Author's Note

Sorry if it’s rushed, I have like zero concentration lately and just can’t seem to find the right words
Also please ignore that the summer sun celebration is in autumn, after the running of the leaves. I didn’t want to invent a new festival and couldn’t make it work otherwise, thanks.

Chapter 28

They had managed to end the day on a positive note. Well, positive considering how the rest of the day had went.
With the moonlight shining softly inside, the two ponies and dragon were sat together in the library, Twilight reading the first Daring Do book aloud while Dash and Spike snacked on shredded oats and little gemstones, respectively.

Rainbow couldn’t remember the last time she’d read a Daring Do book, she realised.

Between worrying about food, her own body image, her future, going through the moulting process… and despite everything, trying to act as normal as possible around others (and failing epically), she simply hadn’t thought about the book series, and probably wouldn’t be able to concentrate enough to actually read it, either.

But having the distraction of listening to the familiar story progressing and being surrounded by friends who understand, is making the awful voice in her head go quiet, pushed away into a dark corner of her mind. She finished her portion, and falls asleep soon after, curled up in a beanbag.

By next morning, the peace was once again long forgotten. When Twilight went to wake the pegasus up, she’d found Dash already wide awake, visibly trembling, flying back and forth nervously, mumbling things to herself that the alicorn couldn’t make out.

“Talk to me.” Twilight orders sternly. “You’re working yourself into a state.”

Rainbow hesitatingly lands next to her. “I can’t stop thinking. What if my parents don’t come after all?” She subconsciously starts flapping her wings again. “What if they do? What if I have to talk to them? I was so awful to them, they probably hate me and, and, I’m just not ready for this!” She’s flying higher and higher as she rambles. “And what if I mess up the show and ruin the festival for everypony? Maybe-”

She pauses long enough to realise that she’s about to hit the very tall ceiling, and Twilight is hovering below her, with a certain look that tells the pegasus that she’s about to cast a spell.

Rainbow sheepishly scratches the back of her head. “Okay… maaaybe I need to calm down… heh.” She remarks, and they both decent to the floor again. “…You don’t happen to have a spell that just, I don’t know, erases all worries or something?”

Twilight throws her a look that says ‘do you really think I wouldn’t have used such a spell a billion times on myself rather than freak out, if a spell like that existed?’. “No, but I have learned some techniques. Copy me.”

First, she does the conscious breathing technique that Cadence showed her, and Rainbow dutifully copies her, even if she feels silly.

“Now, repeat after me: Everything is going to turn out fine.” Twilight says confidently.

Rainbow rolls her eyes at such a tedious thing, but repeats it — with very little enthusiasm.

“Again.”

Dash sighs. “Everything is going to turn out fine.”

“And again.”

“Twilight.”

“Say it.” The alicorn challenges.

Rainbow groans in frustration, and becomes airborne once again. She just couldn’t stay still. “Everything is going to turn out fine. Everything is going to turn out fine.” She could suddenly feel her racing thoughts slowing to a halt, and with it, an internal tension was easing up. “Everything is going to turn out fine…” She repeats again, feeling a lot calmer, landing softly on the crystal floor. She turns around to a very smug looking alicorn. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”

“Neat, huh?” Twilight replies. “There’s this theory that repeating certain phrases can actually affect the way the brain processes-”

Rainbow interrupts her elated ramblings by throwing herself flat on the floor with a dramatic groan. “It’s too early for you to go all… egghead mode.” She complains.

Twilight pouts for a moment, but then smiles when she realises that Rainbow is finally behaving like herself again. She can’t help giggling at Dash calling her an egghead again. “Well, this egghead has its perks sometimes.”

“Do you have to tell yourself that until you believe it, too? Or does that come naturally?” Dash asks, and they both keep a straight face for two seconds before bursting out laughing.

Breakfast was completely out of the question, so Twilight more or less forced two metabolic pills and her own vitamin pills down her throat.

“How come that never gets any less full?” Rainbow asks after downing all of the pills with as much water as she could tolerate, pointing to the jar they got from Celestia. As stated, it remains filled to the brim with the glowing magical pills, despite Dash taking them for months now.

