A Rainbow Aloneby ponyguy123ChaptersChapter 1: BeforeChapter 1.5: Before (cont.)Chapter 2: A New StartChapter 3: Finding the RainbowChapter 4: Choice (kind of rewritten)Chapter 0: PrologueChapter 1: BeforeTen Days Ago ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash quickly finished the rest of her breakfast and gave her mane a quick brush, but not too much. She took a look at her weather schedule, and looked under today's date. "Hm, sunny skies today." she said to herself. "I'd better get a move on, don't wanna keep them waiting." She walked over to her front door and placed a hoof on the doorknob. She gave it a slight turn and a push, swinging the door wide open. She gazed out across Ponyville, the dark swirl of grey clouds shadowing the town. She didn't like it when it was overcast, it was so grey and pointless, unlike the beautiful azure sky. Scanning the sky, she saw that the clouds began to thin out around the edge of town, only a few clouds hanging over her house. She took a single step outside and spread out her wings. She kneeled down, ready to soar into the sky, but stopped when she caught something in her vision. She looked up, and saw something small and orange in the sky, floating down towards her. She eyed the object which had so easily gotten her attention as it fell. At first, she couldn't tell what it was, it looked sort of like a tuft of fur. However once it was close enough, she could tell what is was. It was an orange feather, falling from a large cloud overhanging her house. She stared at it as it floated past her face and landed perfectly on the doorstep in front of her. She lowered her head and observed it closely, disregarding her job to clear the sky. As the wind began to pick up slightly, she stepped on the feather to stop it from blowing away. She picked it up and held it to her face. She didn't know why she found it so interesting; it looked just like an ordinary feather. She looked back up to the cloud of which it had fallen from. Her curiosity quickly infused her, so she placed the feather inside on a shelf and began flying up to the cloud, eager to discover where the feather had come from. Upon landing in the cloud, she immediately saw what, or more correctly who, had dropped the feather. It was an orange pegasus, who was holding a map in her hooves, looking quite confused. Rainbow Dash thought it was Spitfire for a moment, but quickly remembered that Spitfire had a yellow coat, not an orange one. The pegasus was so busy looking at the large sheet of paper that she hadn't noticed Rainbow Dash. "Uh, can I help you?" Rainbow Dash asked. The pegasus turned to her. "Oh, hello." she said monotonically. She turned back to her map and studied it, rotating it slightly. "I'm looking for Ponyville. Do you know which direction it's in?" "Yeah, that's it down there." she replied, pointing to the town below. The pegasus lowered the map and looked down towards the small town that she was pointing to. "Huh. I can't believe I hadn't noticed that." She looked back at Rainbow Dash. "I'm Amber, by the way." "Nice to meet you, Amber." she said, giving her a smile. "So why are you going to Ponyville?" Amber used her mouth to open up one of her saddlebags and pulled out a letter. "I came from Cloudsdale." She looked at the letter closely. "Do you know a pony named Rainbow Dash?" "Yeah, that's me..." she said, wondering why she was trying to find her. "Why?" "Really? You're Rainbow Dash?" Amber showed her the letter. "I'm the new weather pony in Ponyville and I was told to come see you." "Hm, a coworker?" Rainbow Dash asked with a grin. "Awesome! How about you show me what you've got by helping me clear Ponyville?" Amber stuffed the letter and map back into her bag. "Uh, are you sure?" she said nervously. "I mean, I haven't even gotten to Ponyville yet." "Yeah, why not? Come on, I'll help you." Rainbow Dash said, lowering her stance and spreading her wings. "I can clear this sky by myself in ten seconds flat." "Well, I guess I can help you out a little..." Rainbow Dash grinned and lifted up into the air. "You ready?" "Yeah..." Amber said, also hovering above the cloud. "I'm ready." "Then let's go!" Rainbow Dash shot like a rocket straight towards Ponyville, Amber flying not too far behind. She flew through the gloomy swirl of the cloud layer above the town, leaving a single streak of blue sky behind her. She flew back around and cleared another row of clouds, the ponies on the ground looking up as they saw the beautiful sunlight shining through the gap between the grey. She curved her wings up slightly, sending her flying up above the clouds. From here she could see Amber, also slicing through the clouds. "Hm, she's not bad..." Rainbow Dash thought to herself. "She'll be useful..." Rainbow Dash closed her wings, and dived back towards to the clouds. Once she had reached them, she spread her wings out again, slicing through the clouds once more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So where will you be staying while you're in Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked as she look a bite of her sandwich. She and Amber were getting some lunch at the café. "Oh, that's my house there." she said, pointing her hoof to a nearby house which was formerly empty. "Oh, okay. You live next door to Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. They're pretty nice." "Well, I'll be sure to say to hi to them later." Rainbow Dash took another bite of her sandwich. She looked behind her, and saw a very familiar pink pony bouncing towards them. "Uh oh..." "Hi Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie called out as she got closer. "Whatcha doing?" "Hi, Pinkie..." Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. "Hey Rainbow Dash. Having some lunch?" She looked down at her sandwich, and then to Amber. "Ooh, who's this? I've never seen you before!" "Hi, I'm Amber. I'm new here." she said with a smile. "Ooh, yay! I love new friends!" She excitedly shook her hoof. "Nice to meet you, Amber. I'm Pinkie Pie!" "Well, nice to meet you too, Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie had a huge grin on her face, which seemed to stretch from ear to ear. "Since you're new, I'm gonna throw you a huge party to welcome you to Ponyville. It'll be great fun!" "Oh, that won't be neces-" Before Amber had a chance to finish her sentence, Pinkie Pie whizzed off down the street again at full speed. "Uh, she's very... ecstatic..." Amber said with a confused smile. "Yeah, you'll get used to it... Hopefully..." Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk. Suddenly, she had an idea. "Hey, why don't I introduce you to some of my other friends?" "Um, other friends?" "Don't worry, they're not all crazy party ponies like Pinkie Pie. They're really nice." "Well, okay. Why not?" Rainbow Dash knocked on the door of Twilight Sparkle's library, and the purple unicorn quickly opened it. At first, she almost didn't notice Amber. "Hello Rainbow Dash." Twilight said. She looked at Amber, who was standing next to her. "And who's this?" "This here's Amber, she new in town." Rainbow Dash replied. "Well, it's a pleasure making your acquaintance. I'm Twilight Sparkle. I hope you enjoy living here." she said, smiling. "Nice to meet you too, Twilight." Amber said, giving her a short smile. Twilight stepped aside slightly and pointed her hoof back inside. "Would you like to come in?" she offered kindly. "Actually, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said before Amber had a chance to respond. "I was just showing her around town. Maybe some other time, okay?" "Yeah, okay. But you're always welcome to swing by for a chat or something." "Okay, thank you, Twilight." she said as she and Rainbow Dash began to walk away. "I'll see you later, bye." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey, Rainbow Dash." Applejack said as she bucked yet another apple tree, causing the apples on the branches to fall into baskets below. "Who's ya friend?" "The names Amber." Amber replied with a smile. "Well howdy, it's a pleasure meetin' ya! I'm Applejack." she said, happily shaking her hoof. "This here is Sweet Apple Acres, finest apple farm in all of Equestria. Why don't you try one?" Applejack grabbed a bright red apple out of one of the baskets and tossed it to Amber. She grabbed it and took a big bite. "Mm... That's good." she said as she chewed and swallowed. "Sweetest apple I've ever eaten." "Thanks." Applejack said with a warm smile. "You should try our apple pies, they're mighty tasty." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Rarity? You in?" Rainbow Dash asked as she and Amber walked through the door of Carousel Boutique. "I've got someone I'd like you to meet." She looked around, and couldn't see Rarity anywhere. "Uh, Rarity?" The room was silent, Rarity most likely wasn't home. But Rainbow Dash wasn't sure why the door was unlocked then. "Maybe we should come back later..." Amber suggested. "Yeah, I don't think she's home." Rainbow Dash said, turning back to the door. Rainbow Dash pulled the door back open, and was about to leave when she heard small 'bang' noise coming from upstairs. They looked at each other confusedly, and walked back into the main room. "Rarity?" Rainbow Dash called out again, a little louder this time. "Hello? Is someone there?" a voice called back, which Rainbow Dash could tell was Rarity's. "Yeah, it's me, Rainbow Dash." "Oh, Rainbow Dash. Just a second, I'll be down in a moment." Rainbow Dash sighed, and she and Amber sat down on Rarity's lounge. A minute or so passed, before they heard Rarity's upstairs door open and saw her trot cheerfully down the stairs. "Good afternoon, Rainbow Dash." She was wearing a dress which was decorated with all sorts of jewels. "How does my new dress look? Fabulous, isn't it?" she said, striking a pose. "I just finished it then." "Uh, yeah... It's great." Rainbow Dash said. "But I came over to introduce you to my new friend, Amber." Rarity looked over to the couch were she sat and saw the orange pegasus. "A new pony? How wonderful!" she said with a grin. "I haven't had a pony to model for me for a while." "Rarity!" Rainbow Dash said, disapproving the idea. "Amber's not modelling for you, you can't do that with every new pony you meet!" "Yeah, sorry, Rarity." Amber said, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not really the type of pony for that." "Hm, okay..." Rarity said, frowning. "Mannequins are good, but they don't work like a real pony." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "There's one more pony I need you to meet." Rainbow Dash said to Amber as the pair walked up the path towards Fluttershy's cottage. "My friend Fluttershy, she used to live in Cloudesdale as well." They walked over the small bridge outside the cottage and up to the door. "Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked, knocking. "Can you open the door please?" They stood there for a moment, before the door opened, but it wasn't Fluttershy. Rather, it was Angel. "Hi, Angel." Rainbow Dash said with an agitated frown. She didn't particularly like Angel. "Is Fluttershy home?" Angel pointed inside, signalling towards the next room. Rainbow Dash and Amber walked passed him and into the lounge room. Once they were in the room, they saw Fluttershy sitting on the couch, reading and eating a bowl of hay. "Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked. Fluttershy jolted her head to the doorway in fright. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, you scared me." She lowered the book and closed it in her lap. "Can I help you?" "I just wanted to introduce you to my new friend, Amber." She ushered Amber forward towards Fluttershy. "Uh, hi Fluttershy. Nice to meet you." Amber said with a smile, extending her leg towards her for a hoofshake. Fluttershy looked down timidly, trying to ignore Amber's welcoming hoof. "Uh, um..." she mumbled shyly. "Hello..." "Uh, okay..." Amber said, awkwardly retracting her leg. She turned to Rainbow Dash unsurely. "Oh Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "You're way too shy." Fluttershy looked back up sheepishly and sighed. "I'm sorry, Amber." She apologetically offered a hoofshake in return. "It's nice to meet you too." "That's more like it." Rainbow Dash said, grinning. "There's not really much more to say." Rainbow Dash said to Amber as they walked down the street, the sun had almost vanished over the horizon. The street was mostly barren of ponies, many of them had already gone home. "Have you got a weather schedule yet?" "No, not yet." Amber said as they approached her house. "Okay, I'll get you one and give it to you, sometime this week. It's going to be raining on Tuesday, and then we clear those clouds away on Thursday." "Okay, I'll write that down somewhere until you get me a schedule." Amber got her new keys out of her saddlebag, and proceeded to unlock the door. "I'll see you later then?" Rainbow Dash asked as Amber walked in and set her bags down beside the door. "Okay, see you later, Rainbow Dash." Amber said, shutting the door as Rainbow Dash began to walk away. "See ya Amber." Chapter 1.5: Before (cont.)It was Thursday. Time to clear away the clouds once again. Although it had only been a few days, Rainbow Dash and Amber were great friends. They thought nothing could go wrong. It was all downhill from there. Rainbow Dash walked along the road to town, keeping an eye out for Amber. She spotted her in town, and increased her pace slightly. "Hi Amber." she said as she approached her. She slowed her pace to a stop. "Ready to clear away the clouds?" "Oh, hi Rainbow Dash." she said, yawning and stretching her wings. "Yeah, I'm ready." "Heh, you still tired from Pinkie Pie's party last night?" "Mm, yeah. She sure does know how to throw a good party." Rainbow Dash looked at the large cumulus which swirled overhead. "Well, I was going to let you take this shift on your own, but if you're too tired..." "What? No!" Amber said, springing to life. "I can do this easily!" "You sure? I don't want to overwork you..." "What? Me? No way, I'll have this sky cleared in no time!" Amber also looked up at the clouds, she was fairly confident she could do it with ease. She slowly extended her wings and lifted herself into the air. "How quick did you say you could do this?" "Ten seconds, why? You gonna try and beat me?" she asked jokingly. "Hm, we'll see..." Amber said with a slight grin. "Sure, go ahead. But nopony can clear the sky faster than me!" "Wanna bet?" With that, Amber rocketed into the sky and began smashing through the clouds. Rainbow Dash timed her silently in her head, but she was actually pretty impressed; Amber was making great time, five seconds in and already the sky was almost clear. As Amber flew through the final cloud, Rainbow Dash stopped counting, and was quite worried about the result. "Eight s- seconds..." she mumbled in shock. "So..." Amber said, landing with a conceit grin. "How'd I do?" "Eight seconds..." Rainbow Dash repeated, still in shock. "See? Told ya." "But... How'd you do that? I've never met a pony who could do that before..." "I dunno, it's just normal..." Amber looked around the street and saw the café where they had lunch the day they had met. "Wanna get a bite to eat?" she asked, completely missing how distraught Rainbow Dash actually was. "Er, um, s- sure..." she mumbled. One of her boastful aspects had just been lost. Rainbow Dash groaned as the glare of the dazzling sunlight broke over the distant horizon and onto her eyelids, waking her. She moaned as she lugged herself out of bed and into the living room. Last night, she did some thinking, and realised how unimportant it was, that Amber could clear the sky faster than her. So what? It didn't matter, and she shouldn't be jealous. Or should she? Rainbow Dash quickly pushed these muddled thoughts out of her mind, she had other things to think about at the moment. She had to leave soon for the Wonderbolt's