Shattered Souls

Bonus 4: Pushing Through the Pain

People had said before Rainbow had a need for speed and Rainbow had agreed with them. Rainbow loved going fast. Now Rainbow was going faster than she ever had before. Her lungs were burning, her heart was pounding, and her wings felt like they were about to come off.

Normally Rainbow would be over the moon about breaking her speed record. Not today. Today Rainbow’s mind was focused on a singular, impossible goal: outspeeding her feelings. She had lost track of where exactly she was, but that crushing feeling of defeat knew her exaction position.

How had this happened? Why had this happened? Why had Duskfall not reached out to them when she needed them? Why had they been so blind as to not see something so obvious? Rainbow would never claim to be the most emotionally literate pony around, but even still she should have known that it was impossible for someone born of death to be OK!

That was also ignoring how Duskfall had behaved in the aftermath of losing Twilight’s Cutie Mark. Had they all been collectively stoned off their asses?! Somehow they had just accepted it when Duskfall claimed to be fine. Was Duskfall that convincing an actor or had they been so sick of loss and trauma that they willfully turned a blind eye?

Rainbow hated everything about it. Even moving faster than she ever had in her life, her heart felt heavy and sluggish. Possibly the worst part was that Rainbow couldn’t do anything about it. Duskfall had been whisked away by Celestia and The Doctor.

Rainbow was a mare of action. Sitting on her laurels while someone else solved the problem went against her very nature. However Rainbow knew she’d be of limited help even if Duskfall had remained in Ponyville. The Alicorn needed something Rainbow just couldn’t provide.

So Rainbow dealt with her frustration the only way she knew how: by pushing her body to the limits. Unfortunately for her, even that tried and true method wouldn’t banish these dark thoughts this time. Even more tragically, Rainbow’s stamina wasn’t limitless.

The prismatic Pegasus started slowing down. She wouldn’t be able to keep going much longer. Already she was looking for a place to land. Rainbow cursed her feeble body. She started bleeding her forward momentum so she wouldn’t just drop out of the sky from exhaustion.

A minute later, Rainbow touched down and her legs promptly gave out under her. Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to care. A bed of dirt in the middle of nowhere was nothing more than she deserved.

Rainbow wasn’t sure how long she lay there, panting and sweating and stewing in her own thoughts. Eventually she forced herself to stand and everything hurt. She powered through the pain. There was already enough crap going on in Ponyville. She didn’t need to add to it with her suddenly going missing.

Rainbow’s wings screamed in protest, but she forced herself back into the air. It was going to be a long, painful journey back home, but Rainbow was up to it. After all, she was the most awesome Pegasus around, right?

Author's Note

BEHOLD! MORE CONTENT! I'm going to do this for all of the Mane 5 at least. So that means Pinkie, Rarity, and AJ are still on the itinerary.

Ideally the next thing you hear from me will be the final chapter of The Road to Healing, followed by the next chapter of Romancing the (Martial) Artist. If all goes according to plan, I'll have Standing United ready for posting by the end of the month (?).