A Catalyst in Time

Chapter 7

Pinkamena felt a small sense of victory. Despite the fact that Rarity was the one that had essentially talked Twilight into letting them join her party, the fact that they had ended up with the unicorn's traveling group was Pinkamena's victory. I just hope I know what I'm doing. She thought. She had never doubted her Pinkamena sense, being as she'd had it all of her life. But she didn't know why it worked and sometimes that made it harder for other ponies to accept it. Twilight fell into the most extreme version of that camp. She was ardent that all of the predictions Pinkamena made were coincidences. Logical minds tended to react that way to her sense.
The only problem with that was that Twilight completely mistrusted Pinkamena's word. Anything Pinkamena said was met with distrust from Twilight. It probably didn't help that Pinkamena had stalked Twilight before joining her. Looking over Twilight's shoulder, Pinkamena noticed that the purple unicorn was writing a letter. Curious, Pinkamena read it, though she sort of felt this could be considered rude and inappropriate.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have been joined on my journey by two travelers, an earth pony by the name of Pinkamena Diane Pie and a white unicorn that calls herself Queen Rarity. I have no idea who these two are supposed to be, but Ditsy Doo seems to think that they have something to do with our journey, though she has not said so outright. Is this just my imagination or are these two more than just an annoyance? I'm not really used to dealing with strangers so any advice you could give me would be welcome. Also, the pink earth pony, Pinkamena, seems to think she has some kind of preternatural sense. This seems ridiculous to me, but should I trust in it for this quest?
Sincerly,

Twilight Spakle

So Twilight was unnerved enough by Rarity and Pinkamena that she felt the need to write to the Princess herself about it? How odd. But then, Pinkamena wasn't one to judge odd, she'd lived her life on a rock farm.

"What in Equestria are you DOING?" Twilight asked suddenly realizing that Pinkamena was staring over her shoulder.
"Just reading the letter to the Princess you were writing," Pinkamena said calmly, totally unfazed by Twilight's gaping.
"WHAT? I may be completely socially inept, but at least I know it's rude to read over somepony's shoulder!"
"Well, duh. You were writing about me, so I might as well see what you were writing," Pinkamena said calmly.
"Arrgh! Why did I get stuck with these crazy ponies!" Twilight grumbled and stomped to the other side of the camp to give Spike the letter to Celestia. Pinkamena didn't smile or laugh. She wasn't at all fazed by Twilight's reaction to her snooping. After all, she had been writing about her and Rarity.

***

Applejack was panicking. She was planning to leave with Rainbow Dash that morning but she wasn't packed. And she hadn't said anything to her aunt and uncle. What if they wanted to stop her from leaving? Would her will hold up if her aunt said no? She was already having second thoughts about going back to Sweet Apple Acres. What if Granny Smith and Big Macintosh didn't want her there anymore? What if she wasn't good enough for them? What if she'd changed too much in the past few years and they didn't love her anymore? Ok, all of this was beginning to get ridiculous, but she was in full out panic mode.
"AJ?" Rainbow Dash called from the living room. "Are you packed? Your aunt and uncle want to say goodbye!"
So Rainbow had taken it upon herself to let Aunt and Uncle Orange know they were leaving for Ponyville together? Applejack felt a flood of relief and a tremendous amount of gratitude for her friend. She should have known that Rainbow would understand her loyalty to her family and her inability to leave without first notifying her aunt and uncle.
"Applejack, darling?" her aunt called.
"Coming, Aunt Orange," Applejack said, carefully controlling her voice, almost afraid that Rainbow Dash would catch any amount of her old accent that she let creep in.
Applejack looked at the obscene amount of clothing she had stuffed in her saddlebags. Clothing? Why the hay did she need clothing? Most ponies kept to maybe the occasional accessory, to keep the sun out, but only wore clothes if they needed to impress somepony, like the society ponies her aunt and uncle were friends with. Applejack had been so focused on the little details in her life she'd forgotten how to be practical. Her mother used to say to her when she was a very little filly "Applejack, sometimes ponies cain't see the apple orchard for the trees, but y'all need ta remember that whilst details can be important, they don't mean nothin if y'all cain't see the big picture." Applejack took all the clothing out of her bags, and instead packed a blanket, a small canvas for a tent, and, out of the recesses of the closet Rainbow Dash had hid in the night they'd decided to leave, her grandpappy's hat, a gift from her Granny the day she'd left Sweet Apple Acres.
"Applejack, darling, I just wanted to tell you what a pleasure it's been to have you with us. We know you haven't been truly happy and we apologize for that. I hope you find happiness when you return home. Tell your brother and your grandmother that we said hello," Aunt Orange said, wiping tears from her eyes as she spoke.
"Thank you Aunt Orange, Uncle Orange, I....I'll..." Applejack broke up as her eyes welled with tears. She wrapped her hooves around her aunt's shoulders in a hug. "Thank you for everything. I'll tell Granny and Big Macintosh y'a...you said hi..."
The Orange couple nodded. Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash. "I'm all packed except for food and money. I'll grab some non-perishables from the kitchen and we'll be on our way."
Rainbow Dash nodded. The two pony friends grabbed the last items they needed and headed out on their first big adventure.

