I’m on a roll again
And I want an end

‘Cause I feel you creepin’ in

There was no loyalty.

She’d trusted them, and they’d stabbed her in the back. All across town, her reputation was in utter ruins, all because of them. A week ago, she’d been respected, admired even. Now, she was a laughingstock, the butt of a big joke. A joke her so-called ‘friends’ had pulled. The inhabitants of Ponyville would never respect her again. She could never trust the girls again. She had nothing.

Alone in her cloud house, she fought a slowly-losing battle not to start sobbing as she cursed everything and everyone.

-----SCENE BREAK-----

Twilight was confused and upset. She and her friends had only meant to teach Rainbow Dash a little humility, get her to stop bragging, show her how heroes were supposed to act. But now, nearly all of the townsponies were insulting Dash behind her back, some even using her very name as a slur! Dash hardly ever came into town anymore – it was usually only for quick food runs or the like, and she was tormented every single time. The past four days, after the ‘Mare-Do-Well Incident’ came to its end, had shown that Twilight’s little plan had very big unforeseen consequences.

The other five were feeling the effects, too. Pinkie and Fluttershy had confessed to being opposed to the Mare-Do-Well idea from the very beginning, considering it mean and knowing Dash well enough to predict how negatively she’d react to it. Rarity had been all for getting Dash to tone it down a notch, but had quickly come to recognize how badly the MDW idea was going to play out; however, she had kept her reservations to herself, a decision she now regretted. Applejack had stuck to her belief that it was just what was needed, and that it would all end okay… until she saw the townsfolks’ reactions, how cruel they were to Dash, how they dismissed all the good things she’d done for them over the years, and not to mention how Dash herself was taking it.

The girls were having trouble deciding which problem to address first: Rainbow’s reputation, or her relationship with them. Eventually, they came to their decision: the townsponies could wait. Their friend’s feelings were hurt, and that took precedence. So it was that the five of them headed out to the grassy field that Dash’s cloud-house presently hovered over. They were trying to figure out how to get up there when they saw a rainbow-tailed blur zoom into the house from the town, carrying something. Several seconds later, it flew out, making for town again.

“Rainbow!” Twilight called out.

“Dashie, come here pretty-please!” Pinkie added.

Even though she was 250 feet in the air, the girls could see Dash’s shoulders slump, her body tensing. She changed coursed and flew in towards the girls, landing in front of them. “What do you want?” she growled. “Haven’t you put me through enough crap already?”

The girls visibly flinched from the remark. “W-We came to talk, and to apologize…” Twilight said. “We know now that we went about things completely the wrong way – well, actually, Pinkie and Fluttershy felt it was a bad idea from the beginning – a-and we’re sorry for unintentionally humiliating you, and… a-and we wanted to know what it would take to make it up to you.”

Dash simply glared at them, focusing the gaze on Twilight. “Are you really that naïve, Sparkle?” she asked, speaking in a low, quiet tone that nonetheless triggered the girls’ instinctual fear response. “You think that just… coming up to me and stammering apologies will make everything right? That it’ll instantly mend broken promises and shattered trust? That it’ll make the ponies in town stop belittling me, stop thinking I’m a worthless boastful show-off who’s no good for anything other than as an example of what not to be?! That it could ever make up for ruining me?!”

Twilight staggered back as if struck. “I…”

“You betrayed me!!” Dash shouted at the top of her lungs. “You stabbed me right between the wings! I trusted all of you, but you turned on me the minute I started acting in a way you didn’t like! Did you ever maybe think to stop me and talk to me about it? Like, ‘Hey Dash, it’s cool that you’re saving ponies and all, but ya might wanna tone down the bragging a bit’, or ‘Yo Rainbow, we think you’re starting to let the hero thing go to your head and you should take a step back and look at the big picture before you get too deep’, or something. But nooo, you decided to humiliate me, make all of Ponyville see me as a clown, show everyone – including me – that I’m not fast enough, strong enough, smart enough, or magical enough to be any good for anything other than useless trivial stuff, make it so I can’t show my face in town for five seconds without being snipped at and insulted and tormented, m-make me stop trying to tell myself I’m awesome and instead see how worthless I really am when it all comes down to it…”

By this point, she was crying a little as she released all her pain and anger, voice going raw from shouting and cracking from emotion. The other five were taking it rather hard as well; Fluttershy was starting to cry from guilt, and the others weren’t too far behind.

