The Story Of Sky Blue

As Rainbow approached the library, her head was beginning to clear. Only Pegasi could move clouds, and she knew that every Pegasi in Ponyville knew not to mess with her house. There was one, though. One who had only just begun to fly, and yet was almost surpassing Rainbow herself. She dismissed this thought as she stumbled into Twilight’s library. There were books everywhere, and she saw Twilight, obviously struggling to stay calm. Surprisingly, Applejack was there talking to her.

“And... And she said that it wasn’t a dream, it musta bin’ a memory. Ah... Ah just gasped! And then she flew off. Almost lost mah hat in the wind.” She said this, obviously trying to lighten whatever mood she had set.

Twilight nodded.

“I wonder what this means...”

“Hey! Are you talking about Sky?” Twilight and Applejack jumped.

“Watch it, sugarcube! You surprised me. I was talking about Sky. She’s gone. She flew away when she told me about a dream about that Chrysalis thing.” Applejack quickly explained what had happened. Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Well, I guess you’re going to need the fastest flier in Equestria to catch her huh?” Applejack and Twilight nodded. Twilight looked at Rainbow and said

“But be careful! She’s very fragile at the moment, and we don’t want to send her straight to Chrysalis. For all we know, it could be a trick. We won’t know until we have another look at her. Applejack, can you get Zecora? I have a feeling she can help.” Applejack nodded and galloped off toward Everfree forest.

“Now, I’ve got to clean up around here. What are still doing here? Go!” Twilight pointed at Rainbow, as the cyan pony realised she had finished talking.

“Oh! Of course. I’m on it!” She did a little salute and shot out through the open door.

As Dash flew over the slowly brightening town of Ponyville, she saw quite a bit of carnage below her. Pinkie was lying down in the street, crying and mumbling something about Cupcakes and Cakes never being eaten. Rarity was running around wildly, collecting the fabrics strewn about. And as she flew over Fluttershy’s cottage, she saw a scene equivalent to the aftermath of a tornado. Rainbow would’ve stopped there, but she Fluttershy with a little broom in her mouth, trying she shift a huge tree trunk. Rainbow kept going, following the bent tree trunks and bare dirt. She was shocked that the pegasus she had met, who didn’t know how to fly, could tear the very grass out of the ground with her speed. Then... It calmed. The trees were no longer bent, and the grass was safely in the ground. She did a U-turn and went to where it stopped. She landed lightly, and was about to yell out for Sky, when she remembered that Twilight had said she was fragile. So she carefully walked around, looking for a hint of cyan fur, that would lead Rainbow to Sky. She didn’t know why, but for some reason Dash was...

Worried.

It was a strange feeling, and she wasn’t used to it. She had always been able to handle situations like this. She decided to use her ears instead of her eyes, and listened for any hint of sound in the trees around her. Then, in the distance she heard crying. But not regular crying. This was practically wailing. Rainbow was surprised she hadn’t heard it before. She followed the sound, and saw snapped branches, and some coloured feathers on the ground. She slowly made her way through, until she was stopped in her tracks, and saw a large sharp branch, with some blood on it. Rainbow realised she couldn’t hear Sky anymore. Fearing the worst, she bolted in the direction she had heard Sky. She didn’t know why she cared so much. She had just met this mare today. She put it down to her being the Element Of Loyalty. As she approached, she saw Sky lying on the ground, bleeding. She had a large gash on her side. Rainbow flew over to Sky and knelt next to her. Sky was mumbling something in her feverish state. Rainbow leaned in closer to hear it. It was a random string of nonsense. Rainbow couldn’t even understand the words. She sat back for a moment, but jumped up when she saw the gash in Sky’s side slowly healing, as if it was being stitched by Fluttershy. Rainbow leaned in again as the wound closed, and Sky sighed in relief. She started mumbling again, still random things, but this time in plain Pony-ish. Rainbow Dash could just make out a few things.

“How do I tell her, should I tell her? What if she doesn’t like what I tell her? Why do I have to tell her? When should I tell her?” Rainbow was confused by this, but disregarded it as Sky’s gibbering took a strange turn.

“She wants him, She wants to bring him back. Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, Changelings, CelestiaLunaChrysalisChangelings. CelesLuChrysChange.” Her speech was speeding up and she started to sweat. Her Green eyes flew open and locked with Rainbow’s pink ones. She looked like she was struggling with something, as if she knew she could only say one thing and didn’t know what to say. Then she said one thing before fainting.

“Discord.”