“There’s a spell on it, replicating what’s inside whenever we take some out.” Twilight explains. At the lost expression on her non-magical friend, she adds, “I can detect the spells on enchanted objects.”

“Ou…kay then.” Rainbow replies, staring at the enchanted jar in thought, wondering if this means that they’re expecting her to rely on them for much longer than she first thought. She shakes her head. “Hey, can we test my wing power again?”

Twilight blinks. “What for?”

“I just want to know if it’s gotten any stronger.” Dash says simply, despite her insides feeling like jelly when she thinks about the shows she has to fly soon.

“Well, do you feel any different?” The alicorn asks curiously. She doesn’t want to risk Rainbow using up too much of her pegasus magic and energy before the show.

“No? Ugh, I’m just… nervous. And knowing how much wing power I have would be really helpful right now.” Dash complains.

Twilight shrugs. “Alright. But only one try, okay?”

“Yes, fine.” The pegasus replies eagerly, already getting back into the air and flying above Twilight as she prepares everything.

The alicorn barely gives her the OK when the pegasus zooms past so fast that she has to hold the machine still. Once Dash joins her again, she announces, “14.5!”

A bit disappointed that it was still lower than her personal best, Rainbow figures that it would just have to be enough for what she has planned. Hopefully.

Twilight sees the less-than-satisfied look on her face. “Rainbow, that’s an incredible progress!”

“If you say so…” Dash replies, unsure if she could believe that.

Twilight grabs the machine with her magic. “Come on, we have to leave soon.”

It was still dark out, given that it was the annual Summer Sun Celebration, but the girls all found together thanks to Applejack’s pastry stand and Rarity wearing the most shimmery and glowing dress and hat they have ever seen.

“Too much?” The fashionista asks innocently when the Pegasi of the group have to shield their eyes. Rarity quickly cancels the spell that makes her outfit glow, and discovers Rainbow’s newest accessory in the process. “Ooh! Isn’t that from the castle?”

Everypony takes a curious look, and Dash confirms, “yeah, Twilight made it for me. Pretty cool, huh?” She holds the gem higher so they could all see the frozen memory.

The others agree cheerfully, although Rarity blushes and gets awkward when she remembers what she had done that day. “I’m still sorry for trying to steal the show like that. I never should have so much as considered entering the competition.”

“Ah, it’s okay. Besides, it all worked out in the end, right?” Rainbow tries to reassure. She takes off the necklace, which ruffles her hair a bit. “Who knows, maybe I would have failed to do the Sonic Rainboom if it hadn’t been for you-”

She’s interrupted by Rarity brushing her shaggy mane with a hairbrush that she apparently takes everywhere. “None of that. You’re a Wonderbolt now, Darling.” She reminds the pegasus, continuing to brush her mane with her eyes closed. “You have to let go of your doubts at some point.”

“Uh, Rarity-” Twilight tries to intervene.

“Oh hush, Twilight. At least let me make sure that she looks presentab- WHAAAHAHAAA!” She shrieks when she finally opens her eyes, only to find a small accumulation of rainbow coloured strands now coating the hairs of her brush.

Rainbow is unaware of what is happening, so she startles at the sudden scream that makes the other town ponies surrounding the friends stare in surprise at them.

Twilight takes control over the situation. “Everything is fine! Please, carry on, everypony!”

When they could talk freely again without half of Ponyville watching, Rarity says in a quiet, high pitch, “your hair is falling out…!”

“Yeah, I know.” Rainbow says with a shrug, and finally hands her necklace to Twilight for safekeeping. When the others stare at her dumbfounded, she adds, “kinda hard to miss.”

“Is that because of the….. relapse?” The unicorn asks in a near whisper.

Rainbow frowns at the last word, but then shakes her head. “Nah. It just happens on and off.” She replies, leaving more questions than answers.