“Nothing you do could ever make up for what you did to me” Dash continued. “No-one in this town will ever respect me again. I can never trust anyone here again. That’s why… I’ve been getting boxes and packing my things. I’m leaving Ponyville.”

Gasps of shock and horror were the response. Pinkie’s mane and tail, already partially limp, went completely flat in an instant. Fluttershy tried to squeak out words, but couldn’t.

“Save your fake remorse” Dash snapped, but with poorly-concealed sadness. “It’s too late to apologize.”

And with that, she took off, flying up to her cloud-house, leaving her “ex-friends” to sit there as it sank in just how badly it had all gone wrong.

-----SCENE BREAK-----

Mayor’s Office
Two Days Later

Mayor Mare let out a sigh as she finished another ream of paperwork, putting it all in the “Done” box on her desk. Things had been rather busy lately; there were the various repairs to be done in the wake of poor construction giving out, the aftermath of the burst dam (contrary to some ponies’ thoughts, that one wasn’t Dash’s fault; an engineer who examined the dam’s wreckage had said it was a shock the thing hadn’t given out weeks earlier), and the local weather had been becoming increasingly cloudy the past several days, as Rainbow Dash apparently lost the will to keep doing her job and the rest of the weather team just wasn’t able to make up for the super-speed pegasus’ absence.

Her thoughts were interrupted as someone walked into her office. She looked up, and saw Rainbow Dash walking up to her; she had bags under her eyes, and the morose, defeated way she carried herself was startlingly different from her old self-confident air. The Mayor caught sight of one of her secretaries giving a dismissive look at Dash, and she responded by glaring at her employee/subordinate until she got the message and stopped, before then turning to her visitor.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash” she said with a calm smile and a friendly, almost motherly tone. “What brings you here today?”

“Hello, ma’am” Dash replied in a depressed tone. “I came to discuss selling my cloud-house.”

Mayor Mare’s eyes went wide. “Oh?” she asked. “Why? Are you getting ready to construct a new house? Are you running out of money?”

“I… I can’t take it here anymore. All the remarks, the insults, the put-downs, everything that Mare-Do-Well started. And there’s my so-called ‘friends’ responsible for all that, and how they’re trying to trick me into thinking they’re guilty over it so they can have me stick around and do something else to me further down the line… I can’t go through that again. So I’m… I’m leaving Ponyville.”

The Mayor’s jaw dropped. She was partially aware of the ill will towards Dash in the wake of the MDW Incident, the insults and comments and such that she honestly felt were way over the line. But she’d had no idea it was affecting Dash this badly. “Are you certain of this, dear?”

“Yes” Dash nodded sadly. “I just… can’t deal anymore. You’re one of the, like, half-dozen ponies in this entire town who didn’t turn on me. But, the others… I just… I just can’t…”

Mayor Mare knew for a fact that the number of ponies who hadn’t “turned on” Rainbow Dash was a lot higher than six, but she also knew that, in her current mindset, Dash would refuse to believe that. “Very well…” she said after a long pause. “I’ll, uh… make it known that you’re leaving and why, as per usual when someone moves out of town. Your… Your home will be put up for sale eight days after you’ve left.”

“…Thank you. I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon, most likely. Goodbye.”

As Dash turned around and walked out, Mayor Mare rested her forehead on her desk. She’d always played the semi-unofficial role of a mother-figure for the town; now, mama was gonna have to give her kids a loooong talk about their actions. This was not going to be fun.

