Leading Rainbow

Chapters

Chapter 1: Cat's Out of the Bag
Chapter 2: Royal Explanation
Chapter 3: The Missing Rainbow
Chapter 4: The Farmer and The Princess
Chapter 5: Flaring Emotions
Chapter 6: Mother Daughter Bonding

Chapter 1: Cat's Out of the Bag

Chapter 1: Cat's Out of the Bag

"Rainbow, Rainbow!" Twilight shouted as she shook Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow are you okay?!" A spell had gone awry and thrown Rainbow back against the wall of the library, knocking her out cold. Twilight had been shaking Rainbow for a few minutes before she had started to come to, letting out a few confused groans.

"What, happened?" Rainbow asked slowly, struggling to open her eyes as her body ached, shouting at her to stay put. When she finally got her eyes open Rainbow looked around, seeing a pile of books on either side of her, looking as if they had been pushed away from her. Then she realized that she was sitting at the bottom of a bookcase, which was empty, save for the books that were behind her back.

"Rainbow, are you okay, you hit the wall really hard" Twilight asked worriedly, trying to look around and see if Rainbow had managed to cut herself anywhere.

"It hurts a lot, but I think I'll be okay, but can you check my head, it feels like somepony cracked open my skull..." Rainbow said, her pain seeping through her voice as she tried to move her hoof up to feel her head. Twilight quickly moved to get a good look at Rainbow's head, moving her mane out of the way so she could check for any damage.

"It doesn't look like-AH!" Twilight screamed before she jumped away from Rainbow, her eyes filled with fear.

"What, is my head actually cracked open something?" Rainbow asked lazily while giving Twilight a confused look. As she tried to get up Twilight moved a mirror in front of her face. Rainbow looked into the mirror angrily, annoyed that Twilight had suddenly put in there, but quickly noticed what was wrong.

"A... A horn?!" Rainbow cried as she jumped back, slamming into the bookshelf again, knocking the one book that had still been in the top shelf down, impaling itself on her new horn. She quickly looked over to Twilight, who was now trying to hold back a giggle as she looked at Rainbow. As soon as she realized that the book was there Rainbow pulled it off and stomped her way over to Twilight.

"What did you do?!" Rainbow shouted, pointing a hoof at her horn, "Why do I have a horn now?!"

"I-I don't know Rainbow, it was just there when I went to check for any cuts..." Twilight whimpered from underneath Rainbow's angry stare. Her fear made her look around for something that might help her explain what had happened, which allowed her to see something else that was strange about Rainbow.

"You still have your wings..." Twilight mumbled before taking another look at the wings, "They're whiter than normal, how is that?"

"What are you babbling on about?" Rainbow asked angrily, rushing over to Twilight's bedroom so she could see herself in the full body mirror. When she stopped in front of it she froze, fear taking over her mind. Her wings were still there, and they were whiter than normal. How is that even possible? Rainbow thought to herself as Twilight stumbled into the room, a scroll and quill suspended in the air by her magic.

"We need to tell Princess Celestia right away, she needs to know about this!" Twilight said quickly, the quill moving frantically around the page as Twilight tried to fit her thoughts onto the tiny scroll. Rainbow sighed before hearing a knock at the door. Quickly looking at the clock filled her with dread as she realized who it was. Crap, why now? Rainbow whined in her head before looking back into the mirror, seeing her horn protruding from her forehead, I can't face him like this!

"Are you okay Rainbow?" Twilight asked, noticing the panicked look on Rainbow's face.

"I was supposed to go help Big Mac watch the girls today, but I can't face him like this!" Rainbow whined, thinking about the plans she had made. She gave Scootaloo the idea that they should try to get athletic swimming for a cutie mark, and Big Mac wanted to watch them, so she volunteered to watch them as well. Although him and the girls saw it as Rainbow wanting to be responsible, it was really just so she could spend time with Big Mac, get to know him better, but if she looks like this...

"What's the big deal, it's just Big Mac" Twilight said, not understanding why Rainbow would be so afraid to face the farmer just because she looked different.

"Just Big Mac? Just Big Mac?!" Rainbow shouted, moving forwards to give Twilight a piece of her mind, but she caught herself before she said something she was going to regret. Twilight watched as Rainbow backed away, defeated by her own fears. There was silence for a few minutes until there was a loud knock at the door.

"Hello? Anypony in there?" Big Mac asked loudly from outside, making Rainbow flinch before an idea came to her.