A sudden, cool breeze leaves her shivering a bit. Without thinking, Twilight presses herself against the chilled pegasus, her wing wrapped around her back and other side to try to keep her warm. “I knew I forgot something.” She grumbles to herself.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be warmer once Celestia raises the sun, and I’ll have to get ready for that in a bit, anyways.”

The first performance starts once the sun has been raised. The second show is about Celestia’s and Luna’s reunion, which is the perfect opportunity for her to finish it off with the Sonic Rainboom.

They see a couple camera flashes going off somewhere in the gathering. Rainbow groans. “Lovely. Not only do I have to try to evade my parents, but also annoying paparazzi ponies.” She grumbles to herself. Twilight had told her that she would try to get Dash’s parents to meet with her, so that they could all discuss their flawed ways of raising Rainbow.

“Oh do relax, they’re probably just here to take photos of the princesses.” Rarity says. Then all eyes turn on Twilight, and back to Rarity. “Uhm, I mean, the other princesses.” It’s rare for Luna to leave Canterlot, so it’s always a news-worthy highlight.

“It’ll be fine.” Twilight says pointedly, then winks at Rainbow. “Isn’t that right?”

Getting her point, Dash nods. “Everything is going to turn out fine.” She parrots the phrase. “…as long as nothing goes wrong.” She adds nervously, then backs away from the alicorn. “I better go and get ready. I’ll meet you guys later.”

Twilight sighs as they all watch the cyan pegasus fly above the crowd to where the Wonderbolts were gathered behind the stage.

“What was that about her parents?” Applejack asks curiously.

“Rainbow has.. how do I put this… a difficult relationship with her parents. I’ll have to find them and see if maybe we can all talk things out in a calm environment at some point.” Twilight explains.

“Oh, maybe I can help with that.” Fluttershy says. “Are they here?”

Applejack and Rarity nod. “Scootaloo is with them here somewhere.”

“How about we go and talk to them now? We still got a bit of time before the show starts.” Fluttershy offers. “Shouldn’t be hard to spot them…”

Twilight nods. “That would be great.”

“We’ll be here.” Rarity tells them, staying with Pinkie Pie and Applejack at the latter’s food stand.

As Fluttershy expected, it didn’t take them long to make out Dash’s parents in the audience, dressed up in fan costumes and proudly (and loudly) informing random strangers that their ‘little Dashie’ is a Wonderbolt.

Just witnessing a short moment of this is making the Princess of Friendship cringe. She pauses with Fluttershy in the air. “I didn’t think it was really this bad.” She admits to the yellow pegasus.

“Oh, that’s harmless… trust me, it gets a lot worse.” The timid pegasus replies uncharacteristically sternly.

Twilight gulps at that. Thankfully the other town ponies are backing away and therefore creating an empty space for the two to land. “Hello, I’m-”

“Twilight Sparkle, the princess friend of our daughter.” Windy Whistles interrupts cheerfully, throwing an arm around Twilight’s neck. “Aren’t you just soo lucky to have such a special pony by your side?”

Momentarily stunned, Twilight sees that Scootaloo is handing out a tissue for a crying stallion, who seems to share the same mane and tail colour as Rainbow. She gently shrugs out of the mother’s embrace. “Yes, we are all lucky to have her as our friend… And I see that you are very proud of her.” She remarks carefully, pointing to all the self-made Rainbow Dash merchandise.

“The proudest any parent could ever be!” The dad shouts before breaking down into sobs, with Scootaloo grinning as she comforts him.

Fluttershy has had enough of the display and pointedly clears her throat. “If it’s alright with you, I think it would be a good idea if we could all meet up some time.”

Windy gasps. “That would be a-ma-zing!”

“Since Rainbow is already staying with me and we got more than enough space, we could all meet up at the Castle tomorrow.” Twilight suggests. She’s hoping that Rainbow will eat and rest once the show ends.

“Of course! Yes, we’ll be there.” Windy agrees. “Ooh, I simply must show you all the photo albums, our little Dashie was just the cutest-”

Twilight makes to reject the idea, when the audience starts to cheer as Celestia begins raising the sun, and not a moment later, the Wonderbolts begin their first flight show in the first light of the day.

