All She Wanted

A day passed since Twilight’s body was found, a darker tone took over Ponyville. Instead of grief, the ponies experienced fear and anger taking over their daily lives. Curfews were established and stores closed early to avoid nighttime travel. With Twilight’s assistant, Spike, away on royal business, the princess was unaware of the panic that ensued. Although they lacked proof, most of the ponies pointed their hooves at the pony. Rainbow Dash

**

Rarity and Applejack sat together in the kitchen, while Rainbow Dash was spending her time crying in private.

“This is crazy.” Rarity mumbled, head hanging down.

“I know, but as soon as Spike gets back…” Applejack noticed Rarity shaking her head.

“That’s in three days. Gilda killed two ponies in two days. She could do it again.”

“And everypony would say that Rainbow did it.” Applejack turned to the window, anger in her eyes. “How can they think she killed somepony? She is one of the loyalist and good-hearted ponies in all of Ponyville. They have no right to call her a murderer. And if they try to come within five feet of her-”

Rarity interrupted, “Violence is not the answer right now. It will just cause more trouble.”

“If anythin’ is gonna cause more trouble, it’s Gilda.”

“Yes, which means we have to be much more careful.”

Applejack remembered telling Fluttershy to go to Gilda’s house. She remembered waiting all night for her to come back, and she never did. Applejack shuttered at the thought of what Gilda might have done to her.

“I should of never told her to go.” Applejack banged her head on the table, quivering

“We both sent Fluttershy to that wretched griffon’s home. We are both to blame.”

Both of the mares felt as if a heavy weight had been placed on their backs, a weight that served as a constant reminder of their mistake.

**

Gilda sat in front of her doorway, anticipating Rainbow Dash gliding through the clouds to return to her. Throughout the silence around her, Gilda realized that the noise that tortured her once before had vanished.

“I get it now. It no longer bothers me because there’s nothing to be bothered by. I was scared because I didn’t know anything about death. Now I do. Now I understand that certain ponies deserve to die. And that these ponies cannot be reasoned with and cannot be given a second chance. All they deserve is death. Because if they go on living, they slowly turn the world into their own little play thing. They take what they want and do what they want without any regard to the ponies around them. They have no problem with others being hurt; they even seem to enjoy it. They love to rub their possessions into the faces of ponies who have nothing. It makes them important…but they’re not. No, they are the most unimportant and unnecessary wastes of life that could ever exist in our world. I’m doing the world a favor by getting rid of the real monsters. I shouldn’t feel guilty for killing horrible ponies, and I don’t. I know that what I’m doing is right. Right for me, right for the world, and right for Rainbow Dash.”

Gilda smiled, she finally pieced together the thoughts that were scattered throughout her mind. Her mind was finally at peace. She could now put all her focus where she thought it belonged, on Rainbow Dash.

**

Rainbow Dash lied alone in the dark guest room, crying into her pillow for what seemed like hours. No matter how loud or how much she cried, the pain inside of her stayed the same. The world, like the room she was in, had grown dark. She didn’t know why everything was happening to her. She didn’t do anything to deserve any of it. But here she was, crying her eyes out while everypony around her lost the love and respect that they once showed to her. Rainbow Dash felt dead, dead inside and dead to everypony she knew.

She was supposed to be outside arranging the clouds for a scheduled thunderstorm, but knew that none of the other pegasi would trust her. They would only glare at her and blame her for taking the lives of harmless ponies. The only reason that nopony tried to have her arrested was that they had no proof, that and a few ponies still argued her innocence. Rainbow Dash remembered her conversation with Gilda. Maybe she should forget about Ponyville and go stay with Gilda.

*

After about 40 minutes, Rainbow Dash was able to stop crying. She laid in silence, trying to keep herself calm. The silence was peaceful, as if there was nothing in it to worry about but the person secluded in it. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash heard yelling.

“Get out of here.”

Rainbow dash heard another voice, but it was too quite to make out. She got out of the bed and cracked open the door, peeping from the shadows. She saw Applejack standing at the front door and a pony with a camera standing outside.