-----SCENE BREAK-----

Next Day

The mid-afternoon meeting in Town Square was mandatory for everyone to attend; only a few ponies were missing – three ponies too sick to leave their houses (they hadn’t gotten their flu shots in time), a colt bedridden with a sprained leg, and Rainbow Dash who was still isolating herself as she continued her moving preparations. When she announced that Dash was moving away from Ponyville in response to being “betrayed” and to all the comments and insults and such that made up the MDW Incident’s fallout, the general reaction was shock; everyone had simply assumed that Rainbow would shrug everything off as per usual, ignoring what others said while telling herself she was awesome and getting on with her life. To learn that it had seriously affected her so badly that she’d apparently lost all self-confidence and trust, and was going to flee Ponyville to escape it, was a tremendous shock. Several ponies felt guilt eating at them. Scootaloo was unashamedly and openly crying. And there was a fair bit of anger from many townsfolk as it all sank in, at the other five Element-Bearers for starting the mess and at many of Dash’s more vocal ‘tormentors’ for making it worse. A few ponies vocally kept up their dislike and insulting of Dash, only to be angrily shouted down and shamed by those on the opposite side of the issue.

But Rainbow Dash was unaware of any of this, so busy finishing her packing-up in her soon-to-be-ex house. She worked slowly, too upset to move fast. She continued working at her slow, listless pace, until the clock struck six and her stomach grumbled. She gritted her teeth as she remembered that she had already packed her remaining food (perhaps she should’ve saved that for last, she thought to herself), so she would have to head down into town and buy something. She stepped out, took a deep breath, and then took off, making the flight down to Ponyville.

As she landed in the marketplace, she became faintly aware that the townsfolk were not giving her the usual looks of scorn, annoyance, dismissal, or the like. Instead, she was met by facial expressions of sadness, guilt, remorse, regret, and grim understanding. She headed through the crowds unmolested, as no-one had the courage to talk to her. She soon came across the fruit stand she sought, and without a word she knocked her forehooves on the front shelf, startling the distracted mare running the stand. The girl in question turned around, and when she saw Dash her expression changed from confusion to sheepishness and guilt. Dash got out some bits and gestured to a pair of pears, and the exchange was made in silence, neither mare willing to speak. As Dash turned and walked away, she could almost hear the salespony whisper “I’m sorry”.

Rainbow flew low out of the town, keeping close to the ground until she reached the field that her house hovered over. She looked up at it, and let out a long, slow sigh; she’d be out of here soon, away from the ponies who’d belittled and betrayed her… and from the only home she’d known for nine years. She was about to take off and fly up to finish packing when she heard soft hoofsteps behind her, and felt a pleasant warmth and presence that took her breath away for a brief moment.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash” said a soft, melodious voice that the young speedster quickly recognized. She turned around and looked up at the calm, motherly smile being given to her, and she almost broke down right there. With great effort, she wrenched her view away from that, casting her eyes down.

“Hello, Princess” she said morosely.

“I heard about everything” Celestia said. “I just got done with a very long talk with my student and the others about their actions. The Mayor gave a similar calling-out to the other townsfolk.”

“I see…” Dash replied in a low tone. “So now they all know why I’m leaving.”

Celestia rested a comforting wing on Dash’s shoulder. “You don’t have to leave, Dash” she said.

“Yes I do!” Rainbow shouted as she turned to face Celestia, tears in her eyes. “I can’t take the way they’re treating me here anymore! I can’t trust anyone here anymore, not after what they did to me! I… T-They never even t-tried to talk to me about it! I would’ve listened! Really, I would have! All they had to do was sit me down and talk to me, tell me what I was doing wrong! But they didn’t! They conspired against me, humiliated me in front of the entire town, showed everyone… showed me that I’m not good enough! That I’m not strong enough or fast enough or smart enough or magical enough! And the townsponies turned on me the moment they realized that! Everywhere I go, everything I do, it’s just one comment, one insult, one dismissal and degradation after another! Each one isn’t horrible by itself, really, but a thousand bug bites add up!

