Dash's Dilemma

Chapters

Chapter One: Strife
Chapter Two: Star
Chapter Three: Solace
Chapter Four: Synergy

Chapter One: Strife

Dash's Dilemma

Rainbow Dash woke up, sweating, panting, eyes wide open and pupils reduced to miniscule dots. She patted various parts of her body to ensure she was intact, then breathed a sigh of relief before falling back onto her bed. Moments of her dream - roars loud enough to shake the earth below her, screams of terror and loud crashes - reverberated through her mind as she attempted to fall asleep once again. A hoof shot up to her forehead as she groaned, unable to shake the visions out of her mind.

She turned to her side and looked out of her window, a small hole in the wall of her cloud-house. She could see a few of the stars in the night sky, even past all of the dark clouds pouring water onto the ground below. A distant flash of lightning and the accompanying thunder a few moments later brought back images from the dream she had woken from just seconds earlier.

Deciding she'd had enough, she opened her bedside table and placed two gray pills onto the back of her tongue. She reached for the ever-present glass resting on the top of the table and poured water down her throat, forcing the pills down with it. Her head plopped back down onto her pillow, her frown easing up as she drifted into a dreamless slumber.

Rainbow Dash knocked on the door of Ponyville's library, eager to get her day started. She heard a muffled thud and some grumbling before the door in front of her opened, a small, purple dragon rubbing his head and saying something about turnips. Rainbow peeked over the dragon's shoulder, looking for the librarian within.

"Hey Spike, whatcha up to?" she asked, not actually caring about whatever it was he was doing with turnips.

"Oh, you know," Spike said as he waved a claw around nonchalantly, before replacing it onto his forehead. "Just reorganizing the books."

Rainbow nodded and looked back into the library. "So Spike, is Twilight in?"

The dragon looked down at the ground and frowned for a split second, before looking back up with his usual, neutral expression. He didn't say anything, simply nodding and stepping aside to let the pegasus in. It was normal for Spike to act that way: those who came to the library were either there for books, or for Twilight. Any time they talked to him was just for common courtesy, not actual conversation. At least, that's the only reason Rainbow could come up with.

The pegasus looked around in the main room for a second before spotting the resident librarian, half-hidden by a pile of books. The unicorn set down a particularly large book before turning to her visitor. Upon noticing it was Rainbow Dash, she ran into another room before returning just a few seconds later, saddle bags on her back.

"Ready to go, Twilight?" Rainbow asked, excited about the day ahead of her.

"Um, yeah, lemme just..." Twilight ran into her kitchen and hastily prepared two daffodil sandwiches, holding one in her mouth and levitating one over to Rainbow. "Ver, leff go."

Rainbow grabbed the sandwich and took a large bite, realising she hadn't eaten before flying down to collect Twilight. She looked up and noticed the sun hanging high in the sky above her. Huh, she thought, maybe I should take one pill next time...

Spike watched the two mares walk into the distance from a window on the ground floor. He shook his head, sighed, and hopped away from the glass, dutifully returning to his chores.

"But really, a yay-you're-better-now-so-now-we-can-party party? That name on its own would make Pinkie Pie proud."

Rainbow Dash smiled smugly and puffed out her chest at Twilight's praise. "Yeah, it is a pretty Pinkie-ish name, isn't it?"

Twilight held a hoof to her mouth and giggled, watching the rows of apple trees on the sides of the dirt path to Sweet Apple Acres. "You know..."

Rainbow looked over at Twilight and raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe after the party, you and I could..." her voice trailed off and she bumped her flank against Rainbow's. Rainbow blinked a few times, expecting Twilight to finish her sentence. It really wasn't like her to just stop talking all of a sudden like that.

"We could..." Rainbow flicked her hoof at Twilight, encouraging her to finish so she could finally figure out what she had in store for her after the party.

The unicorn just facehoofed, uttering a "nevermind" and wondering when they would finally arrive at their destination.

As if the world had heard her thoughts and sped up time to end the awkwardness that hung over the two, she found herself looking straight at the Apple family's house, just under a hundred yards away. Twilight idly began to wonder how she'd gotten so close to the house without noticing it.

It didn't take long to finally reach the door, and Rainbow Dash lifted her hoof and pounded on it, shaking off a little bit of dust in the process.

Apple Bloom opened the door for them a few seconds later, wearing some kind of bright red unitard. Knowing that asking about it would just result in a whole lot of other questions and a headache, Rainbow decided to act as if she hadn't even noticed it.

"Are ya here for the party?" the foal asked, looking back at a table covered in all sorts of apple-based treats.

Rainbow and Twilight simply nodded and walked in. Twilight went over and stuffed her bags full of food, not using her magic on account of a bet the two had made: she couldn't use magic for anything other than experiments, and Rainbow couldn't practice and stunt flying. First one to cave has to be the other's personal maid for an entire month.

Of course, being the other's maid wasn't that big a deal; she helped Twilight clean and reorganise the library a whole lot already, and Twilight cleaned up Rainbow's cloud house on a weekly basis. It was more of a humiliation factor that got the two going: both knew that if they lost, they would be forced to wear a maid outfit everywhere they went, and neither of them would be caught dead looking like that. Granted, both of them lost the bet just about every day, but they were at least trying.

Twilight's idle thoughts and revelation about the bet ended as she noticed her bags were stuffed full of treats, and she looked back at her companion. Rainbow, meanwhile, just noticed a particularly delicious-looking half of a pie resting on a table near the wall.

"Hey Apple Bloom, can me and Twi have some of that pie?" Hehe, that rhymes.

Apple Bloom looked at the pie, then at Rainbow, and then at the pie again. She thought for a moment and looked back at Rainbow. "Well, alright, but only one slice. The rest is for... uh..." she tapped a hoof against her chin, gazing up at the ceiling as if divining some unremarkable excuse from the wood above her. "... mah cutie mark?" Apple Bloom smiled as genuinely as she could, but with her being the Element of Honesty's sister, failed miserably.

Rainbow gave the obviously fake excuse little thought and, deciding a rebuttal would only send the little foal into defensive denial, took a slice, thanking her before heading back to Ponyville. She offered Twilight a bite, who refused, saying something along the lines of 'that sandwich was just so filling, mmmmmm!' that Rainbow tuned out, focusing her attention onto the tantalizing slice once again.

Applejack was walking along the dirt path back to her house, ready to drop off her apples and take a much-needed lunch break. She spotted Rainbow Dash walking towards her, the former's saddlebags full with what she assumed were her contributions to Pinkie's party.

"Hey there, Rainbow," she greeted her friend, who stopped talking to look at Applejack, not having noticed her before. "Howdy, Twilight."

"Hey Applejack!" the pegasus said.

"Ah see ya got all the food with ya?" It wasn't really a question so much as a statement, but Applejack was never one hundred percent sure about most things involving Rainbow.

"Yup! We were just heading off to Rarity's for the decorations."

"Y-Yeah, and, ugh..." Twilight was shaking on her hooves, breathing heavier than normal. "These are kinda heavy..."

Rainbow and Twilight were too busy trading bags to notice the frown on Applejack's face. But just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced with her semi-smile she always wore after working hard.

"Anyways, Ah gotta get back ta the farm. See ya later, Rainbow."

The two mares headed off to Ponyville once again, not hearing Applejack's mumbling as they started up a new conversation.

"Rarity? You in there?" Rainbow called, having knocked on the boutique's door twice already.

"Oh? Is that you, Rainbow?" a voice asked from within. "Come in! The door's unlocked!"

Rarity was hunched over a large sheet of purple fabric, placing templates all across its surface to be cut out later. The whole place was a mess: gems were scattered on a nearby table, scissors and measuring tapes and other tools were thrown all across the floor, and materials were piled in heaps all around the room. Dash quickly recognised Rarity's typical 'organised mess' she had whenever there was a big order to be filled or she had no ideas for any dresses.

"So yeah, me and Twilight are here to pick up the decorations." Rainbow scanned the room as she talked, looking for streamers and balloons. She also noticed Rarity scowl for a moment before relaxing it into her usual concentrated frown. Ugh, she STILL doesn't like us being together? It's been what, six months already? How can she still be so... bleh about it?

"You do have them, right?"

"Yes, of course!" Rarity got up from her workplace and led Rainbow into another room, which, unlike the other, was completely clean and organised.

Well, except for the stack of furniture that supported a foal, reaching for a bright blue fabric on one of the higher shelves. The leaning tower of furniture collapsed and, thankfully, didn't knock down anything, save the foal standing on top of the once-mighty stack. She got up and brushed herself off, noticing her sister and guest.

She cleaned up the furniture as best she could and walked over. She glanced at Rainbow and looked to her sister, who blinked twice, and then turned back to Rainbow.

"Um, hey Rainbow!"

And with that, she was off.

"What was all that about?" Rainbow asked, filling up her bags with balloons and streamers and confetti and other typical party decorations.

Rarity just waved a hoof around, sauntering back into her work room. "Oh, don't worry about her. She's just being... herself."

When Rainbow finished stuffing her bags, she headed back into the other room and found Rarity trying to fix a pair of broken scissors. Twilight was waiting next to the doorway, and opened it once the pegasus was close enough.

"I'm tellin' you, Twi. She gave me this... look when she saw us together," Rainbow complained, making a face for emphasis.

"Oh, come on, Rainbow. She was probably just stressing out over her work again. You know how she gets sometimes."

"Well, yeah, but still. Applejack and Fluttershy do it sometimes, too!"

"Oh, they do?" Twilight was interested now. She cocked her head to one side and raise an eyebrow, leaning in slightly to make sure she wouldn't miss anything.

