Rainbow Dash stood in silence for what felt like hours, before finally sighing and speaking "Twilight..." She muttered, looking at the ground.

"You're alive?!" She almost screamed, looking over the cyan mare. Her body was covered in scars, and her knee was mangled and wrapped in tight bandages "I-I... Can't believe this!" She smiled wide, pulling Dash into a long, warm embrace.

Dash flinched, not expecting the hug. It had been a couple of years since she'd last seen another pony, and three since she'd felt the touch of one. She was also expecting something else, like a hit or a flurry of insults, so the embrace was a somewhat pleasant surprise. "Aaaaand.... That makes you happy...?" She raised an eyebrow. Not even the mare herself was happy to be alive.

"Of course!" The alicorn pulled away, a smile cemented on her face, before quickly turning to a burst of rage "Why didn't you visit?! Or at least give me some sign instead of making me mourn for three years?!"

"You're a clever mare, Twilight. I'm sure you can figure out why I didn't come bounding through the streets of Ponyville and banging on your door" Even after so long she still had a vicious undertone to her voice, a patronising arrogance.

Twi sighed. Dash was right, its not as if the mare was particularly liked around here anymore. She cast her gaze from the mare and over her accommodation, the small circular room at the very top of the highest tower. The room was full of books piled up, a few empty tins of food and a handful of personal belongings. One of the only things not covered in dusk was the exact same picture Twilight had on her wall.

"So I got reading" Dash broke the silence, beginning to take a slow walk around Twi "And it turns out King Sombra was only directly responsible for 52 deaths in the time of his reign" The mare chuckled softly "How very... Interesting..." She sighed and sat down.

Twilight sat opposite her. Dash certainly wasn't herself - neither the mare that had left Ponyville all those years ago to fight for her country, or the one that had torn it apart. She seemed more of a wounded animal than a tyrannical dictator, murderer and war criminal. "Reading can be fun..." She muttered "Thank you, by the way" She muttered.

"Hmm? For what?"

"Saving my life. If it wasn't for you, Spitfire would've killed me"

Dash just laughed and shook her head "Twilight. I tore you to shreds then prevented those shreds from being burnt. Don't try to pretend I'm your saviour" She sat up, however, eyes thinning. "Is she still alive?"

"Spitfire...?" She nodded "Yeah... You got what you wanted, the Pegasi are..." She didnt want to say 'free', so decided "Independent" would be better.

Dash nodded slowly, rubbing her knee and thinking, staring blankly at the wall "Hmmm..."

"Do you wish you were still a Princess? or, at least, High Commander?"

Dash frowned again "For such a clever mare, you do ask some stupid questions"

There it was again. That harsh tone, coming out every now and then. Twilight shrugged it off however, and continued to wait for an answer.

"No, Twilight, I don't. It was too stressful, my mane was turning grey" She grinned and chuckled.

Twi chuckled back. It was strange how missing the mare for so long had made her find such a sombre topic comedic. "Hey, you're telling me? Im the one that had to clean up your mess"

Dash laughed softly, nodding. "Hmmm... So um... The others... Did they make it...?" She glanced at her photo.

Twi nodded slowly "Yeah... I mean, there are some things we wont get back, but..." They both knew what Twilight was hinting at. "You should come home"

"I can't... I don't deserve to. Ponyville is just a bad memory for me now"

"So what. You're going to stay here and rot? Alone?"

She shrugged "Maybe"

"Dash, I'm telling you. You're coming to stay with me, in the library. You can rot in there if you want but I'm not leaving you"

Dash stood, shaking her head "I can't! I've fucked everything up enough already, you're only just getting back on your hooves and you can't have me living in your house! Princess Twilight and the evil murdered Rainbow Dash, sharing a roof?! They'll have both our heads on a block!" She yelled.