“There ain’t any murderer in here. It’s just me and Rainbow Dash. If you want to take pictures of a murderer, then go find that griffon.” Applejack put her hoof on the edge of the open door, preparing to slam it.

The photographer laughed, and gave Applejack a smug smirk. “Lady, everypony knows that the whole ‘a griffon did it’ story is nothing but a tall tale to keep your friend out of trouble. You have no evidence to even back it up.”

Applejack tightened her grip on the door. “Nopony has evidence that Rainbow Dash did it.”

The photographer raised an eyebrow, while still maintaining his smirk. “I don’t know…she was with that Pinkie girl, who ended up dead. Her friend tries to figure things out and she gets a rock in the head, then her poorly hidden body is found next to your friend’s home.”

The photographer moved closer to the door and leaned on the doorframe. “Only one eyewitness to give an alibi for one of the murders, and she wasn’t even watching her friend the whole time. She could have easily flown out the window and killed that unicorn without being seen. It all seems pretty clear cut to me. Or do you have anything useful that you’d like to share?”

Applejack leaned closer to the photographer, as if to whisper a secret. As the photographer leaned in closer as well,

Applejack quickly jumped backwards and slammed the door shut. The thud of the door hitting the reporter seemed to echo throughout the house. Applejack locked the door and walked away as if nothing happened. She then saw Rainbow Dash peeking from the guest room, her glistening eyes contrasting with the darkness in the room.

“Don’t worry about him.” Applejack said, giving a reassuring smile. “I don’t think he broke nothin’.”

Rainbow Dash maintained a sad expression, unaffected by her friend’s attempt to cheer her up. “No evidence.” She mumbled to herself.

Applejack’s smile reverted back to the frown she had earlier. “And yet they keep accusin’ you.” Applejack sounded tired, her sleepless night was catching up with her.

Rainbow Dash became irritated. “That’s not what I mean.”

"What do you mean then?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash walked and stood face to face with Applejack. “I told you that Gilda didn’t do anything and you went and told everypony she did. That’s what the others are doing to me. Don’t you see how I feel about it?”

Applejack backed away and sat down against the wall. Applejack looked at the picture she had on the wall, the picture of all her friends. “I didn’t want to believe it Rainbow. I didn’t want to believe that somepony would actually kill our friends…but it looks like somepony is.” Applejack took her eyes off the picture, unable to handle the pain.

“What happened to it just being an accident?” Rainbow Dash’s voice grew angry, yet sad at the same time. “You were always the one that said it was just an accident, even when we all disagreed with you. What happened to that?”

Applejack weakly lifted her head to look at Rainbow Dash, with their eyes meeting each other. “Rainbow…Fluttershy is dead.”

“What are you talking about?”

“…I told her to go check out Gilda last night. She never came back.”

Rainbow Dash felt her heart stop as those words were uttered. “No” was all she could get out.

Applejack continued, “Things were bad enough already. Rarity and I decided to keep it to ourselves, so that other ponies don’t overreact.”

Rainbow Dash screamed out Applejack, letting out the emotions she’s been bottling up. “Overreact? Do you know how stupid that sounds? You’re telling me that Fluttershy is dead! But you’re worried about how others will react? How about me, Applejack? How am I reacting?” Tears rolled down Rainbow Dash’s cheeks as she barraged Applejack with confused rage.
“She is one of the nicest ponies in all of Equestria! You can’t just tell me that she was killed, especially by somepony that didn’t do it! Everpony here is the same!” The two ponies stood looking into each other’s eyes, but then an interruption broke the tension.

“Applejack,” Applebloom called, much to Rainbow Dash’s surprise. “What’s goin’ on up here?”

Applejack quickly got up before Applebloom caught sight of the ordeal. “We were just having a disagreement.”

Applebloom came out of the basement, covered in coal. “It sounded loud.”

Applejack tried to navigate away from the incident. “Why are you covered in that black stuff?”

An innocent smile appeared on Applebloom’s face. “Cutie Mark Crusader Fire Starter.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Inside the house?”