"Yeah! One time, Fluttershy almost shot up into the air when she saw us! Sure, she was kinda half-asleep, but still! Usually she just, I dunno..." Rainbow trailed off, losing her train of thought momentarily. "Anyways, I mean... We've been together for a while now, how are they not used to it?"

"Well, Rainbow... Applejack was raised believing a mare and a stallion was the only natural way to go for her entire life, so of course it would take her longer to get used to the idea of two mares being together."

"But-" Rainbow was trying to convince Twilight that their friends didn't like their relationship, not get lectured on why they shouldn't like it.

"And as for Fluttershy, she's just too..." she waved a hoof around, thinking of a good word to use. "...Fluttershy to be used to two of her friends in a relationship. Just give them some time, they'll come around."

Rainbow sighed. She knew what Twilight said made sense, but still. It shouldn't take six months to get used to it. Especially since they all supported Lyra and Bon-Bon in their first month together. "Yeah... I guess..."

It was then that Rainbow noticed how many passerby were giving them funny looks or trying to avoid looking at them altogether. Rainbow wasn't mad at them, just confused. Lots of the ponies that were gawking at them hung out with Lyra and Bon-Bon, and some of them were fillyfoolers themselves! Did being an Element of Harmony change that or something? That seemed to be the only logical explanation.

The two mares arrived at Sugarcube Corner, which was empty save for Mrs. Cake at the counter and a stallion leaving with a bag of goodies in his mouth.

"Hey, Mrs. Cake. I got everything!" Rainbow asked, noticing the emptiness of the shop. The lack of Pinkie Pie's free samples on the streets really brought down the shop's business.

"Oh, yes, dearie. Let me just close up so you can get everything ready." And with that, Mrs. Cake headed outside and hung up the closed sign on the door. She poked her head in and nodded to Rainbow before leaving once again, shutting the door behind her as she headed off to wherever with her husband.

Rainbow and Twilight spilled the contents of their bags onto the floor and started setting everything up.

It was pitch black in Sugarcube Corner, and the only sound to be heard was the faint ticking of a clock hung high up on the wall. The mares inside had gotten news that Pinkie was released just two minutes ago, and had waited patiently for the guest of honour to arrive.

Tick.

An orange earth pony shuffled a little bit, trying to scoot away from the prissy white unicorn next to her.

Tick.

The 'prissy' white unicorn twitched her tail; it had almost been dipped into the punch bowl, and punch was something she did not want anywhere near it.

Tick.

A blue pegasus was starting to get impatient, only to be relaxed by the purple unicorn at her side. The latter was annoyed by the incessant noise-making clock, and glared at where she thought it was in the darkness.

Tick.

A yellow pegasus was getting frightened, alone in the dark. At least, as alone as one could be when ten feet away from a friend. Still, she was the only one with nopony directly next to her, and she was starting to get nervous.

Tick.

A pink earth pony poked the yellow pegasus, asking why it was so dark. The yellow pegasus let out a loud "Eep!" and jumped away, crashing into the orange earth pony. The earth pony was caught off-guard and backed up, only to bump into the white unicorn, causing her to tail to dip into the punch.

Tick.

Noticing her tail was wet, the unicorn shot forward in an attempt to avoid the defiling liquid, only to land face-first on the lightswitch.

The lights shot on, and the ponies present each lifted a hoof to cover their eyes. After a few seconds, they all looked at what all the commotion was about. There was Rarity, a bit of punch dripping from the tip of her tail, and Applejack, trying not to laugh at Rarity for getting so surprised. Fluttershy turned from Pinkie Pie to look at what she'd caused, and quickly pulled her mane over her face to hide. Pinkie was busy eating a muffin, wondering why her friends were looking at her so funny.

"What," was all Pinkie said, as if it were a magic word for them all to stop acting so weird. Of course, it didn't work. In fact, it had done the opposite of its intended effect, as her friends rushed forward and trapped her in the middle of a group hug.

Fluttershy was crying onto her shoulder, breathing out half-words in between sobs. Pinkie didn't know why Fluttershy was crying, but pat her on the head a few times and went back to eating her muffin. Her friends knew not to question how she'd gotten in or how she'd managed to sneak over to Fluttershy without being heard, and so they all went straight from sappy hugging to partying in a matter of seconds.

Rainbow pulled Twilight aside, leaning in close to discuss something with her. "Hey, Twilight. You see Applejack and Pinkie over there?"

Twilight looked over to the ponies in question. They were sitting near the staircase, Pinkie leaning in close, talking about something. "Yeah? What about 'em?"

"Well, what do you think they're talking about?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Look at them, they look like they're whispering about something. What if they're talking about us?"

"Oh, quit being so paranoid. I bet they're exchanging baking secrets or something."

"Hmmm..." Rainbow's eyes narrowed. She never tried reading lips, so she squinted to see if she could. She couldn't. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Twilight trotted over to where Rarity and Fluttershy were, talking about some girly nonsense, probably. Rainbow went over to the punch table, but glanced at the two gossiping earth ponies by the stairs. Pinkie's mane deflated just the slightest amount as Rainbow watched them talk. Now she was more curious than ever. If something could affect Pinkie's mane like that, it was something she wanted to know about.

It was dark out; Pinkie's yay-you're-better-now-so-now-we-can-party party went on longer than they had initially planned. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were heading up the stairs in the library, careful not to wake the sleeping baby dragon. The two hopped in bed and cuddled close together, savoring the other's presence.

Rainbow nibbled Twilight's ear and whispered, "I love you."

"Heehee," Twilight giggled. She turned to face Rainbow and gave her a light peck on the cheek. "Love you, too."

The two stayed like that for a while, staring into each other's eyes, until Twilight yawned and turned around, tired after a day of work and partying. Rainbow pulled her close, rested her head on Twilight's neck, and the two drifted off into deep, peaceful sleep.

Spike lay wide awake in his small bed, staring at the ground next to him. He shut his eyes and felt a single tear slide down his face and fall onto the small purple blanket covering him. He watched as the tear spread out a ways, leaving a small, damp circle where it had landed. The dragon closed his eyes again succumbing to the exhaustion that welcomed him each and every night.

Huh, Rainbow thought as she looked up at Sugarcube Corner. They shouldn't be closed today... She peeked in through the kitchen window and saw that it was empty. Weird... Deciding not to question why the Corner was closed, Rainbow turned and started to head over to Applejack's apple stand for some food. She stopped as she passed the front door, however. Hmm, could've sworn I heard something... Rainbow let her curiosity get the better of her and pressed her ear against the door.

"... it just ain't right," a familiar accented voice said.

"I know, darling, but just imagine how she would react! Fluttershy made it halfway to Hoofington before Celestia caught up to her. Rainbow could very well fly off and disappear before we could even send either of the princesses a letter!" another equally familiar voice replied. Rainbow knew those voices: Applejack and Rarity.

"Ah know that, but Ah can't stand lyin' ta-"

"HIYA DASHIE!"

The door supporting Dash's weight opened suddenly and Rainbow came crashing down. When she gathered herself, she noticed Pinkie Pie's face covering her entire field of vision.

"What're you doing outside Sugarcube Corner? I mean, if you needed something to eat, you coulda just gone inside, you know where my cupcake stash is! Or maybe you forgot? Oh, I could show you again, that'll be fun! Oh, oh, maybe I can give you your own personal little stash somewhere or something! Well anyways, what're you waiting for! Come on, let's go!"

Rainbow barely had time to comprehend what Pinkie said before she was thrown a box of cupcakes. Rainbow looked at them, then at Pinkie, and at the cupcakes again. She shrugged and opened up the box, before remembering what she'd just heard.

Rainbow found the two almost immediately. Applejack and Rarity were looking at Rainbow with nervous grins plastered on their faces.

"Oh, uh, hey Rainbow. What brings you he-"

"Don't 'hey Rainbow' me, Applejack. Why can't you two just accept that me and Twilight are together? You're fine with Lyra and Bon-Bon, and you're fine with Derpy and Carrot Top, so what's wrong with me and Twilight? HUH?"

Applejack and Rarity exchanged nervous glances. The former swalled the lump in her throat before stepping forward and speaking. "Listen, Rainbow, Ah-"

"NO!" Rainbow yelled, flying out the open door towards Twilight's library.

"Yeah! She was all 'Oh, hurr durr, two mares together ain't right, hurr durr.' And Rarity was like, 'Oh yeah! Fluttershy tried to fly to Hoofington when she found out! If Rainbow flew off, we'd need to get Celestia to smack some sense into her! That oughta teach her a lesson about fillyfooling!''

"Really?"

"Yeah! and then Applejack was all, 'Hey, listen Rainbow.' Why should I listen to her? Right?"

"Hmm..." Twilight was looking at the ground, brows furrowed, rubbing her chin in though.

"Right?"

Twilight looked back up at the pegasus. "Yes, you're right. In fact, we should go talk to them."

"Umm, I dunno..."

"Well, they aren't going to accept us on their own, so we'll have to convince them to!"

"Yeah, I guess..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck and looked down. She really didn't want to talk to those two after what happened earlier. She glanced back up and spied the steely look of determination stuck on Twilight's face, and decided that any attempt at an argument would be a complete and utter failure. "But what if they don't?"

"They will."

"Ugh, Twilight, can you unlock this door for me?" Rainbow gestured towards Fluttershy's door. She'd decided to head over to Fluttershy's first and put off the inevitable awkwardness with Rarity and Applejack for later.

"Twilight?"

Twilight raised a hoof and pointed towards a tree. Rainbow raised a hoof over her eyes and squinted, seeing a yellow blob next to it.

The two nodded and headed off to it, the crouching yellow pegasus becoming more clear as they got closer. They stood just a few feet away from Fluttershy, and it seemed as though she hadn't noticed them yet. She was still crouching, eyes focused, watching something.