Twi stood too, imposing down on the smaller pegasus "You're not evil. Look at you. As bad as it was you were doing what you thought was right, after a long and horrible war, as well as having the weight of Equestria thrown on your shoulders"

"It wasn't thrown. It was a burden a cocky little maniac thought she could handle and control. I loved it Twi, I really did. It felt so nice to take a life that I got addicted. Then griffons got boring. So I moved on to Ponies. Then ordinary ponies got boring so I killed my commander. Thats when I got really thirsty" She yelled, glaring at Twilight "So I killed the Princesses, one by one. Like snuffing a candle. When it got to you there wasn't any point. I'd had it all. You were just a pretender, a scared, little filly that just wanted to go home..." She kicked a can away and turned around, grinding her teeth together and lying in her sleeping bag, facing the wall.

Twilight stared in a stunned silence. The mare had truly snapped. She thought about just leaving, genuinely scared of the seething pegasus lying in a huddle with her back to her, but slowly approached "I forgive you Dash" She sighed "You're right. I was, am, no Princess, not like the others. I did want to go home. I cried every night. Then you came. Sure, I hated you for what you did, but at least you did something... We ate like Queens whilst the villages were starved and pillaged, they sat in their chairs as pony after pony came to us crying. You may not believe me, but you were the one that saved us, you know"

Dash took a moment before rolling over, sighing "Trust you to make me look like a hero" She smiled softly "I really missed you. I watched you, the first few months... But... I could never bring myself to look you in the eye, I don't deserve it"

"You know we can never forget what you did. But that doesn't have to define the Dash you become. Come back with me, we'll keep you hidden and introduce you one by one to the group, ok?"

She bit her lip, but nodded "Fine... As long as you're safe" She stood.

Twi hugged her tight, nuzzling her neck "Thank you, Dash"

Dash hobbled slowly through the dark streets of Ponyville, a dark cloak over her distinctive rainbow hair. Twi was alongside her, easily keeping pace. "That knees really bad, huh?"

She stopped and stared at Twi "I had a crossbow bolt fired through the bone and out the other side. Yeah, its bad"

Twi grimaced and shuddered, giving her a supporting arm and continuing to walk towards the library "What other injuries do you have?"

"Earache"

She nodded. It was a fair point. Twilight looked over the mare and couldnt help but chuckle softly "I'm so glad you're back"

Dash nodded, but stayed silent. They quickly arrived at the library, looking good after the refurbishment and headed straight in, Dash sitting down and groaning as she put her knee up. "Could I please have something to eat?" Dash asked.

Twilight tilted her head. She was surprised by the manners Dash had used to ask, she didn't possess them before the war and certainly hadn't worked on them in the military. "Yes... Sure... You must be hungry for something not out of a tin"

Dash nodded, closing her eyes "Yeah, thanks..." The walk had taken it out of her, not in the mood or with the energy to get back up again tonight. "This place is looking much better than when I last saw it... The whole town is..." she muttered, reminiscing.

"How was it the last time you saw it? And when?" She returned, carrying some pasta back to the mare and sitting beside her.

She didn't hesitate to eat, stuffing her face with the food "When the griffons invaded. I told you this, in the throne room" she sighed.

"Oh , yeah! I remember! Right before you were t..." She cut off and gulped

Dash sighed and nodded "Yes Twilight. Before I was tortured. Correct" She turned and smiled "Good food"

Twi nodded slowly. She was struggling to identify just what was going on in Dash's head. She'd expected her to get angry, or have a panic attack, but she'd acted as if it were an everyday event. "We got the place cleaned up and got rebuilding" She smiled "It was quite the state. But, with hard work we're on the way to making it what it was. Just today we opened the park again"

Dash smiled and nodded, shamelessly licking the bowl "Brilliant" She placed the bowl down, wondering just what Twilight had actually seen of the town and the destruction that it lay in. She couldn't stifle a yawn, looking at Twi and groaning.

"Oh, you're tired" She smiled "Lets go to bed..." Twi lifted Dash and escorted her to bed, combing into her large bed alongside the mare. "Sorry, only one bed..."

Dash didnt mind, she loved the feel of another pony. She couldnt get enough right now, three years in segregation and the war spent without company, having Twi to cuddle up to at night was a welcome blessing.

"G'dnight Twi"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading!

The focus of this sequel is again on Dash, but her new life post-war. There will be conflict and themes from PF1 in this story too, however, so if thats what you're here for dont worry!