Not even the obnoxiously loud screaming from Dash’s parents could distract the friends from always seeking out the one with the rainbow t(r)ail. No matter how loud the very distracting shouting gets, no matter how quick the turns are or how many times they spin, Rainbow nails every move perfectly, absolutely flawlessly.

Eventually the first show ends, and the parent’s yelling threatens to shatter every pony’s eardrums.
“Let’s get back to the others.” Twilight calls over the cheering, and she and Fluttershy start to push through the crowds, but are quickly stopped by no other than Princess Celestia.

“Nice job.” Spitfire praises, playfully hitting Dash’s shoulder after they all pushed up their goggles.

“That was awesome!” Soarin cheers, throwing a hoof up in the air.

The mayor begins her speech on the stage.

“Alright. We got about ten minutes until we’re up again.” Spitfire starts, throwing Rainbow a knowing smile. “You can go and be with your friends in the meantime.”

Feeling too short of breath to reply, thanks to her still harsh, fast heartbeat thumping away in her chest, Rainbow just nods and nervously makes her way back to the others, rubbing at her chest with a hoof.

Maybe she really should tell Twilight about the heart thing. It’s obviously not a one-time-thing and it’s becoming quite painful the longer it lasts.

When she reaches the others, she’s surprised to only find four of her five pony friends, who all praise the amazing show once they see her. “Thanks everyone. Where’s Twi?”

“Princess Celestia is talking to her.” Fluttershy replies.

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry, they’re probably just discussing princess things.” Rarity dismisses, “they haven’t seen each other in months.” She takes a closer look at Dash and frowns. She magically grabs her makeup supplies and powders the pegasus’ face, despite mostly being covered by her suit, causing her to cough.

“Rarity! No one is going to see this stuff anyways!” Dash complains with her eyes closed, flapping her wings to get the makeup dust to go away.

“I’m just trying to help. You’re looking a bit peaky, dear…” The unicorn defends.

Applejack rolls her eyes and steps forwards. “That’s ‘cuz she needs to eat something if she’s exerting herself like that.”

Ignoring the way Rainbow’s eyes immediately fill with panic, the earth pony grabs one of her pastries and holds it out to her friend. “Apple tart?”

Dash turns her head away in disgust, clenching her jaws shut. She was still horribly nauseous from taking the pills and drinking water earlier, and is just going to be sick if she dare try to swallow a single crumb.

Right now she just wants to get the shows over with, and with the way her heart was still pounding in her chest, she has half a mind to just get through the second routine normally. After all, the other ‘Bolts were pretty happy with her performance just now. And maybe that is good enough, at least for now.

Frustrated, AJ exchanges it for a different, much smaller pastry. “Apple fritter?” She all but holds it right in front of the Pegasus’ muzzle.

Seeing Rainbow’s panic rising, Rarity intervenes. “Applejack, you know that she’s not ready for this.” She hisses at her stubborn friend.

“Not ready for what? It’s just food! She’s acting like I’m trying to poison her!” AJ argues loud enough to cause a scene. She couldn’t help feeling a bit insulted by Dash’s reactions to her home made baked goods.

Unable to bring herself to actually say it out loud, Rainbow looks her in the eyes, begging for her to understand that she’s grateful but simply couldn’t eat what she has baked.

Applejack seems to see something in her eyes, because she suddenly sighs, lays the fritter back with the others on the plate, and comes up to Dash. “You just ain’t yourself anymore. It’s like yer possessed or something.”

“Ooooor, what if WE are the ones that are possessed?!” Pinkie shrieks, pauses with wide eyes, then chomps on a cupcake that none of them knew where that suddenly came from.

Blinking, the others go back on topic. “What are you talking about?” Rainbow asks, frowning. “Of course I’m still me!”

“Um, seriously?” Applejack asks. She goes back to her stand, fetching a mug of freshly pressed cider, then holds it out to the pegasus, who once again recoils. “See?! Ya LOVE our cider, and you won’t even drink that!”

