Perfect Storm: Fall of Rainbow Dash

It was early Autumn again. Despite the struggle, time had flown by. The sky reminded Rainbow of Ponyville and the last time that her life felt normal. There might even be geese up there in the gray but she’d never hear them over the seagulls and the waves.

She sat dazedly behind the counter at the Salt Point Cove General Store, going through receipts. This whole thing was exhausting and she could see why ponies didn't do it alone or even at all.

“You can go on break,” proclaimed Beach Glass, the older mare cracking open a box to restock the snack rack. “You look tired.”

“It’s okay,” murmured Rainbow absently. “He's sleeping nicely right now. I'll just go on break when he wakes up, which shouldn't be too much longer.”

“You won't get any rest though.”

“Yeah.” She glanced down at the floor where the little sleeping foal laid swaddled in a basket. He had a pastel blue coat and, for now, only a puff of a mane neatly segmented in a grayscale.

“I can rest later.”

Sea stowed the empty box behind the counter and opened the cash register. She doled out a collection of bits, stacking them off to Rainbow’s side.

“Your final paycheck I guess.”

“Yeah,” agreed Rainbow, scooping it up like poker winnings.

Now that the baby was born, her old life was calling to her again. She had to go back and reconnect with the friends and family she'd left behind. She missed them but also feared them growing cold and slipping away. There was a long road of explanations ahead of her.

“You're still gonna do it, aren't you?” asked Sea Glass, sidling over to look down at the foal.

“I have to. I can't make it work another way.”

Just then, Lightning stirred in his bundle and began to fuss.

“Oh no,” giggled Sea, setting a hoof on his stomach.

“Hungry again?” groaned Rainbow. “You were so much easier when you were on the inside.”

“He's not hungry. He sounds like he wants attention.”

Rainbow bent down and picked him up by the swaddle in her teeth. She set him down on the counter and unwrapped his blanket.

“Still looks dry,” said Sea Glass as he began to coo and flail his now free legs.

“I'll just take him to the beach for a while.”

“Have fun.” She waved bye to the foal.

Rainbow scooped him into her foreleg as she left the check out counter and made for the exit.

Outside it was mild except for the wind. The exterior of the store was once white but much of its paint had peeled away creating a mottled gray with the weathered wood beneath. The edge of the boardwalk creaked under her hooves as she stepped off into the empty street. A marina of bobbing boats was right across from there but the beach was just on the other side of the harbor wall. Lightning squealed and pawed at her chest as she descended the steps built into the retaining wall and trudged out onto the sand.

She sat down a little out of range of the lapping waves where the sand was dry and just barely warm enough to overcome the chill of the breeze and make it pleasant. She set him on his back between her legs, visoring him with her own shadow as she looked down at him.

He squinted up at her, probably unable to make out her face at least recognizing she was there.

“Well, little buddy, guess this is the last time we do this.”

“Gaaa!”

The last year equated collectively as the most difficult thing she'd done in her life so far. Uprooting and relocating and having a baby and doing it basically alone and in secret. She could have disappeared better in the city, just been another faceless nobody who drifted in to find work or maybe she'd always lived there. No one would notice her or ask questions the way they did in a small town but she was more accustomed to small town life since Ponyville.

Manehattan had more convenient access to the safety net program she was reliant upon but it wasn't that far of a flight to the city and the locals in Salt Point were genuinely helpful and sympathetic to her situation.

Through letters she'd stayed in regular contact with her parents and Rumble who still had no idea he had a son. He didn't have as much to say but he still wrote to her almost as much as mom and dad and gave status updates on those in their shared circle.

Rainbow was so tired but smiled weakly down at Lightning as she tried to capture his face in her mind like a photo. This was just one of only a hooful of fleeting moments she'd have. She shook her head at the surreal injustice of it all.

“Nothing feels real, so how can it still hurt?” - - -

Lightning mewled and squirmed in his wrap as Rainbow stepped out into the salty night air.

“This would be a lot easier if you were asleep,” she sighed. She had no doubt that he would be when she got there. He hadn't napped in a while and flying with him in a carrier, the few times she'd done it, had put him right to sleep.

She paused for a moment to watch the little lighthouse strobing on the jetty as the waves crashed. As far as places she'd lived, Rainbow hadn't been here that long but she still felt like she'd miss it. However, that feeling was just a pleasant distraction.

She broke into a gallop down the street and swooped into the air. In the moonlight the breaking waves made a shimmering trail up the coast leading her to the distant glowing beacon that was Manehattan. The trip was short for a pegasus on wing, only about ten minutes.

Trepidation welled within her despite trying to focus on the metropolis growing as it sped toward her. She touched down on the sidewalk of a relatively quiet street and began to trot slowly. She came upon a big brick building, the very fire station she was looking for. A pair of caged red lights illuminated huge metal roll-up doors but rainbow stopped before she could reach them. There in the wall was a little hatch that looked almost like a mailbox for delivering packages. Below the pull bar were the words ‘safe surrender.’ It wasn't too long ago that she'd never even heard of such a thing and even now, as she thought about it, the whole idea still seemed kind of shocking.

Rainbow looked up and down the street but saw no one coming. But it didn't matter anyway, right? She sat down on her haunches and undid the carrier on her barrel to lift the little one out. Just as she'd predicted, he'd fallen asleep. She bit her lip, trying to steel her resolve. She swaddled him quickly in a blanket and then nuzzled him.

The hatch gave a tiny squeak as she pulled it open with her wing and laid him down inside the compartment. Almost like his dresser drawer crib at the store. She placed an envelope containing a letter and a little basic information about the foal into the slot with him. Then a small sack of bits. All of the alternative options she'd mulled over a million times by now flashed through her mind one last time but she shook her head.

“Goodbye,” she whispered shakily, letting the door close slowly over his tiny resting body. She turned away, tears stinging her eyes, and launched into the air.

She went home…

To Ponyville…

To rebuild and redeem…

Rainbow reappeared just as suddenly as she’d vanished. She was humble and gracious and patient. She was dismissive of her friends wanting to throw a party for her return, insisting that she hadn't done anything to warrant such a gesture.

Although the Tree of Harmony had yet to summon her since her transgression, there had been plenty of instances where her presence was sorely missed.

Despite Rainbow's fears after losing every title to her name, Scootaloo did not lose interest in her. The filly was still dumbstruck when her adopted big sister just showed up after school one day to see her. With the help of her friends she'd built her own half pipe and expanded her vert skateboarding repertoire much to Rainbow’s delight.

Though the friendship between Rainbow and Rumble had flourished as penpals, it was unclear where it should stand now that she was back. Both were skeptical that it made sense for them to ever hang out in public without Thunderlane as a go-between.

She approached him with the idea that they should finally tell Scootaloo and his brother the truth, suggesting that they could both do it together at the same time like an intervention to make it easier. Rumble, while he had made personal progress, was still reticent particularly at the prospect of upsetting his brother but he assured her that some day, maybe not too far in the future, he'd be ready. She made herself the same prediction about telling Rumble the truth… some day.

As for Thunderlane, it had been long enough for him to forgive Rainbow, at least for the things he could see. He was still on the Wonderbolts and still supposedly clean. He'd since dated a mare from Cloudsdale but was now single again.

Rainbow had waited to heal physically and for her physique to stabilize before leaving Salt Point Cove but she was still out of practice in flying. Even so, it didn't take her long to reacquire her abilities and qualify for the Wonderbolts again.

Windy and Bow were devastated to have never had the chance to meet their first grandfoal but did their best to try and understand their daughters' reasoning.

Things moved on for the most part. Rainbow had regained much but she'd also lost something else along the way.