"Umm, hey, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy responded by squealing and hiding on the other side of the tree. She poked her head out after a second and recognized Rainbow Dash. Stepping out from her hiding place, she hid half of her face with her mane and looked up at the other pegasus.

"H-Hey, Rainbow Dash. What are you doing here?"

"Fluttershy, are you okay with me being a fillyfooler?"

Fluttershy's cheeks turned bright pink and she hid more of her face behind her mane. "Oh, um, y-yeah, I am..."

"Then why'd you fly out to Hoofington when you found out? HUH?!?" Rainbow was stepping closer and closer to Fluttershy, who, in turn, was backing up towards the tree.

"Um, that wasn't- I mean- I- I-" Fluttershy was backed up against the tree now, eyes glimmering slightly.

"WELL?"

"It wasn't tha-"

Rainbow pushed herself towards Fluttershy, and the two were now inches away from each other. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT-"

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled, squeezing herself between the two. That was the breaking point for Fluttershy and she started to cry into her mane, curling up into a ball at the base of the tree. Twilight looked down at the whimpering mare sympathetically. "I'm really sorry for Rainbow's beha-"

She didn't get a chance to finish, for Fluttershy got up and sprinted back into her house, slamming the door shut behind her. Twilight glared at Rainbow, who shrunk back a little and let out a nervous laugh.

"Heh, guess I overdid it there..." Rainbow looked over at the cottage. "Guess I should go and apologize, huh?"

"No."

Rainbow turned back to Twilight, the confusion in her face practically voicing, "What?"

"If you go over right now, Fluttershy will just get worse. Give her a little time to calm down, then go and apologize."

Rainbow thought about that for a second. She was pretty sure she could get Fluttershy to accept her apology, but then Twilight would just get mad at her for not following her advice. She sighed and agreed to wait a while, and headed off to Ponyville.

"Well howdy there, Rainbow. What can Ah get'cha?"

"Don't 'well howd-'"

"Rainbow," Twilight stopped her incoming verbal assault before it could happen. It was a good move on her part, and Rainbow backed down. Applejack, however, seemed to get just a tad more nervous after Twilight's intervention.

"Oh, right. Sorry. So... Applejack." Rainbow Dash waited for Applejack to respond.

"...Yeah?" The orange mare eyed Dash suspiciously, knowing something was on the pegasus's mind.

"Whatcha got against fillyfoolers, huh?"

Applejack stepped back and looked at Rainbow Dash as if her head fell off and started crawling around. "Uh, nothin'. Ah ain't got nothin' against-"

"Then why'd you tell Rarity that bein' a fillyfooler 'just ain't right?'"

Once again, Applejack stepped back. Less out of surprise this time, but more out of confusion. "Huh?"

Rainbow Dash took a few steps towards the earth pony. "I heard you tell Rarity being a fillyfooler's wrong over at Sugarcube Corner!" Applejack stepped back again, tilting her head to one side. "You know what I'm talking about! Don't try and act dumb!"

Applejack realised just what she was talking about. She looked down and sighed, kicking a loose rock with her hoof. "Oh, that."

No response came from the irritated accuser. She thought the pegasus would laugh in victory or force an explanation out of her, considering how worked up she'd been getting.

"Listen, Rainbow, Ah can explain." Applejack looked back up to where Rainbow had been just moments before, but all she saw was an evanescent rainbow streak headed off into the sky. She sighed again, shaking her head as she returned to her stall.

"Rainbow?" the lavender mare called out, searching the streets of Ponyville for her friend. She spotted the pegasus brooding in the middle of the street, kicking a rock around with her hoof. "Rainbow!"

The cyan pegasus looked to where she heard her name being called, and perked up a bit upon seeing Twilight run over to her.

"Rainbow, what's wrong?" Twilight's voice was full of concern, her eyes seeming to pierce through Rainbow's own, searching for whatever was on her mind.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?!? WHAT'S WRONG?!?" Rainbow was shoving her face into Twilight's, angrily poking her chest with a forehoof. "MAYBE, I just made Fluttershy - FLUTTERSHY, for Pete's sake - CRY and lock herself in her house. MAYBE, Applejack STILL hasn't accepted us being fillyfoolers, and MAYB-"

Twilight cut her off with a hoof to the mouth. "Come on, Rainbow... Fluttershy'll forgive you after a while, you just need to give her some time..."

"Oh, yeah, like THAT-"

"And as for Applejack, you know how stubborn she is. If she can't accept it, maybe you shouldn't bring up that topic around her."

"But-"

"And what does it matter what she thinks about us? We're all still friends, aren't we?"

"I don-"

"And if you hate her for just being stubborn, then maybe you're just as bad as she is."

"But- I-" Rainbow knew Twilight was right. Twilight was always right. About everything. "Yeah, you're right..."

Twilight let out a brief "hmph" of victory, smiling and leading Rainbow off into another street. "Now come on, let's go ask Rarity."

The inside of Carousel Boutique was pretty terrifying. First, the mess from just the day before had gotten worse, if that was even possible. Second, Pinkie Pie was standing completely still, in a half-finished dress with pins sticking out of it at odd angles. Rarity had these wide-open bloodshot eyes that seemed to see everything at once, something that happened when she was filling herself with caffeine to make up for a lack of sleep. And to top it all off, Sweetie Belle was sitting on a table, trying to get a cutie mark that somehow involved sticking needles into the tip of her hoof where it wouldn't hurt or bleed or leave a mark. And failing miserably at it.

Rarity was staring straight at the blue pegasus, Pinkie Pie was trying her best to not turn and look at what was happening, and Sweetie Belle seemed to not have even heard the question.

"Why yes, of course!" Rarity exclaimed, after a moment to collect her thoughts. "As some ponies say, love is blind. It doesn't matter whether or not a mare loves a colt or another mare, or if a colt loves a mare or another co-"

"Oh, yeah? Then why do you make a FACE every time you see me and Twilight together, HUH?!?"

That got their attention. Pinkie was sitting on part of the half-dress, Sweetie stopped trying to get her minor-cuts-fixer cutie mark and looked at the two, and Rarity stood still, staring at Rainbow with her mouth wide open.

"I-I don- I mea- I-" Rarity wasn't sure if she should tell the truth or lie or sort of tell the truth without really telling the truth or change the subject or what.

"You don't what, HUH? You don't like fillyfoo-"

"Rainbow!"

"What do you want, Twilight?" Rainbow turned and directed her anger to the unicorn.

"Come outside, we need to talk." Twilight wasn't particularly please with Rainbow's third outbreak, and her patience was running out.

"NO! You're fine with her lying straight to my face?!? Whose side are you on?!?" Rainbow had enough. She spread her wings out and flew straight out the door, only to get trapped in Twilight's magic. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't get herself free.

"I'm sorry about that, girls. If you'll excuse us..." Twilight backed out through the doorway, smiling awkwardly as she did. Once outside, she closed the door gently and released her friend.

Rainbow and Twilight argued for what seemed like hours. First, it was about how Rarity was being a complete jerk, then it went back to Applejack being an even bigger jerk. That moved on to how Twilight seemed to be on their side and not Dashs's and it was totally not cool considering they were together and all... Which led into a guilt trip about Fluttershy, only to end up on their bet and how Dash was frustrated from not flying anywhere.

Twilight reasoned that if she wanted to fly, she could've just called of the bet. To Dash, calling off a bet was even worse than losing one, and she'd never want anypony knowing she chickened out just because she wanted to fly a little. Twilight decided that was a stupid reason and nopony knew about the bet besides the two of them. Dash was caught off guard and laughed at herself for being so stupid, but when Twilight laughed along, she brought up how she was still mad at her for not backing her up.

Twilight countered with another attempted guilt trip, only for it to backfire when Dash brought up how Fluttershy cried after Twilight stepped in, not before. That led back to Applejack and Rarity, and Rainbow started pushing up against Twilight more and more. When Rainbow noticed tears start to well up in the other's eyes, she calmed down and pulled her into a hug, apologizing and promising she'd make up with her other friends. Twilight nodded, commenting how their arguments were more random than Pinkie Pie's conversations with Gummy.

Six minutes after Rainbow and Twilight backed out for their 'talk', the two re-entered Carousel Boutique, to be greeted by the same three ponies staring at them with varying levels of confusion and shock.

"So, umm..." Rainbow's head was almost touching the floor as she spoke. "Sorry for interrupting your dressmaking..."

Twilight poked Rainbow's side. "And?"

"And... sorry for yelling at you and stuff." Rainbow tilted her head up to see if her friends would accept her absolutely amazing apology. She was greeted by a confused Rarity, a shocked Pinkie Pie, and an incredulous Sweetie Belle, all seeming to stare right through her very soul.

Rainbow sighed and sat on the ground, head hung low once more. "I knew they wouldn't accept it..." she mumbled before getting back up and turning around.

Twilight took the time to help Rainbow back up before turning to her friends. "Sorry again, you three. Rainbow's... Rainbow's been having a rough day." Twilight turned and headed out with Rainbow Dash into the streets of Ponyville. She held the door open long enough for Rainbow to exit, and closed the door gently to not further disturb the three inside the boutique.

Rarity watched as the cyan pegasus in front of her stood back up and turned to leave. Rainbow Dash paused, and turned back to face the white unicorn.

"Sorry again, you three. Rainbow's... Rainbow's been having a rough day," she said, turning back around and heading out to the streets of Ponyville. She held the door open a few seconds before gently closing it, a light click heard once the door was properly shut.

The boutique was quiet for a few minutes, none of the three ponies knowing what to do. Rarity turned back to her friend and sister to see how they were. Pinkie's mane was halfway between poofy and deflated, her eyes brimming with tears waiting to fall. Sweetie Belle jumped off her table, looked back at the pink pony and her sister, and ran upstairs before collapsing onto her bed in a fit of dry tears.