“I… I trusted those girls! I gave them my heart and soul! But they betrayed my trust! They betrayed me!! After everything we’ve been through together, they destroyed me the minute they didn’t like what I was doing! …H-How could they do that to me, Celestia?! What did I do to deserve all that?! You’re supposed to know everything; please, tell me! WHY IS THIS ALL HAPPENING TO ME?!?!”

It was at this point that Dash completely broke down, falling limp to the ground and sobbing her heart out. Celestia simply bent down and pulled her into a hug, holding her close. They stayed like that for a while, as the broken-hearted girl’s emotions and exhaustion took their toll and she cried herself to sleep. Once Dash was snoozing, Celestia concentrated, and a semi-solid magical duplicate of herself formed beside her; she looked at the original and nodded, knowing what to do, and then headed off into town. Meanwhile, Celestia used her magic to combine and move several overhead clouds, positioning them low to form shade. Then, she laid Dash down and curled up next to her, letting her presence and warmth comfort the sleeping mare just as she’d done with Twilight several times over the years.

-----SCENE BREAK-----

Three Hours Later

Rainbow Dash groaned lightly as she awakened. Her eyes were still closed, but she could feel a warmth right next to her and atop her. She slowly opened her eyes and raised her head, and found herself tucked up against Celestia’s side, the Princess’ wing draped over her like a blanket as the semi-immortal read a book. Dash blushed as she remembered what had happened; she’d had a full-bore emotional breakdown right in front of a member of the diarchy. Celestia felt her shift position and looked at her, smiling.

“Feeling better?” she asked.

Dash looked up at the starry sky. “What time is it?” she asked/mumbled.

“It’s about 9:20 PM” Celestia replied. “You must’ve been tired; haven’t been sleeping well, I presume?”

Dash shook her head, as she staggered to her feet. She stretched out like a cat, joints popping. “Um… T-Thanks” she said bashfully.

Celestia chucked. “It was no trouble at all, Dash. …Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“No” Dash replied. “I was gonna, but then you found me, and I… lost my cool like that.”

“I can tell that you’d been holding all of that in for a long time. I don’t mind at all that I was there for you when you let it all out. Now, why don’t we head to Sugarcube Corner and I’ll get you something?”

“What? O-Oh, I couldn’t ask that of you.”

“I insist. It’s no trouble at all. And your stomach was grumbling while you were asleep, so I know you’re hungry.”

Dash blushed at that. But she gave no further objections as Celestia got to her hooves, and the two walked off into town. As they moved through Ponyville, Dash was confused as she noticed that there seemed to be no-one out & about; normally, the town didn’t really go to sleep until around 11:00. Where was everyone? As they approached Sugarcube Corner, she noticed that the lights were still on; at least the Cakes were still up, so she could get something from them. Celestia stood back, smiling, as Dash approached and opened the door.

“SURPRISE!!!”

Dash nearly fell over in shock, eyes bugging out and jaw dropping, as she took in what she saw. It looked like nearly the entire town was there. Decorations – balloons and streamers – were all over the place, in sky-blue and rainbow colors. On the walls were a few masterfully-done drawings or paintings: Dash pulling off a Sonic Rainboom to save four plummeting ponies, Dash saving a little filly from a well, young Dash standing protectively over young Fluttershy, and a photograph of Dash and the other five Element-Bearers being knighted by Celestia in the wake of the Discord Incident. And hanging from the rafters on the ceiling was a big banner reading, in huge rainbow-hued letters, “WE’RE SORRY, RAINBOW DASH”.

“Wh…” she stammered. “What is all this?”