“Girls…”

Dash is stunned by the fact for a moment, herself, then flares her wings in anger. “Do you think I enjoy this?! That I’m choosing this?!”

“Girls…”

“No! And that’s exactly what I mean! You just ain’t yourself anymore.” Applejack repeats, but this time, it sinks in for her that this invisible illness is destroying her friend in seemingly every possible way. As they stare into each other’s eyes, she could now see the pain and suffering going on behind those magenta irises, which start tearing up when an equally heavy realisation hits the pegasus at the same time.

“Maybe we should-”

Dash squeezes her eyes shut to fight off the tears and stomps her hoof. “You-… I’ll show you that I’m still me!” She yells before taking off, flying back to the other Wonderbolts faster than any of them could have said something to stop her.

Fluttershy covers her eyes with a defeated sigh. The others all hang their heads with a sinking feeling.

“Ah think Ah really messed up.” Applejack offers. “How is she gonna ‘show me’ that she’s still herself, anyhow?”

Rarity frowns in thought. “You don’t think she meant…”

“A Sonic Rainboom!” Pinkie yells cheerfully, bouncing up.

“In her state?” Rarity states urgently. “Is that even possible?”

“If it fails, she’ll be thrown back by the sound barrier.” Fluttershy replies knowingly.

“We have to stop her!” Applejack near-yells, making to run over to the stage, when Mayor Mare announces the Wonderbolt’s newest, first ever performance, over the speakers.

They all share a look, thinking the same thing.

“We have to tell Twilight!”

Meanwhile…

Twilight walks with Celestia a bit away behind the stage, so that they could talk without the Mayor’s speech distracting them.

To Twilight’s surprise, the topic isn’t Rainbow Dash per se.

“I saw many similarities between you and Silver Spell. The only difference was that you had friends in Canterlot, and for a while I thought it was enough. But then your studies started to take over everything, and when I got your letter about Nightmare Moon’s prophecy on Moondancer’s birthday, it was the final straw.” Celestia explains.

“But why Ponyville? Did you already know that I would become friends with the others?” Twilight asks curiously.

“Not exactly.” Celestia smiles. “You see: back when you passed the test and got your cutie mark because of Rainbow Dash’s first ever Sonic Rainboom, I knew that there was something of a deeper connection there. But the problem was that, back then, Rainbow Dash didn’t live in Ponyville, and I couldn’t send you to live in Cloudsdale. I tried to keep you connected to other ponies for as long as I could, and when I heard that Rainbow Dash had moved to Ponyville, and then got your letter, I knew what I had to do.”

Twilight’s eyes grow wide. “You mean… if Dash hadn’t moved to Ponyville when she did…” she swallows thickly.

Luna comes closer to the two. “I would still be Nightmare Moon seeking revenge, and I dread the idea of what could have become of you if you hadn’t found your friends and gotten away from your studies-… well, for the most part.”

They’re interrupted when the Wonderbolts zoom by above them, and shortly afterwards, the other four friends run up to them.

“Twilight!”
“Ah really messed up-”
“WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!”
“Dashie’s gonna do a Sonic Rainboom!”
They all say over each other, but Twilight doesn’t have to ask for a clear answer when she looks up in the sky and sees one of the Wonderbolts separating from the group near the end of the show, flying high up in the sky before coming straight down at an ever faster speed.

They all stare in awe when Dash breaks through the sound barrier and the explosion fills the sky. The audience cheers, but the friends could see that something is wrong.

Normally when Dash pulls off her trick, she then pulls back up and flies repeated shapes in the sky with her saturated rainbow trail.

But not this time around. She just continues to fall in a straight line at extremely high velocity, making no move as to break her fall, and even the town ponies begin to scream in horror rather than joy.

Twilight begins her levitation spell, but due to the long distance and Rainbow’s intense speed, she could barely even slow her down. Even with her impressive and strong alicorn magic, no matter how much she strains and concentrates, Rainbow continues to fall. “I can’t slow her down!” She yells in her panic.

Without wasting another second, Celestia and Luna cast the same spell, and the three alicorns bring their horns together to maximise their power.