Far from the events at the boutique, an orange earth pony laid down a bouquet of daffodils and daisies onto a small mound of earth in Ponyville's cemetery. She held back a tear as she gazed up to the headstone at the edge of the mound.

"Don't you worry none, Twilight," the earth pony said, more to reassure herself than anything. "Rainbow'll come around eventually."

Chapter Two: Star

Dash's Dilemma

Dash could only realise two things: there were trees all around her, and she was running after Twilight. She couldn't really do anything except think about what she was doing and why. Her body seemed to be answering only to itself, completely ignoring the objections and orders Rainbow's mind were screaming. A glimpse of Fluttershy was seen in her peripheral vision, who seemed to be running the fastest out of the three.

As if to answer the question coming to her mind, a massive, earth-shaking roar boomed from behind her. She stumbled for a second before regaining her hold on the ground, and Rainbow was wondering why she wasn't flying. Sure, she didn't have control over her body at the moment, but she knew her wings wouldn't lock up like Fluttershy's did when she was scared.

Not that she was scared, of course, but Dash didn't have much to do but think about why her body wouldn't spread her wings and fly off into the sky. Her wings were fine; she could feel a short, numb pain every time she stepped on a rock or a particularly sharp or thorny twig, but nothing from her wings except air flowing between her feathers.

A short, high-pitched yelp sounded from somewhere behind her and her body decided it was the perfect time to look back. Her eyes focused on Applejack, running towards Rarity, who had apparently tripped on a root or a rock or something. A large, clawed hand shot out towards the unicorn, but Pinkie Pie slammed into it to give Applejack enough time to fling the mare onto her back and run off again.

Dash faced forwards again, quickly ducking her head beneath a low-hanging branch. She wasn't sure what to do except let her body run from the thing chasing them. Her mind, however, needed something to do. Thinking about what that creature was, or where in Equestria they were, or if they were even in Equestria, just made her head hurt. She focused on two things, and two things only: counting the steps of the beast behind her, each marked by a slight shake in the ground below, and counting every rock or twig she stepped on.

Eight steps and thirty-whatever rocks later, she heard a low thud followed by a loud, ear-splitting shriek somewhere off to her left. Her body, being as predictable as it was, turned to see where the sound was coming from.

It was Pinkie Pie, crashing through a tree and sliding to a stop at the base of another, a thick furrow forming in her wake.

She was quick to put two and two together: the thing chasing them was getting closer, and had managed to smack Pinkie through a tree. Being the closest one to the pink pony, she sped over to the unconscious mare and lifted her onto her back. Her mind wandered again, switching from steps and rocks to just about anything she could focus on: flying, the Wonderbolts, how the last Daring Do had ended in a cliffhanger.

By the time her mental rambling ended, she was looking at Applejack, quite a ways off. Nopony was running anymore, she noticed. The thing chasing them probably got tired and gave up. Applejack was screaming something and pointing, though. She couldn't really tell what it was she was saying, but her head seemed to take the hint.

She turned around quickly and saw a purple and brown blur headed straight for her.

Dash sat up on her bed, rubbing the sweat off her forehead and groaning. It was that dream again, that same dream that popped up every week or so. She could remember more and more of the dream each time it happened, but the vague visions of it left many unanswered questions.

"Didja have that dream again?"

Dash looked to her side and rested her eyes on the purple unicorn next to her. Her eyes were half-opened and a tired smile tugged at her lips. Rainbow reached a hoof over and twisted one of the pink hairs resting on her cheek, smiling back and forgetting all about the dream.

"Yeah, guess so..." she removed her hoof from Twilight's cheek and flung it over her back, onto the nightstand by the unicorn's new queen-sized bed. She reached around for the small, orange bottle for a second and pulled it over to the bed. Twisting the lid just a few times, she opened it up and reached inside.

Empty.

"Umm, hey Twilight?"

Twilight simply smiled and nodded before casting a knock-out spell, just as potent as the pills Dash had been using to get to sleep after waking from one of her frequent nightmares. She reached for her check-list of supplies and groceries and added 'sleeping pills' to the bottom, before replacing it on the nightstand and relaxing into a deep slumber.

Three months after Rainbow's meltdown had proved more than enough time for her four friends to develop emotional masks that could rival even Celestia's. Not one of them would flinch when Rainbow mentioned Twilight, nor would their eyes wander around nervously when she began conversing, sometimes even arguing, with herself.

The four could now smile and laugh on a whim, and then break down in tears a second later, only to become enraged by nothing and begin shouting at whoever happened to be nearby.

When Rainbow Dash wasn't around, however, their faces always bore frowns. Not because they were sad, nor angry, but because they were so emotionally drained that they didn't bother with it anymore, unless the cyan pegasus was around. The once-close friends were only ever able to engage in awkward conversations, always tired from their constant ruse.

Spike had had it worst of all, having to run the library with Owlowiscious while simultaneously dealing with Dash, who dropped in every once in a while to converse with herself or talk herself to sleep after a nightmare. One day, he decided he couldn't take it anymore and entrusted the library to the owl, moving in with Pinkie Pie and becoming Sugarcube Corner's very own delivery boy.

"Awww, c'mon, Twi. You can just cast that cloud-walking spell or whatever," Rainbow explained. Twilight didn't seem too excited about hanging out in Rainbow's house for once, which was totally not cool considering they were always at the library.

"I don't know... I always feel kinda... meh, walking on clouds..."

"Come on, Twilight. If you don't feel comfortable on clouds, I can just lay out a rug or something for you to sit on."

"Well... it's not so much the clouds as it is walking above the ground..."

"What."

"Well, think about it. You're never really comfortable walking on the floor of my library, right?" Twilight waved a hoof around her for emphasis.

Dash nodded.

"But you were fine walking on the platform hanging off the mountain, right?"

Another nod.

"Well, the way you feel on the ground is similar to the way I feel up in the air."

Dash's mind went into overdrive. She couldn't let Twilight be right this time. The two of them were going to hang out in Rainbow's house and that was final. A thought hit her, and she smiled as she expanded on the idea.

"So, let me get this straight. You don't like walking up high, and I don't like walking on the ground." She paused, waiting for confirmation about the intended question she'd said.

Twilight nodded, not knowing where the pegasus was going with all of that.

"So it's fine if I feel uncomfortable in your library, just so you don't have to be uncomfortable in my house?" Dash pointed a hoof accusingly at the unicorn for emphasis.

Twilight blinked a few times, her mind slowly comprehending what Rainbow had meant. She hung her head and scuffed at the ground, looking up at Rainbow from behind her mane.

The guilt trip, Rainbow thought, mentally hoof-bumping herself. Works every time.

With a sigh of resignation, Twilight raised her head and walked to the library door. "Alright, you win. Let's go."

With a shout of victory and a few beats of her wings, the two were up in the sky, flying to Dash's floating abode. She thought she heard Twilight laughing, and looked over her shoulder to see the unicorn's wide eyes taking in the skies around her, a content smile etched on her face.

Dash landed at her home and Twilight stepped off, onto the clouds.

"Sounded like you had fun up there."

Twilight looked back to where they had come from, a faint smile on her face as her thoughts went back to the flight. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Rainbow smiled and pushed Twilight gently. "And here I thought you didn't like it up here."

"Oh, no," Twilight's smile faded into an uneasy frown. "I don't like walking up here, but flying's fine."

Rainbow couldn't help but let her smile grow wider, and her eyes lit up as she leaned closer to the other mare. "So, want me to take you flying?"

"Hmmm..."

"Hmm?"

"Hmmm... Yeah, why not?"

"YES!" Dash dove underneath Twilight and pushed up off the ground, the unicorn yelping at the sudden lift. She waited a moment for the unicorn to get a good grip, and took off away from her home. Just as she was about to start one of the many Wonderbolts routines she'd memorized, a crazy, definitely dangerous thought crossed her mind.

"Hey Twi?" She glanced over her shoulder, unsure how to ask.

"Hmm?"

"Umm, can I- I mean, hmm..." Rainbow lifted a hoof to her chin and thought of a good way to phrase the question. "Well, since I can do a sonic rainboom pretty much whenever I want..."

"You want to do one with me on your back?" Twilight interrupted.

"Uhhh, yeah..."

"Alright, let's do it!"

That caught Rainbow off-guard. "Wait, what? You're not gonna tell me, 'No, that's too dangerous! What if something bad happens?' or anything?"

"Nope, let's go!"

Rainbow looked down at the dot known as Ponyville, then over her shoulder at the mare taking in the landscape beneath them.

"Ready?"

"Huh?" The unicorn blinked, snapped out of her reverie, and tightened her grip around Rainbow's neck. "Oh, yeah. I'm ready."

Without another word, they were off, hurtling straight down towards the speck of Ponyville beneath them. Dash wasn't sure if the rainboom would be any different than normal with Twilight on her back. Maybe her rainbow trail would have some extra purple and pink thrown on top of it. It made sense; her trail consisted of her hair colors, so throw in Twilight's and that's just what happens.

After a few seconds, Dash felt the cone of resistance pushing up against her hooves, fighting the mare for control. She could've broken through at any moment; after all, she had broken through after just a second of upwards acceleration at the royal wedding. But she decided to pretend she was fighting against it, so Twilight could enjoy the rainboom for all it was worth.

When she finally broke through, her speed instantly doubled and she curved upwards to fly parallel with the ground. She smiled and looked over her shoulder to see that the unicorn... wasn't there. Dash panicked and spun around, back towards the origin of her rainboom. She was slowly losing speed and could barely make out the purple shape off in the distance.

