tits? But more importantly: RAINBOW?! She can't be alive, right. Why would she lie that she was dead. I thought we were friends. She died IN MY HOOVES! HOW IS SHE ALIVE!?' Rainbow speaks up while Twilight's distracted by her train of thought. "Yeah, I know that was rude, but that's business. Sly and his goons did his job, I paid him, you don't have to be such a pussy about it." The pegasus, now revealed to go by the name Sly, couldn't stop glaring at the pony in front of him. "I don't like you, but as long as I get paid, it doesn't matter if you're insane. Just remember, if you ever try to betray me, I will kill you." "Yeah, yeah, don't cross you, blah de blah," Rainbow waved him off, making no effort to even look like she was paying attention, "See ya later then." Sly just glared for a few moments, before turning and walking out the door, flanked with his henchmen. "Well... now what will I do for the rest of the day?" Twilight and her friends still huddled under their table, too entranced by the events before them to react. After a few seconds, Twilight decided to approach the stretching pegasus. As she approached, Rainbow glanced over her shoulder, staring directly into Twilight's eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?" There was no trace of courtesy in her voice, and stopped Twilight in her tracks from the cold tone of her voice. 'There's so many things impossible here!' Twilight couldn't even begin to comprehend the situation. Questions swirled around in her head. How was she alive? Why is she here? Why didn't she tell them she was alright? Twilight was stuck, but upon noticing her friends coming up beside her, she swallowed her fear. She had to say something, anything, to her. She can't let her friend leave her again. Shakily opening her mouth, she pushed down her hood and stuttered the first thing she could think of asking. "R-Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow turned to the them, staring at their now revealed faces with clear confusion and anger. "I don’t have time for whatever you're going on about, so just hurry up and tell me. Who the FUCK is RAINBOW DASH!?" Author's Note This took way longer than it should have... Work, personal stuff and video games take their toll in time I guess. Whoops... So... I've had this chapter written for about... two years now, just after the previous one. I sorta just continued and never bothered to review or edit the chapter, and for the sake of my laziness, I'll keep it mostly the same with some slight edits to obvious mistakes. The other chapters either still need reviewing or are half written, but I do have a objective with this story, its just a matter of when my ADHD will let me focus enough to work on it.
When Things Go SouthAuthor's Note This story is also known as how I need to learn to name things better. These are the names I came up with: "Amazing idea 1" and "Why a rainbow is one not two". Brilliant. Anyway, this will be a 3rd person story. Enjoy When Things Go South "Hey! Hurry up, you're so slow!" shouted a cyan coated Pegasus. "I bet I could've made it around this mountain twenty times now!" This was a Pegasus true, but it was not just any Pegasus, this was the fastest Pegasus in Equestria. The bravest. The loyalest. This was none other than Rainbow Dash. "Well ya could'a just walked with us!" replied a southern drawl, originating from the strong Earth Pony Applejack. Flanking her was the prestigious group of fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and a rather unamused looking purple bookworm, Twilight Sparkle. "Ya aint gotta make a show outta everytin'!" "I agree with Applejack," came the studious voice of Twilight, "you could learn a lot from this immersive experience!" "This imerci-wha?" came Rainbow's reply and attempt to understand the eggheads words, causing Twilight to sigh. "It's a good experience, Rainbow, so come down here already!" Rainbow in turn let out her own sigh and began descending towards her friends. "Fine, but you gotta move a lot faster if you wanna keep up." Landing on the ground with a clop as her hooves hit the rough terrain, she turned to her friends. "Well, come on! This mountain's not gonna climb itself!" She eagerly stated before heading along the track, her friends following right behind her. Today was like most days in this part of Equestria, sunny with a beautiful breeze blowing the fresh air through the land. The group of friends and fillies were spending the day climbing the mountain, mostly to spend time with each other, but they also had their own reasons. Twilight was the one who came up with the idea, wanting to study the terrain that mountains offer in a closer proximity, and she convinced Rainbow easily to come, as she thought it would be cool, and was bored enough without anything else to do. The Cutie Mark Crusaders found out, and like always, thought it was enough reason to try for their cutie marks, getting Applejack to tag along so they didn't get into trouble. Not that she didn't trust Twilight and Rainbow or anything, but, well, they were sometimes horrible at looking after the fillies, especially with them being as energetic as they are. As the group reached a platform close to the