“We…” Roseluck started, struggling to get the words out. “W-We realized how horrible we’ve been to you lately.”

“We got so caught up that we forgot all the amazing things you’ve done for others” an earth-pony stallion said.

“We didn’t realize we were hurting you” Sparkler said.

Apologies continued to spill forth from the crowd for a good minute or so, with Dash too shocked to say anything in return.

“Rainbow…”

Fluttershy’s quiet voice drew Dash’s attention to the other five Element-Bearers, all of whom looked miserable. Celestia(’s duplicate) telepathically showing them Dash’s earlier breakdown, being made to realize just how badly they’d hurt her, had broken their hearts. Now, they all looked at her with the most pitiful expressions on their faces. Twilight took a step forward.

“I…” she squeaked, trying to choke the words out. “I’m sorry… I didn’t want to… I n-never meant to… I… I screwed up… I’m so sorry…”

“We shoulda just sat ya down and talked to ya” Applejack said, head hanging low enough that her hat obscured her eyes. “We made a huge mistake. I wouldn’t blame ya if ya never forgive us.”

“We should’ve paid more attention to your reactions” Rarity lamented. “We should’ve noticed you were hurting. But we didn’t. And I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

“I knew it was a bad idea almost from the start” Fluttershy confessed. “But I was too afraid of how the others would react if I said so. I w-was too afraid that they’d turn on me if I tried to talk them out of it. But now… I wish I’d been more assertive, that I’d told them why I thought we shouldn’t do it. But I wasn’t brave enough, and I… I ended up going along with breaking your heart…”

“Dashie…” Pinkie’s tone of voice was so sad, so wavering, so very… un-Pinkie that Rainbow felt sadder from hearing it. “I… I’m a horrible pony. I knew you’d be upset, but I went along with it anyway out of peer pressure. And… I h-had no idea that the townsfolk would turn on you. I never wanted to hurt you! I’d sooner cut off one of my own legs before I’d deliberately hurt you, Dashie! You’re one of the most important ponies in the world to me! I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

“We know that nothing we do can ever make up for what we did” Twilight said. “And if you never want to talk to us again, we understand. Just… know that we’re sorry… that I’m sorry; sorrier than I’ve been for anything else in my life, Rainbow. No matter what you think of us… we’ll always consider you one of our best friends.”

Rainbow Dash sat there, head down so her bangs would hide her face from view, as she processed all this. “Why…” she croaked out. “I tried so hard to, so why can’t I…” Her chest felt tight, and a sharp gasp – a sob she failed to hold back – shook her frame. “Why can’t I hate you girls? It would be s-so much easier for me.” She looked up, showing that she was now crying. “Why do I… still care about you?”

“Please, Rainbow…” Fluttershy said as she came close to crying as well. “Just… give us one more chance. Just one more… Please…”

Dash sat there for several seconds, and then she closed her eyes, sniffled, and nodded her head. Almost instantly, Pinkie was hugging her, and the others moved in within seconds.

“It…” Dash choked out, her voice scratchy. “It’ll be a long time before things are really all better between us.”

“We’ll do whatever it takes” Rarity replied. “We’ll burn the Mare-Do-Well costumes, help you unpack your things, and work from there.”

Dash sniffled. “‘Kay…” she whispered.

The apology party ran on until after midnight. Dash was accompanied by the other members of the Core Six for the entire thing, as the townsfolk gave apologies, gifts, and promises to make it up to her. Unnoticed, Celestia had slipped away after the reconciliation, retiring to the castle to sleep, content in the knowledge that her prized student had fixed her mistake.

It would take weeks, perhaps months, to fully heal Dash’s heart, to completely repair the bonds of friendship. But the girls didn’t care how long it took; they would make everything right, no matter the cost.

No matter what, they would prove their loyalty.

Author's Note

Momlestia is best 'lestia.

The next chapter will be bigger, and thus will probably take longer. But it'll be worth it. Keep an eye out.