She flapped her wings as hard as she could, desperate to catch her marefriend before she hit the ground. She was gaining ground on the unicorn and could start to see her hooves, flailing about in every direction. She pushed on, despite the aching of her wings, and saw Twilight gaining speed as gravity violently pulled her in to take her life.

Twilight wasn't far now, and Dash could see the fear frozen on the other mare's face. She caught up to her in a second and reached out, grabbing Twilight with her forehooves and pulling her in close as she began to slow down. She felt a sharp pain in her back hoof and tilted sideways. Her wing slid painfully across the ground, causing her to spiral out of control.

She flapped her wings frantically, trying to break free from the spin, and she saw the side of a cliff coming up fast. She did the only thing she could think of: she tossed Twilight to the relative safety of a low, grassy hill, and braced for impact.

Twilight Sparkle woke up feeling numb all over, hearing a faint beeping coming from somewhere off to her side. She slowly opened her eyes and winced at the brightness of the light she found herself staring up at. Taking a moment to turn her head, she slowly opened her eyes and lifted her left hoof to protect them from the light, only for her hoof to get caught by something.

She inched her eyes open halfway and inspected her hoof. There were several needles poking through near the tip of it, secured in place by a band of clear tape. Twilight then raised her right hoof towards her eyes, and felt something brush up against it. She turned her head and spotted Rainbow Dash, peacefully asleep in the bed next to her.

Huh, she wondered, whaa-ss sheee dooooooo...

Twilight woke up again, hearing the consistent beeping of the machine at her side. She turned her head and opened her eyes slightly to see that Rainbow Dash wasn't there next to her anymore. Lifting a hoof to her forehead, she opened her eyes halfway and groaned.

"Qui-! She- aykee- up!" a semi-familar voice called from somewhere nearby.

Twilight turned her head to where she thought the voice was, opening her eyes the rest of the way. She saw a pink pony bouncing up and down, somehow staying perfectly still while doing so, and a yellow pegasus looking at her through part of her mane.

"Uuurgh, hey Pi-"

She was cut off as Pinkie flung herself onto the bed and proceeded to squeeze the life out of her and, just as quickly, jumped back down.

"Ahem."

The three turned to see a caramel-colored unicorn stallion, walking up to them with a clipboard floating nearby.

"I see that you're awake," he said, before turning to look at the two visitors. "If you two would be so kind as to wait outside for a moment..."

With slow, hesitant nods, the two exited the room quietly, closing the door behind them with a soft click.

"Now then, I am Doctor Stable. How are you feeling right now?"

Twilight thought for a moment, before a response came to mind that fit the situation perfectly.

"Blegh."

The doctor wrote something onto his clipboard and addressed the patient once again. "Now tell me, do you know why you're here?"

"Yeah.. I was flying with Rainbow Dash and-"

"Wait," Doctor Stable interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "Did you say 'Rainbow Dash'?"

Twilight was confused, but thought it best not to question the doctor. "Yeah, Rainbow wanted to do a sonic rainboom with me on her back, but I couldn't hold on and I kinda fell..."

Scribbling more notes into his clipboard, the doctor nodded and left the room without a word.

Applejack came by to visit her bed-ridden friend the next day. She'd brought with her an assortment of healthy, hospital-approved treats for the unicorn to snack on. With Twilight's exhaustion and the nervous shuffling of Applejack's hooves, neither of the two spoke much, simply enjoying as much of each other's company as they could.

Twilight had fallen fast asleep about an hour after Applejack's arrival, and the earth pony stayed for another thirty minutes before returning to her farm.

Next up was Fluttershy, who talked for hours upon hours about her animal friends and all of the beautiful flowers in her garden. She would pause and look over at Twilight occasionally, waiting for confirmation that the unicorn was still awake and listening. When she'd gotten a nod or a few blinks as a reply, she slowly resumed the one-sided conversation.

The pegasus was getting to her favorite part of a story involving Rarity's cat, Opal, when a flying carrot smashed straight into her cheek. She looked over to Angel, who was pointing at Twilight and back at the clock, then suddenly fell onto the ground with his eyes closed, chest rising and falling dramatically.

"Twilight's... late? Sleeping? Oh! Oh no, it's not past her bedtime, is it?" Fluttershy looked back at the unicorn apologetically. "I- I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

When she realized her friend was already asleep, her voice trailed off and she looked back at Angel, who was tapping his foot impatiently and pointing at the window and the night sky beyond. A moment of silence passed, then Fluttershy had swooped up Angel into her hooves and was on her way out of the hospital.

Rarity came in the next day, complaining about Sweetie Belle and her friends tried to get their cutie marks by bringing her display models to life. Their justification: if Ponycchio was a living doll who thought he was a 'real pony', the three of them could easily replicate that.

Needless to say, Rarity wasn't happy being stuck cleaning molten plastic, and had gone to the hospital to vent her frustrations. She was happily, and angrily at the same time, dominating the entire 'conversation' when Pinkie Pie slammed the door open. She tossed a tray of cupcakes she snuck through hospital security onto a table and bounced off to her friend.

The next two hours or so were spent with the two unicorns deeply engaged in Pinkie's stories. They never followed a legitimate story arc, or really made that much sense when one bothered to spend enough time thinking about it, but Pinkie Pie's brand of stories always captivated the audience. When one tried to recall a portion of the story, they would realise they couldn't remember a single thing about the tale, even if it had just been finished moments before. Nopony was bothered by it, and chalked it up to a side effect of absorbing too much Pinkie-ness.

When Pinkie's two-and-a-half-hour break from work/story time was over, Twilight was left alone with the other unicorn. As Rarity went on a new rant about Hoity Toity or something or other, Twilight's mind wandered to who hadn't yet visited her: Rainbow Dash.

She was sure Rainbow would be the first to visit her. After all, the pegasus spent much of her time napping, flying, or thinking of something to do. And with their relationship, that made visiting Twilight even more important. Unable to find a suitable explanation as to why Dash hadn't showed, she decided to voice her question to the only pony close enough to listen.

"Hey Rarity..." she said, clearing her throat, unsure of how to phrase the question. "Why hasn't Rainbow Dash visited me yet?"

Rarity seemed caught off-guard by the question. Or maybe it was how she'd been interrupted in the middle of a story. Twilight couldn't tell which it was before Rarity began speaking.

"Oh, about that... Rainbow's... veerrrrryyyyyy... busy! Yes, Rainbow has been terribly busy lately, dealing with the..." Rarity paused a moment, thinking of something that would take up all of the pegasus' time. "...weather! Yes, that one pegasus, what's her name... Was it Ditzy? Derpy?"

The unicorn paused, thinking about the mailpony's name. She suddenly felt bad; the mare always brought her mail with a cheery 'good morning' and a bright smile, occasionally throwing in a free muffin or a compliment, and Rarity almost always said nothing in reply. She hadn't even bothered to remember the other pony's name. She would make up for her rudeness tomorrow, then. Or... maybe the day afterwards. She certainly couldn't remember to be kind after a day of scrubbing melted plastic off her floors.

"Rarity?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, well... Ditzy has made a real monster out of the weather lately, and Dash has been busy cleaning up after her."

Twilight thought for a moment, contemplating the reason. Rainbow could clear a storm easily enough, and could even ask some other weather ponies to do the job for her. So, based on those facts, either Ditzy was continuing to ruin the skies after Rainbow had fixed them, or the weather was extremely terrible and on the brink of destroying entire towns, and it was so tremendously formidable that it was taking her two whole days to fix. Neither of those made any sense at all, but Twilight dropped the subject anyways.

Rarity continued rambling about her clients and whatnot for a half an hour, then a nurse came in to notfiy the two that visiting hours were over and the unicorn had to leave. After a brief goodbye, Twilight was alone once again, thinking of every possible reason why Rainbow wouldn't visit.

She eventually settled on two plausible ideas: Dash was either feeling guilty and couldn't handle visiting, or was injured in the accident and taken in to a different room of the hospital to heal. Her mind latched on the latter idea, given the fact that Dash had flown face-first into a cliff, and Twilight laid awake throughout the night, worrying about the pegasus's well-being.

Six days after the accident found Twilight leaving the hospital, feeling fit as a fiddle, and trotting idly on the way to her library. Upon entering said library, she was mildly shocked to see not a single book out of place. The shelves were a tad more dusty than usual, but being closed for nearly an entire week, that fact came with no surprise.

The mare, deciding she should prepare for Pinkie's previously prescribed party, trotted up to her room and levitated a brush over to begin her self-grooming. Only, the brush wouldn't move an inch. She groaned once again and, refusing to stand up, crawled over to her table and began the tedious task of manually brushing her mane.

It didn't take long for her to finish tidying up her mane and coat, and she looked over herself in the mirror once more before heading out to her specially-designed stop-sulking-sadly-and-something party. The name was much too long for her to remember, and to top it all off, Pinkie had turned the whole thing into an alliteration.

A light drizzle beginning to fall startled Twilight out of her wandering thoughts. Hoping to avoid her mane and coat frizzing up later, she trotted faster to the location of her party, eager to escape the rain. When the mare entered, she quickly took notice of the few ponies attending. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Lyra, Bon-Bon, and a small number of others were chatting idly, playing games, dancing, or, in Octavia's case, playing music.

The pink party-planning pony bounced over to the guest of honor and dragged her towards the center of the room, saying, "Ohmigoshyou'refinallyhereIdidn'tthinkyouweregonnashowbecauseyoulookedsotiredandsadallthetimebutnowyou'reheresothat'sokaybutnowyoucan'tbeactingallsadorlonelyanymoreokaybecausethisisyourpartysohavefunanddon'tdrinkthelemonadeittasteskindafunnybutanywayscomeonhavefunand PARTY!!!"