"Twi, can you go tell him that I, uh..." Rainbow trailed off thinking of something believable for Twilight to say, "Got called away for weather duties!"

"I thought the forecast was for sunny skies today?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow's weird actions.

"In Manehattan!" Rainbow added, making Twilight sigh loudly.

"Fine, I'll go lie for you" Twilight said, annoyed that Rainbow was acting so weird over Big Mac. Rainbow paced back and forth until Twilight came back, a giant smile on her face.

"You like Big Mac, don't you?" Twilight asked accusingly, moving towards Rainbow with a large smile plastered on her face.

"What? No, of course not!" Rainbow said defensively, backing up from Twilight as she continued to walk up to her. Eventually Rainbow was backed up against the wall with Twilight staring her right in the eyes. She tried to squirm away, to no avail as Twilight moved to counter every attempt Rainbow made to get away.

"Fine! Fine!" Rainbow cried, pushing Twilight back with a defeated look on her face, "Yes, I like Big Mac, okay, happy now?"

"Yes, very happy in fact" Twilight said cheerfully as she backed away from Rainbow, who was glaring at Twilight, "So, what are you going to do if this is permanent?"

"I don't know, but this better not be permanent" Rainbow said sadly, looking out of Twilight's window at Big Mac, who had Applebloom and Scootaloo sitting on his back as they went on their way to the local pool. Rainbow let out a sad sigh as she thought about the time she was missing with Big Mac because of her stupid horn. She wasn't one for the lovey dovey kind of relationship, but she really liked spending time with Big Mac because it was such a rare thing for her. Everypony thinks she wants to be with Soarin, but she only likes him as an idol, but Big Mac? There was just something about him that caught her interest, and ever since then he's been the only stallion she could think of, but now that she's like this...

"Why did this have to happen?" Rainbow whined as Big Mac disappeared over the horizon. When she turned to ask Twilight if she could tell her how to hide the horn she found that she was alone in the room. After a few minutes of searching she found Twilight talking to Spike, who suddenly burped out a scroll, hitting Twilight on the snout with it.

"Thanks for sending that scroll Spike" Twilight said happily, waving Spike off just in time so that he wouldn't see Rainbow Dash's new look. Twilight jumped slightly when she turned around, running right into Rainbow.

"That from Celestia?" Rainbow asked flatly.

"Yes, I asked her if she could help us" Twilight said as she opened the letter, quickly reading through it. When she rolled it up she looked at Rainbow worriedly.

"What? What did it say?" Rainbow asked worriedly, trying to snatch the scroll away from Twilight when she was distracted by a loud flash from behind her. When she looked to see what it was she saw Celestia standing in the middle of a small ring on the floor, created by her teleportation spell.

"Hello Rainbow" Celestia said calmly, "Or should I say, Princess Aurora"

Chapter 2: Royal Explanation

Chapter 2: Royal Explanation

"Princess what?" Rainbow asked, giving Celestia a confused look. Twilight gasped in surprise as she ran off towards one of the bookshelves in the room labeled "Equestrian History", mumbling something about how she's heard that name before. Celestia smiled at Twilight as she frantically pulled out book after book, searching for anything that mentioned the name Princess Aurora. Rainbow watched as Twilight squealed in joy as she read through a book, finding what she was looking for.

"Did you find the book you were looking for Twilight?" Celestia asked, knowing that the answer was yes.

"Yes Princess, it says here that Princess Aurora was your daughter, but then..." Twilight trailed off, reading the rest of the page. Her smiled quickly faded as she read the rest, Celestia giving her an all knowing nod, making Rainbow start to worry.

"What happened to her?" Rainbow asked slowly, starting to walk towards Twilight so she could read out of the book herself.

"There was an accident, and she disappeared" Twilight said sadly, "They thought that she had died"

"That is correct my student, we did think she had died but there was something unique about her that nopony else had" Celestia said calmly, looking over at Rainbow's multicolored mane, "She had a beautiful mane, just like this, with all the colors of the rainbow..." A somber look came over Celestia's face as she thought about her long lost daughter.

"So, that's why I'm changing into, well, this?" Rainbow asked, waving a hoof towards her wing, the tip of which was now completely white. Celestia quickly snapped out of her depressing mood and looked at Rainbow, noticing something odd about the way her body was changing.

"Why do you still have the same basic form as everypony else?" Celestia mumbled quietly to herself as she continued to look at Rainbow's body, "You should be at least my height, and your wingspan..."

