Starting Over

(Authors Note: Agggh. Writers Block SUCKS! I had it when trying to figure out what I was going to write this chapter about.)

The group of ponies exit the graveyard and head back to the castle. Celestia offered them to spend the night in the castle. It was night out and the trains were not running.

Spectra was in a horrible state. His mane was ruffled, his eyes were full of tears, and he just found out that his parents died on his birthday. When Pinkie found out that his birthday was in a few days, she insisted on hosting the party.

"There's going to be balloons, and cake, and games, and cupcakes, and punch, and sweets, and-"

Spectra cut her off. "Pinkie, I don't want a birthday party."

Pinkie gasps. "Why not? Who doesn't love a birthday party?"

Spectra turns to Pinkie, with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"All the party would do is remind me of the night my parents were killed, Pinkie. I don't want to be at a party on my birthday, or anywhere with anypony. I just want to be alone."

Pinkie shoots out in front of him and starts walking backwards.

"Why would you want to be alone when you have us! It's what friends do for each other!"

Spectra twitches at the word 'friend', like he always does. Pinkie takes notice.

"Why do you do that when I say 'friend'?"

Spectra once again, twitches. "Look Pinkie, I'm not used to having friends yet. It will probably take a very long time until I'm used to it."

Pinkie stops walking backwards and moves next to Spectra and keeps walking.

"Come on! Let me host the party! It will be so fun!"

Spectra gives up.

"Fine, Pinkie. But don't expect me to be in the brightest mood."

Pinkie frowns. "Awww. But you're meant to be happy at a party!"

Spectra shakes his head.

"Pinkie, the party will be held on the day my parents were murdered. It's like we are celebrating their death or something."

Pinkie, to the surprise of everypony, gives up.

"Oh. Ok then. You don't have to go."

Spectra looks over to Pinkie. Her mane was straight and she was a slightly darker shade of pink now.

'Oh, come on, Spectra! A party is where you go to forget your troubles for a while, and then you remember them after the party is over! Hahahaha!'

Spectra rolls his eyes and mumbles under his breath.

"Gee, thanks Discord. You know how to motivate a pony."

'It's a gift, really.'

"Ok, Pinkie. I will go to your party."

Spectra swears he heard a 'poof' noise. When he turns around to face Pinkie, her mane was back to it's poofy self.

"Great! Your gunna have soooo much fun!"

The group keeps walking until they reach the castle, nopony said a word the rest of the trip after Spectra agreed to go to the party.

-----Canterlot Castle, 11:47pm-----

Spectra and Rainbow follow Princess Celestia and the group down the hallways of the castle.

After she shows the rest of the group their rooms, she leads Spectra and Rainbow to the last door.

"You two will be sharing a room. Is that ok?"

Rainbow steps forward. "Princess, we have been sleeping in the same bed for a few weeks now. I'm sure one night together won't be any different."

Celestia giggles.

"Alright then. Good night, my little ponies."

Rainbow bows. "Good night, Princess."

Spectra just walks into the room without saying a word.

Celestia and Rainbow share a look of worry.

"Rainbow Dash, please try and cheer him up. I hate seeing him like this."

Rainbow salutes. "Count on me, Princess."

Celestia walks away. Rainbow closes the door and goes to sit next to Spectra on the bed.

"Spectra, do you think you could cheer up a bit? At least you have me, right?"

Spectra looks to his cyan marefriend.

"Yeah. And I'm happy to have you. But honestly, Rainbow, when you just found out your parents were murdered on your birthday, it will make you sad. Don't worry, I'll feel better soon."

Spectra gets up and heads to the bathroom. "I'm gunna take a shower."

He enters the bathroom and closes the door. Rainbow flops down onto the soft bed.

'How can I cheer him up? He seems so down. But he has a point. I would be sad as well. Hmmmm. OH! Thats perfect!'

Spectra gets out of the shower 10 minutes later. After drying himself off he opens the door to the main room. He see's Rainbow standing up with a huge smile on her face.

Spectra looks at her with confusion. "What got you so happy?"

Rainbow walks up to him. "I challenge you to a race. If I win, you have to promise me that you will try to cheer up. If you win, I will teach you how to do The Sonic Rainboom. Deal?"

Spectra's brain switched from "Emotional Mode" to "Competitive Mode" and he instantly forgot about his parents. It must of shown because Rainbow's smile grew bigger.

'Hehe, he hasn't changed one bit since we met. This time, I won't use The Sonic Rainboom. I wanna give him a fighting chance after all.'

Spectra walks up to her face, determination in his eyes and a grin on his face.

"Your on!"

-----Wonderbolts Raceway, Canterlot, 2:03am-----

Spectra and Rainbow were lined up at the starting line. They had to sneak in to the Stadium, but for Rainbow it was worth it.

"Ok, on the count of three, the race starts. First one to do 1 lap wins. It's a huge stadium, and I don't wanna be here longer then need be, ok? We'll count down together. Ready?"

Spectra looks back at Rainbow with a smug grin on his face. "I was born ready!"

Rainbow nods. "3....2....1....GO!!!"

And they both rocket off the starting line. Spectra is in the lead at first, until the corner. He lost control for a bit and almost smashed into the wall of the stadium. In that moment, Rainbow had flown into first place. Spectra took quick notice of this. He shoots forward after Rainbow, just a few feet behind her.

The obstacles come up, and Rainbow dodges the first few with ease, but knocks into a pillar, allowing Spectra to shoot in front. She recovers and races ahead to catch up to Spectra. Spectra was caught up in the wind tunnel of the raceway. It was making it hard for him to fly straight. He eventually got through, but he noticed Rainbow was ahead of him.

She must of flown past in the tunnel without him noticing. He catches up to her quickly, just flying behind her. They make it to the last bit of the race, the hailstorm. Spectra was used to cold weather from his time in Manehatten, so the cold was nothing for him, but the hail slowed him down considerably. Same with Rainbow Dash. Who ever would win this race would be the one to recover from the hail storm first.

Spectra flaps his wings as hard as he can, trying his best to get through. He was almost at the finish line, before a familiar cyan pegasus flew ahead. Rainbow was taking the lead, but Spectra wanted to win it!

With all his might, Spectra flapped his wings as hard as he could. He zoomed past Rainbow and crossed the finish line.

-----Wonderbolts Raceway, Canterlot, 2:20am-----

"I can't believe I lost! How did you win?!"

The couple was walking out the stadium to get back to their bedroom.

Spectra grinned. "If you set your mind to it, and try hard enough, you can do anything."

Rainbow took a second to digest this, then nodded with a smile.

"Hey you two!"

Spectra and Rainbow turn around to come face to face with Spitfire and Soarin.