***

"Tons of FUN?" Rarity said, as Spike showed her his collection of bugs. "Collecting bugs is fun?"
"Yup, look at this one, it's a butterfly, but when I found it the wings were torn off, and lying on the ground. I put it out of it's misery," the baby dragon explained.
Rarity choked back a gagging noise. This was not her idea of fun. But Spike was a sweet little guy, and really seemed to have taken a liking to her, and she hated to seem cruel. So she endured his boyish ways. She wasn't a complete snob, after all. And spending time with Spike gave her a sense of peace after the things Vinyl had said about her in Canterlot. She knew what it looked like. Their mom had been unfairly cruel to Vinyl, especially compared to how she treated Rarity. And Rarity had been the one to leave. Granted, she was dragged away by her magic and the Diamond Dogs had kidnapped her, but she'd never made a move to contact her sister or come home. She was, selfishly, happier away from the constant fights. So she was trying to make up for it now, with Spike.
"And I also brought snacks!" Spike announced reaching into his pack to pull out a gorgeous baby blue sapphire. Rarity gaped at it. "A baby blue sapphire?!?" she said, her voice going hoarse.
"Yeah! They're totally delicious. The only gems tastier are opals and fire rubies!" Spike said.
Rarity just stared. She loved baby blues. They were her favorite gems, after, well, opals and fire rubies.
"Do you have more than one?" Rarity nervously asked.
"Yeah!" Spike said, pulling out another. Then he noticed Rarity staring.
"Um...would you...um...like one?"
The white unicorn's sapphire colored eyes lit up. "Would I? Oh, Spike, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever given me!"
"Ah, it's no big, you like them so much, and I've got two. I'll have one for a snack and you can have one, for...whatever you use gems for," the baby dragon brushed aside her thanks, but his face said that he appreciated the chance to do something for her.
Tucking the sapphire into her bag, she kissed Spike's cheek. "Thank you, Spike."
Spike blushed and ran off to see what Twilight was doing. Rarity stayed where she was, quietly thinking about the gift her friend had just given her. Nopony had ever given her anything, not since she'd left home, unless she pushed or asked for it. The Diamond Dogs weren't her friends, they were just her subject. Maybe, in Spike, Twilight, and Pinkamena, she was finally finding some real friends.

***

Spike touched the place where Rarity had kissed his cheek. He usually fell for more conventional beauties, ponies with style and grace. But Rarity was, well, a rarity in that she was both tough and beautiful. He was really glad Twilight had let her join their little adventuring party. Yup...really glad.