"Uh, is everything okay over there?" Twilight asked, watching the scene in front of her unfold in confusion. Celestia giggled to herself for a moment before walking over to Twilight.

"You can go for now my student, I would like to spend some time alone with Rainbow Dash" Celestia said sweetly, and Twilight happily obeyed, leaving the room with a smile on her face. Rainbow moved to sit down on a nearby chair when Celestia pulled her into a hug, a few tears rolling down her face. The sudden display of emotion caught Rainbow off guard and made her stumble backwards, the two of them falling to the ground in a heap.

"Princess, are you okay?" Rainbow asked, looking at Celestia's watery eyes as she got up.

"Yes, yes, my apologies, you must be very confused right now" Celestia said sadly, making Rainbow look at her worriedly. What has got her so upset? She rarely shows emotions like this... Rainbow thought as she moved to get up.

"So, what's going on?" Rainbow asked as she sat down, looking at Celestia as she rubbed her eyes, trying to fight back tears.

"A long time ago, I had a daughter named Aurora Borealis..."

"Aurora please stop doing that, it's dangerous" Celestia pleaded, to no avail as her daughter continued to fly around the throne room, taking sharp turns and doing dangerous dives, all the while terrifying her mother. Eventually Celestia grew tired of it and pulled her down using magic, much to her daughter's annoyance.

"Why did you pull me down mother?" Aurora asked, eager to continue flying again.

"Because it is not safe, you could hurt yourself by doing that" Celestia said calmly, giving Aurora strange look or both anger and love. As much as Celestia hated how rowdy Aurora was, she loved how ambitious she was about reaching her goals. Despite Aurora never having much success with magic she would always pay attention when Celestia would try to teach her a new spell, the most recent of which being how to raise and lower the sun and moon together.

"Mother?" Aurora asked as Celestia let her go, making Celestia's attention return to her energetic child, "Will I get to raise the moon tonight?"

"Of course dear, now go get ready, it is almost time" Celestia said happily, smiling as she watched her daughter speed away to her room so she could prepare to raise the moon that night. As the time came a loud explosion could be heard from Aurora's bedroom, and when Celestia went to investigate she found nothing but a large ball of rainbows, sitting in the middle of a large burn mark on Aurora's balcony. After heading inside to investigate further she found a book opened to a page that explained how to create a beautiful night sky. That night, as everypony searched for Aurora, a large portion of the stars were colored like rainbows, each shining their colors across the land.

"Many ponies, including myself, took to calling that occurrence an Aurora Borealis, named after the mysterious disappearance of the Princess" Celestia finished, taking a deep breath to calm herself down after the memories of the night she lost her daughter came rushing back to her.

"So she just vanished, poof, gone?" Rainbow asked, not entirely believing the story.

"Not entirely, until almost twenty years ago when the rainbow orb disappeared from my room, while I was looking at it" Celestia said, looking at Rainbow with a sly smile.

"So because of that, and my rainbow mane, you think that I'm daughter?" Rainbow asked, still not entirely believing what Celestia was trying to say. Celestia nodded slowly before grabbing the nearby mirror and holding in front of Rainbow, letting her see her new mane, which was strangely similar to Celestia's, along with her facial features and horn...

"As you can see, it is almost impossible to say that you aren't my daughter" Celestia said happily, smiling as Rainbow looked into the mirror again, making all sorts of weird faces to see if it wasn't just an illusion.

"But if I'm a princess..." Rainbow said sadly, thinking about everything she had hoped to have and do. Being a Wonderbolt, traveling across Equestria, having a fan club. Being with Big McIntosh...

"I know it's hard my dear, but it will all end well, I promise" Celestia said before leaving the room so that Rainbow could have time to digest all this new information. There's no way Big Mac's going to want to be with me now! Rainbow thought to herself, And there's no way I'd get to live a peaceful life if I'm a princess!

"Why did this have to happen to me?!" Rainbow cried out, putting her head in her hooves as she cried, feeling all her hopes and dreams being slowly pulled away from her as she slowly turned into Princess Aurora.

Chapter 3: The Missing Rainbow

Chapter 3: The Missing Rainbow

As Rainbow got ready to leave the library after crying for what seemed liked hours she ran into Twilight, who has a large smile plastered across her face. There was an awkward moment of silence as Rainbow tried to figure out what Twilight was so happy about, and why she was stopping Rainbow from leaving.

"Uh, Twilight?" Rainbow asked quietly, snapping Twilight out of her stupor.