top of the sizable mountain, they were met with one of the most beautiful sights they had ever seen. They had a clear view of Equestria, the land sprawling out before them, the lush green fields, the towns in the distance, the diverse landscape, and Canterlot perched on its mountain side in the distance, all combined with the fresh, clean air blowing through the mountains made it feel special, and beautiful. As the other ponies were taken back from the beauty from the view, one Pegasus stood there with a proud smile. "Pretty cool, huh? This is the type of thing I see all the time." Twilight spared a glance her way, then back towards the view from the mountain. "I've seen views like this before, living in Canterlot, but from this angle..." she trailed off, returning her attention back to the view. true to he word, it was facing towards Canterlot, showing what laid beyond the mountain it was perched upon, the forest close to the left of the base and the land behind it, even able to catch a glimpse of the Crystal Empire sparkling in the distance, and Appleloosa in the dusty presence north of the mountain, the ocean visible to the west and far east. It was truly a breath-taking sight, especially for the land bound ponies that were present. Not a minute later everyone was broken out of there stupors by the rumbling of a stomach. Applebloom frowned and rubbed her stomach, looking towards her sister. "Applejack, ah'm hungry!" she pout-fully exclaimed. "Me too!" chirped in Scootaloo, happily buzzing her wings in anticipation of food. "Me three!" squeaked Sweetie Belle in her high pitched voice. "Me four!" the raspy voice of Rainbow Dash added as she joined in on the fillies antics. Applejack let out a sigh as she rubbed her forehoof on her head. "Fine, but why're ya'll asking me, Twilight's the one with the food." "Oh, ah know, but why would ah bug her when ah can bug mah sister?" Laughter sprouted from Applebloom's comment, but quickly settled down as Twilight summoned the picnic basket and blanket on the ground in front of them. While they all sat and ate their lunch, they kept an eye on the scenery, still captivated by it, one filly however was too eager to explore more of the mountain to sit and wait. Quickly finishing her meal, she darted off higher up the mountain, thinking that her friends would catch up to her, unbeknown to her that the ponies enjoying their meals didn't notice Scootaloo's absence. As she climbed higher up the mountain, the group of ponies back at the platform just finished enjoying their lunch. "Hey, where'd Scoots go?" Applebloom asked in concern as Twilight rolled up the blanket and blinking both it and the basket away. "Ah thought she was with you," was Applejack's response. Eye's going wide, she starts scanning the area for Scootaloo. "Dash, help me find Scootaloo, she's gone missin'!" Rainbow Dash was about to take off into the sky, when a shout caused her to snap her head in that direction. There, higher up the mountain, but not fully at the top, was Scootaloo, waving while standing in front of a dead tree. "Hey guys, I'm up here!" Scootaloo shouted down to the ponies below here, a large grin etched on her face. "Scootaloo, get down from there," Twilight shouted, worry dominant in her voice, "it's dangerous!" "Relax, I'm fine!" Scootaloo casually responded, "It's completely safe!" She started walking higher, but her hoof got stuck in a hole in the ground. She pulled to get her hoof unstuck and after a minute almost had it out. "Come on, stupid hole," She mumbled in frustration, still trying to pull her hoof out of the hole. Finally it came out, and the force made Scootaloo stumble back, but once she recovered, she noticed a weird thin black object of some sort fell out with her. It had strange engravings, and some sort of star symbol across one side. Suddenly the mountain started shaking, parts of it breaking apart. Rainbow Dash was the first to notice, and after informing Twilight, helped Applejack get the fillies to safety while Twilight shielded them with her magic. Rainbow looked frantically for Scootaloo, before spotting the filly looking scared higher on the mountain. "Twilight, you've got to grab Scoots with your magic, NOW!" Rainbow cried out to her friend, fear clear in her voice. Twilight looked at her with mirrored concern and tried to explain. "Rainbow, there's something blocking my magic from going any further than it is now, I'm afraid I can't do anything." Twilight's voice was weak, and had doubt laced in her tone. She knew there was nothing she could do. She felt useless by that thought. "Rainbow Dash, Please help!" Scootaloo shouted in desperation as the ground beneath her started to crack. As the ground beneath her crumpled, she screamed for her life, unable to hold the fear was holding her tightly, the old, dead tree falling directly on top of her. "Don't worry Squirt, I'm coming!" Rainbow shouted as she took off to help her sister. She wasn't going to let anything happen to her, after all, she promised to look after her. As Rainbow passed Twilight's shield, she felt a force slowing down her flying, but for the sake of Scootaloo, she flew as fast as she possibly could. But she knew she wasn't