After the disappearance of Rainbow Dash, Spitfire had taken swift control of Equestria, quickly striking a deal with the Griffons and bargaining peace for the people of Equestria, with the Pegasi's interests at the forefront and the other races after. Some argued that she only wanted peace for the Pegasi and would trade the freedoms of the others to do so, but other argued that she'd done a much better job than Dash, seeing Spitfire as a saviour to the people.

Swiftly after signing the deal, Spitfire led the Pegasi into the skies to rebuild Cloudsdale, declaring themselves as independent and Spitfire currently ruling the skies as Queen of Cloudsdale and the Pegasi - despite this some of their race continued to stay grounded and supporting their pony kind.

Twilight had found herself the sole ruler of the remaining ponies and the raped wasteland that Equestria had become, but swiftly brought about a democratic government system of elected officials to rule the land once run by the four princesses - no-one had anything against their previous rulers, they were mourned and continued to be mourned, a statue erected of the trio in the square of the old palace, the new parliament building. However Twilight knew she alone could not rebuild the land, and took the opportunity to give the power to the ponies, whilst maintaining some influence as the last alicorn.

The name "Rainbow Dash" was scarcely uttered anymore. The things the mare had done were unspeakable, the complete downwards spiral of both her mind and clutch on the lands had had a terrifying effect that the ponies just wanted to forget as quickly as possible. Declared dead by Spitfire, any remaining memorabilia of the ruler had been destroyed and defaced in an attempt to leave no memory of the past...

"Go back to Ponyville, find our friends and keep them safe! Fuck everyone else, just make sure you five are safe ok?! Go, keep going. Don't stop and don't look back, ok?"

"What do you mean? You're coming, right?"

Twilight groaned, rolling over in her bed. "D-dash..." she whispered, in a deep sleep riddled with nightmares

"I'll be fine Twi. I'm awesome, remember?"

Twilight yelled and sat bolt upright "NO!" She panted and took a look around her room. A thin line of light pierced the room through a crack in the curtains, the empty room dead of anything but the alicorn. Slowly, she rubbed her eyes. More and more she was getting the same nightmare. She'd tried to fight Dash's corner when it came to whether she was as evil as ponies remembered, but she had little ammunition to use - to the public she'd been a tyrannical dictator, but behind the closed doors, when the two were alone? Twilight saw glimpses of the young mare she'd become friends with, just overwhelmed with a country in peril at her hooves with invaders on the doorstep.

She shook it off and washed her face, now wasn't the time for bad thoughts. The grass at Ponyville park had regrown and the area was deemed safe to visit again, so the five of them were going to go down for a picnic and a bit of peace and quiet. She smiled and looked at the picture on the wall of her friends - all of them - and took a deep breath. Some of them had had worse experiences of the war than others, but they were still friends. Using her magic she lifted her satchels and made her way towards the park, humming away happily to herself.

She was the last to arrive, the small group already happily talking away and relaxing in the sun. The only two that had had physical wound were Fluttershy and Applejack, AJ wore a long scar down her right flank, and Shy... well, her wings were never going to grow back, but the small tufts if fur nicely covered the scars where they once were. Shy seemed happy though, and wasn't too upset if it was ever mentioned, she seemed to enjoy being an earth pony.

"Twilight!" Rarity smiled, as always her beauty was outstanding "How are you, Darling?"

Twilight smiled softly "Hello Rarity, all of you. Just fine thank you" She sat, unloading her bags "I found this yesterday, I wondered if any of you would like a copy?" She was slightly hesitant to reveal the photo, placing it in the middle of the circle of friends. It was the same photo she had on her wall of the six friends, including Dash. Twilight was genuinely curious however as to how the others saw the mare. She'd barely spoken about the Rainbow maned pegasus with the group.

The group was silent for a moment, all eyes on one member of the photo, before Fluttershy broke the silence "I would like one, please" She smiled. Of all of the mares, she had the biggest reason to despise Dash, but then again Fluttershy was too kind to hold a grudge, and the two were extremely close.

The other three remained quite silent, none of them wanting to be the next to speak. Finally, Rarity spoke up "No, thank you Twilight. I can't... You know... Customers in the boutique and so on..."

Twilight nodded. At least she'd given a valid excuse. The other two just didn't speak, answering the question with their silence. Twilight slowly nodded and put the photo away, sighing "I'm sorry I brought it up... I just... You weren't there"

The picnic was a little awkward for a few minutes, before the conversation continued and the mares discussed things that had gone on in their lives since the last meet up, they'd all been rather busy in the rebuilding effort. As it drew to a close, Twilight smiled and stood "Thank you, girls... This was great, we need to do it more often"

There was a series of murmurs and nods, before they each went on their way.

Twilight watched her friends leave, sighing to herself. She was really missing Dash. She couldn't let that get in the way of her responsibilities, however, heading to the Castle of the Two Sisters - somewhere she hadn't been for more than 3 years now, the castle overgrown and even more derelict. Waste had been left by some griffons, tins of food and the like littered the place as she walked slowly through the dark corridors and headed for the library, before stopping.

Her ears flicked. Her breathing slowed as she concentrated, using her horn to amplify the noises to her - there was definitely the sound of hoof steps coming from the top of the tower...

Slowly, the Princess made her way up the spiral staircase, stopping outside of the door. Light flickered from the crack under the door, and a shadow moved around in the small room. Twilight took a big, deep breath, calming herself as best as she could to see who was on the other side of the door, preparing her horn for a stun spell.

The door creaked as it opened, the violet mare gazing in at its inhabitant.

Her heart stopped, jaw dropping.

"Rainbow Dash..."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading!

This is more of an intro to the story, so sorry if its a little slow.