"Oh, yes Princess?" Twilight asked happily, bowing slightly as she did, much to Rainbow's annoyance. Rainbow let out a loud sigh before speaking, which made Twilight's smile diminish slightly.

"One, don't call me that, and two, why are you blocking the exit?" Rainbow said, looking past Twilight at the library's main door. Twilight looked at Rainbow in confusion for a second before she realized what was going on. She started to pull Rainbow towards the main table, but Rainbow resisted, making Twilight turn around in confusion.

"Didn't Princess Celestia tell you?" Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side ever so slightly, "I'm teaching you how to use magic!" Twilight smiled happily at Rainbow when she finished, and before Rainbow could decline her offer Twilight was running around the library, pulling book after book off the shelves, stacking them neatly in the middle of the table. When all the books were stacked, making a tower nearly as tall as Celestia herself, Twilight sat down, nodding to a chair across from her for Rainbow to sit in. Rainbow reluctantly moved to sit in the chair, silently cursing Celestia for this in her thoughts.

"We will begin with the basics" Twilight said, pulling a pair of reading glasses seemingly out of nowhere, "How to control your magic ability. Step one, think of the spell you are..." Twilight continued to talk as Rainbow quietly listened, thinking of flying at high speeds with larger wings the entire time. I wonder if have larger wings would make Sonic Rainbooms easier to do, Rainbow thought, thinking of the wing speed she normally required to do one, Don't bigger wings make it easier to pick up speed when flying?

"...and that's how you tap your magic potential" Twilight said, pausing to take a breath of air before reading step two, "Step two, using a spell requires you to use the correct amount of your magic potential, otherwise..." Rainbow was still thinking about her new wings. How big are they going to be anyways? Rainbow asked herself, thinking about Celestia's wings on her body, which made her giggle, unnoticed by Twilight.

"Step three, to use the spell you must think of it becoming reality, projecting your magic potential outwards to..." Twilight continued to speak, still under the impression that Rainbow was paying even the tiniest bit of attention to her. While Rainbow imagined herself performing a Sonic Rainboom as an all powerful Alicorn there was a knock at the door, startling both her, and Twilight.

"Who could that be?" Twilight asked out loud as she walked towards the door. Rainbow, still not wanting to be seen by anypony in town, hid behind the table, carefully listening as Twilight opened the door.

"Hey there Twilight, is Rainbow around here?" a stallion asked. At first the voice sounded unfamiliar to Rainbow, but after a few seconds she knew who it was, she could recognize that accent anywhere. Big Mac was here, which means the girls were done swimming and he decided to come look for her to tell her how things went. No, no, no! He can't see me like this! Rainbow thought, looking around for a way out without him seeing her, but she was stuck.

"Oh, yes, she's just in here, follow me" Twilight replied happily, turning around to lead Big Mac towards Rainbow, who was now cursing Twilight under her breath. Wait, magic, I can get out of here with magic! Rainbow thought, now trying to remember what Twilight had been rambling on about. As the clip clop of hooves drew nearer Rainbow wished she was invisible, and as the hooves reached her side of the table...

"Huh, where did she go?" Twilight asked, looking around for any sign of Rainbow. When there was no sign of Rainbow anywhere in the library she turned around and gave Big Mac a sorry look.

"I don't know where she could have gone off to, sorry Big Mac" Twilight said sadly, but Big Mac quickly moved to cheer her up.

"It's okay Twilight, I can ask her out to dinner another time" Big Mac said calmly, giving Twilight a warm smile before he turned to leave, oblivious to the fact that Rainbow had been sitting right there the entire time. Wait, how did he not see me, I was right here! Rainbow thought quickly, her mind now rushing to figure out what was going on. Without hesitation Rainbow flew up to Twilight's room, running over to the mirror only to look inside it and find...

...nothing?

"What the hay?!" Rainbow shouted, startling Twilight, who had been making her way to her room so she could study up on the history of Princess Aurora.

"Rainbow, are you there?" Twilight asked slowly, looking around her room for any sign of Rainbow.

"Yeah I'm here, but I'm in a bit of trouble right now" Rainbow said, looking back into the mirror just to make sure she was still invisible and not going crazy.

"Where are you?" Twilight asked, cautiously walking deeper into her room, still looking for Rainbow. Of course, Rainbow wasn't stupid, she knew that Twilight wouldn't be able to see her, so she picked up a book that was sitting on a nearby dresser and waved it in front of her, grabbing Twilight's attention.