Academy, so at least she could forget about all of that while she was there. She opened her front door and gazed out over the town. It was quite relaxing, the slight breeze on her coat. She stood there for another moment, before leaping off the door step and soaring back into the sky, focusing on the day ahead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Listen up, rookies!" Spitfire ordered, strict as always. "Today we're going to test you on your speed, I don't want any slacking, is that clear?" "Yes, ma'am!" the cadets all chanted in unison. "Good." She walked down to the opposite end of the group. "Before we begin, I would like to introduce a new member to the team." She looked over to the other end of the runway, a pegasus was walking towards them. Once they got close enough, Rainbow Dash took a single look at them, and for a moment she swore it was Amber, but it couldn't be... Could it? There was no way, she was certain. "Everypony, this is the newest member of your team." Spitfire said. "This is Amber." As those three final words hit Rainbow Dash's ears, she opened her mouth agape in disbelief. The one mare that she didn't really want to see today, and there she was. "Uh, p- permission to speak?" Rainbow Dash stuttered as she watched Amber walk to the end of the line. "What is it, Rainbow Dash?" Spitfire asked with a sigh. "Why is she joining? It's mid-term, ponies can't join now." "Well, Rainbow Dash, this is an exception. Deal with it." She glared at Rainbow Dash. "My niece is just what this team needs to pick up their game, you understand?" "Niece?!" Rainbow Dash looked down the end at Amber. She orange mare looked back and smiled at her. Rainbow Dash tried her best to force a smile in return, but as soon as she looked away, her face dropped back into a frown. "Alright, everypony," Spitfire said, raising her whistle up to her mouth. "Three hundred laps, now!" Almost instantly, Rainbow Dash and Amber took off, and began flying around the academy. As Rainbow Dash had expected, Amber was slowly getting further and further ahead of her. She beat her wings rapidly to try and keep up, but she just couldn't do it. As she flew, she thought about what Spitfire had said. Rainbow Dash wouldn't have thought that they were related. Maybe that was why Amber was allowed to join halfway through the term. She didn't know. Although it was a lost cause, Rainbow Dash continued to flap her wings as fast as she could. If she was going to come second, then she wanted to finish as close to Amber as she could, which was becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Suddenly, the strain Rainbow Dash was putting on her wings began to take it's toll, she felt them begin to cramp up. And before she knew what was happening, she found herself plummeting towards the ground. Luckily enough, she landed on the grass beside the runway. Actually, it was more crashing than actually landing. She lay face first in the grass. She didn't want to get up, she just wanted to lie there. But of course, she couldn't. She lifted her head and looked up, her face covered in dirt, and saw Spitfire, glaring down at her. Although she couldn't see her eyes behind her glasses, Rainbow Dash imagined disappointment or disapproval in them. "Something the matter, Rainbow Dash?" Spitfire asked. "Uh, no, ma'am." Rainbow Dash sighed, standing and wiping away some of the dirt on her face. "I'm just not feeling my best right now..." "Hm, why don't you take five." "Yeah, I need to rest for a moment..." Rainbow Dash flew home, alone. She was thinking. She had done a lot of that recently. Amber was obliviously ruining her, but it wasn't her fault. If anything, it was her own fault for letting it get to her. Yes, it annoyed her, but she was overreacting. It was nothing. A new friend was nothing to be angry or upset about. She should be happy, so why wasn't she? "Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash looked back to see who it was (as if she didn't already know), and of course she saw Amber, slowly approaching. "Oh, why won't she leave me alone?" she said to herself. "Hey, how's it going?" Amber asked when she caught up to her. "You left before I had a chance to talk to you." "Yeah, I'm fine..." she sighed. Amber looked at her oddly. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You seem depressed or something." "Look, I'm fine." She looked up and faked a smile. "I'm okay." "Hm, alright..." Amber said, slightly suspicious. "Anyway, what're you doing when you get back? Anything interesting?" "No." Rainbow Dash sighed, but it was true. "I'll probably just go home." "Yeah, me too... Wanna come to my house?" Rainbow Dash looked over to Amber, that question infuriated for some reason. "N- No..." Rainbow Dash replied, trying to suppress her anger the best she could. "No thanks..." "Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you later then." Amber said flying ahead of Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, see ya..." she mumbled in return. It had been a long week for Rainbow Dash. She had not only made a new friend, but she kind of developed a feeling of jealousy towards her. She hadn't really been jealous before, mainly because she never had much competition in the past. Today, however, she was hoping to ignore that. She had plans with Twilight to go to the park for a couple of hours. It wasn't much, but at least she had an excuse to get some peace from Amber for a while. She gently trotted through town, she sky was still sunny as she had left it. She looked around for Twilight, but she also kept an eye out for Amber, she wanted to try and avoid her today. She quickly spotted Twilight, standing in the middle of the street, and she sped up slightly to reach her quicker. However, upon seeing Twilight in conversation with a certain orange pegasus, she found herself grinding to a halt. She looked over at the two, her mind filling with anger. "Why does she constantly have to be in my way?!" she thought to herself. She thought about turning around and leaving, but she couldn't let Twilight down. She continued walking towards, quite slow, an hoped this conversation would be short. "Hey Twilight." Rainbow Dash said, interrupting them. "Oh, hi Rainbow Dash." Twilight replied. Amber also said hi, but she ignored her. "So, ready to go to the park?" Twilight looked at her confusedly, and Rainbow Dash feared what that expression was for. "Park?" Twilight said, thinking. "Oh, the park! I completely forgot!" She turned to Amber. "I just agreed to go to Sugarcube Corner with Amber, you don't mind if I go, do you?" Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, her mouth agape in growing anger, and then she turned to Amber. She looked at her, and she was mad. All of her suppressed anger which had built up over the past week was finally being exerted. Something inside her broke for a moment, something snapped. "No!" she yelled, everypony in the street turned their heads toward the yelling. She leaned forward, towards the shocked mare and continued yelling. "You're better than me at my job, you show up randomly at the Wonderbolt Academy and become better than me, and now you're stealing my friends!!" she yelled, snarling. "Rainbow Dash, calm down." Twilight said. "We're just going to the park." Although Amber was quite shocked and scared at Rainbow Dash's sudden moment of rage, the thing that came next she never saw coming. Rainbow Dash's hoof, colliding with her face. Rainbow Dash watched as her swing sent Amber backwards, crashing against a wall behind her. Everypony gasped in shock. Rainbow Dash took a few steps over to where Amber lay helplessly. Once again, she drew her hoof back for anther punch to her face, Amber closed her eyes and tried to cover her face with her forelegs. As she stood there, her breaths quite heavy, Rainbow Dash looked over to her threatening hoof, and suddenly realised what she had just done. Amber opened her eyes and looked back up at her, letting Rainbow Dash saw her bloody nose and slightly black eye. "Oh no..." she whimpered as she lowered her hoof. "Amber, I'm so sorry!" she cried, trying to help her up. "Don't touch me!" Amber said, smacking her hoof away. Rainbow Dash wasn't sure if she was rejecting her help because she was scared, or just angry. Rainbow Dash looked back up to face the crowd. She looked at each and every one of their faces, they all had the same unsure glare in their eyes. The one that hurt her the most were Twilight, and also her other four friends who had just joined the crowd. "Rainbow Dash..." Twilight said, her eyes showing her disappointment. "What have you done?" "I- I- I didn't mean to!" Rainbow Dash cried as her friends went to help the injured pegasus. "I couldn't control myself!" Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, even Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy all looked back towards Rainbow Dash in uncertainty. The whole town also stared unsurely at her, she was so ashamed. Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do. She was scared, she felt like just falling to the ground and sobbing, but their intimidating eyes made it so hard to think. "Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, helping Amber up. "I think you should leave, now." Knowing what was best, Rainbow Dash quickly kicked off the ground and left, tears running from her face. Rainbow Dash walked around her house, trying not cry. The angry expressions on everypony's faces, she couldn't get it out of her mind. It terrified her. So after some thinking, she realised what she had to do; leave. Her friends were angry at her, the town looked at her with contempt, and she'll probably even get kicked off the Wonderbolts for punching Spitfire's niece. There was nothing left for her here. She stood on her doorstep, her saddlebag hanging over her back. She shut the door behind her, and placed a note under it. "Goodbye, Ponyville." she said as she leapt forward, soaring off, without another word. Rainbow Dash sighed depressingly as the hot sun continued to beat down onto her sore body. She lowered her head and faced towards the ground. She wanted to cry, but she was so dehydrated, there were no tears to be shed. As she stared down blankly, she noticed a pony's shadow moving over the ground she was looking at. "Rainbow Dash?" the pony in front of her asked. Rainbow Dash was surprised, she hadn't heard her name said aloud for a while. If the pony knew her name, then maybe they could help her somehow. Rainbow Dash slowly raised her head up to the figure, but couldn't tell who it was as the sun glared from behind them. "Rainbow Dash, what happened to you?" they asked, and although she couldn't directly see her, Rainbow Dash was fairly sure it was a mare. Rainbow Dash just stared back blankly at the unidentified mare, her breaths quite heavy. "Who... Who are you?" she finally asked. The mare leaned to the left slightly, out of the path of the sun, and Rainbow Dash immediately knew who it was. "Mind if I sit next to you?" "Yes, please. I could use a friend right now." Chapter 2: A New Start"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight called out as she, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, and even Amber stood on the ground below her empty house. "Rainbow Dash, we're sorry for how we acted the other day, please come outside." There was no response. They all exchanged looks of worry, as well as Amber. "Fluttershy, can you please fly up there and get her to come outside?" "Um, okay, I'll try my best..." she said nervously as she lifted off the ground and began flying up towards the house. She landed on the doorstep and knocked on the door, not noticing the note which Rainbow Dash had left for them. "Rainbow Dash?" she asked pleadingly. "Are you going to come outside? It's been three days. We're sorry for being so angry to you the other day, but you shouldn't have hurt her... Please, just come outside." Upon once again hearing no response, Fluttershy lowered her head in failure. But it was from doing so that she came to notice the small piece of paper underneath the door. She slowly picked it up and began reading it. Twilight continued looking up to the sky, awaiting Fluttershy's return. Rather than seeing her come back with Rainbow Dash, they heard a short yelp, before seeing Fluttershy return alone. When she landed, her friends looked at Fluttershy worriedly. She was almost in tears. "Fluttershy? What's the matter?" Applejack asked, comforting her. "I- I-" she stuttered as she began to cry. "I found this..." She held up the note. "What's that?" Twilight said, taking it. She looked down at it and read it aloud. To whom it may concern, If you're reading this note, then it means you've probably come looking for me. I'm sorry, but it's too late. I've already left Ponyville and I'm never coming back. Everypony makes mistakes in life, but I fear that the consequences of my actions are too much for me to handle. Everypony in town hates me, even my best friends. Not only that, but my potential Wonderbolts career is hanging by a thread, but that doesn't really mean very much to me anymore... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anypony, but these things happen sometimes. I've never hated myself more, so I've decided to take the coward's way out and run away. I'm moving on with my life, I suggest you all do the same. I'm sorry, to all of you. Goodbye. Sincerely, Rainbow Dash P.S Please don't try to come after me. "She's... gone?" Rarity asked sadly. "But, why would she leave? Was she really that upset?" "Of course she was." Twilight said, looking over the note another time and passing it to Spike. "We overreacted. We should have been more supportive of her." "What do you mean? She assaulted Amber, why should we have been supportive?" Twilight looked around at all of them, they were all wondering where she was going with this. "Because, it wasn't completely her fault... It was partly ours as well..." She sighed, and looked over to Amber. "As I was told, Amber was supposed to be the new weatherpony, but actually proved to be able to do it better than Rainbow Dash. She also got into the Wonderbolts Academy, and of course, she was better at that too." "Yeah, but w-" Applejack began. "And then," Twilight continued, cutting her off. "I forgot that Rainbow Dash and I had plans for the day, so I agreed to go to Sugarcube Corner with Amber. Her job and Wonderbolt status didn't mean too much to her when compared to her friends, so when she thought Amber was 'stealing' us from her, her anger and jealousy had gotten the best of her, and then simply... lost control." "Oh," Amber began, frowning. "I didn't mean to make her jealous, I just wanted to impress her..." "Ah know, it ain't your fault." Applejack said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back over to Twilight. "So, what do we do now?" "Nothing." "What?!" her friends all said in unison. "Twilight," Rarity said. "Rainbow Dash has run away over a silly misunderstanding, and you want us to just sit here and do nothing?" "I don't know!" Twilight exclaimed. "She told us not to go after her, I don't know what to do. But we should obey her wishes." "But she thinks we hate her! I don't want her to live the rest of her life in guilt and sorrow." "But it would be nearly impossible, no one knows where she went." Twilight said. "She could be anywhere in Equestria by now." Rarity sighed, and walked over to Fluttershy, who was still weeping. "Look at this face, Twilight." she said, comforting her. Fluttershy looked up at Twilight, her face covered in tears. "Take a look, and tell me you're not going to do something for Rainbow Dash." "Rarity, I-" Twilight said unsurely. Fluttershy's eyes were very emotional, Rarity was making a very good case. "What if we can't find her? What happens then?" "We can't leave her out there." "Fine..." Twilight said, sighing. "We'll give her a month. If we don't hear from her by then, then we'll go looking for her." "You look terrible, you know that right?" Trixie said as she sat beside Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, I know..." she sighed. "I haven't slept in a few days. I haven't had anywhere to sleep." "But what's a pony like you doing on the streets of Manehattan? Why aren't you in Ponyville with your friends?" "Well, it's a long story to say the least. But, I don't really want to say what happened..." "Why?" "Because I'm exhausted, that's why." "Oh, okay..." Rainbow Dash groaned as she leaned back against the hay bale. She rubbed her hooves over her eyes and slumped back. "You look awful..." Trixie said again. "Heh, I know." Rainbow Dash said, not opening her eyes. "I'm so thirsty..." "Well do you want to come to my place? I can help you." Rainbow Dash looked up at her unsurely. "What happened to you?" she asked. "You seem... different." "It's been a while since we last met, a lot of things have happened to me." "What kind of things?" Trixie hesitated for a moment, before she spoke. "Uh, n- nevermind that..." she said, before changing the subject. "So, are you gonna come to my apartment? It's only a couple of blocks away." "Only if you don't mind..