Author'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."