Applebloom kept her smile. “Well, you said we ain’t allowed outside. We were gonna go out anyways, but it’s gonna to start raining soon. We have nowhere else to do it.”

Applejack and Applebloom stood looking at each other without speaking, Applejack hoping that Applebloom would find a flaw in what she said. Unfortunately, she didn’t.

“Do you want to help us?” Applebloom had innocence in her voice that Applejack couldn’t turn down.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “I guess I can help you from burnin’ the house down.”

Applebloom looked at Rainbow Dash. “Do you want too?”

This brought a small smile on Rainbow Dash’s face. After days of glares and hateful expressions, she finally saw a sincere smile directed towards her. Regardless of all that has happened, Applebloom still treated her the same way she always had.

Probably because of the great sister she had.

“Sure.” Rainbow Dash nodded.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash followed Applebloom to the basement. They saw an annoyed Rarity at the end of the stairs.
Applebloom helped the other crusaders dump some powder into a hollowed-out log. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity all displayed their annoyance and concern to each other without saying a single word.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo said. She had the same smile Applebloom had.

Rainbow Dash waved as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked backwards toward the end of the stairs, spilling a trail of powder as they did so.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stopped by Rainbow Dash’s side. Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow Dash, a smile still on her face.

“Do you want to count down?” She asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Sure.”

*

Rainbow Dash relaxed on her bed once again. The explosion in the basement made a large mess of things, but Rainbow Dash didn’t have to help clean up after all she had been through in the past few days. Rainbow Dash did get some annoyed looks from her friends for encouraging the crusaders, but neither one chastised her.

Rainbow Dash smiled. She was glad that there were ponies who believed her.

“Hey, Dash.” A familiar voice greeted.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see Gilda perched on the window frame next to her.

“Hey, Gilda.” Rainbow Dash greeted.

“Feeling any better?” Gilda asked.

“A little.” Rainbow Dash had a small smile on her face.

Gilda tilted her head. “Only a little?”

“Yeah.” There was confusion in Rainbow Dash’s voice.

“I don’t know Dash.” Gilda said. “I don’t think that’s enough.”

“I’m trying.” Rainbow Dash’s smile vanished.

“It’s not your fault.” Gilda reassured. “It’s the ponies around you. They just don’t get things.”

Rainbow Dash felt an emptiness inside of her. “They’re…just scared.”

The tone of Gilda’s voice rose. “Being scared is no excuse. What happened to your friend was an accident, period!”

Rainbow Dash turned to her side, facing away from Gilda. “It’s not just that.”

Gilda gave a frustrated sigh. “You didn’t do anything wrong. There’s nothing else to it.”

“They found my friend, Twilight, murdered just outside my home.” Rainbow Dash’s entire body cringed at the memory.

Gilda fell silent. Part of her felt guilty, but the other part of her was convinced that nothing bad happened. Rainbow Dash noticed the silence and began to turn her body towards Gilda.

Gilda quickly spoke. “That doesn’t…mean anything. She could have been killed there by anything.”

Rainbow Dash turned her back towards Gilda again, trying to make herself more comfortable on the bed. “They think it was me. They all watch me and talk about me all the time. I’m worried that they-”

“Typical idiots refuse to change their opinions, no matter how wrong they are.” Gilda interrupted. Gilda made a small smirk. “That’s why you need to ditch these losers and hang with me.”

Rainbow Dash turned and lied on her back, staring at the ceiling. “I thought the same thing, that there was no point being here. Then my friends reminded me, there is always somepony that will look after and care for you. Even when everypony around that somepony tells them that they’re wrong.”

Gilda’s smile disappeared; she knew that Rainbow Dash wasn’t talking about her.

“I was lucky enough to have more than one somepony to care about me. I know that no matter how bad things get, they’ll always be by my side. They’ll always be my friends. So I guess I’ll always have a reason to stay.”

Gilda chuckled. “Cute speech, Dash.” On the inside, Gilda felt angry that Rainbow Dash saw others as more important than her. “But it doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does to me!” Rainbow Dash snapped.