Twilight obliged, trotting over to converse with Applejack and Carrot Top about agricultural practices. She tried her best to let loose and have fun, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake one thought. A fact, screaming to be proved or refuted, that, she decided, only Applejack would answer truthfully.

The fact that Rainbow Dash was still nowhere to be found.

"Oh, Rainbow's... doing... she's in... Cloudsdale! Working on, uh...clouds. 'Cause, uh... y'know, that's what Rainbow does with clouds... she, uh... works on 'em, yeah," an extremely nervous grin that, despite all of her emotion-hiding-training, only the Element of Honesty could pull off graced her lips, providing Twilight more proof that Applejack wasn't telling her the truth.

Twilight's unammused frown made the earth pony's grin spread even wider in an attempt to prove her truthfulness, but only succeeded in straining her too hard and causing sweat to dribble down over her forehead.

"Uh-huh," came Twilight's flat reply. "So, you're telling me that Rainbow's been up in Canterlot, working on clouds, for the whole week?"

"Uh... Yeah! Yep, that's it. She's been workin' on clouds up in Canterlot all week."

"Hmmm..." Twilight pretended to be thinking, while internally, she was patting herself on the back for her ingenious trick. "But I thought you said she was in Cloudsdale, not Canterlot."

"Uh, yeah, I mean, she was in Cloudsdale originally, but uh... she..."

Yup, the purple mare thought to herself, she's trapped now.

"...uh, was transferred to Canterlot, to, uh, work. Work on the clouds..."

Any second now, and she'll tell me what's really going on.

"...'cause the weather pegasi, uh, I mean, unicorns, in Canterlot..."

Aaaany second now...

"...needed help from a pegasus to, uh... to... oh, buck it. C'mere, I'll show ya why."

Bingo.

"Soooo, Applejack, what exactly are we doing here, again?"

Twilight looked out at the scenery around her. Large, magically-enchanted always-green trees sprung up from the blanket of low-cut grass, sparkling slightly from the recent shower. Small, rectangular mounds of dirt rose from the ground, stone slabs protruding from one end, often decorated with wreaths, pictures, and bouquets of flowers.

Applejack didn't answer, for she had told Twilight several times that she would explain everything once they arrived at their destination. Twilight wasn't sure what to make of it: maybe Rainbow was mourning the loss of a loved one, or maybe she had died in the acci... she didn't allow herself to finish the thought. Rainbow was okay, so surely she was mourning or something.

The two came to a stop at the end of one dirt pile, stacks of flowers on either side of the tombstone, and she looked to read only the top line: Here Lies Twilight Sparkle.

"I don't get it, why do I have a grave? It's not like I died. I mean, I just got out from the hospital earlier today. Why would I have a grave if I'm not dead? Unless this is some sort of pra-"

"Twilight."

Twilight stopped her ranting and looked curiously at her orange friend. She noticed tears sliding down the earth pony's face, and waited a moment for her friend to speak.

Applejack paused a moment to collect her thoughts. She could beat around the bush and let Twilight come to the conclusion herself, but that wouldn't work. Twilight wouldn't think she was dead, even if they dug up the grave and looked at her decomposing body. No, she would have to be as blunt as possible and do everything she could to force the truth down the other mare's throat.

"You're Rainbow Dash."

There. She said it. Now all that was left was to-

"What do you mean 'I'm Rainbow Dash?' I'm obviously Twilight Sparkle. I mean, I've been Twilight Sparkle all my life. Why would I suddenly be Rainbow Dash?"

Ah shoulda known this was coming. Now, how to convince her... Applejack pondered, her eyes flicking about to find something to help.

"And I didn't cast a body-swapping spell or anything, I don't even know any. In fact, I don't even know if any exi- wait, is this a prank? If this is a prank, it isn't fu- mmmph mmp hmm."

Applejack retracted her hoof from her friend's mouth and sighed, looking back to the puddle she'd seen and pointing a hoof at it.

"There. Look at your reflection, tell me what ya see."

Twilight unhappily acquiesced, knowing how stubborn Applejack was, and trotted over to the puddle, observing her shimmering reflection. A mare with a purple coat, purple eyes, purple mane with a single pink highlight and a purple horn sticking out from underneath it stared back at her.

"I see my reflection, obviously. What's the point of thi-"

"Ugh. Okay, fine, try an' use your magic. Lift that there puddle up or somethin'."

Twilight focused her magic into her horn and frowned when the puddle didn't move whatsoever. "Huh, I must still be recovering from the-"

"Okay, okay, ya can't use your magic. Now try an' fly."

This caused the unicorn to look back at her friend, confusion splayed out across her face. "Fly? I can't fly, I don't have any wings."

"Ah know, but just... just try an' fly, okay?"

"What's the point? I don't even know how to fly, and I can't use my magic to give myself a pair of wi-"

"Twi."

Twilight sighed in defeat, remembering that Applejack's stubbornness knew no bounds. She shut her eyes and concentrated on where her wings would be, if she were a pegasus. Remembering her studies on flight and aerodynamics, she imagined each and every step to a slow, steady takeoff.

First, the anticipation. Crouching slightly would allow herself to push herself lightly away from the ground, adding momentum to ease the stress on her imaginary wings.

Second, came an action she dubbed 'the initial beat.' Pushing her hooves against the ground, she imagined herself flapping her wings the moment her hooves lost contact with the grass below. She imagined feeling the weak, ever-present air currents that would be her guide to keeping her balance after takeoff.

Finally, came midair suspension, as she liked to call it. Feeling the air currents of her mind, she angled her wings slightly and spread them wide, before slowly rotating them as she gave them a second flap, slicing through the imaginary air as if it were nothing. She would curl her wings at the end of the motion, rotating them in the opposite direction to slice upwards through the air and lose less height than if she were to mindlessly buffet her wings.

The concentration on her imagined wings lessened as her subconscious slowly took control of them, eventually enabling her to cut through the air with absolutely no thought whatsoever. Content that she remembered so much from her studies, she opened her eyes, ready to attempt the steps for real, only to be greeted by a lack of Applejack and a lack of ground around her at that.

She looked down, seeing an orange mare a few feet below her, a hoof raised to her eyes to protect them from the sun hanging high overhead. Wait... the flying unicorn thought, if she's down there, then that means I'm...

Unable to trust her own thoughts, she whipped her head around, looking for a unicorn or pegasus holding her up in the air. Nothing but grass, trees, and graves for as far as the eye could see. Confused, she looked at the mound of dirt near her earth pony friend and her eyes wandered forwards, reading the four words engraved at the top once again: Here Lies Twilight Sparkle.

Rainbow Dash's mind flooded with memories her mind had tried to snuff out. Their journey into and through the Everfree Forest; the hydra they had escaped from, whose last, ear-shattering roar woke the Ursa Minor and Major in the cave nearby; their mad scramble through the forest, running from the two Ursas; an uprooted tree, thrown by the Minor, that had hit Twilight head-on and flooded her vision a second later.

Weeks passed, and she remembered waking up from the hospital, only to learn that her marefriend had been killed and Pinkie Pie was in a coma; how the funeral had been postponed until Rainbow Dash was well enough to attend; Fluttershy flying off mid-way through the ceremonies, and the mad scramble to find her shortly afterwards; and finally, of Dash herself, who had, by the time Celestia returned with the yellow pegasus, begun to believe that she had hurt herself in a high-speed crash, the purple unicorn had helped her heal shortly afterwards, and the two mares had been closer ever since.

Dash found herself on the ground in front of her love's grave, Applejack standing over her, shaking her vigorously, asking her if she was okay. The pegasus shoved her friend off of her and looked at the tombstone once more.

"You okay, Rainbow?" was all the pegasus needed to throw a tantrum.

"Get. Away. From me."

Applejack lifted a hoof and leaned back, unsure of how to act to the sudden shift in attitude.

"I. Said. GO AWAY!" she screamed, her hoof flying towards Applejack, only to miss its mark completely and hang limply on the ground. The cowpony nodded solemnly and trotted slowly away, her head hung almost impossibly low.

Rainbow didn't wait for her friend to be out of earshot before she collapsed to her side, hugging the tombstone tightly and allowing her held-back tears to flow freely.

Chapter Three: Solace

Dash's Dilemma

Dash had had that dream again. Only, it wasn't so much a dream anymore. With all of the evidence laid bare in her mind, she realized that it never really was. The fact that it only played out in her dreams was the fault of her subconscious, only able to break through Dash's psyche when her mind was unfocused, and would otherwise be a vision of infinite blackness. No, it wasn't a dream. It was a memory.

Rainbow Dash was running through the Everfree Forest, focused on one thing: survival. Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy were in front of her, dodging trees as they sped through, risking backwards glances every once in a while to gauge their distance. The beast chasing them was large enough that every step it took shook the ground beneath her and she would have taken to the skies, if only the thick barrier of leaves and branches above her head wasn't there.

She wasn't sure what was chasing her or why they'd been in the Everfree Forest in the first place; all she was sure of, was that Rarity bribed her with a signed Wonderbolts poster. Of course, Twilight had explained the entire situation a few times and Rainbow tried to pay attention, she really had. But, regardless of their relationship, she really couldn't; it was just too boring, and Dash was only interested in the poster anyways. Now that she was being chased by some giant thing, though, Dash was starting to wonder why they were in the Everfree Forest in the first place.

A high-pitched scream from behind broke her chain of thought. She looked back and saw Applejack speeding towards Rarity just as a large, clawed hand reached for the unicorn. Pinkie Pie slammed into the hand and the owner roared louder than ever before, almost shattering Dash's eardrums in the process. Applejack, with Rarity slung over her back, ran back towards Dash and Pinkie was running on three legs; her fourth was holding the shoulder that had slammed into the creature's hand.