fast enough. By the time she got to Scootaloo's position, whether it be to grab her or pull up beside her to shove her out of the way, the tree would hit them. There was only one thing she could do, and she was ready to do it, no matter what. As the tree approached the filly, close to touching her, she felt two hooves shove her out of the way. Hitting the ground, her momentum made her roll across it for a bit, before stopping, tears in her eyes from the pain she felt. That was when the mountain stopped breaking apart. Scootaloo rose from her spot, her legs and back bruised from the impact, to take in her surroundings. Just over some rubble behind her, she could see the tree that almost hit her. Climbing over, she saw a sight that shocked her. Blood. So much blood. and underneath the tree, where the blood came from, was Rainbow Dash, her idol and sister. She stopped, too scared to go any closer to the body. Not a minute later, Twilight and Applejack showed up, only to freeze at the sight of their friend, and unable to stop the fillies behind them from stepping forwards and seeing it them selves. The fillies, were paralysed with fear, as the broken and trapped body laid unmoving under the tree, a branch sticking into its chest. Applejack dry-heaved, and Twilight threw up, not used to the intense sight before them. It was quite, until they heard a soft moan. They looked over to Rainbow's broken body, tears matting down the fur in their faces to check if they heard what they think they did. There was another soft moan, this time clearly coming from Rainbow. Twilight and Applejack ran over to their friend to help her in anyway possible. Rainbow looked up to the two bodies standing over her. Applejack immediately started pushing the tree off of her, although it was to no use. She turned to Twilight, fury in her eyes. "Twilight, don't just stand there! Use yer magic and SAVE HER!" "I can't," Twilight's tears flowed harshly down her face, "my magic's being blocked here." "Shuddup and try harder! Ya need to do SOMETHIN'!" her voice echoing through the mountain tops. "Ya can't let her die!" her tears flowed from her eyes, streaking down her face. "I-It's okay," a weak voice came from beneath them. Their heads turned to face Rainbow as she spoke her final words. "T-Tell the others that t-they're the best friends I've ever h-had." "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, I'm useless. I can't even do anything!" Twilight said in rage and sorrow, not caring of how much of a mess she looked like. "I-It's ok. You did what you could," Rainbows tears poured out of her eyes as her body felt cold and numb, "I-I knew this might happen. B-but promise me you'll do something for me." The two ponies in front of her gave a sorrowful nod. "Take care of Scootaloo, Please. And thank you, for all you've done for me..." Her words trailed off as her tears stopped flowing along with her breathing, her eyes shutting for the last time. Behind them the three once innocent fillies were huddled up together crying and in shock, with Scootaloo in the middle, as she could only weep and cry and say one sentence: "It was all my fault."
When News SpreadsTwilight was sad. That's an understatement. But she wasn't the only one. Ponyville was sad. One of the six brave heroes that risked their lives all the time for them, killed so unfairly and cruelly, for no reason. No monsters, no threats, no reason. It's been five months since that day, the day that loyalty died. Equestria was sad, but as time kept moving on, so did the ponies, and as such, the memory of loyalty's death wilted in their minds as time had passed. Twilight had spent more time than usual holed up in her library, practicing her magic as much as possible, out of fear of being too weak to help any other of her friends, and out of regret. Rarity was hardly active and didn't even put her makeup on some mornings, still forced to wear a smile as she worked in her boutique, which she had closed during the first month of her friend's death. Pinkie lost the energy that usually surrounded her, seen working at sugarcube corner with a slouch and flat hair, and walking slowly around poniville at all hours of the day for the three months after Rainbow's death. Luckily she was the first to start coming to terms with Rainbow's death, now seen with curly hair and a smile on her face, but sadder than it used to be. Fluttershy hardly ever left her house, and was prone to sudden outbursts and tears at any small reminder of her fillyhood friend, and relied on the animals to encourage her to do things at all or help around the house. Applejack smiled less, and hated to be alone, especially when working on the orchard, usually finding her mind wandering and tears streaking down her face as it landed on Rainbow's crumpled and twisted body beneath the tree. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo all saw therapists and had nightmares while sleeping, fortunately being helped by Luna through them. Scootaloo became wrapped in guilt and sorrow, after all the death of her idol was all her fault. The death of her sister. However bad she was though, through the support of her friends, other ponies and a certain princess, she was being pulled away from the dark thoughts that once ran through her mind. However bad it was, everyone was in the slow process of moving on and past this tragic event, at least, until twilight received a note from Celestia... Twilight awoke groggily, not wanting to move out of her warm and comfortable blankets. Cracking open an eye, she looked to the clock on the wall. It seemed she had slept until the one in the afternoon, again. Getting up, she stretched before heading downstairs to get some food. This was becoming an unhealthy routine for her, and Spike was all too wary of her attitude nowadays. As she entered the kitchen, she found Spike eating a late lunch. Passing him to get to the cupboards, she yawned a greeting to him. "Good morning Spike." Spike turned to look at Twilight with an eyebrow raised, "You mean Afternoon, right?" "Yes I mean afternoon, Spike," Twilight replied unable to hide a giggle. Spike smiled at how happy Twilight looked. It hurt him to see her so distraught, and it was refreshing to see a smile grace her lips. She was closed to recovering, and soon so will her friends. Spike knew that everything was going to be alri- *BUUURRRPPP* Spike was surprised to have suddenly been roused from his thoughts the scroll. He looked over and spotted a small black "R" next to the seal. He knew what this meant. Whenever a scroll had a "R" marked on it, it was about Rainbow Dash. The mark was there in case Twilight wasn't ready to talk about Rainbow Dash and to be saved for later. However, this was marked as important, which meant it should be read immediately. Spike however wanted to make sure Twilight was ready to read it. He looked over to Twilight and announced a sentence he had come to hate. "It's about Rainbow." Twilight's expression quickly darkened, and she let out a shaky sigh. "It's ok," Twilight let out, voice shaking slightly, "I'll read it myself." Grabbing the scroll in her magic, she unfurled it while walking into the foyer of the library. Looking at the letter she saw the familiar My faithful Student, Twilight and begun reading out loud. "My Faithful student Twilight, It is unfortunate that I have to bother you in your time of recovery, especially with such an upsetting topic. However, there is a task I have to ask you and your friends to do for me. If you do not choose to perform said task, I understand, otherwise it is important that you get started post-haste. A month and a half ago, I found reports from Appleloosa about a strange mare doing shady work in town. More research into the matter revealed this Pegasus mare to have very certain characteristics that have sprouted interest. I sent a team of royal guards, ten of them, to apprehend the mare. To my surprise, they came back beaten and broken. According to reports, they were all taken out by the same mare alone. More reports from them confirmed my suspicion about the features of the mare. Twilight, it pains me to say this in case it gets your hopes too high, but all evidence points to the fact that... that," Twilights voice wavered more as she read the last line again. Her legs shook at the information she just read, tears starting to stream down her face. "What does it say twilight?" Spike inquired, concern evident in his voice. "Spike, get the other girls." Spike was about to ask why when Twilight turned to him. "NOW!" Spike ran as fast as he could to get the girls, fearing Twilights sudden anger. Her legs finally giving out from under her, she fell to the ground. Looking again at the line that caused her this distress, she shook more. the fact that Rainbow Dash is still alive. The girls ran over to Twilight's library as fast as they could, all worried about what could have made Twilight's reaction be so intense. The fact that it was an important message from princess Celestia herself didn't help calm them either. Spike was riding on Applejack's back, his mind unable to come off of Twilight's reaction and that scroll. Just what was written on it? As the girls closed in on the library, Pinkie slammed the door open and stepped inside, followed by the other three mares and spike. As they approached Twilight, they shared looks of concern over their friend, shaking on the ground. Applejack was the first one to voice her concern. "Sugarcube, what's goin' on?" her voice broke the uneasy silence. Twilight's ears perked up as she registered that she was being talked to. Shakily getting up to her hooves, she turned to address her friends. "Girls, there's something I need to tell you," she sighed as she levitated the scroll in front of her. "Earlier today I received a message from princess Celestia, marked as important. It says, that...," her voice was shaky as she once again sighed, "That Rainbow Dash may still be alive." The room was filled with gasps before complete shocked silence took hold. They stayed that way for a couple seconds, unsure about how to feel about what they were hearing, until Pinkie broke the silence. "WHAT!? AREYOUKIDDINGMEOHMYGOSHTHATSSOAMAZINGIHAVETOTHROUGHATLEASTTENPARTIESFORTHISITSGONNABEAMAZ-mmpphhh!" Pinkies rambling was cut off as Twilight shoved her hoof into her mouth to silence her. She looked at her with sadness in the