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash watched as Trixie unlocked the door to her apartment and walked inside. She followed her in. She looked around the rather small-ish living room. It had a connecting kitchen, and a couple of other doors opposite it. "Hm, it's nice." she complimented. "It's very... cozy..." "Yeah, it's not much," Trixie said, walking into the kitchen. "But it is home, so I can't really complain. Please, make yourself at home." She looked around the kitchen a bit. "So, what can I get you?" "Water, just water thanks." she said, taking a seat on her couch. "You sure? I think I've got some apple cider in here somewhere..." she said, rummaging around the kitchen. "Oh, no thanks. I'd rather not have cider right now..." "Oh well, suit yourself." Trixie said, shrugging. Trixie returned from the kitchen a few moments later with a large glass of water. She gave it to Rainbow Dash, and she quickly drank the whole thing, before setting it down on the coffee table in front of her. "Thanks." Rainbow Dash said, leaning back and closing her eyes. "No one's done anything nice for me since I left." "Well I'm glad I could help." Trixie said, sitting down beside her. "Do you feel better?" "Yeah, I do thanks." "So, are you going tell me what you're doing out here on your own?" "Yeah, I might as well tell you. It started just over a week ago, I was about to leave my house..." So Rainbow Dash began telling Trixie her story. She told her what had happened, and what she did to Amber that made her decide to leave. "Oh..." Trixie said once she had finished. "You punched her..." "Yeah, I did. And I'd never felt worse in my life. So that's why I left." Rainbow Dash stood up. "Uh, Trixie? You don't mind if I take a shower, would you?" "No, of course not. Go ahead." Trixie said. "You can stay the night if you want." "Oh, no thank you. I don't want to intrude..." "No, please. I want you to. Because I'm, uh... a bit lonely." "Lonely?" "Yeah, really lonely. I... don't have any friends..." she said woefully, frowning. "No friends?" "Yeah, it's true... I don't know why, but no one likes me." "I like you." Rainbow Dash said with a compassionate smile. "And right now, I don't have any friends either..." "Well, uh... do you want to be my friend?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Is there anything else you need?" Trixie said as Rainbow Dash lay down on her bed that Trixie had made up for her, which was really just the lounge with a pillow and blanket. "Are you sure you don't want the bed? I can sleep on the lounge instead." "No, I'm fine here, thanks. You've done more than enough already." Rainbow Dash said as she got comfy. "Why is that, anyway? Last time we met, you would have never done this for me. I mean, you were nicer than when we had first met, but I still would have never expected you to do this." "I told you, I'm lonely. But now I have a friend, and I want to make her feel welcome." "Oh, okay.... Well, thank you, I really appreciate it." She lay down onto the pillow and closed her eyes. "Well, goodnight Trixie." "Mm... Goodnight, Rainbow Dash..." Applejack placed three ripe, red apples onto the top of her cart, and swept up the bits that the customer had left. He placed the apples into his saddlebag and walked away with a smile. As he left, Applejack pulled a sign out of the back which read "Back in 5 Minutes" and placed it on the counter, and headed off to Twilight's library. "Hey Twilight. Any word from Rainbow Dash yet?" she asked, walking inside. Twilight looked over from the book she was reading to Applejack. "Uh, no... Not yet..." "Oh, where's that filly gotten to? She's been gone for ages." "It's not 'ages', it's been two weeks. Give her time." "Time? We've given her time, but she's still not here. Can't we go lookin' for her? Ah don't want her out there on her own, she needs us." "Applejack, stop worrying so much. I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is..." "Ah'm sorry, but... Ah just want her to be okay..." Twilight closed her book and walked over to AJ. "Come on, of course she is. It's Rainbow Dash, she's always okay. Trust me." Applejack looked up at Twilight's reassuring smile, and slowly began to smile herself. "Thanks, Twilight. Of course she's fine, right? Nothin' could stop that mare..." Back in Manehattan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Trixie, I'm home." Rainbow Dash called out as she walked into the apartment and placed her key on the bench. Almost two weeks she had been living with Trixie, and it was going pretty good so far. She did miss her friends back in Ponyville of course, she thought about them almost all the time, but things were different now; they weren't a part of her life anymore. She hadn't intended on staying there for more than a day or so, but one thing led to another, and then she began living there. It felt good for her to have somewhere to call home, even if she was still sleeping on the couch. Things outside of the apartment were also picking up for her as well. She had a part-time job as a waitress. This job didn't exactly 'thrill' her, but if she was going to live with Trixie then she wanted to help pay off some rent, just to say thanks for taking her in when she needed it. Through all this, Trixie was still her only friend. In fact, she was the only pony who she really talked to, aside from ponies at work. Today, however, something was different, and not for the better. She noticed it as soon as she walked inside. What she saw was quite enigmatic, it was almost a bit scary. She would have never thought she would have found Trixie doing such a thing, but there she was, crying. "Trixie?" she asked unsurely. "Trixie, what's wrong?" "Oh, Rainbow Dash." she said, looking up and wiping her eyes. "I didn't think you got back until later." "No, my shift always ends at five..." Trixie looked over to the clock, which did in fact read quarter past five. "Huh, I must've lost track of time..." "Trixie, what's wrong?" "Oh, nothing, I'm fine..." "Are you sure?" "I'm fine, okay? Leave it." "Uh, alright..." Rainbow Dash slowly walked over and sat down beside Trixie on the lounge. It was very quiet, no one said anything. The little noise that could be heard was coming from the clock. It was very awkward. "So..." Rainbow Dash said, attempting to break the silence. "How was your day?" "Uh, good, good..." Trixie replied. "How about yours?" "Yeah, work was... normal as always..." They continued to sit, the awkwardness growing into a big shapeless mass between them. Since her last attempt had actually made the situation more uncomfortable, Rainbow Dash decided to just end it. "Anyways, I'm gonna go have a shower..." she said as she stood up and walked into the hallway. She knew there was something wrong with Trixie that she wasn't being told, but she wasn't about to go snooping around to find out. Rainbow Dash was happy. Very happy. In fact, her dreams were the only time she felt truly happy. Sure, she enjoyed Trixie's company, but it wasn't the same as being with her friends back in Ponyville. They were having a picnic, and it was a lovely day too. But as happy as it made her feel, she didn't want to dream of home. She wanted to put her past behind her and move on with her life, wherever fate may lead her. She snapped awake suddenly and looked around the room. It was dark, the room had a slight blue tint from the moonlight which shone through the window. She sighed and leaned back onto her pillow. She looked at the clock, which said 10:30, she had only been asleep for an hour. She rubbed her hooves over her eyes and snuggled up with the blanket, even though it was a fairly warm night. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't for some reason. She wasn't sure why, something was distracting her. She leaned back up and sat on the couch, listening out. She listened for a moment, before she could hear a faint, or possibly feeble noise, coming from the hall. She stood up and followed the noise, her curiosity becoming quite overwhelming, but stopped when she realised what it was. It was the quite unmistakable noise of Trixie crying, again. She looked up to the door which she was standing outside, it was Trixie's bedroom. She wasn't sure if she was to just walk away and not say anything like a reasonable pony would, or go in and talk to Trixie like a friend should. She wasn't very sure, she was pretty terrible at moral support. "Trixie?" she asked, knocking on the door. "Are you okay?" "Go away!" she yelled from inside the room. "Trixie? Do you want to talk about it?" She was fairly sure she wasn't doing very well. "I SAID GO AWAY!!" she yelled angrily. Rainbow Dash heard something heavy thud against the door. Without hesitation, Rainbow Dash flew back into the lounge room and dived back onto the couch. Obviously, she should have just left her alone. She was terrible at moral support. Author's Note Yes, Trixie. No one actually guessed it was her... As for why she's crying and being nice and stuff, I'll get into that in the next chapter. (Let me just say, that was certainly more words than I thought.) Chapter 3: Finding the RainbowThe suspense was quite unnerving for Rainbow Dash. She hadn't talked to Trixie since last night when she had yelled at her, so she wasn't sure how she was feeling this morning. As she sat on the lounge, she was feeling quite nervous. Trixie was her best friend, her only friend, so she certainly didn't want to make her think any worse of her. Her thoughts were disrupted when she heard the sound that she not only wanted to hear, but also feared; Trixie's bedroom door open. She watched as Trixie walked into the room and looked down at Rainbow Dash, she seemed very tired. She sighed, and sat down on the couch beside her. "Good morning." she said monotonically, avoiding eye contact. "Morning..." Rainbow Dash replied. There was a large silence, before she began talking again. "I'm sorry about last night, I shouldn't have intruded. I was just trying to help, that's all." Trixie looked up at Rainbow Dash and sighed heavily. "It's okay, you were only trying to be considerate. I shouldn't have yelled at you, I was just upset." "Well, uh, do you want to talk about it? Or do you just want me to leave it?" Trixie sighed again and slowly leaned back against the couch. "Rainbow Dash, do you remember when I first let you into my apartment, and I said you could stay?" "Yeah?" "You asked me why I was being so nice, and I said it was because I didn't have any friends." She paused for a moment. "I was lying." "Lying?" "Yes, that wasn't the real reason I took you in and took care of you. I mean, I didn't have any friends, but something else was bothering me." "Oh, okay. What was it?" "Rainbow Dash, I... I just needed someone..." "Needed someone? What do you mean?" "Well, something happened not long before I found you in the street and... it made me so upset..." "Well, uh, what was it?" The thing that Trixie said next, Rainbow Dash never thought she would ever hear her say. She knew that whatever was troubling her had to be something big, but she would have never thought it would be this. She felt like she was seeing Trixie for the very first time. "My fiancé left me..." "T- Trixie..." Rainbow Dash stuttered as Trixie began sobbing softly. "I'm so sorry... I didn't know you were getting married." "It's not your fault, these things happen sometimes, I just have to move on. I'll get over him." Trixie attempted a weak smile and looked over to Rainbow Dash. "I told you, a lot of things had happened in my life since we last saw each other." "Yeah, but... You've changed so much, you're like a completely different pony." "Yes, I have changed a lot..." She paused for a moment, then let out a short weep. "We were supposed to get married yesterday..." Trixie sniffled, her emotions were clear across her face for Rainbow Dash to see. She wiped away her tears. "Rainbow Dash, can you please promise me something?" she said pleadingly. "Yeah, sure, anything." Rainbow Dash replied. "Can you please... not leave me? I can't live alone anymore." Rainbow Dash looked at Trixie, and smiled. "Of course not, I promise. Besides, even if I did leave, where would I go? I need you just as much as you need me. A slight grin slowly spread across Trixie's face. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash..." she said. "You're the best friend I've ever had..." Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Spike all stood around the desk as Twilight laid out a map across it. She looked over it, it was a map of Equestria. "Now girls," she said. "If we're going to have any luck finding Rainbow Dash then we need to cover every town and city in Equestria. I'd say we should start with Cloudsdale, that's where she'd most likely be." "And if she's not there?" Rarity asked. "Then we'll just have to go looking for her elsewhere." "And how do you plan on getting us to Cloudsdale?" "The same way we got there for the Best Young Flyers competition. I'll use the spell that lets us walk on clouds, and then we'll just borrow the hot air balloon." The five ponies walked outside the library, the map in Twilight's saddlebag, and began walking through town. It was still quite early in the morning, the sun had just begun to shine over the mountains in the distance. Already the town was beginning to awaken, few ponies filled the streets and many businesses were still closed. There was some light rain last night, and the light of the sun caused the droplets to glisten like a freshly polished gemstone, it was quite a beautiful sight. But they didn't have the time to stop and observe the elegance of the town in the morning sun, they were on a mission. As they walked, Twilight stopped when she heard someone call her name. She looked around unsurely, until she identified where the voice had come from. She looked across the street, and saw Amber standing in the doorway of her house. "Hey Twilight," Amber said again. "Where are you five going?" "We're going out to try and find Rainbow Dash." Twilight replied. "Would you care to come along with us? We kind of need as much help as we can get right now." "Uh, I don't know Twilight... You're her friends, you should just go without me." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I've got stuff to do anyway... Good luck with finding her." "Thanks, we need it." Twilight turned to the four mares. "Okay, girls, let's get going. We've got a lot of places to go to." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Here we are." Twilight said as she and the other four got out of the balloon and onto the clouds. "Split up, ask around. We'll meet back here in half an hour, okay?" The four mares nodded in response. "Okay, let's get a move on." The five ponies began walking in a separate direction through the city. Twilight looked around, there were pegasi everywhere, but of course there was no sign of Rainbow Dash. "Excuse me, miss." she said to a mare. "I'm looking for a mare." She levitated a photo of Rainbow Dash out of her saddlebag. "Have you seen her?" "Uh, that's Rainbow Dash, right?" she asked. "Yeah?" Twilight's face began to light up. "Sorry, haven't seen her." "Oh, okay." She frowned again. "Thanks anyway." Twilight continued walking, occasionally asking a pony if they've seen Rainbow Dash, while at the same time keeping an eye out for her. She couldn't stop thinking about Rainbow Dash, she should have gone looking for her right away, rather than waiting a whole month. After twenty minutes passed, Twilight was still having no luck. She stopped, looked around, and sat down. "Hey, Twilight." Pinkie Pie said, coming out of nowhere and sitting beside her. "Found her yet?" "No..." Twilight sighed. "You?" "Nope. I asked every pegasus I saw, none of them have seen Rainbow Dash." She began to frown. "I don't think she's here." "Yeah, I figured that..." She let out a deep sigh. "We should head back to the others now." "Okay. Maybe they've found somepony who's seen her." They both stood up and began heading back to the balloon. "So, girls," Twilight said when the others joined her and Pinkie. "Did you have any better luck than us?" "I'm afraid not." Rarity said. "Me neither." Applejack added. "Uh, no." Fluttershy said with a frown. "I didn't really get to talk to very many ponies..." "Oh well, we gave it our best shot." Twilight said. She levitated the map out of the bag and looked at it. "Uh, moving on?" "Okay, where to next?" Pinkie asked. "Hm.. We should go to Las Pegasus next, so then we can travel across Equestria in a clockwise fashion." She looked over the map some more. "If we do that, then the last place we'll have to check is Manehattan." Twilight walked back over to the balloon and got it. "Come on, girls. It's gonna take us a while to go across all of Equestria, you might have to be away from home for a while." "Of course, Twilight." Rarity said. "I don't mind getting, ugh... a little dirty to save Rainbow Dash." "Save?" Twilight said back. "We're not saving Rainbow Dash, we only need to find her." "Fine, we're 'finding' her." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Um, excuse me?" Fluttershy asked timidly as ponies walked past her. Although they were ignoring her, she kept at it. "Uh, hello, have you seen-" "We'll never find her at this rate." Rarity said as she and the other three walked a couple of metres behind Fluttershy. "Look, we can't give up, not when we've come this far." Twilight said. "I'll give Fluttershy a hoof." "What's the point? We've been out here for two weeks and haven't seen any sign of Rainbow Dash. If she wasn't in Cloudsdale, what makes you think she would be here in Manehattan?" "We have to check everywhere, every corner of Equestria. I just want to know that she's okay." "Okay, Twilight." sighed Rarity. "We'll keep looking." Twilight gave Rarity a quick grin, and then walked ahead to catch up with Fluttershy. "Hey, Fluttershy." she said once she had caught up with her. "I admire your persistence, but we're not making much progress." "I know." Fluttershy sighed. "I have trouble getting ponies' attention sometimes." "Why don't I give you a hoof." Twilight looked around a bit, and then stopped the pony who was walking past. "Hi, we're looking for this mare." she said, levitating the photo of Rainbow Dash out of her saddlebag. "Have you seen her?" "Uh, no... Sorry, kid." Twilight frowned slightly, before approaching a stallion who was coming towards them. "Excuse me, have you seen this mare?" Twilight asked, showing him the photo. "Mm..." the stallion hummed, observing the photo. "Uh, yes, I've seen her, that mare with the rainbow mane." "You have?" Twilight said, smiling. "Where? Do you know where she is?" "She's a waitress." he said. "She works in that restaurant over there." he said, pointing across the street. "Waitress?" Twilight asked, looking to her friends who had joined her. "Uh, thank you." she said as they galloped towards the restaurant. "Yeah, no problem." The five mares slowed their pace as they approached the doors of the restaurant. Twilight took a deep breath as she pushed open the door and walked in, the others followed. She looked around the room, there were several tables scattered around, but only a few of them were occupied. There was no sign of Rainbow Dash. "Hello, may I help you?" one of the waitresses asked, walking over to them. "Uh, hi." Twilight said. "Uh, we're not eating, but we were wondering if you could tell us where we could find a mare named Rainbow Dash?" "Oh, yeah, she's not working today." she replied. "Oh... Well, do you know where she lives?" "Yeah, she said she lives in an apartment building about a block away..." Rainbow Dash sat, slumped over the couch. It had been a very lazy afternoon for her. Trixie was in the kitchen making some lunch, so there wasn't much for her to do. The silence was quite relaxing, so the knocking on the door almost startled her. "I'll get it." Trixie said, walking out of the kitchen. "No, I'll get it." Rainbow Dash said, standing herself up. Rainbow Dash walked towards the front door of their apartment. She didn't know who it was behind the door, but she still answered it like she normally would. "Hello?" she asked, opening the door. Once she saw the five ponies who stood just outside the doorway, she stopped, her mouth agape. The other ponies also simply stood there, no one spoke. "Rainbow Dash, who is it?" Trixie asked. Rainbow Dash remained silent in shock, but then mumbled out a single word. "Hello..." Author's Note That chapter was really poorly done... Next chapter will (probably) be the last. As you can probably guess, Rainbow Dash's promise to stay with Trixie will conflict with Twilight's plead for her to return home. And there is no romance between Trixie and RD. Chapter 4: Choice (kind of rewritten)Rainbow Dash stared in disbelief at the five ponies who stood before her: Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Somehow, they had found her. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said with a huge smile. She stepped forward and wrapped Rainbow Dash in a hug. "I'm so glad we found you, we've all missed you so much." "Twilight? What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We've come to apologise." She released her from her hug and frowned slightly. "We didn't want for you to leave town, we overreacted... We're so sorry, Rainbow Dash." "Oh... You're here to say sorry..." she replied. "Well, I guess I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have left like that, I was just feeling really guilty..." "So you're alright?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash nodded promtly. "That's wonderful! I hoped you wouldn't be too mad at us." Her smile returned. "So does that mean you'll come back home with us?" "Well, I'm... not sure if I can..." "Not sure?" Rarity asked. "Why ever not?" "Uh, well... Maybe you should meet my roommate." "Hey," Rainbow Dash said to Trixie as she led the others inside. "Guess who's here?" Trixie turned around from what she was doing and looked at the ponies who were now standing in her living room. She stared unsurely for a moment, before speaking. "T- Twilight? What are you doing here?" "Oh... Hi, Trixie..." Twilight said. "Haven't seen you for a while. You're Rainbow Dash's roommate?" "Uh, yeah..." she said with a casual shrug. "Anyway, what are you doing here?" "They want me to go back to Ponyville with them..." Rainbow Dash replied. "Ponyville? But... But what about me?" "Well that's the thing..." She looked back to her other friends. "I'm not sure if I can go back..." "Not sure?" Applejack asked. "Why ever not, sugarcube?" "Well, I kind of have to make a choice... I either go back to Ponyville with you, or... stay here with Trixie." "Wait, why do you want to stay with Trixie?" asked Twilight. "Well, I promised I'd stay with her... She'd be lonely without me." Rainbow Dash replied, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "But we want you to come with us... We went all over Equestria looking for you." Twilight said. She sighed heavily. "Fine, if you want to stay here with Trixie, then we understand." Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight and the other four mares, she had missed them so much, but now she wished they hadn't come. She had to make a choice, but no matter which option she chooses, someone will end up disappointed. "Uh... I don't know..." Rainbow Dash mumbled, looking between Trixie and the other five. "This is feeling really rushed. I mean, you just showed up out of nowhere and asked me to leave with you." "Rainbow Dash, just..." Twilight paused for a moment. "Just choose whoever you want. If you want to stay with Trixie, then just say so and we'll be on our way." "What about the townsponies? I don't think I can show my face in that town again..." "Oh, no. The day after you... assaulted Amber, it was like they had completely forgotten what had happened." Rainbow Dash continued looking back and forth between them. Twilight could tell that she was almost in tears, which wasn't a normal thing for her to do. "I... I need time to think..." she said. She walked towards the door. "I'll be back..." So many thoughts cluttered Rainbow Dash's mind. Of course she wanted to go back home to Ponyville, put things back to the way they were. But then she thought about Trixie. She didn't want to leave her on her own. She wanted to stay just as much as she wanted to leave. The more she thought about it, the harder it was to think about the matter. As she walked along the street, she looked at the ponies and the buildings. This was her home, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to leave. She looked up as a single drop of water landed on her head; it was starting to rain. As it got heavier, most ponies sought shelter, but she just kept walking. The rain was the least of her worries at the moment. She kept thinking about what she had to do. She knew she had to choose eventually, and that her choice would affect the rest of life. Either she stays in Manehattan and live as a city pony, or returns to her old life in Ponyville. But of course, that wasn't what she had to choose between. She had to choose between her friends. As the rain poured down onto her, she stopped walking for a moment. She took a deep breath of the cold air. She knew she was just procrastinating. She hadn't ever had to make a decision like this before, she never thought she'd ever have to choose between friends, especially Trixie. Finally, she stopped thinking. Everything that had happened over the last month had all seemed so fast. She made a new friend, then lost all of her friends, and now they want her back... Rainbow Dash turned around and sighed as she thought over it a few more times. "Well," she said to herself. She began walking back towards the apartment. "Let's get this over with." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash slowly raised her hoof and pushed open the door. The six ponies all turned and looked at the soaked mare. "Hey, guys." Rainbow Dash said. "Rainbow Dash, you're back... and wet..." Trixie said with a frown. "Let me go get you a towel..." Trixie walked into the bathroom and returned a few moments later with a towel, which she gave to Rainbow Dash. "So, have you made a decision yet?" Twilight asked. "Yes, I have." Rainbow Dash replied. "Well then, go ahead. We're listening." Rainbow Dash walked into the lounge room, her head lowered, and stood by them. "I never wanted to leave Ponyville, I was just so upset. I was scared... I felt like killing myself..." she said. "And if I had to blame anyone, I'd have to say it was my fault. I shouldn't have left." "I know." Twilight said. "But it was just as much our fault as yours." "But if I hadn't of run away then I wouldn't even have to choose between you." She sighed and sat down on the lounge. "Just over a month ago, I was sitting on a street in Manehattan, and I didn't care much... about anything really. But then Trixie found me. She took me into her home when I needed help and took care of me. And if it weren't for her, I'd probably be dead by now..." "So... Are you staying here with Trixie?" Rainbow Dash looked up to Twilight and sighed. As much as it broke her heart, she had to tell them. "I made a promise with Trixie and I'm going to keep it." She paused for a moment as a few tears streaked down her face. "I want to stay here with Trixie." Rainbow Dash watched as her friends faces started to tear up. "I'm sorry, but... I'm not coming home with you. I'm sorry." "It's okay." Twilight said, wiping her eyes. "I understand. You can stay, we'll be on our way." "You don't have to leave right away, you can stay here for a bit if you want..." Rainbow Dash said, also beginning to cry slightly. "Rainbow Dash... Goodbye." Twilight said. "Come on, girls. Let's go." Rainbow Dash watched as Twilight headed towards the door, her head lowered and her tears running down her face and onto the floor, which was already wet from Rainbow Dash. She could see Fluttershy's pain and sadness of her broken heart building up on her face, tears streaming from her eyes. Suddenly, Fluttershy lunged forward, wrapping Rainbow Dash in a tight hug. "Rainbow Dash, I don't want to go!" she sobbed. "Fluttershy, you have to. You belong in Ponyville. Please, go. I don't like to see you sad..." Fluttershy pulled away from the hug and looked at Rainbow Dash. She gave a weary smile as Rainbow Dash raised a hoof and wiped the tears off her cheek. She turned around and joined the others who were heading towards the door, just as heart-broken as Fluttershy. "Twilight, wait." Trixie said abruptly. The five mares stopped at the door and looked over to Trixie, who was walking towards Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash," Trixie said, there were also a few tears in her eyes. "Please, go with them." "Trixie, I... I made my choice." she replied. "I'm want to stay with you." "But I don't want you to." "W- Why not?" "I just want what's best for you, and this isn't it. You don't deserve a life like mine." "What do you mean?" "You're not... happy here. I know how much you love your friends, you need to go with them." "No, of course I'm happy here." Rainbow Dash smiled slightly. "No you're not. Please, go with them." Rainbow Dash looked back to the others who were still standing by the door. "But what about you? You said it yourself, you're lonely." "I know... But I don't want you to be the same." Trixie said, grinning ever so slightly. "I'm not asking you." Rainbow Dash gave Trixie a slight nod. "I don't know what to say. You took care of me, and now I'm just going to leave..." "Just... go and live your life. I'll be fine on my own." "Are you sure?" "Of course, don't worry about me." She leaned forward and gave her a hug. "Goodbye, Rainbow Dash. I'll miss you." "I'll miss you too." Rainbow Dash said, hugging her back. "I can't thank you enough for all you've done for me." "Nah, it's fine." She pulled away from the hug. "Actually, I should thank you. I haven't had a friend like you for a while." Rainbow Dash smiled, and walked towards the door. "Bye, Trixie. I'll visit you." "Thank you, Rainbow Dash. This has been the best month of my life... Goodbye." Trixie smiled as she fought back tears. "And don't forget to say sorry to Amber when you get back." "I will." And without another word, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy left the room. As Fluttershy shut the door behind her, the room became dead silent. Trixie had almost forgotten what it was like to live alone. She sighed, and sat down on the lounge. "That was fun while it lasted..." she said to herself. She closed her eyes and leaned back. "Well, back to my depressing life of loneliness." Suddenly, the silence was broken when Trixie heard the door opening. She looked up, and saw Rainbow Dash. "Hello again." she said. "Trixie, I had an idea." Rainbow Dash said. "It's pretty stupid, but... would you..." Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. "Would you like to live in Ponyville with us?" Trixie looked at Rainbow Dash blankly. "You... You want me to come with you?" Rainbow Dash nodded. "If you lived in Ponyville you could make more friends... You wouldn't have to be lonely anymore." A slight smile formed on Trixie's muzzle. "Rainbow Dash, I would like nothing more." Rainbow Dash breathed in the warm summer air as she and her six best friends walked beside her. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Trixie. When she had ran away, she thought she had no friends. Now, she had six. Six wonderful ponies who stood by her no matter what, and she loved each and every one of them. As they walked over the small hill, Rainbow Dash beamed as she saw distant buildings which could simply be described as home. It was the best thing she'd seen in a long time. She slowly spread her wings and lifted herself up into the air. "I'm gonna go ahead and find Amber." she said to her friends. "This is going to be the best apology ever!" Author's Note I did it! I finished A Rainbow Alone! This is where I'm supposed to put the 'Thank You's. So, here goes. Thank you to everyone who read, liked, commented on, or even read the title. Special thanks to everypony who favourited it. I know my story wasn't the best, but I'm only 14 so my stories aren't going to be great. I don't expect them to be this popular, so this was pretty different for me. Chapter 0: PrologueWhat was wrong with Rainbow Dash? Well, what was right? That would be the shorter answer. Her hooves were aching, and her legs were tired. She was hungry, thirsty, and hadn't slept in days. She was certainly too weak to fly. She could feel herself sweating under the harsh summer sun, dehydrating her to the point of nearly collapsing. She watched as ponies passed her, silently judging the mare based on the poor quality of her coat and mane, which she could understand. Her filthy, scruffy coat looked atrocious when compared to their coats. Manehattan ponies were always so egotistic when it came to these sorts of things. She looked up the sky, it was very bland, only a few clouds were left dangling in the picturesque blue sky. It reminded her a lot of Ponyville, her home, but she quickly shook away these thoughts. She didn't want to think of Ponyville right now. She didn't even want to think of her friends. They were all so angry at her when she had left. Rainbow Dash was feeling awful, and not just physically. She was hating herself at the moment. Everything she had done, why she had left, it all made her feel so ashamed and guilty. Eventually, she stopped walking, and looked around. Her hooves felt like they were about to shatter. She looked around for somewhere to rest, but upon not seeing anywhere suitable, she just decided to sit down beside a nearby bale of hay, resting beside a building. All she had with her was her saddlebags, which she had only packed enough food and water to last her a couple of days, but was now empty. She groaned slightly as her hungriness got the best of her, the city ponies still looking at her as a disgrace to their society. Rainbow Dash wished they would help her, but why would they? She was no different from the many other homeless ponies they passed. No one cared, Rainbow Dash wasn't even sure if she cared anymore. She ate a few stalks of hay from the bale that she was resting against, but of course that didn't satisfy her hunger. She wanted to eat more but she knew she couldn't, it wasn't hers to take. Although she knew she had to do something soon to save her own life, she just sat there, trying to overcome her memories of home. She thought about what she had done, why her friends were mad, and why she had to leave. She didn't think somepony's life could fall apart in a mere ten days, but somehow she had managed to do it. She also thought about how it had all started. She thought back to ten days ago, a single orange feather falling from the sky... Author's Note A short prologue, intended to make the reader curious, therefore making them want to continue reading.
Chapter 1: BeforeTen Days Ago ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash quickly finished the rest of her breakfast and gave her mane a quick brush, but not too much. She took a look at her weather schedule, and looked under today's date. "Hm, sunny skies today." she said to herself. "I'd better get a move on, don't wanna keep them waiting." She walked over to her front door and placed a hoof on the doorknob. She gave it a slight turn and a push, swinging the door wide open. She gazed out across Ponyville, the dark swirl of grey clouds shadowing the town. She didn't like it when it was overcast, it was so grey and pointless, unlike the beautiful azure sky. Scanning the sky, she saw that the clouds began to thin out around the edge of town, only a few clouds hanging over her house. She took a single step outside and spread out her wings. She kneeled down, ready to soar into the sky, but stopped when she caught something in her vision. She looked up, and saw something small and orange in the sky, floating down towards her. She eyed the object which had so easily gotten her attention as it fell. At first, she couldn't tell what it was, it looked sort of like a tuft of fur. However once it was close enough, she could tell what is was. It was an orange feather, falling from a large cloud overhanging her house. She stared at it as it floated past her face and landed perfectly on the doorstep in front of her. She lowered her head and observed it closely, disregarding her job to clear the sky. As the wind began to pick up slightly, she stepped on the feather to stop it from blowing away. She picked it up and held it to her face. She didn't know why she found it so interesting; it looked just like an ordinary feather. She looked back up to the cloud of which it had fallen from. Her curiosity quickly infused her, so she placed the feather inside on a shelf and began flying up to the cloud, eager to discover where the feather had come from. Upon landing in the cloud, she immediately saw what, or more correctly who, had dropped the feather. It was an orange pegasus, who was holding a map in her hooves, looking quite confused. Rainbow Dash thought it was Spitfire for a moment, but quickly remembered that Spitfire had a yellow coat, not an orange one. The pegasus was so busy looking at the large sheet of paper that she hadn't noticed Rainbow Dash. "Uh, can I help you?" Rainbow Dash asked. The pegasus turned to her. "Oh, hello." she said monotonically. She turned back to her map and studied it, rotating it slightly. "I'm looking for Ponyville. Do you know which direction it's in?" "Yeah, that's it down there." she replied, pointing to the town below. The pegasus lowered the map and looked down towards the small town that she was pointing to. "Huh. I can't believe I hadn't noticed that." She looked back at Rainbow Dash. "I'm Amber, by the way." "Nice to meet you, Amber." she said, giving her a smile. "So why are you going to Ponyville?" Amber used her mouth to open up one of her saddlebags and pulled out a letter. "I came from Cloudsdale." She looked at the letter closely. "Do you know a pony named Rainbow Dash?" "Yeah, that's me..." she said, wondering why she was trying to find her. "Why?" "Really? You're Rainbow Dash?" Amber showed her the letter. "I'm the new weather pony in Ponyville and I was told to come see you." "Hm, a coworker?" Rainbow Dash asked with a grin. "Awesome! How about you show me what you've got by helping me clear Ponyville?" Amber stuffed the letter and map back into her bag. "Uh, are you sure?" she said nervously. "I mean, I haven't even gotten to Ponyville yet." "Yeah, why not? Come on, I'll help you." Rainbow Dash said, lowering her stance and spreading her wings. "I can clear this sky by myself in ten seconds flat." "Well, I guess I can help you out a little..." Rainbow Dash grinned and lifted up into the air. "You ready?" "Yeah..." Amber said, also hovering above the cloud. "I'm ready." "Then let's go!" Rainbow Dash shot like a rocket straight towards Ponyville, Amber flying not too far behind. She flew through the gloomy swirl of the cloud layer above the town, leaving a single streak of blue sky behind her. She flew back around and cleared another row of clouds, the ponies on the ground looking up as they saw the beautiful sunlight shining through the gap between the grey. She curved her wings up slightly, sending her flying up above the clouds. From here she could see Amber, also slicing through the clouds. "Hm, she's not bad..." Rainbow Dash thought to herself. "She'll be useful..." Rainbow Dash closed her wings, and dived back towards to the clouds. Once she had reached them, she spread her wings out again, slicing through the clouds once more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So where will you be staying while you're in Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked as she look a bite of her sandwich. She and Amber were getting some lunch at the café. "Oh, that's my house there." she said, pointing her hoof to a nearby house which was formerly empty. "Oh, okay. You live next door to Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. They're pretty nice." "Well, I'll be sure to say to hi to them later." Rainbow Dash took another bite of her sandwich. She looked behind her, and saw a very familiar pink pony bouncing towards them. "Uh oh..." "Hi Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie called out as she got closer. "Whatcha doing?" "Hi, Pinkie..." Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. "Hey Rainbow Dash. Having some lunch?" She looked down at her sandwich, and then to Amber. "Ooh, who's this? I've never seen you before!" "Hi, I'm Amber. I'm new here." she said with a smile. "Ooh, yay! I love new friends!" She excitedly shook her hoof. "Nice to meet you, Amber. I'm Pinkie Pie!" "Well, nice to meet you too, Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie had a huge grin on her face, which seemed to stretch from ear to ear. "Since you're new, I'm gonna throw you a huge party to welcome you to Ponyville. It'll be great fun!" "Oh, that won't be neces-" Before Amber had a chance to finish her sentence, Pinkie Pie whizzed off down the street again at full speed. "Uh, she's very... ecstatic..." Amber said with a confused smile. "Yeah, you'll get used to it... Hopefully..." Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk. Suddenly, she had an idea. "Hey, why don't I introduce you to some of my other friends?" "Um, other friends?" "Don't worry, they're not all crazy party ponies like Pinkie Pie. They're really nice." "Well, okay. Why not?" Rainbow Dash knocked on the door of Twilight Sparkle's library, and the purple unicorn quickly opened it. At first, she almost didn't notice Amber. "Hello Rainbow Dash." Twilight said. She looked at Amber, who was standing next to her. "And who's this?" "This here's Amber, she new in town." Rainbow Dash replied. "Well, it's a pleasure making your acquaintance. I'm Twilight Sparkle. I hope you enjoy living here." she said, smiling. "Nice to meet you too, Twilight." Amber said, giving her a short smile. Twilight stepped aside slightly and pointed her hoof back inside. "Would you like to come in?" she offered kindly. "Actually, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said before Amber had a chance to respond. "I was just showing her around town. Maybe some other time, okay?" "Yeah, okay. But you're always welcome to swing by for a chat or something." "Okay, thank you, Twilight." she said as she and Rainbow Dash began to walk away. "I'll see you later, bye." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey, Rainbow Dash." Applejack said as she bucked yet another apple tree, causing the apples on the branches to fall into baskets below. "Who's ya friend?" "The names Amber." Amber replied with a smile. "Well howdy, it's a pleasure meetin' ya! I'm Applejack." she said, happily shaking her hoof. "This here is Sweet Apple Acres, finest apple farm in all of Equestria. Why don't you try one?" Applejack grabbed a bright red apple out of one of the baskets and tossed it to Amber. She grabbed it and took a big bite. "Mm... That's good." she said as she chewed and swallowed. "Sweetest apple I've ever eaten." "Thanks." Applejack said with a warm smile. "You should try our apple pies, they're mighty tasty." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Rarity? You in?" Rainbow Dash asked as she and Amber walked through the door of Carousel Boutique. "I've got someone I'd like you to meet." She looked around, and couldn't see Rarity anywhere. "Uh, Rarity?" The room was silent, Rarity most likely wasn't home. But Rainbow Dash wasn't sure why the door was unlocked then. "Maybe we should come back later..." Amber suggested. "Yeah, I don't think she's home." Rainbow Dash said, turning back to the door. Rainbow Dash pulled the door back open, and was about to leave when she heard small 'bang' noise coming from upstairs. They looked at each other confusedly, and walked back into the main room. "Rarity?" Rainbow Dash called out again, a little louder this time. "Hello? Is someone there?" a voice called back, which Rainbow Dash could tell was Rarity's. "Yeah, it's me, Rainbow Dash." "Oh, Rainbow Dash. Just a second, I'll be down in a moment." Rainbow Dash sighed, and she and Amber sat down on Rarity's lounge. A minute or so passed, before they heard Rarity's upstairs door open and saw her trot cheerfully down the stairs. "Good afternoon, Rainbow Dash." She was wearing a dress which was decorated with all sorts of jewels. "How does my new dress look? Fabulous, isn't it?" she said, striking a pose. "I just finished it then." "Uh, yeah... It's great." Rainbow Dash said. "But I came over to introduce you to my new friend, Amber." Rarity looked over to the couch were she sat and saw the orange pegasus. "A new pony? How wonderful!" she said with a grin. "I haven't had a pony to model for me for a while." "Rarity!" Rainbow Dash said, disapproving the idea. "Amber's not modelling for you, you can't do that with every new pony you meet!" "Yeah, sorry, Rarity." Amber said, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not really the type of pony for that." "Hm, okay..." Rarity said, frowning. "Mannequins are good, but they don't work like a real pony." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "There's one more pony I need you to meet." Rainbow Dash said to Amber as the pair walked up the path towards Fluttershy's cottage. "My friend Fluttershy, she used to live in Cloudesdale as well." They walked over the small bridge outside the cottage and up to the door. "Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked, knocking. "Can you open the door please?" They stood there for a moment, before the door opened, but it wasn't Fluttershy. Rather, it was Angel. "Hi, Angel." Rainbow Dash said with an agitated frown. She didn't particularly like Angel. "Is Fluttershy home?" Angel pointed inside, signalling towards the next room. Rainbow Dash and Amber walked passed him and into the lounge room. Once they were in the room, they saw Fluttershy sitting on the couch, reading and eating a bowl of hay. "Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked. Fluttershy jolted her head to the doorway in fright. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, you scared me." She lowered the book and closed it in her lap. "Can I help you?" "I just wanted to introduce you to my new friend, Amber." She ushered Amber forward towards Fluttershy. "Uh, hi Fluttershy. Nice to meet you." Amber said with a smile, extending her leg towards her for a hoofshake. Fluttershy looked down timidly, trying to ignore Amber's welcoming hoof. "Uh, um..." she mumbled shyly. "Hello..." "Uh, okay..." Amber said, awkwardly retracting her leg. She turned to Rainbow Dash unsurely. "Oh Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "You're way too shy." Fluttershy looked back up sheepishly and sighed. "I'm sorry, Amber." She apologetically offered a hoofshake in return. "It's nice to meet you too." "That's more like it." Rainbow Dash said, grinning. "There's not really much more to say." Rainbow Dash said to Amber as they walked down the street, the sun had almost vanished over the horizon. The street was mostly barren of ponies, many of them had already gone home. "Have you got a weather schedule yet?" "No, not yet." Amber said as they approached her house. "Okay, I'll get you one and give it to you, sometime this week. It's going to be raining on Tuesday, and then we clear those clouds away on Thursday." "Okay, I'll write that down somewhere until you get me a schedule." Amber got her new keys out of her saddlebag, and proceeded to unlock the door. "I'll see you later then?" Rainbow Dash asked as Amber walked in and set her bags down beside the door. "Okay, see you later, Rainbow Dash." Amber said, shutting the door as Rainbow Dash began to walk away. "See ya Amber."