The six mares continued on through the forest, the creature's pounding footsteps growing louder and louder, shaking the earth beneath them and making it more difficult to run. A loud thud, followed by a long, piercing shriek, and Rainbow turned her head to the left just in time to see a pink blur crash through a tree and collapse in a heap at the base of another. She pushed ahead faster and slung the unconscious pink pony on to her back, before rushing back up to her friends.

The four of them were dirt-ridden, sweaty, and panting heavily. Twilight was resting on the stump of a fallen tree, and the other three were slowly trotting up to gather around the unicorn.

Twilight raised a hoof in the air and spoke. "Wait."

The unicorn's ears flickered about in an attempt to grasp some nearly inaudible sound. "Do you guys hear that?"

The six ponies fell silent at Twilight's question, ears twitching about, trying to pick up on any sounds nearby.

Twilight got off her stump and walked forwards a bit. "It's too quiet..."

Rainbow placed Pinkie Pie on the ground next to Applejack, and began walking over to her marefriend. She heard the snapping branches and stopped, looking around for the source of the sound.

"TWILIGHT!" Applejack's voice called from behind her. Rainbow Dash spun around quickly and saw a tree flying fast towards her.

"WATCH OU-" was all she'd heard before Twilight and the tree trunk filled her vision, and then everything went black.

A memory, that had tried time and time again to remind her what had happened to her beloved. A memory, that her conscious mind had tried and failed to snuff out, to allow the pegasus to live a happy, albeit blissfully ignorant, life. A memory, that had been her undoing.

Much of Rainbow Dash's life had gone by as a blur. Her years spent as the fastest filly in flight school. Her speed left much to be desired, and she was easily distracted by events around her, as often as her own thoughts. Years of being called 'Rainbow Crash' and constantly being held down by unfair school rules. Her only two real friends, Fluttershy and Gilda, two polar opposites, the latter often picking on the yellow pegasus. Dash had stayed in flight school to hang out with the two of them, but couldn't take being held back by the ridiculous rules anymore.

After dropping out of flight school, her sole purpose in life was to join the Wonderbolts. To join the fastest, most skilled flyers in Equestria, to be showered with riches by her thousands of fans, and to wow them all with her amazing stunts. It was one of the three main reasons she flew so often: practicing for the Wonderbolts, clearing clouds, and showing off.

Rainbow Dash looked out at the darkness around her. It was the perfect environment for her: a welcome reminder of the empty nothingness her life had become.

The Wonderbolts.

She had spent years obsessing over the pegasus team, memorizing everything she could about them. She could recite, from memory, names, cutie marks, coat colors, mane colors, favorite foods, drinks, colors, stunts, vacation areas, conversational topics, sports, games, everything about the Wonderbolts members. From there, she moved on to the most important part: the show. She watched every routine, every stunt, every small detail countless times to be as prepared as possible when she would finally join the Wonderbolts. Only to have her hopes, her dreams, her only purpose in life, ripped away from her.

It was a short, straight to the point letter. Just three sentences and the taunting signature, an everlasting testament to her inability to accomplish her dreams. The reason, though, was worse than any crash she'd gone through.

It was the greatest choice of her life back then, leaving flight school. Now, it served as the only obstacle between her and the Wonderbolts, an obstacle that could not be gone through, no matter how much she might try. Rejoining flight school was out of the question; a full-grown mare wasn't allowed to attend school with a bunch of foals. But without that diploma, her dreams of ever joining the most spectacular flying team in Equestria had been torn to pieces and thrown to the wind.

Rainbow let the slip of paper she had been holding go, and tilted her head downwards. Her eyes followed where it went, barely making out its shape in the lightless room, watching as it swayed in the air as it continued its fall. Not a sound was made when it touched the ground of her cloud house.

Her thoughts drifted on to her friends, who had managed to help her out of her depression after receiving the accursed letter. She had done whatever her friends said, her apathy allowing no comfort in what would have overjoyed or irritated her just days before.

She'd gone to the spa with Rarity, to alleviate stress and calm her mind. The spa ponies even gave the pegasus a 20% discount, knowing what she was going through. The weekly visit accomplished nothing, aside from her muscles relaxing and her coat and mane shining elegantly for a few days each week.

She'd went to every single party Pinkie Pie had held, be it a stop-being-so-sad-and-party party, or a birthday party for somepony she hadn't even met before. Sure, Rainbow could've made tons of new friends at those parties. After all, who wouldn't want to be friends with a pony as awesome as her? Her depression wouldn't have any of that, though, and aside from gaining a few pounds and regular stomach aches, nothing about the pegasus changed.

Fluttershy tried her best to get her to fly around above Ponyville to bring her out of it, cheering as loudly as her near-whispers would allow. Sometimes Pinkie Pie would come down to the spot Fluttershy was at and watch with her, screaming at the top of her lungs to lift the pegasus's spirits. While all of the daily exercise served as an excellent way to lose the weight she was gaining, her love for flying didn't come back, nor was she thrilled when she pulled off a rather difficult trick. In fact, since she wasn't worried about humiliation or pain should she crash, she flew even better than ever before during that time.

Applejack challenged her to a variety of competitions and games to get her aggressive, competitive side out. The pair even went through larger events: an Iron Pony competition, a mock Running of the Leaves, a specially-modified version of the Sisterhooves Social. After Rainbow came through and let her competitiveness take over, the farmer reasoned, getting her back to her old self would be a piece of cake. Sure, Rainbow Dash figured out she could still feel tired and hungry, but Applejack's attempts all ended up as more failures.

Dash looked straight forward once again, forgetting about the paper littering her floor. She briefly wondered where Tank was, but assured herself that the tortoise was on his way to his previous home at Fluttershy's cottage.

She decided, just then, that she really liked the darkness. It was all she could imagine: just a vast expanse of nothingness for eternity, away from all the worries and hardships of her life. A place where one could just kick back, relax, and do absolutely nothing forever, without a care in the world. Maybe she could jump into the darkness and fly around for a while; surely the void wouldn't deprive her of her flight.

Her thoughts settled on how the four would cope with losing another close friend so soon. She wasn't sure, really. They seemed to get over Twilight's death easily enough, but how would they react with losing a second, not five months after the first? They would all stick close together and think of all the good memories of Dash, she reasoned. After all, they had all gotten closer since Twilight and Rainbow had gotten together.

Fluttershy and Twilight would hang out on a hill, enjoying a picnic and watching their favorite blue pegasus fly around in the sky. They would chat idly about anything and everything as their eyes followed the mare: books, animals, Canterlot, Cloudsdale, the Wonderbolts. The two would never stay on one topic too long, and where one ended, a new one rose up to take its place.

Twilight would stop by at the farm to fill up the picnic basket with all sorts of treats, and Applejack would join them on the hill sometimes. The cowpony brought with her many more interesting topics: Manehattan, business management, Appleoosa, irrigation. She and Fluttershy could talk for hours about animals and gardening, and Twilight was very interested in the fields of botany and agriculture.

Pinkie Pie would join in at random times, along with several dozen cupcakes in tow. She could really get conversations going, and the other three learned to just go with whatever topic Pinkie managed to bring up. A discussion on the proper amount of water certain plants needed could turn into a philosophical debate on the strength of oven mitts, and then go straight to a cupcake-eating contest, which Pinkie would always win.

Twilight convinced Rainbow to go to the spa with her, Fluttershy, and Rarity a few times. Rarity would dominate most of the conversations, complaining about how Sweetie Belle spilled petroleum jelly all over her dress, or shamelessly complimenting herself for how much of a good job she does with all of her dresses. The few times the conversations included all four of them, they found themselves talking about whatever came to mind or gossiping about famous ponies doing naughty, naughty things.

Yes, Rainbow Dash concluded. They'll do fine without me.

The thought of her friends living their lives without the emotional mask they wore, and actually being truly happy around one another again, was just another reason for her to leave them.

She looked forward to entering this empty world her mind created, and she put little thought into kicking away the stool supporting her. She fell for a brief moment before the rope around her neck went taut, and she made no attempt to flap her wings and soar upwards to allow herself room to breathe.

Traces of a smile entered her features as her thoughts came to Twilight, the mare that had brought her out of her depression just by letting her be herself, and not forcing her to do anything she didn't want to. The mare that had been satisfied with anything Dash had done, be it brooding alone in a corner, or complaining about anything and everything wrong with her life. The mare that shared the last four and a half months of her life with Dash, as the two gave each other the happiest times of their lives. The mare that was waiting for her in her empty little world, snoozing soundlessly atop the soft ground of the void.

The room around her darkened further and small stars appeared in her peripheral vision, stars much like the ones adorning Twilight's flanks. It was a welcome sight, and it reminded her of who was waiting for her on the other side. Time seemed to pass slowly as her room gave way to the black world awaiting her, her smile fading into a slight frown as gravity proved too strong for Dash's weakening muscles.

Small stars clouded around her darkening vision, and she barely noticed a bright white light shining through before closing her eyes, welcoming darkness eternal.

Chapter Four: Synergy

Dash's Dilemma

She had had that dream again. Only, she knew it wasn't a dream. It was a memory of just a few days past, torturing her with every agonizing detail, memorized and played out in her mind every time she attempted to rest. A memory, that forced her to spend every waking hour focused on work or flying, oftentimes both. A memory, that she was determined not to let interfere with her life.

Just like any other morning she'd woken from that particular dream, Dash didn't move a muscle, nor did she feel like it. Though, looking back, she didn't remember falling asleep... Not like she could ever remember such a thing, but she could usually recall when she'd stopped to rest. But no, her last waking memory was of her flying through the sky, off to the vet or whoever sells animal medicine..