eyes as she has to dampen her friend's mood. "I said might, there's still a large chance, an astronomical one, that this mare simply looks like her, and Rainbow, our Rainbow, is gone forever..." She started to lose volume, her voice drowning in her sadness. She was surprised when she felt Applejack nudge her. "But there's still a chance right?" Applejack asked, getting her answer in the form of a nod from Twilight. "Then doesn't that make ya feel glad?" "Yes - I mean no - I mean... I don't know," Twilight confessed, completely befuddled by her emotions, slipping onto her flank, "What are you meant to feel when you're told one of your best friends that died in your hooves and that you helped bury, might still be alive?" Twilight looked over at Applejack as she wrapped a hoof around Twilight. "Ya feel hope Twi," she said softly, looking into her friends eyes as Twilight looked at her like a sad puppy, "hope that ya might get ya friend back, even if it's a might." "Yes darling, I agree completely," Rarity chimed in, flipping her mane expertly, "I have become much too uninvolved in these last few months, and it is simply unacceptable. We've been too busy feeling sad for ourselves after Rainbow's awful demise, but that's to be expected. Now's the time to grab onto new hope and move on. Even if it's not our Rainbow, we can certainly put all this to bed and move on." Fluttershy meekly looked towards the ground, and then up to her friends as she mustered the courage to talk. "I agree with Rarity... if that's ok with you," she barely whispered. Twilights vision was then filled with pink as she looked up to see Pinkie Pie beaming back at her. Grabbing her cheeks, Pinkie started her own encouraging speech. "They're absolutely right Twilight!" Pinkie shouted in her face before wrapping her forelegs around the unoccupied side of Twilight. "Even if Rainbow was gone for good, she wouldn't want us to sit around like grumpy frowny wrounies, she'd want us to keep being the bestest of bestest best friends," she blurted out, almost loosing everyone with her speech as she nuzzled Twilight while tightening her grip. Letting go, she took a few steps back, waiting for Twilight to make up her mind. Looking to her friends, who all gave her encouraging looks back, she let out a small smile. "Thank you, all of you, for helping me come to terms with my feelings," she thanked as she stood up, leaving Applejack's grip, "It's truly a blessing that I have all of you as my friends to encourage me to hope for the future. However, there is one more thing you should know." "Why, whatever could be more shocking than news that a dear friend might still be alive?" Quizzed Rarity, the confusion strong in her voice. "We have been tasked by princess Celestia," she paused for dramatic effect, "to arrest her." "WHAT!?" Author's Note This probably took me longer than it should've due to being busy, but I'm still bugged by something. Did I spell "frowny wrounies" right? I know it's not a real word, but it's still bugging me for some reason. Was gonna make it o=longer, but then I thought "nah, that's good." I was pretty tired when I wrote the second half out, so tell me how it turned out, K.
When We MeetTwilight looked out the train's window as her friends slept soundly. She couldn't sleep, the prospect of finding Rainbow alive was enough to excite her, terrify her, and anger her. If Rainbow really was alive, didn't she deserve to be one of the first ponies to find out about it? All the conflicting thoughts kept Twilight awake, as well as the memories of what happened when Rainbow died. The dread, the sadness, the feeling of total uselessness. Trying to rid the thoughts from her head, she decided to re-read the parchment Princess Celestia had sent her, or more specifically the last paragraph. As surprising and seemingly impossible as it sounds, it is a possibility that we must consider no matter the extravagance of such a claim. However, there is a task I must ask of you. Being her closest friends and linked by the elements of harmony, I must ask you and you friends to apprehend her at once. I will again apologise for the wound which I may have opened, but your connection with her is an important asset, and if all else fails you still have training in combat. Please take your time to consider this request and know that I will support whatever decision you come to. Princess Celestia As much as that logic seemed flawed to Twilight, looking over it made it obvious that it made perfect sense. Not the "Rainbow Dash coming back from the dead" thing of course, but if she did come back from the dead, she and her friends had to be responsible to apprehend her. Why it had to be her was something she wanted to know and kept asking, even though she already had the answer and knew it made sense. After all, they were her friends, and had a connection through the elements of harmony. The combat training was also a good backup, as they are after all heroes of Equestria, receiving combat training is a no-brainer, it even helped them take on the changelings in the invasion. They were better than most guards, but not near the elites, except Dash, who was always better at those things. Fluttershy was the only one without training, but even then Twilight knew that she and her friends can take down Rainbow - wait no. Twilight shook her head to free herself from that line of thought. 