***

Trixie growled in frustration. Her tracking of Twilight Sparkle was not going as well as she'd hoped it would. She couldn't properly cast a tracking spell. Nopony would give her straight answers when she'd questioned them about the unicorn. Oh she was with a dragon and a gray pegasus that seemed a little...special if ya get my drift was the only useful thing she'd gotten out of the innkeeper. I think I saw a pony of that description go thatway...or maybe it was that way. It was enough to make anypony scream in frustration. Trixie was not a patient pony. Finally, she'd managed to get a lead that would lead her to her rival, and by then she was a good three days behind the purple unicorn and her party. To make matters worse, her mother had apparently figured out how to track Trixie while she was on the road and had sent her another nasty letter.
Patricia,

I hope you're on the road pursuing your career and not just wandering around aimlessly. Your father would be ashamed of the way you've been acting the past couple of months with your schooling and wandering and pandering around. I hope you're happy with yourself, young lady, because I'm certainly not.
-Mother
It was enough to drive anypony crazy. And Trixie was determined that she would do SOMETHING to make her mother forget this crazy performance notion and maybe for once support what Trixie wanted to do with her own life. The only thing standing in her way was Twilight Sparkle. Frustrated, Trixie attempted to cast the tracking spell she'd failed to do to find Twilight. This time...it worked. She let out of shout of triumph and her horn proceeded to show her the direction she needed to take to find Twilight.

***

Rainbow Dash watched Applejack nervously. The earth pony had become increasingly quieter as they traveled farther and farther away from downtown Manehatten. Rainbow Dash was worried that AJ might either change her mind or start wondering why Rainbow herself was just as silent.
"So uh...the Manehatten pegasi sure did a nice job on the weather today..." Rainbow Dash commented lamely in an attempt to break the awkward silence.
"Yup." Applejack said, not looking at the sky, Rainbow Dash, or anything other than the ground.
"So...uh...yeah..." Rainbow Dash said, realizing that the comment had gone nowhere.
It was silent for what seemed like hours.
"Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked suddenly.
Rainbow Dash answered before even thinking about where this might lead. "Yeah AJ?"
"What happened that has you so scared of going to Ponyville? I mean...if you don't want to tell me...that's fine...I just...thought...maybe..." AJ trailed off, going back to looking at the ground.
Rainbow Dash swallowed her fear and gritted her teeth. Applejack was going to wonder about this regardless of what she said, so she might as well tell her friend the truth.
"I...well...I better start from the beginning. I grew up in Cloudsdale, and I was always a pretty good flier, even as a filly. I flew before most of my classmates. My best friend was...not as good at flying as I was. She was always a pretty weak flier and...well...the other kids teased her about it. I was always there to stick up for her, except this one time she was trying to catch up to me and some of the bullies cornered her. I flew back to help and they challenged me to a race. I thought I was the awesomest thing since sliced bread, so obviously I accepted. When the race started, Flut...my friend was standing on a cloud holding the flag to start the race. I sort of...accidentally knocked her off her cloud. I thought about going back to save her...but I was too intent on the race. I ended up losing, pretty miserably too since I attempted to fly way faster that I was actually able to, maybe even fast enough to do the famous Sonic Rainboom...something no pegasus has ever been known to do...most think it's an old pony's tale...and maybe it is...but I got launched way out of the race track. My friend...she was...knocked from the sky...fell down below Cloudsdale, which is almost directly above Ponyville in actuality, it looks a lot farther away on the maps...we think she landed a little outside of the town...nopony ever found her or her...body. But I can't shake the feeling she's dead, and that it's my fault. And then...just before I met you...I was transferred from my job in the Cloudsdale Rainbow Factory to Ponyville's weather patrol. I threw sort of a fit I guess, and quit and just flew and flew. It wasn't until recently that the reason I didn't want to go to Ponyville was because of the memories associated with Cloudsdale and Ponyville and Flutt....my friend."

Applejack looked at her. A tender expression crossed the orange earth pony's face, almost sisterly affection. In that moment, Applejack's accent completely took over.
"Rainbow Dash, what ever happened that day....whether your friend lost her life or not...y'all ain't ta blame. Y'all were racin' to defend your friend's honor and that is the most commendable thing anypony can do. Y'all ain't lame, a loser, or uncool. Y'all're one of the best ponies Ah've ever met and Ah know that what ever challenges y'all face, y'all will overcome."
Rainbow Dash stared at the friend she'd made only days ago who had somehow become a friend she couldn't live without. For a moment they both just sat in silence. Then she spoke up. "Fluttershy...that was her name..."