"Are you invisible Rainbow?" Twilight asked, poking the area behind the floating book with her quill, eliciting a yelp from Rainbow, who had been poked in the cheek by it, "How did you manage to do that, invisibility is a hard spell, even for me"

"I have no idea, I just thought about it and, poof" Rainbow said, moving the book to her wing so she didn't have to balance anymore. Twilight watched the book carefully, and then snatched it away, confusing Rainbow. Before she could argue about it Twilight turned to where she was and her horn started to glow. After a small puff of smoke drifted past Rainbow she was visible again, proven by her appearance in the mirror.

"Thanks Twilight" Rainbow said happily as she looked at herself in the mirror, but her smile quickly faded as she noticed the large amount of changes that had occurred while she was invisible. She had grown taller, her horn and wings were bigger, and her mane had grown out and taken on a shape similar to Celestia's. Since Rainbow didn't want to look exactly like Celestia did she used her magic, without thinking about it, to pull a hair clip from Twilight's dresser, clamping her flowing mane down. For a few seconds it was weighed down by the clip, but it quickly returned to it's original flowing look.

"I like the new look Rainbow" Twilight said while giggling, which only made Rainbow angry.

"Shut up" Rainbow said quickly before she remembered what Mac had said, "Twilight, do you know where Big Mac went?"

"Back to the farm I think, he had to drop the girls off first though" Twilight said, trying to remember if he had said anything to her about his next destination. With that information Rainbow dashed off, leaving Twilight to her thoughts. As Rainbow flew out of the door to the library all she could think about was Mac wanting to ask her out. I've been waiting for that for so long, to the moon with it if I'm going to let this stupid thing stop me! Rainbow thought to herself as she sped up, flying at an insane speed towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Chapter 4: The Farmer and The Princess

Chapter 4: The Farmer and The Princess

As Sweet Apple Acres drew closer Rainbow slowed down, allowing herself a moment's rest before she trotted on to the farm. With a quick look around she could tell no pony was around right now except for her, so she decided to make her way up to the farm house. Even if Big Mac wasn't there she could at least hope Granny Smith would be inside, doing whatever it was old mares do. When her hooves touched the wood on the front porch Rainbow heard a loud bang come from inside, making he step back in surprise. A moment later Applebloom came running out of the house being chased by Applejack, who's trademark stetson was missing.

"Applebloom get back here with my hat!" Applejack shouted as she ran off into the orchard after Applebloom, who had the stetson sitting crookedly on her head and being held down with one hoof as she tried to get away. Rainbow laughed quietly to herself before turning around, accidentally bumping into the red mountain that was Big McIntosh.

"Can I help you miss?" Big Mac asked kindly, making Rainbow look at him in confusion. How can he not recognize me, I haven't changed that much, right? Rainbow thought in her head, but one look in a nearby window proved her wrong. Her coat was now completely white, and she couldn't even believe it was her she was looking at. She looked like a completely different pony now, except for her eyes and cutie mark...

"Hi Big Mac" Rainbow said, thankfully still sounding like her old self. When he heard the familiar voice Big Mac's eyes widened, now looking around Rainbow for any sign of the old her. His jaw opened slightly as he caught sight of Rainbow's cutie mark, which meant one thing. The mare standing in front of him right now, was Rainbow Dash.

"R-Rainbow, you're..." Big Mac said, trying to find the right words, and failing. Rainbow let out a small giggle as she watch him try to figure out what to say, but he eventually gave up, prompting her to speak up instead.

"I heard what you said in the library Big Mac" Rainbow admitted in a slightly seductive tone, making Big Mac blush just enough for it to be noticeable under his coat. He attempted to speak again, this time being caught by nerves as his face turned deeper shades of red, finding it impossible to actually ask her out.

"I would have said yes you know" Rainbow said, pushing him even further, his face now redder than seemed physically possible. Rainbow smiled sweetly at Big Mac until he finally started to talk, his words spilling out in nonsense at first, but he eventually sorted it out.

"Would you like to go for dinner tonight Rainbow Dash?" Big Mac said, seemingly forcing it out despite his nerves. Rainbow decided to be playful and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, making him tense up immediately. It was a nice surprise for Rainbow to learn that under his strong and silent appearance, Big Mac was really just a nice and nervous stallion that had a crush on her. In an attempt to make things more fun Rainbow walked away, but not before swinging her tail around Big Mac's neck, pulling his face towards her flank, which she was swaying ever so slightly. She laughed loudly as Big Mac's hooves came up immediately to cover his eyes, causing him to fall forward onto his face.