Chapter 1.5: Before (cont.)It was Thursday. Time to clear away the clouds once again. Although it had only been a few days, Rainbow Dash and Amber were great friends. They thought nothing could go wrong. It was all downhill from there. Rainbow Dash walked along the road to town, keeping an eye out for Amber. She spotted her in town, and increased her pace slightly. "Hi Amber." she said as she approached her. She slowed her pace to a stop. "Ready to clear away the clouds?" "Oh, hi Rainbow Dash." she said, yawning and stretching her wings. "Yeah, I'm ready." "Heh, you still tired from Pinkie Pie's party last night?" "Mm, yeah. She sure does know how to throw a good party." Rainbow Dash looked at the large cumulus which swirled overhead. "Well, I was going to let you take this shift on your own, but if you're too tired..." "What? No!" Amber said, springing to life. "I can do this easily!" "You sure? I don't want to overwork you..." "What? Me? No way, I'll have this sky cleared in no time!" Amber also looked up at the clouds, she was fairly confident she could do it with ease. She slowly extended her wings and lifted herself into the air. "How quick did you say you could do this?" "Ten seconds, why? You gonna try and beat me?" she asked jokingly. "Hm, we'll see..." Amber said with a slight grin. "Sure, go ahead. But nopony can clear the sky faster than me!" "Wanna bet?" With that, Amber rocketed into the sky and began smashing through the clouds. Rainbow Dash timed her silently in her head, but she was actually pretty impressed; Amber was making great time, five seconds in and already the sky was almost clear. As Amber flew through the final cloud, Rainbow Dash stopped counting, and was quite worried about the result. "Eight s- seconds..." she mumbled in shock. "So..." Amber said, landing with a conceit grin. "How'd I do?" "Eight seconds..." Rainbow Dash repeated, still in shock. "See? Told ya." "But... How'd you do that? I've never met a pony who could do that before..." "I dunno, it's just normal..." Amber looked around the street and saw the café where they had lunch the day they had met. "Wanna get a bite to eat?" she asked, completely missing how distraught Rainbow Dash actually was. "Er, um, s- sure..." she mumbled. One of her boastful aspects had just been lost. Rainbow Dash groaned as the glare of the dazzling sunlight broke over the distant horizon and onto her eyelids, waking her. She moaned as she lugged herself out of bed and into the living room. Last night, she did some thinking, and realised how unimportant it was, that Amber could clear the sky faster than her. So what? It didn't matter, and she shouldn't be jealous. Or should she? Rainbow Dash quickly pushed these muddled thoughts out of her mind, she had other things to think about at the moment. She had to leave soon for the Wonderbolt's Academy, so at least she could forget about all of that while she was there. She opened her front door and gazed out over the town. It was quite relaxing, the slight breeze on her coat. She stood there for another moment, before leaping off the door step and soaring back into the sky, focusing on the day ahead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Listen up, rookies!" Spitfire ordered, strict as always. "Today we're going to test you on your speed, I don't want any slacking, is that clear?" "Yes, ma'am!" the cadets all chanted in unison. "Good." She walked down to the opposite end of the group. "Before we begin, I would like to introduce a new member to the team." She looked over to the other end of the runway, a pegasus was walking towards them. Once they got close enough, Rainbow Dash took a single look at them, and for a moment she swore it was Amber, but it couldn't be... Could it? There was no way, she was certain. "Everypony, this is the newest member of your team." Spitfire said. "This is Amber." As those three final words hit Rainbow Dash's ears, she opened her mouth agape in disbelief. The one mare that she didn't really want to see today, and there she was. "Uh, p- permission to speak?" Rainbow Dash stuttered as she watched Amber walk to the end of the line. "What is it, Rainbow Dash?" Spitfire asked with a sigh. "Why is she joining? It's mid-term, ponies can't join now." "Well, Rainbow Dash, this is an exception. Deal with it." She glared at Rainbow Dash. "My niece is just what this team needs to pick up their game, you understand?" "Niece?!" Rainbow Dash looked down the end at Amber. She orange mare looked back and smiled at her. Rainbow Dash tried her best to force a smile in return, but as soon as she looked away, her face dropped back into a frown. "Alright, everypony," Spitfire said, raising her whistle up to her mouth. "Three hundred laps, now!" Almost instantly, Rainbow Dash and Amber took off, and began flying around the academy. As Rainbow Dash had expected, Amber was slowly getting further and further ahead of her. She beat her wings rapidly to try and keep up, but she just couldn't do it. As she flew, she thought about what Spitfire had said. Rainbow Dash wouldn't have thought that they were related. Maybe that was why Amber was allowed to join halfway through the term. She didn't know. Although it was a lost cause, Rainbow Dash continued to flap her wings as fast as she could. If she was going to come second, then she wanted to finish as close to Amber as she could, which was becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Suddenly, the strain Rainbow Dash was putting on her wings began to take it's toll, she felt them begin to cramp up. And before she knew what was happening, she found herself plummeting towards the ground. Luckily enough, she landed on the grass beside the runway. Actually, it was more crashing than actually landing. She lay face first in the grass. She didn't want to get up, she just wanted to lie there. But of course, she couldn't. She lifted her head and looked up, her face covered in dirt, and saw Spitfire, glaring down at her. Although she couldn't see her eyes behind her glasses, Rainbow Dash imagined disappointment or disapproval in them. "Something the matter, Rainbow Dash?" Spitfire asked. "Uh, no, ma'am." Rainbow Dash sighed, standing and wiping away some of the dirt on her face. "I'm just not feeling my best right now..." "Hm, why don't you take five." "Yeah, I need to rest for a moment..." Rainbow Dash flew home, alone. She was thinking. She had done a lot of that recently. Amber was obliviously ruining her, but it wasn't her fault. If anything, it was her own fault for letting it get to her. Yes, it annoyed her, but she was overreacting. It was nothing. A new friend was nothing to be angry or upset about. She should be happy, so why wasn't she? "Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash looked back to see who it was (as if she didn't already know), and of course she saw Amber, slowly approaching. "Oh, why won't she leave me alone?" she said to herself. "Hey, how's it going?" Amber asked when she caught up to her. "You left before I had a chance to talk to you." "Yeah, I'm fine..." she sighed. Amber looked at her oddly. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You seem depressed or something." "Look, I'm fine." She looked up and faked a smile. "I'm okay." "Hm, alright..." Amber said, slightly suspicious. "Anyway, what're you doing when you get back? Anything interesting?" "No." Rainbow Dash sighed, but it was true. "I'll probably just go home." "Yeah, me too... Wanna come to my house?" Rainbow Dash looked over to Amber, that question infuriated for some reason. "N- No..." Rainbow Dash replied, trying to suppress her anger the best she could. "No thanks..." "Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you later then." Amber said flying ahead of Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, see ya..." she mumbled in return. It had been a long week for Rainbow Dash. She had not only made a new friend, but she kind of developed a feeling of jealousy towards her. She hadn't really been jealous before, mainly because she never had much competition in the past. Today, however, she was hoping to ignore that. She had plans with Twilight to go to the park for a couple of hours. It wasn't much, but at least she had an excuse to get some peace from Amber for a while. She gently trotted through town, she sky was still sunny as she had left it. She looked around for Twilight, but she also kept an eye out for Amber, she wanted to try and avoid her today. She quickly spotted Twilight, standing in the middle of the street, and she sped up slightly to reach her quicker. However, upon seeing Twilight in conversation with a certain orange pegasus, she found herself grinding to a halt. She looked over at the two, her mind filling with anger. "Why does she constantly have to be in my way?!" she thought to herself. She thought about turning around and leaving, but she couldn't let Twilight down. She continued walking towards, quite slow, an hoped this conversation would be short. "Hey Twilight." Rainbow Dash said, interrupting them. "Oh, hi Rainbow Dash." Twilight replied. Amber also said hi, but she ignored her. "So, ready to go to the park?" Twilight looked at her confusedly, and Rainbow Dash feared what that expression was for. "Park?" Twilight said, thinking. "Oh, the park! I completely forgot!" She turned to Amber. "I just agreed to go to Sugarcube Corner with Amber, you don't mind if I go, do you?" Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, her mouth agape in growing anger, and then she turned to Amber. She looked at her, and she was mad. All of her suppressed anger which had built up over the past week was finally being exerted. Something inside her broke for a moment, something snapped. "No!" she yelled, everypony in the street turned their heads toward the yelling. She leaned forward, towards the shocked mare and continued yelling. "You're better than me at my job, you show up randomly at the Wonderbolt Academy and become better than me, and now you're stealing my friends!!" she yelled, snarling. "Rainbow Dash, calm down." Twilight said. "We're just going to the park." Although Amber was quite shocked and scared at Rainbow Dash's sudden moment of rage, the thing that came next she never saw coming. Rainbow Dash's hoof, colliding with her face. Rainbow Dash watched as her swing sent Amber backwards, crashing against a wall behind her. Everypony gasped in shock. Rainbow Dash took a few steps over to where Amber lay helplessly. Once again, she drew her hoof back for anther punch to her face, Amber closed her eyes and tried to cover her face with her forelegs. As she stood there, her breaths quite heavy, Rainbow Dash looked over to her threatening hoof, and suddenly realised what she had just done. Amber opened her eyes and looked back up at her, letting Rainbow Dash saw her bloody nose and slightly black eye. "Oh no..." she whimpered as she lowered her hoof. "Amber, I'm so sorry!" she cried, trying to help her up. "Don't touch me!" Amber said, smacking her hoof away. Rainbow Dash wasn't sure if she was rejecting her help because she was scared, or just angry. Rainbow Dash looked back up to face the crowd. She looked at each and every one of their faces, they all had the same unsure glare in their eyes. The one that hurt her the most were Twilight, and also her other four friends who had just joined the crowd. "Rainbow Dash..." Twilight said, her eyes showing her disappointment. "What have you done?" "I- I- I didn't mean to!" Rainbow Dash cried as her friends went to help the injured pegasus. "I couldn't control myself!" Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, even Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy all looked back towards Rainbow Dash in uncertainty. The whole town also stared unsurely at her, she was so ashamed. Rainbow Dash didn't know what to do. She was scared, she felt like just falling to the ground and sobbing, but their intimidating eyes made it so hard to think. "Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, helping Amber up. "I think you should leave, now." Knowing what was best, Rainbow Dash quickly kicked off the ground and left, tears running from her face. Rainbow Dash walked around her house, trying not cry. The angry expressions on everypony's faces, she couldn't get it out of her mind. It terrified her. So after some thinking, she realised what she had to do; leave. Her friends were angry at her, the town looked at her with contempt, and she'll probably even get kicked off the Wonderbolts for punching Spitfire's niece. There was nothing left for her here. She stood on her doorstep, her saddlebag hanging over her back. She shut the door behind her, and placed a note under it. "Goodbye, Ponyville." she said as she leapt forward, soaring off, without another word. Rainbow Dash sighed depressingly as the hot sun continued to beat down onto her sore body. She lowered her head and faced towards the ground. She wanted to cry, but she was so dehydrated, there were no tears to be shed. As she stared down blankly, she noticed a pony's shadow moving over the ground she was looking at. "Rainbow Dash?" the pony in front of her asked. Rainbow Dash was surprised, she hadn't heard her name said aloud for a while. If the pony knew her name, then maybe they could help her somehow. Rainbow Dash slowly raised her head up to the figure, but couldn't tell who it was as the sun glared from behind them. "Rainbow Dash, what happened to you?" they asked, and although she couldn't directly see her, Rainbow Dash was fairly sure it was a mare. Rainbow Dash just stared back blankly at the unidentified mare, her breaths quite heavy. "Who... Who are you?" she finally asked. The mare leaned to the left slightly, out of the path of the sun, and Rainbow Dash immediately knew who it was. "Mind if I sit next to you?" "Yes, please. I could use a friend right now."