Ignoring the gap in her memory, she instead focused on the land of the living, instantly noticing a regular beeping off to her side. Confused, she opened her eyes, immediately shutting them as a bright light temporarily blinded her. Dash reopened them, much more slowly than before, allowing them time to adjust to the brightness of the room.

Something was wrong. She wasn't in her cloud house, nor was she nestled on a branch of a tree. Instead of leaves or clouds, a white tiled roof was displayed prominently above her. Yes, something was definitely going on. Determined to get to the bottom of it, she shifted in her bed and tilted her head downwards to survey the area, only to be greeted by five faces, all watching her intently.

There was a yellow pegasus, one eye hidden by her long, flowing pink mane; a pink earth pony, half-grinning, with a particularly poofy pink mane; a white unicorn with smeared makeup dribbling down her face, strands of hair poking out at random places of her curled hair; an orange earth pony donning a worn, brown stetson hat, her golden locks falling freely down the sides of her face and neck; and a stallion, a rather serious-looking white unicorn, his messy blue hair making it look as though he'd just woken up.

Three of the ponies reminded her of ones she knew: the pegasus looked surprisingly similar to her friend Fluttershy, even striking the same demure pose; the pink mare bore a striking resemblance to Pinkie Pie, who Dash didn't know all too well, but could easily pick out in a crowd; and the orange pony could easily be mistaken for Applejack, who would oftentimes wake her up from an afternoon nap, spouting something along the lines off 'get outta that there tree 'afore ah buck ya outta there.' It's not like she owned the trees or anything. You can't just pick a tree and say, "Hurr durr, that's my tree, nopony gets to nap in it."

Dash stopped her rant, realizing those three ponies looked so similar to the three she knew that they could be related, or something. Maybe they were their older sisters or something, and had convinced Dash to drink some hard cider or whatever at one of Pinkie's parties. That would explain their similarities, as well as why she couldn't remember anything past fetching medicine for Fluttershy.

After a moment of contemplating the five faces, Rainbow finally spoke.

"Uhh, where am I?" Rainbow said, instantly smacking herself mentally in the jaw for sounding so clueless. She didn't even know these ponies, and they were probably already thinking she was stupid or uncool or whatever. Definitely not good for her image.

"You're in the hospital, silly!" came a somewhat loud reply from the pink one.

Hospital... Huh, Dash thought. Must've been some party. I wonder what happened, though. Probably tried flying home drunk or something. I'll have to tell Fluttershy to make sure I don't drink anymore. Can't let anything get between me and flying.

Since three of the ponies present were probably older sisters of her 'friends,' Dash decided to question the two unfamiliar white unicorns. She thought she'd seen the mare around somewhere, but had no idea who the stallion was.

"So, uh..." she started, waving one of her forehooves back and forth between the two. "Who're you two?"

That innocent little question cause quite the unexpected reaction: all of the ponies present, herself excluded, glanced nervously at one another. After a moment of silent communication, the orange pony cleared her throat and stepped slightly closer to the bed.

"We're your friends, Sugarcube," the pony said. She sounded exactly like Applejack for whatever reason, if only a bit deeper and more heavily accented. "Don'tcha remember?"

So they're my friends, huh? If they're my friends, wouldn't I at least recognize them? Sure, pink and orange there look familiar, but I know for a fact that Fluttershy is an only child. And since that obviously isn't Fluttershy, who is it?

"Well..." she drawled, her thoughts still focused on that last mental question. She turned her head and looked the other pegasus straight in the eyes, and, just like Fluttershy would, she cowered slightly and retreated into her mane.

"You sorta remind me of my friend, Fluttershy." With that, the pegasus in question just stared blankly, mouth in the shape of an o, and Dash turned her head to face the pink one. "And you kinda look like-"

"Umm, Sugarcube?"

Well, she's definitely as rude as Applejack. And why does she keep calling me 'Sugarcube?' What kind of nickname is 'Sugarcube?'

"Rainbow."

Maybe she heard Applejack calling me that once, I dunno. Does AJ even call me that, anyways? Maybe I should pay more attention when she wakes me up...

"Rainbow!"

Speaking of which... How long have I even been here? I mean, I don't remember any of Applejack's relatives coming to town, or Pinkie's, either. She'd have thrown a yay-sister's-here or something party, for sure. Maybe she did, and some hard cider knocked me out or somethi-

"RAINBOW!"

"Huh?"

She turned to where the voice came from: Ms. Orange. Next to her, was Pegasus, poking an eye through her pink mane. The whole situation was awkward at that point, so for the sake of breaking the silence, Dash spoke the first thing on her mind.

"So how long've I been out?"

It was Pegasus, of all ponies, who spoke up next, her voice firm and emotionless, eyes dull with apathy.

"Three days."

I know that look, Rainbow thought. Only Fluttershy can look like that. So if that's Fluttershy, why does she look so... big? I mean, three days isn't enough for a pony to grow that much. Unless... maybe her-

"Ahh, Rainbow Dash, you're awake," another stallion wearing a white coat, most likely a doctor, stated matter-of-factly, interrupting her thoughts.

With just a simple nod of his head, the five visitors exchanged quick glances and filed wordlessly out of the room, and into the hall outside. Unknown to both Rainbow and the doctor, the pink and white mares had pressed their ears against the door, listening intently to anything and everything said between the two.

"Hello again, Rainbow Dash. I'm Doctor Stable. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, doc, but-"

"Do you know why you're here?"

Dash grunted at being interrupted, but then thought back to her last memory, of her flying to Ponyville for medicine.

"Nope."

The sound of graphite against paper and an occasional beeping filled the room for a few seconds, before the doctor looked back up to his patient.

"What is the last thing you remember before waking up here?"

"I was getting medicine for one of Fluttershy's bunnies or something. Look, I don-"

The doctor turned his back to Dash as she trailed off, eying him both angrily and curiously. Without a word, he left her alone in the hospital bed.

He's ruder than Applejack, cutting me off and just walking out on me like that. Didn't his mom teach him some manners or something? If I weren't stuck in this bed, I'd teach him a-

The door swung open, and in came Doctor Stable once again, his clipboard floating lazily at his side.

"So, Rainbow Dash. What's the last thing you remember before helping your friend?"

"Hmmm..." Dash raised a hoof to her chin in thought, her mind working to go back to before helping Fluttershy. She was in a tree, and something pulled her down off of it, and there was Applejack, spitting a rope out of her mouth, yelling about who-knows-what.

"I was nappin' in a tree. Why does that-"

"Ahhh. So, tell me, do you know who owns those trees?"

"Huh? Somepony owns them? Look, I didn't know anypony owned them, and I wasn't trying to like, steal them or anything, I mean, how do you st-"

The doctor turned his back on her, midsentence, once again, this time muttering something as he walked off. Dash concentrated as hard as she possibly could, but wasn't able to make out a single thing he'd said.

The next day was filled with Rainbow's version of 'polite rudeness.' That being: ignore everything a pony says until they give up and leave her alone.

She ignored everything the white unicorn, who identified herself as 'Rarity' said, and she somehow managed to talk for an hour and a half about fashion and dresses and stupid junk like that.

Thankfully, Fluttershy (who she now definitely knew was Fluttershy, based on the photo album she brought in) came in with the pink pony and coerced her to leave. Dash spent the next two hours ignoring everything Pink said, hoping she would leave. Fluttershy kept calling her friend 'Pinkie,' which didn't make sense since Pinkie's hair was never straight, even when gallons of water were dumped onto it.

After Fluttershy finally got the hint, she convinced Pinkie to go and spent the rest of the day talking about whatever. Of course, talking about whatever wasn't exactly interesting, but the pegasus's voice never failed to soothe her. Rainbow didn't even object when she offered to spend the night.

The day afterwards saw Rainbow with a furious Applejack. At first, Rainbow apologized for trespassing on her trees, which caused the earth pony to just blink confusedly. Afterwards, her apologies out of the way, she ignored her visitor completely, the latter's patience gradually running low. Fluttershy eventually came in again and pulled Applejack out of the room and into the hall, returning a few minutes afterwards.

She offered to bring Dash some fresh veggies in place of the hospital food, but she didn't really feel like eating at all. Fluttershy left a while later to take care of her animals and go to the spa with Rarity, and came back at the same time every day for the remainder of her week-long hospital stay to fill her in on the goings-on of Ponyville.

Of course, the doctor insisted that Rainbow stay longer, maybe go through some rehabilitation and whatever other nonsense went on in hospitals. She wouldn't have any of it, though, and since doctors can't force patients to undergo treatments, he dropped the subject and signed her release papers.

It took Rainbow a while to get used to her significantly larger body. Fluttershy said it was because she refused the doctor's advice, but Dash knew it wouldn't take long for her to get back into the swing of things.

Apparently, she was the captain of the entire weather team. Of course, she knew it wouldn't take long for her to rise through the ranks, but to actually have that rank in her hooves was like a dream come true.

Her wings took her farther than ever before, and faster than ever, too. Her dream of being a Wonderbolt seemed closer than ever before, until she found a half-torn letter thrown on the ground of her house. Needless to say, that didn't end well, and it took Princess Luna and half the town of Ponyville an entire week to find her afterwards.

Also, during a visit from Princess Celestia herself, it was revealed to her that she had this thing called an 'Element of Harmony,' and, when used along with Fluttershy's, Rarity's, Applejack's, Pinkie Pie's, and Shining Armor's Elements, they could be used to do lots of crazy magical stuff to save the world whenever it was in danger.

Rainbow didn't nap as often anymore, preferring instead to spend her time in Ponyville's library, searching through records and history, picking up the pieces of the life she never knew she had.