Twilight 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.