“Well, that changes everything!” Gilda snapped back.

Rainbow Dash covered her face with her pillow in an attempt to hide her tears.

“Sure, keep hiding.” Gilda continued. “I bet after a few years, maybe ponies will start to forget.”

Rainbow Dash kept the pillow over her face, quietly crying underneath it.

“A few ponies out of over a hundred care about you. You think that’s some kind of achievement?”

Rainbow Dash threw the pillow across the room and sat up to face Gilda.

“You need to leave.” Rainbow Dash demanded in her most stern voice.

Gilda narrowed her eyes.

“Go away!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

Gilda turned her head to see the busy streets full of ponies. She turned her head back to Rainbow Dash.

“I’m sorry, Dash” Gilda said, hoping on top of the bed. “I guess I’m not being clear…You’re coming with me.”

Rainbow Dash stood up on the bed. “Go…now” she growled.

Gilda and Rainbow Dash stared each other down, waiting for the other to attack. Gilda didn’t want to hurt Rainbow Dash, but saw no other way of setting her straight. Through her mind, Gilda tried to think of anything that she could say to get her friend to come with her. Gilda took a deep breath before tackling Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash fell on her back, slamming her head against the wall. Gilda sat herself on top of Rainbow Dash and tightly grabbed her by the neck. Rainbow Dash squirmed underneath Gilda and desperately tried to pull Gilda’s claws away from her neck. As Rainbow Dash squirmed, Gilda squeezed Rainbow Dash’s neck with greater force. Rainbow Dash’s eyes began to roll to the back of her head as her movements became weaker.

Gilda quickly released her grip, not wanting to kill her friend, and threw Rainbow Dash off of the bed. Rainbow Dash loudly gasped to catch her breath. After regaining enough oxygen, Rainbow Dash kicked Gilda in her chin. Rainbow Dash attempted to kick again, but Gilda grabbed one of her back legs and drug her talons through her thigh.

Rainbow Dash yelped and pulled her legs back. She looked at blood running out of her gashes. While distracted, Rainbow Dash felt a sharp blow to the top of her head and fell to the floor. Gilda pounced on Rainbow Dash’s back, pinning her to the floor. Gilda picked Rainbow Dash’s head up by her mane, and forcefully slammed her head against the hardwood floor. Rainbow Dash attempted to throw Gilda off of her, but this only prompted Gilda to slam her head on the floor again.

Gilda hit Rainbow Dash’s head against the floor a third time before speaking to her.

“I tried being nice, but you need to be put in your place.”

Rainbow Dash made another attempt to break free from Gilda’s pin, but Gilda stayed strong against her attempt. Gilda slapped Rainbow Dash’s head and continued speaking.

“You’re not that tough, Dash. You know I was always stronger than you.”

Rainbow Dash coughed. “Just get away from me.”

Gilda lifted Rainbow Dash’s head. “Friends don’t leave each other.”

Rainbow Dash spat at Gilda. “You’re not my friend.”

Gilda felt the return of her empty feeling. She always imagined Rainbow Dash saying those words to her, but never thought she would say them in reality. Tears formed in her eyes, “I’m alone.” With Rainbow Dash’s voice echoing through her head, Gilda realized that she no longer had any friends. Gilda’s sadness slowly turned to anger.

Gilda hit Rainbow Dash’s head against the floor and pressed her face into the hardwood surface. “Those stupid friends of yours ruined everything. They’re the reason why you’re thinking like an idiot.”

Rainbow Dash was unable to open her mouth, due to the pressure that Gilda was applying.

“It’s their fault.” Gilda said. A small smile broke over her face. “…And I’m glad they’re dead. Pinkie Pie, that unicorn, and that skittish pegasus. They’re all bad influences on you.”

Rainbow Dash mumbled something. Gilda lifted Rainbow Dash’s head in order to understand her.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes were wide and empty. “How do you know?”

Gilda raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Tears fell off of Rainbow Dash’s face. “How do you know that Fluttershy died?”