'I don't need to fight Rainbow' she told herself as she laid down on her bed. 'Right?' The train pulled up at the Appleloosa station early in the morning. Twilight and her friends groggily got off the train, tired from not having a good night of sleep. The quintet of ponies groggily made their way towards Braeburn's house, where they had arranged to stay. Braeburn was away for the day, something about a town meeting or something. They didn't really bother to read the note properly in their tired state. After three hours of napping, the five ponies decided to split up to search around town for clues to "Rainbow's" whereabouts. Spreading to the far corners of the town, they decided to meet back up at sundown. As they separated on their own paths, one thing was on all their minds: I hope we find her. 9 Hours later Twilight walked back to the house with her head hung low. Hours of searching and the closest thing she got was "I think I saw a blue Pegasus once" from a senile earth pony. After readying herself, she opened the door to find all her friends, besides Fluttershy, around the coffee table centred in the living room; looking around at her friends to gauge their facial expressions. None of them looked very promising though. Twilight sat down on one side of the table and let a sigh escape her mouth. Looking up with determination, she asked the question she dreaded the answer to. "Did anyone find anything about Rainbow?" "'Fraid not sugercube," Applejack solemnly stated as she pulled her Stetson down to cover her eyes. "Nope," Pinkie stated flatly, hardly moving from her spot, unlike her normal self. Rarity looked at Twilight with sad eyes as she delicately chose her words. "I'm afraid not darling, however, we do have a week to find her. I'm sure with enough searching we can." "Hey Fluttershy," Pinkie flatly greeted to her recently arrived friend. "Hello Pinkie." "You're probably right, but I don't know what to think," Twilight sulked placing her head on the table not noticing Fluttershy's arrival. "But what if she isn't here?" "I'm sure we'll find a lead soon dear. It just... takes patience is all," Rarity tried to comfort her friend. "Um... actually, I kinda found something," Fluttershy meekly stated, pawing at the floor softly. "But how long will it take!? What if it's just a wild goose chase that means nothing!?" Twilight waved her hooves in the air wildly to exaggerate her point. "But I-" "It's all just a waste of time!" Twilight was losing her cool fast. She wasn’t even listening to the talk going on between her friends. What if she was at fault? What if this is her punishment of karma to reminder her that- "EVERYONE!!!" The room went silent as all eyes transfixed onto the usually quiet butter Pegasus. With a quick eep she hid behind her mane and cast her gaze to the ground, small tears welling in the corner of her eyes. "S-sorry." Rarity was the first to speak up after realising their unintentional ignorance of their friend. "No dear, we're all sorry for not listening to you in the first place. What was it that you wanted to share with us darling?" "W-well, I was just saying that I might have found something." She was almost shaking under the gaze of her friends as their eyes begged her to continue. "I was outside a café when I spotted a large pony. He looked kinda scary at first, but he turned out to be really nice! But when I described Rainbow Dash, he said he might know where to find her." Her friends were at full attention now, Pinkie now excited enough to jump onto the table. "WHERE!? WHERE IS SHE!?" Pinkie yelled, unable to hold in her excitement. Fluttershy shook a bit but continued, "U-um, I-I think it was called Silent Trigger's Bar." They wanted to find Dash, that was a given, but what had worried them is that when asking Braeburn about that place, he almost begged them not to go. It was the only place in the town he wouldn't dare step hoof into. He said something about criminals and outlaws, but the girls hardly listened (especially Pinkie Pie) as they were too focused on finding out the credibility of the myth of their lost friend. What if she was being held captive? Or something worse... they had to find out to be sure. Approaching the run down old shack that apparently constituted for a bar, the girls couldn't help but feel angst. This was the last clue they had to find out the truth to this rumour of Rainbow Dash still being alive. They didn’t know if they would ever find out any further clues towards her 'existence.' The front door they approached was old and well worn, looking like a prop from an old play rather than an actual functioning door. Nether the less, they ventured on into the 'bar.' Stares greeted them as they entered the room, sizing them up. Tension grew into the room before everyone dismissed them, going back to whatever they were doing beforehand. Twilight let out a relieved sigh that their figure hiding cloaks keep them unrecognised, even if Rarity couldn't stop herself from adding a few gems on the hoods rim. Moving