Chapter 2: A New Start"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight called out as she, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, and even Amber stood on the ground below her empty house. "Rainbow Dash, we're sorry for how we acted the other day, please come outside." There was no response. They all exchanged looks of worry, as well as Amber. "Fluttershy, can you please fly up there and get her to come outside?" "Um, okay, I'll try my best..." she said nervously as she lifted off the ground and began flying up towards the house. She landed on the doorstep and knocked on the door, not noticing the note which Rainbow Dash had left for them. "Rainbow Dash?" she asked pleadingly. "Are you going to come outside? It's been three days. We're sorry for being so angry to you the other day, but you shouldn't have hurt her... Please, just come outside." Upon once again hearing no response, Fluttershy lowered her head in failure. But it was from doing so that she came to notice the small piece of paper underneath the door. She slowly picked it up and began reading it. Twilight continued looking up to the sky, awaiting Fluttershy's return. Rather than seeing her come back with Rainbow Dash, they heard a short yelp, before seeing Fluttershy return alone. When she landed, her friends looked at Fluttershy worriedly. She was almost in tears. "Fluttershy? What's the matter?" Applejack asked, comforting her. "I- I-" she stuttered as she began to cry. "I found this..." She held up the note. "What's that?" Twilight said, taking it. She looked down at it and read it aloud. To whom it may concern, If you're reading this note, then it means you've probably come looking for me. I'm sorry, but it's too late. I've already left Ponyville and I'm never coming back. Everypony makes mistakes in life, but I fear that the consequences of my actions are too much for me to handle. Everypony in town hates me, even my best friends. Not only that, but my potential Wonderbolts career is hanging by a thread, but that doesn't really mean very much to me anymore... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anypony, but these things happen sometimes. I've never hated myself more, so I've decided to take the coward's way out and run away. I'm moving on with my life, I suggest you all do the same. I'm sorry, to all of you. Goodbye. Sincerely, Rainbow Dash P.S Please don't try to come after me. "She's... gone?" Rarity asked sadly. "But, why would she leave? Was she really that upset?" "Of course she was." Twilight said, looking over the note another time and passing it to Spike. "We overreacted. We should have been more supportive of her." "What do you mean? She assaulted Amber, why should we have been supportive?" Twilight looked around at all of them, they were all wondering where she was going with this. "Because, it wasn't completely her fault... It was partly ours as well..." She sighed, and looked over to Amber. "As I was told, Amber was supposed to be the new weatherpony, but actually proved to be able to do it better than Rainbow Dash. She also got into the Wonderbolts Academy, and of course, she was better at that too." "Yeah, but w-" Applejack began. "And then," Twilight continued, cutting her off. "I forgot that Rainbow Dash and I had plans for the day, so I agreed to go to Sugarcube Corner with Amber. Her job and Wonderbolt status didn't mean too much to her when compared to her friends, so when she thought Amber was 'stealing' us from her, her anger and jealousy had gotten the best of her, and then simply... lost control." "Oh," Amber began, frowning. "I didn't mean to make her jealous, I just wanted to impress her..." "Ah know, it ain't your fault." Applejack said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back over to Twilight. "So, what do we do now?" "Nothing." "What?!" her friends all said in unison. "Twilight," Rarity said. "Rainbow Dash has run away over a silly misunderstanding, and you want us to just sit here and do nothing?" "I don't know!" Twilight exclaimed. "She told us not to go after her, I don't know what to do. But we should obey her wishes." "But she thinks we hate her! I don't want her to live the rest of her life in guilt and sorrow." "But it would be nearly impossible, no one knows where she went." Twilight said. "She could be anywhere in Equestria by now." Rarity sighed, and walked over to Fluttershy, who was still weeping. "Look at this face, Twilight." she said, comforting her. Fluttershy looked up at Twilight, her face covered in tears. "Take a look, and tell me you're not going to do something for Rainbow Dash." "Rarity, I-" Twilight said unsurely. Fluttershy's eyes were very emotional, Rarity was making a very good case. "What if we can't find her? What happens then?" "We can't leave her out there." "Fine..." Twilight said, sighing. "We'll give her a month. If we don't hear from her by then, then we'll go looking for her." "You look terrible, you know that right?" Trixie said as she sat beside Rainbow Dash. "Yeah, I know..." she sighed. "I haven't slept in a few days. I haven't had anywhere to sleep." "But what's a pony like you doing on the streets of Manehattan? Why aren't you in Ponyville with your friends?" "Well, it's a long story to say the least. But, I don't really want to say what happened..." "Why?" "Because I'm exhausted, that's why." "Oh, okay..." Rainbow Dash groaned as she leaned back against the hay bale. She rubbed her hooves over her eyes and slumped back. "You look awful..." Trixie said again. "Heh, I know." Rainbow Dash said, not opening her eyes. "I'm so thirsty..." "Well do you want to come to my place? I can help you." Rainbow Dash looked up at her unsurely. "What happened to you?" she asked. "You seem... different." "It's been a while since we last met, a lot of things have happened to me." "What kind of things?" Trixie hesitated for a moment, before she spoke. "Uh, n- nevermind that..." she said, before changing the subject. "So, are you gonna come to my apartment? It's only a couple of blocks away." "Only if you don't mind..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash watched as Trixie unlocked the door to her apartment and walked inside. She followed her in. She looked around the rather small-ish living room. It had a connecting kitchen, and a couple of other doors opposite it. "Hm, it's nice." she complimented. "It's very... cozy..." "Yeah, it's not much," Trixie said, walking into the kitchen. "But it is home, so I can't really complain. Please, make yourself at home." She looked around the kitchen a bit. "So, what can I get you?" "Water, just water thanks." she said, taking a seat on her couch. "You sure? I think I've got some apple cider in here somewhere..." she said, rummaging around the kitchen. "Oh, no thanks. I'd rather not have cider right now..." "Oh well, suit yourself." Trixie said, shrugging. Trixie returned from the kitchen a few moments later with a large glass of water. She gave it to Rainbow Dash, and she quickly drank the whole thing, before setting it down on the coffee table in front of her. "Thanks." Rainbow Dash said, leaning back and closing her eyes. "No one's done anything nice for me since I left." "Well I'm glad I could help." Trixie said, sitting down beside her. "Do you feel better?" "Yeah, I do thanks." "So, are you going tell me what you're doing out here on your own?" "Yeah, I might as well tell you. It started just over a week ago, I was about to leave my house..." So Rainbow Dash began telling Trixie her story. She told her what had happened, and what she did to Amber that made her decide to leave. "Oh..." Trixie said once she had finished. "You punched her..." "Yeah, I did. And I'd never felt worse in my life. So that's why I left." Rainbow Dash stood up. "Uh, Trixie? You don't mind if I take a shower, would you?" "No, of course not. Go ahead." Trixie said. "You can stay the night if you want." "Oh, no thank you. I don't want to intrude..." "No, please. I want you to. Because I'm, uh... a bit lonely." "Lonely?" "Yeah, really lonely. I... don't have any friends..." she said woefully, frowning. "No friends?" "Yeah, it's true... I don't know why, but no one likes me." "I like you." Rainbow Dash said with a compassionate smile. "And right now, I don't have any friends either..." "Well, uh... do you want to be my friend?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Is there anything else you need?" Trixie said as Rainbow Dash lay down on her bed that Trixie had made up for her, which was really just the lounge with a pillow and blanket. "Are you sure you don't want the bed? I can sleep on the lounge instead." "No, I'm fine here, thanks. You've done more than enough already." Rainbow Dash said as she got comfy. "Why is that, anyway? Last time we met, you would have never done this for me. I mean, you were nicer than when we had first met, but I still would have never expected you to do this." "I told you, I'm lonely. But now I have a friend, and I want to make her feel welcome." "Oh, okay.... Well, thank you, I really appreciate it." She lay down onto the pillow and closed her eyes. "Well, goodnight Trixie." "Mm... Goodnight, Rainbow Dash..." Applejack placed three ripe, red apples onto the top of her cart, and swept up the bits that the customer had left. He placed the apples into his saddlebag and walked away with a smile. As he left, Applejack pulled a sign out of the back which read "Back in 5 Minutes" and placed it on the counter, and headed off to Twilight's library. "Hey Twilight. Any word from Rainbow Dash yet?" she asked, walking inside. Twilight looked over from the book she was reading to Applejack. "Uh, no... Not yet..." "Oh, where's that filly gotten to? She's been gone for ages." "It's not 'ages', it's been two weeks. Give her time." "Time? We've given her time, but she's still not here. Can't we go lookin' for her? Ah don't want her out there on her own, she needs us." "Applejack, stop worrying so much. I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is..." "Ah'm sorry, but... Ah just want her to be okay..." Twilight closed her book and walked over to AJ. "Come on, of course she is. It's Rainbow Dash, she's always okay. Trust me." Applejack looked up at Twilight's reassuring smile, and slowly began to smile herself. "Thanks, Twilight. Of course she's fine, right? Nothin' could stop that mare..." Back in Manehattan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Trixie, I'm home." Rainbow Dash called out as she walked into the apartment and placed her key on the bench. Almost two weeks she had been living with Trixie, and it was going pretty good so far. She did miss her friends back in Ponyville of course, she thought about them almost all the time, but things were different now; they weren't a part of her life anymore. She hadn't intended on staying there for more than a day or so, but one thing led to another, and then she began living there. It felt good for her to have somewhere to call home, even if she was still sleeping on the couch. Things outside of the apartment were also picking up for her as well. She had a part-time job as a waitress. This job didn't exactly 'thrill' her, but if she was going to live with Trixie then she wanted to help pay off some rent, just to say thanks for taking her in when she needed it. Through all this, Trixie was still her only friend. In fact, she was the only pony who she really talked to, aside from ponies at work. Today, however, something was different, and not for the better. She noticed it as soon as she walked inside. What she saw was quite enigmatic, it was almost a bit scary. She would have never thought she would have found Trixie doing such a thing, but there she was, crying. "Trixie?" she asked unsurely. "Trixie, what's wrong?" "Oh, Rainbow Dash." she said, looking up and wiping her eyes. "I didn't think you got back until later." "No, my shift always ends at five..." Trixie looked over to the clock, which did in fact read quarter past five. "Huh, I must've lost track of time..." "Trixie, what's wrong?" "Oh, nothing, I'm fine..." "Are you sure?" "I'm fine, okay? Leave it." "Uh, alright..." Rainbow Dash slowly walked over and sat down beside Trixie on the lounge. It was very quiet, no one said anything. The little noise that could be heard was coming from the clock. It was very awkward. "So..." Rainbow Dash said, attempting to break the silence. "How was your day?" "Uh, good, good..." Trixie replied. "How about yours?" "Yeah, work was... normal as always..." They continued to sit, the awkwardness growing into a big shapeless mass between them. Since her last attempt had actually made the situation more uncomfortable, Rainbow Dash decided to just end it. "Anyways, I'm gonna go have a shower..." she said as she stood up and walked into the hallway. She knew there was something wrong with Trixie that she wasn't being told, but she wasn't about to go snooping around to find out. Rainbow Dash was happy. Very happy. In fact, her dreams were the only time she felt truly happy. Sure, she enjoyed Trixie's company, but it wasn't the same as being with her friends back in Ponyville. They were having a picnic, and it was a lovely day too. But as happy as it made her feel, she didn't want to dream of home. She wanted to put her past behind her and move on with her life, wherever fate may lead her. She snapped awake suddenly and looked around the room. It was dark, the room had a slight blue tint from the moonlight which shone through the window. She sighed and leaned back onto her pillow. She looked at the clock, which said 10:30, she had only been asleep for an hour. She rubbed her hooves over her eyes and snuggled up with the blanket, even though it was a fairly warm night. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't for some reason. She wasn't sure why, something was distracting her. She leaned back up and sat on the couch, listening out. She listened for a moment, before she could hear a faint, or possibly feeble noise, coming from the hall. She stood up and followed the noise, her curiosity becoming quite overwhelming, but stopped when she realised what it was. It was the quite unmistakable noise of Trixie crying, again. She looked up to the door which she was standing outside, it was Trixie's bedroom. She wasn't sure if she was to just walk away and not say anything like a reasonable pony would, or go in and talk to Trixie like a friend should. She wasn't very sure, she was pretty terrible at moral support. "Trixie?" she asked, knocking on the door. "Are you okay?" "Go away!" she yelled from inside the room. "Trixie? Do you want to talk about it?" She was fairly sure she wasn't doing very well. "I SAID GO AWAY!!" she yelled angrily. Rainbow Dash heard something heavy thud against the door. Without hesitation, Rainbow Dash flew back into the lounge room and dived back onto the couch. Obviously, she should have just left her alone. She was terrible at moral support. Author's Note Yes, Trixie. No one actually guessed it was her... As for why she's crying and being nice and stuff, I'll get into that in the next chapter. (Let me just say, that was certainly more words than I thought.)