"Come on let's get going" Rainbow said cheerfully, a devious grin on her face, "Don't want to keep the lady waiting"

After managing to calm Mac down after all the jokes Rainbow had played on him they were finally in Ponyville with both of them on the lookout for a place to eat.

"Usually the stallion figures out where he plans to take the mare before he asks her out" Rainbow complained, her hooves starting to ache from walking for so long. She was a Pegasus, shouldn't Mac have known she wouldn't want to stand around for a long time?

"What about that place over there?" Mac asked, one of his hooves pointing to a rather posh restaurant filled with high class ponies that were visiting Ponyville. Rainbow glared at Mac for even suggesting a place like that, so he quickly pointed at another restaurant, this time one filled with working class ponies that had just gotten off a long day of work,

"Perfect, let's go there" Rainbow said happily as she started to trot over, leaving a bewildered Mac to follow behind her.

"I thought you were a princess now?" Mac asked, making Rainbow stop on the spot so she could turn around and face him.

"That doesn't mean I want to act like one!" Rainbow shouted, making the attention of everypony in the area turn to them, "I'm still plain old Rainbow Dash, I just look like this now!" Big Mac shied away from Rainbow Dash, looking at her with fear in his eyes, as well as everypony else in the area. When Rainbow had calmed down enough she looked around, seeing a circle around her that was made entirely out of ponies.

"What's her problem?" one mare whispered, giving Rainbow Dash the stink eye.

"Is that really Rainbow Dash mommy?" a small filly asked her mother, who was trying to hide the filly from Rainbow.

"She reminds me of Princess Luna on Nightmare Night..." a colt said to his father, who was angrily staring Rainbow Dash down. Rainbow scanned the crowd, her heart breaking at every comment she could hear, all of them insulting her pride. She could almost hear her pride and dignity shattering when she saw a small orange filly with a purple mane standing in the crowd, her eyes wider than the moon as she watched her idol humiliate herself. After their eyes met Scootaloo ran away, pushing herself through the crowd of ponies that was quickly growing.

"Scootaloo wait!" Rainbow cried as she took off, giving Big Mac a kiss on the cheek before flying after the little filly. Great going Rainbow Crash! Rainbow shouted at herself, Not only did you make an ass of yourself, but you did it in front of the filly who loves you the most!

"How could this night get any worse?!" Rainbow shouted as she flew after Scootaloo, who was running at an amazing speed. As if on cue the Ponyville weather team turned on the evening showers that had been scheduled for today, completely soaking Rainbow Dash.

Chapter 5: Flaring Emotions

Chapter 5: Flaring Emotions

Flying through the rain Rainbow looked around for Scootaloo on the ground, seeing no signs of the small orange filly. Rainbow felt like she had died a little inside, having watched her number one fan run away from her like she did, all because she had snapped at Big Mac. She made a mental note to really make it up to Mac for that, but first came Scootaloo. She saw Rainbow as an older sister of sorts, if she couldn't fix their relationship then how was she going to be able to get along with him?

"Dammit Scootaloo why do you have to be so fast?!" Rainbow shouted as she slowly descended, the rain starting to make it hard for her to fly at a constant speed. As Rainbow landed she heard a bush rustle next to her, making her turn fast enough to see a purple tail disappear into it.

"Scootaloo wait!" Rainbow said quickly, trying to grab the tail with her hoof, but missed and slipped to the ground. She grunted as she got up, taking after Scootaloo into the bush, which happened to be on the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres, but Rainbow didn't notice, or care for that matter. All she cared about was finding Scootaloo now.

After what seemed like hours Rainbow stumbled upon the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse, which would have been empty on every other day like today, but not this time. Inside Scootaloo was crying silently as she looked at all of her Rainbow Dash memorabilia. Knowing that she had to quick Rainbow opened the door, making Scootaloo scream loudly.

"What are you doing here?!" Scootaloo screamed, surprised to see a completely soaked Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway.

"I'm here to say..." Rainbow choked on her words "...sorry" Scootaloo looked at Rainbow as she tried to avoid eye contact.