to a free table one the other side of their room, they took notice of their surroundings. Thug ponies filled the room, playing card games, talking in harsh whispers, drinking and trading things under the table. Pinkie stalked slowly toward the table, eyes scanning and interrogating everything they landed on, Fluttershy hid from the room behind Rarity, who scanned the room with a scowl. Applejack cast suspicious eyes over everypony in the bar, even making the thugs avert their eyes from her accusing gaze, as Twilight briefly glanced around before staring straight ahead, the table dead in her sights. Settling into their seats, the quintet kept eyes on the ponies everywhere in the room. "Ok girls, we have to get information about Rainbow as much as we can. Applejack, get some drinks for us so we don’t look too suspicious," Twilight commanded, her tone straight and serious as Applejack nodded in agreement, before leaving to get some drinks. "Good, now Rarity, I need you to be careful and get as much information from..." Twilight's words trailed off as she heard the hush whispering from the table directly behind her. There were two ponies seated at the table, a tough looking chestnut brown earth pony, whom twilight decided to call Chestnut, and a cloaked pony with their backed turned towards Twilight and her gang. Twilight could have sworn that voice sounded familiar. Quieting her questioning friends with a hoof, she leaned further in to hear the conversation better. "The deal might need a slight change," the masculine voice of Chestnut carried had a tone that seemed to rebuke compromise. That didn’t stop the cloaked figure from speaking up though. "Our deal is already over, don't do anything rash." 'Wait, that voice-' "I think you'll find that it's more than reasonable. How about I get all the goods, and you can walk out of here without a broken leg or two." There was anger evident in Chestnut's voice. "L-listen, we can talk this out. There's no need to fight." There was nervousness in the mare's voice. 'It can't be...' The chestnut pony brought his hooves down onto the table hard, making an audible bang and drew the attention of the bar. "Now listen here! If you don't hand me what I want, I'll make sure you won't be in shape to do 'business' for a long time. Got it?" The threat was backed up as a group of large stallions came up behind Chestnut, obviously under his employ. The mare was visibly trembling from beneath the cloak, fear emanating from her. Twilight was getting ready to step in when the mare took a deep breath and looked up to the stallion. "No." Chestnut was caught off guard as another pony hit him across the face, a brawny Pegasus' hoof colliding with his jaw with a sickening crunch. Chestnut hit the ground with a thud, his goons wearing a look of confusion before adopting a much more aggressive stance. Twilight looked around the room, more ponies secretly watching the negotiation now standing up, readying for a fight. The cloaked mare sunk back behind her sudden entourage as a goon sent a blow to the Pegasus. Within moments a bar fight broke out, the entire bar thrown into chaos as the girls hid beneath the table. Tables and chairs flew overhead as Twilight and her friends were cautiously on the lookout. Unknown to the guards however, Chestnut had snuck around, now directly behind the cloaked mare. Jumping on her from behind, he snatched her into a choke hold. "You little bitch!" His growling was venomous enough to poison the whole ocean. "Now you're gonna get it!" The mare thrashed around trying to get a hold of anything. Twilight charged up a spell to knock Chestnut out, when the mare's hood fell off. Cyan fur. Magenta eyes. Rainbow mane. The shock made Twilight fire off the spell early, merely knocking Chestnut off and not out, her brain unable to register what was happening, even when Rainbow Dash was knocked to the ground. "Rainbow?" Twilight almost whispered at this point. Rainbow Dash was on the floor, face contorted into pain, close to crying even. She didn't hear Twilight, even as she was staring straight into Rainbow's eyes. "Fine, you win. Do it." The sentence Rainbow muttered to herself reached Twilight's ears, but she couldn't make sense of it. Do what? Who wins? Chestnut? But Chestnut can't even hear her. Twilight's rapid fire thought were cut off as she notice a change in Rainbow's eyes, nothing really physically, but almost as if a stranger had stepped into her skin. It sent shivers through Twilight's spine. Rainbow's face quickly changed from pain to a dark grin. She got to her hooves and spun to Chestnut, her smirk never leaving her face. "So, you ready to get beaten by a girl?" Rainbow's personality seemed to do a one-eighty, her nervous mild responses and attitude replaced by cockiness and sarcasm. It befuddled Twilight almost as much as Chestnut, before he was floored by a strong kick to the face from Rainbow's rear leg. This was much more like Rainbow than how she was acting before. Maybe it is her? With a strong flap of her wings, Rainbow propelled herself forwards, delivering a powerful kick to the face of one of Chestnut's goons before hooking and slamming another's face into the corner of a