Rainbow sat in silence for a few minutes looking at her friend. What was all that about? What about Discord? And Celestia? And Luna, and Chrysalis, and the Changelings? Rainbow decided that Zecora and Twilight would better understand. So she managed to get Sky on her back, Her left hooves over Rainbow’s left side, her right, likewise. Rainbow managed to gain a small altitude, but knew she couldn’t go too fast, lest she drop Sky.

Then the Sky would be falling. She chuckled as she flew, but immediately berated herself for it. This was serious. She flew towards Twilight’s Library in silence. When she arrived, she quietly touched down. She walked into the main room, and put Sky down on an empty desk. She heard Zecora and Twilight approach behind her. She also saw Rarity, Pinkie, AJ, and Fluttershy standing in front of her. They crowded around her. Rainbow realised how this would look if Sky woke up, and told her friends so.

“I she attacked AJ when she was trying to help, then imagine what she would do if she saw us around her like this.” They all nodded and backed away, with the exception of Twilight and Zecora. Rainbow knelt next to the desk.

“Do not worry, little Rainbow Dash,

I should have your friend better in a flash.”

Rainbow would have yelled at Zecora on any other day, but today she just ignored the soft jab. Zecora, realising how serious this was, said

“Now tell me, my colourful friend,

How did she end up like this, with so many mental wounds to tend?”

Applejack stepped forward.

“Ah think that would be mah fault, Zecora.” Applejack told them what had happened when they had left Zecora’s, and Rainbow continued from there, telling them about how she had found the bent trees, and the feathers and the blood. And about how she had used magic to heal herself --Twilight had gasped and run off to research this-- and the things she had said about Celestia and Luna, and the others. She left out the part about the “Should I tell her etc.” because Rainbow had a feeling that it was private. Zecora listened to the entire thing, with a strange look on her stripy face.

“Very well, I know what I must do to her,

I just hope she doesn’t hate me for it later.

I must go into her deepest consciousness,

And try to sort out this mess.”

“Wow, I never knew you could do that Zecora!” Twilight had reappeared at Rainbow’s side.

“You can read other ponies minds?”

Zecora looked slightly disgruntled as she said;

“I try to keep it a secret,

Lest you ponies are afraid of it.” And with this, Zecora closed her eyes and began a low chant under her breath. Twilight tried to listen, but it was too fast to follow. She noticed that Rainbow Dash was holding back tears.

“What’s wrong Rainbow? Are you okay?” Twilight looked at her with some concern. Rainbow shook her head vigorously and when she looked back at Twilight, she had a forced smile on her face. Her eyes were glistening with tears.

“I-I’m fine. Don’t w-worry, I’m R-Rainbow Dash, the c-coolest of the c-cool. I’m just w-worried, and I don’t know why. I just feel like something bad is about to happen.”

Twilight was taken aback. She had never seen Rainbow acting like this.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be fine. We’ll warn princess Celestia about what Sky said, and Equestria will be perfectly fin--” Rainbow interrupted Twilight, looking at her with anger in her eyes.

“You think I’m worried about that? I know that Equestria will be fine, but what about Sky? Or did you forget about her while you were drafting your next letter to Celestia?” Twilight stumbled backwards. Rainbow was standing up now, and approaching her angrily.

“Our friend is lying there right now, dreaming of Celestia knows what, terrified that she’s evil, and you care about something that Celestia could deal with with a little order? How dare you! Of course Equestria will be fine! How foolish are you to see that Sky Blue might not!” Rainbow was shouting now, and Twilight was standing against the wall. The others had stopped their quiet conversation, and were staring at Rainbow in shock. They knew Rainbow could be hot-headed, but this was something else. Applejack trotted over to Rainbow and put her forehoof around Rainbow’s shoulder.

“C’mon, let’s get some fresh air, you just need a nice walk in the light of Luna’s beautiful moon. C’mon. That’s it.” She looked at Twilight, a worried look on her face. She was worried about Rainbow more than Twilight, even though the purple pony looked on the verge of tears. There were a few tears running down her cheeks.

“Rarity! Look after Twi’, and Fluttershy, make gosh-darn sure that Sky is okay while Zecora does her stuff, and Pinkie... Just... Make some cookies or something.” The white, yellow and pink ponies nodded and did the things AJ told them to do respectively. Fluttershy went and got a bowl of water and a cloth and started to wipe Sky’s forehead, to help her feel a bit more comfortable. Rarity put one of her hooves around Twilight’s shoulders and led her into the kitchen.

“Come on dear, let’s get you some tea.” Pinkie bounced after them, though not as cheerfully as she had earlier in the day.