"What are you sorry for?" Scootaloo asked bitterly, "I'm the one who ran away when you started shouting"

"I didn't mean to shout, I'm just..." Rainbow tried to find the right words for her current situation, "Under a lot of stress right now"

"Enough to yell at Big Mac?" Scootaloo asked quietly, making Rainbow's guilt coming back to her in full force. Rainbow looked down at the ground sadly as she thought about leaving Big Mac out in the rain like she did. Giving one more look at Scootaloo she turned away, deciding to go look for Mac first. If she could fix things with him, then Scootaloo would like her again, or so she thought. As she headed down the ramp to the clubhouse she thought about where Mac would be at a time like this, but the sound of somepony bucking trees in the mud gave her a good idea.

"Big Mac, I-" Rainbow said as she turned around a tree, thinking that she would find Big Mac, but instead found Applejack, bucking with her hat held low on her face.

"Hey there Rainbow" Applejack said with a grunt as she bucked the tree again, a bunch of the apples from the tree falling into the basket below the tree. One apple landed on the edge of the barrel and rolled out into the mud near Rainbow, which Applejack picked up slowly, pausing to look up at Rainbow.

"Uh, hey AJ" Rainbow said slowly, sensing the awkward atmosphere that was hanging around them. Applejack moved to the tree behind Rainbow, bucking it harder than normal so that every apple fell down, even the rotten ones. One of the rotten ones fell on Rainbow's horn, splashing down her face and making her scrunch up her face. Shaking her head quickly Rainbow was able to toss the apple off, but the smell stuck around.

"What's your problem AJ?" Rainbow asked angrily, wiping the rest of the apple off her face as she walked up to Applejack.

"My problem is you shouting at my brother and leaving him in the rain!" Applejack snapped, pushing her face up against Rainbow's. Rather than backing away Rainbow pushed forward as well, the two of them now perfectly face to face, with Applejack's hat hanging off Rainbow's new horn. They pushed against each other until Applejack backed up.

"I wasn't trying to do that, I just snapped ok?!" Rainbow said angrily, looking away so she didn't have to see Applejack's angry face, but when she did she saw the red stallion a few yards away, bucking angrily at trees so hard that the bark cracked. Rainbow froze as he looked at her, the next tree he bucked actually uprooting itself.

"I can understand snapping after something really bad happened, but you did it for no good reason" Applejack said bitterly as she went to buck another tree, "Not to mention you left him in the rain in the middle of a bunch of people"

"I didn't mean to do it!" Rainbow shouted as her horn started to glow a deep blue while her wings flared. Applejack backed up in surprise, but quickly resumed her offensive stance.

"Then why did you do it?!" Applejack shouted back, tipping Rainbow over the edge.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Rainbow cried as her magic came shooting out of her horn, hitting a nearby tree causing it to change color, become weightless, and come out of the ground to float away, not to mention that all of the apples became oranges. Applejack watched with wide eyes as the colorful orange tree floated away, breaking a hole in the rain clouds that was just big enough to stop the rain just above them. A few yards away Big Mac looked around confusedly, but when he looked up to see the hole in the clouds, and then seeing Applejack cowering next to angry Rainbow Dash.

"What's going on?!" Big Mac asked angrily, jumping in between Rainbow and Applejack.

"I'm just angry!" Rainbow shouted back. Big Mac shied away from Rainbow with Applejack, making her calm down immediately.

"I'm sorry, I just..." Rainbow tried to apologize before taking off for the hole in the clouds, wanting to be alone for a while now. Once she broke above the cloud layer Rainbow levelled out, looking for a place to land so she could think about everything that had happened. After blowing up twice with Big Mac around there was no way they would he would still want to be with her, let alone even be her friend. How was Applejack going to act towards her now as well? What about the rest of her friends? How was Scootaloo going to react now that Rainbow has pushed away all of her friends...

"What have I done...?" Rainbow cried as she put her head in her hooves, adding her own tears to the rain that was falling from the sky.

Chapter 6: Mother Daughter Bonding

Chapter 6: Mother Daughter Bonding

Rainbow didn't pay attention to where she was flying, nor did she care, all she wanted was to get as far away from Ponyville before she did anymore damage. She pushed away both her number one fan, and the stallion that loved her, if she stayed for any longer she was sure to push away everypony else. As Rainbow flew over the edge of the storm that was covering Ponyville she looked up, just in time to see herself run into the side of the Canterlot Mountain.