table. Anyone could tell she was getting into this, maybe even too into it. The grin on her face didn't waver as she dodged a lunging stallion, slamming him in the gut with her forehoof. The scene was almost too much for Twilight to watch as she knocked out teeth and made ponies spit up blood. She remembered Rainbow being violent and rash, but not this violent. The way that she was delivering blows that would almost kill those it hit with a grin on her face, it was almost compared to a monster. Rainbow was surrounded by four ponies at this point. She lashed at one, managing to get a blow in before being jumped by the stallions. Struggling to escape, she managed to get halfway out before being held down again. She struggled as each of the stallions held each of her limbs, their superior strength keeping her stationary. Chestnut staggered up to her, holding his now bruising jaw. "You little bitch, I'm going to make you pay for that!" "You know, after that first hit you took, I was pretty sure your jaw was broken. Oh well, I guess that can happen later," Rainbow almost looked like she didn’t care about the position she was in, save for a somewhat nervous look on her face, "I guess it's sort of a miracle you're still talking." A hoof collided with the side of Rainbow's face, knocking it to the side. Spitting out blood, Rainbow reared her head back and slammed it into Chestnut's head. "Aurgh- Hold her head still!" He ordered his goons as he rubbed his head. Rainbow soon had a goon's leg around her neck, almost choking her. "That's it you're not walking out of this alive!" He seethed through gritted teeth. Grabbing a bottle off the table next to him, he smashed it open and pointed the sharp end towards Rainbow. He raised it up, ready to strike, before a chair slammed into the back of his head. His body hitting the ground, all that was left was the male pegasus that kicked him in the face earlier standing behind his unconscious body. The goons dropped rainbow in surprise as they got pinned by more ponies behind them. The brown pegasus watches Rainbow pick herself up, and finally speaks up while she looks over the cuts from stray glass and bruises from where ponies were able to land hits that adorned her body. "Where's the money?" He sounded impatient, and even had a little disdain in his voice. "Yeah, yeah. Calm ya tits, I've got it right here," Rainbow quips, throwing a bag full of bits to the stallion in front of a confused Twilight. 'Why would a stallion have tits? But more importantly: RAINBOW?! She can't be alive, right. Why would she lie that she was dead. I thought we were friends. She died IN MY HOOVES! HOW IS SHE ALIVE!?' Rainbow speaks up while Twilight's distracted by her train of thought. "Yeah, I know that was rude, but that's business. Sly and his goons did his job, I paid him, you don't have to be such a pussy about it." The pegasus, now revealed to go by the name Sly, couldn't stop glaring at the pony in front of him. "I don't like you, but as long as I get paid, it doesn't matter if you're insane. Just remember, if you ever try to betray me, I will kill you." "Yeah, yeah, don't cross you, blah de blah," Rainbow waved him off, making no effort to even look like she was paying attention, "See ya later then." Sly just glared for a few moments, before turning and walking out the door, flanked with his henchmen. "Well... now what will I do for the rest of the day?" Twilight and her friends still huddled under their table, too entranced by the events before them to react. After a few seconds, Twilight decided to approach the stretching pegasus. As she approached, Rainbow glanced over her shoulder, staring directly into Twilight's eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?" There was no trace of courtesy in her voice, and stopped Twilight in her tracks from the cold tone of her voice. 'There's so many things impossible here!' Twilight couldn't even begin to comprehend the situation. Questions swirled around in her head. How was she alive? Why is she here? Why didn't she tell them she was alright? Twilight was stuck, but upon noticing her friends coming up beside her, she swallowed her fear. She had to say something, anything, to her. She can't let her friend leave her again. Shakily opening her mouth, she pushed down her hood and stuttered the first thing she could think of asking. "R-Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow turned to the them, staring at their now revealed faces with clear confusion and anger. "I don’t have time for whatever you're going on about, so just hurry up and tell me. Who the FUCK is RAINBOW DASH!?" Author's Note This took way longer than it should have... Work, personal stuff and video games take their toll in time I guess. Whoops... So... I've had this chapter written for about... two years now, just after the previous one. I sorta just continued and never bothered to review or edit the chapter, and for the sake of my laziness, I'll keep it mostly the same with some slight edits to obvious mistakes. The other chapters either still need reviewing or are half written, but I do have a objective with this story, its just a matter of when my ADHD will let me focus enough to work on it.