"Great! Now the world is attacking me!" Rainbow shouted as she peeled herself off the rock wall, giving it a hard kick as she started to fly away, managing to put a large crack in it. Without even knowing it Rainbow's shout and the echo of her kick managed to reach everypony in Canterlot, causing many of them to look up into the sky to see her flying overhead, many of them mistaking her for Celestia because of her pearly white coat. A few young colts and fillies that could fly came up to see her, but froze when they realized it wasn't Celestia they had been staring at. One of the small colts recognized Rainbow's cutie mark and flew up beside her, nearly getting blown back down by Rainbow's wings.

"Are you Rainbow Dash?" the colt asked, his voice squeaking a little bit because of how hard he was trying to stay beside her. Rainbow glanced over at him and saw that he had a poster sticking out of his saddlebags, but not just any poster. It was a poster that had her on it.

"Where did you get that?" Rainbow asked, slowing down so that the colt could keep up with her easier.

"My brother got it for me when him and his class went to the Wonderbolts Academy" the colt said with a smile, remembering how happy he was to get it, "They had them on sale because of the records you made when you were there" Rainbow's eyes got wide when she realized that the colt in front of her was a fan. While she was staring at the poster the colt looked down at his friends, nodding his head enthusiastically to show them that it was THE Rainbow Dash, the one that they all had posters of.

"Rainbow Dash is it really you?!" a young filly asked, her voice squeaking from excitement.

"Yeah, yeah, are you really Rainbow Dash?!" another filly asked, her eyes looking all over to see if it really was her.

"Look, she's got the same cutie mark!" some colt yelled from behind her, making Rainbow blush as all of the foals congregated around her flank to examine her cutie mark.

"Wow, she looks so cool in person!" a few of the kids chanted, making Rainbow want to shy away. Yeah, she liked getting a lot of attention, but right now she wasn't a big fan of it. If somepony from Ponyville finds out that she went to Canterlot and had a bunch of foals going gaga over her then it might be the last straw for both Big Mac, and Scootaloo. Although she wanted to get as far away from there as possible, the foals were making it hard for her to get away, but thankfully, her savior arrived, and just in the nick of time.

"Good evening Aurora, what brings you to Canterlot?" Celestia asked as she flew next to Rainbow, the Aurora name making the group that had congregating around look at Celestia in both surprise and confusion.

"Who's Aurora?" One of the fillies asked, making Celestia smile sweetly.

"Oh, my apologies, I meant Rainbow Dash" Celestia said, the foals accepting minds easily removing their suspicion after that. Obviously a few of them were confused about the different coat color and the horn that Rainbow had, but they were young and impressionable, so they passed it off as Rainbow messing around and having fun. For all they could care, she was in a kick ass costume and the name Aurora was actually part of the reason why Rainbow was wearing it. Once they foals had all flown back down to the ground Rainbow turned to Celestia, a sad look on her face.

"Is something the matter Rainbow?" Celestia asked, her motherly side coming out, which managed to surprise Rainbow. Yeah, Celestia was motherly to everypony, but seemed different, probably because she actually was Rainbow's mother. Rainbow was reluctant to answer her question at first, but something in the way Celestia was looking at her finally made her crack.

"Well, something happened in Ponyville..." Rainbow started, getting a nod from Celestia to follow her over to the castle so that they could talk in a more private area, mostly because the foals were still staring at them from down below. As Rainbow explained what happened Celestia just listened quietly, nodding when she had to, and giving short responses when it seemed like she needed to. Once they got close to the castle Rainbow finished explaining, finishing off with what had happened right before Celestia had shown up, prompting Celestia to finally say something.

"Rainbow, I know you're upset but you need to go back and talk to them" Celestia said, putting a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder so that Rainbow would look directly at her, "They're just as upset as you are now, and running away from them isn't going to make anything better"

"I know, but what if..." Rainbow said, trying to come up with an excuse as to why they wouldn't want to fix things as much as she did, but she couldn't think of anything. Celestia gave her a knowing smile before flying off towards the throne room's windows, one of which happened to be open for her. Once the window shut Rainbow looked back at Ponyville, seeing the storm clouds start to clear away, giving Rainbow a clear view of Sweet Apple Acres.

"Well, here goes nothing" Rainbow sighed as she started flying back to Ponyville, her fans watching her zoom past overhead with an amazing speed. As she flew Rainbow came up with a plan, and the first step was to see Big Mac, in private so that Applejack couldn't interrupt her. Thankfully, Rainbow was able to find Big Mac sitting out by the pond they had on the farm, by himself, but something seemed off about him. His shoulders were shaking, and he was hunched over with his head in his hooves...

He was crying.