Chapter 3: Finding the RainbowThe suspense was quite unnerving for Rainbow Dash. She hadn't talked to Trixie since last night when she had yelled at her, so she wasn't sure how she was feeling this morning. As she sat on the lounge, she was feeling quite nervous. Trixie was her best friend, her only friend, so she certainly didn't want to make her think any worse of her. Her thoughts were disrupted when she heard the sound that she not only wanted to hear, but also feared; Trixie's bedroom door open. She watched as Trixie walked into the room and looked down at Rainbow Dash, she seemed very tired. She sighed, and sat down on the couch beside her. "Good morning." she said monotonically, avoiding eye contact. "Morning..." Rainbow Dash replied. There was a large silence, before she began talking again. "I'm sorry about last night, I shouldn't have intruded. I was just trying to help, that's all." Trixie looked up at Rainbow Dash and sighed heavily. "It's okay, you were only trying to be considerate. I shouldn't have yelled at you, I was just upset." "Well, uh, do you want to talk about it? Or do you just want me to leave it?" Trixie sighed again and slowly leaned back against the couch. "Rainbow Dash, do you remember when I first let you into my apartment, and I said you could stay?" "Yeah?" "You asked me why I was being so nice, and I said it was because I didn't have any friends." She paused for a moment. "I was lying." "Lying?" "Yes, that wasn't the real reason I took you in and took care of you. I mean, I didn't have any friends, but something else was bothering me." "Oh, okay. What was it?" "Rainbow Dash, I... I just needed someone..." "Needed someone? What do you mean?" "Well, something happened not long before I found you in the street and... it made me so upset..." "Well, uh, what was it?" The thing that Trixie said next, Rainbow Dash never thought she would ever hear her say. She knew that whatever was troubling her had to be something big, but she would have never thought it would be this. She felt like she was seeing Trixie for the very first time. "My fiancé left me..." "T- Trixie..." Rainbow Dash stuttered as Trixie began sobbing softly. "I'm so sorry... I didn't know you were getting married." "It's not your fault, these things happen sometimes, I just have to move on. I'll get over him." Trixie attempted a weak smile and looked over to Rainbow Dash. "I told you, a lot of things had happened in my life since we last saw each other." "Yeah, but... You've changed so much, you're like a completely different pony." "Yes, I have changed a lot..." She paused for a moment, then let out a short weep. "We were supposed to get married yesterday..." Trixie sniffled, her emotions were clear across her face for Rainbow Dash to see. She wiped away her tears. "Rainbow Dash, can you please promise me something?" she said pleadingly. "Yeah, sure, anything." Rainbow Dash replied. "Can you please... not leave me? I can't live alone anymore." Rainbow Dash looked at Trixie, and smiled. "Of course not, I promise. Besides, even if I did leave, where would I go? I need you just as much as you need me. A slight grin slowly spread across Trixie's face. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash..." she said. "You're the best friend I've ever had..." Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Spike all stood around the desk as Twilight laid out a map across it. She looked over it, it was a map of Equestria. "Now girls," she said. "If we're going to have any luck finding Rainbow Dash then we need to cover every town and city in Equestria. I'd say we should start with Cloudsdale, that's where she'd most likely be." "And if she's not there?" Rarity asked. "Then we'll just have to go looking for her elsewhere." "And how do you plan on getting us to Cloudsdale?" "The same way we got there for the Best Young Flyers competition. I'll use the spell that lets us walk on clouds, and then we'll just borrow the hot air balloon." The five ponies walked outside the library, the map in Twilight's saddlebag, and began walking through town. It was still quite early in the morning, the sun had just begun to shine over the mountains in the distance. Already the town was beginning to awaken, few ponies filled the streets and many businesses were still closed. There was some light rain last night, and the light of the sun caused the droplets to glisten like a freshly polished gemstone, it was quite a beautiful sight. But they didn't have the time to stop and observe the elegance of the town in the morning sun, they were on a mission. As they walked, Twilight stopped when she heard someone call her name. She looked around unsurely, until she identified where the voice had come from. She looked across the street, and saw Amber standing in the doorway of her house. "Hey Twilight," Amber said again. "Where are you five going?" "We're going out to try and find Rainbow Dash." Twilight replied. "Would you care to come along with us? We kind of need as much help as we can get right now." "Uh, I don't know Twilight... You're her friends, you should just go without me." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I've got stuff to do anyway... Good luck with finding her." "Thanks, we need it." Twilight turned to the four mares. "Okay, girls, let's get going. We've got a lot of places to go to." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Here we are." Twilight said as she and the other four got out of the balloon and onto the clouds. "Split up, ask around. We'll meet back here in half an hour, okay?" The four mares nodded in response. "Okay, let's get a move on." The five ponies began walking in a separate direction through the city. Twilight looked around, there were pegasi everywhere, but of course there was no sign of Rainbow Dash. "Excuse me, miss." she said to a mare. "I'm looking for a mare." She levitated a photo of Rainbow Dash out of her saddlebag. "Have you seen her?" "Uh, that's Rainbow Dash, right?" she asked. "Yeah?" Twilight's face began to light up. "Sorry, haven't seen her." "Oh, okay." She frowned again. "Thanks anyway." Twilight continued walking, occasionally asking a pony if they've seen Rainbow Dash, while at the same time keeping an eye out for her. She couldn't stop thinking about Rainbow Dash, she should have gone looking for her right away, rather than waiting a whole month. After twenty minutes passed, Twilight was still having no luck. She stopped, looked around, and sat down. "Hey, Twilight." Pinkie Pie said, coming out of nowhere and sitting beside her. "Found her yet?" "No..." Twilight sighed. "You?" "Nope. I asked every pegasus I saw, none of them have seen Rainbow Dash." She began to frown. "I don't think she's here." "Yeah, I figured that..." She let out a deep sigh. "We should head back to the others now." "Okay. Maybe they've found somepony who's seen her." They both stood up and began heading back to the balloon. "So, girls," Twilight said when the others joined her and Pinkie. "Did you have any better luck than us?" "I'm afraid not." Rarity said. "Me neither." Applejack added. "Uh, no." Fluttershy said with a frown. "I didn't really get to talk to very many ponies..." "Oh well, we gave it our best shot." Twilight said. She levitated the map out of the bag and looked at it. "Uh, moving on?" "Okay, where to next?" Pinkie asked. "Hm.. We should go to Las Pegasus next, so then we can travel across Equestria in a clockwise fashion." She looked over the map some more. "If we do that, then the last place we'll have to check is Manehattan." Twilight walked back over to the balloon and got it. "Come on, girls. It's gonna take us a while to go across all of Equestria, you might have to be away from home for a while." "Of course, Twilight." Rarity said. "I don't mind getting, ugh... a little dirty to save Rainbow Dash." "Save?" Twilight said back. "We're not saving Rainbow Dash, we only need to find her." "Fine, we're 'finding' her." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Um, excuse me?" Fluttershy asked timidly as ponies walked past her. Although they were ignoring her, she kept at it. "Uh, hello, have you seen-" "We'll never find her at this rate." Rarity said as she and the other three walked a couple of metres behind Fluttershy. "Look, we can't give up, not when we've come this far." Twilight said. "I'll give Fluttershy a hoof." "What's the point? We've been out here for two weeks and haven't seen any sign of Rainbow Dash. If she wasn't in Cloudsdale, what makes you think she would be here in Manehattan?" "We have to check everywhere, every corner of Equestria. I just want to know that she's okay." "Okay, Twilight." sighed Rarity. "We'll keep looking." Twilight gave Rarity a quick grin, and then walked ahead to catch up with Fluttershy. "Hey, Fluttershy." she said once she had caught up with her. "I admire your persistence, but we're not making much progress." "I know." Fluttershy sighed. "I have trouble getting ponies' attention sometimes." "Why don't I give you a hoof." Twilight looked around a bit, and then stopped the pony who was walking past. "Hi, we're looking for this mare." she said, levitating the photo of Rainbow Dash out of her saddlebag. "Have you seen her?" "Uh, no... Sorry, kid." Twilight frowned slightly, before approaching a stallion who was coming towards them. "Excuse me, have you seen this mare?" Twilight asked, showing him the photo. "Mm..." the stallion hummed, observing the photo. "Uh, yes, I've seen her, that mare with the rainbow mane." "You have?" Twilight said, smiling. "Where? Do you know where she is?" "She's a waitress." he said. "She works in that restaurant over there." he said, pointing across the street. "Waitress?" Twilight asked, looking to her friends who had joined her. "Uh, thank you." she said as they galloped towards the restaurant. "Yeah, no problem." The five mares slowed their pace as they approached the doors of the restaurant. Twilight took a deep breath as she pushed open the door and walked in, the others followed. She looked around the room, there were several tables scattered around, but only a few of them were occupied. There was no sign of Rainbow Dash. "Hello, may I help you?" one of the waitresses asked, walking over to them. "Uh, hi." Twilight said. "Uh, we're not eating, but we were wondering if you could tell us where we could find a mare named Rainbow Dash?" "Oh, yeah, she's not working today." she replied. "Oh... Well, do you know where she lives?" "Yeah, she said she lives in an apartment building about a block away..." Rainbow Dash sat, slumped over the couch. It had been a very lazy afternoon for her. Trixie was in the kitchen making some lunch, so there wasn't much for her to do. The silence was quite relaxing, so the knocking on the door almost startled her. "I'll get it." Trixie said, walking out of the kitchen. "No, I'll get it." Rainbow Dash said, standing herself up. Rainbow Dash walked towards the front door of their apartment. She didn't know who it was behind the door, but she still answered it like she normally would. "Hello?" she asked, opening the door. Once she saw the five ponies who stood just outside the doorway, she stopped, her mouth agape. The other ponies also simply stood there, no one spoke. "Rainbow Dash, who is it?" Trixie asked. Rainbow Dash remained silent in shock, but then mumbled out a single word. "Hello..." Author's Note That chapter was really poorly done... Next chapter will (probably) be the last. As you can probably guess, Rainbow Dash's promise to stay with Trixie will conflict with Twilight's plead for her to return home. And there is no romance between Trixie and RD.
Chapter 4: Choice (kind of rewritten)Rainbow Dash stared in disbelief at the five ponies who stood before her: Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Somehow, they had found her. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said with a huge smile. She stepped forward and wrapped Rainbow Dash in a hug. "I'm so glad we found you, we've all missed you so much." "Twilight? What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We've come to apologise." She released her from her hug and frowned slightly. "We didn't want for you to leave town, we overreacted... We're so sorry, Rainbow Dash." "Oh... You're here to say sorry..." she replied. "Well, I guess I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have left like that, I was just feeling really guilty..." "So you're alright?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash nodded promtly. "That's wonderful! I hoped you wouldn't be too mad at us." Her smile returned. "So does that mean you'll come back home with us?" "Well, I'm... not sure if I can..." "Not sure?" Rarity asked. "Why ever not?" "Uh, well... Maybe you should meet my roommate." "Hey," Rainbow Dash said to Trixie as she led the others inside. "Guess who's here?" Trixie turned around from what she was doing and looked at the ponies who were now standing in her living room. She stared unsurely for a moment, before speaking. "T- Twilight? What are you doing here?" "Oh... Hi, Trixie..." Twilight said. "Haven't seen you for a while. You're Rainbow Dash's roommate?" "Uh, yeah..." she said with a casual shrug. "Anyway, what are you doing here?" "They want me to go back to Ponyville with them..." Rainbow Dash replied. "Ponyville? But... But what about me?" "Well that's the thing..." She looked back to her other friends. "I'm not sure if I can go back..." "Not sure?" Applejack asked. "Why ever not, sugarcube?" "Well, I kind of have to make a choice... I either go back to Ponyville with you, or... stay here with Trixie." "Wait, why do you want to stay with Trixie?" asked Twilight. "Well, I promised I'd stay with her... She'd be lonely without me." Rainbow Dash replied, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "But we want you to come with us... We went all over Equestria looking for you." Twilight said. She sighed heavily. "Fine, if you want to stay here with Trixie, then we understand." Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight and the other four mares, she had missed them so much, but now she wished they hadn't come. She had to make a choice, but no matter which option she chooses, someone will end up disappointed. "Uh... I don't know..." Rainbow Dash mumbled, looking between Trixie and the other five. "This is feeling really rushed. I mean, you just showed up out of nowhere and asked me to leave with you." "Rainbow Dash, just..." Twilight paused for a moment. "Just choose whoever you want. If you want to stay with Trixie, then just say so and we'll be on our way." "What about the townsponies? I don't think I can show my face in that town again..." "Oh, no. The day after you... assaulted Amber, it was like they had completely forgotten what had happened." Rainbow Dash continued looking back and forth between them. Twilight could tell that she was almost in tears, which wasn't a normal thing for her to do. "I... I need time to think..." she said. She walked towards the door. "I'll be back..." So many thoughts cluttered Rainbow Dash's mind. Of course she wanted to go back home to Ponyville, put things back to the way they were. But then she thought about Trixie. She didn't want to leave her on her own. She wanted to stay just as much as she wanted to leave. The more she thought about it, the harder it was to think about the matter. As she walked along the street, she looked at the ponies and the buildings. This was her home, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to leave. She looked up as a single drop of water landed on her head; it was starting to rain. As it got heavier, most ponies sought shelter, but she just kept walking. The rain was the least of her worries at the moment. She kept thinking about what she had to do. She knew she had to choose eventually, and that her choice would affect the rest of life. Either she stays in Manehattan and live as a city pony, or returns to her old life in Ponyville. But of course, that wasn't what she had to choose between. She had to choose between her friends. As the rain poured down onto her, she stopped walking for a moment. She took a deep breath of the cold air. She knew she was just procrastinating. She hadn't ever had to make a decision like this before, she never thought she'd ever have to choose between friends, especially Trixie. Finally, she stopped thinking. Everything that had happened over the last month had all seemed so fast. She made a new friend, then lost all of her friends, and now they want her back... Rainbow Dash turned around and sighed as she thought over it a few more times. "Well," she said to herself. She began walking back towards the apartment. "Let's get this over with." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash slowly raised her hoof and pushed open the door. The six ponies all turned and looked at the soaked mare. "Hey, guys." Rainbow Dash said. "Rainbow Dash, you're back... and wet..." Trixie said with a frown. "Let me go get you a towel..." Trixie walked into the bathroom and returned a few moments later with a towel, which she gave to Rainbow Dash. "So, have you made a decision yet?" Twilight asked. "Yes, I have." Rainbow Dash replied. "Well then, go ahead. We're listening." Rainbow Dash walked into the lounge room, her head lowered, and stood by them. "I never wanted to leave Ponyville, I was just so upset. I was scared... I felt like killing myself..." she said. "And if I had to blame anyone, I'd have to say it was my fault. I shouldn't have left." "I know." Twilight said. "But it was just as much our fault as yours." "But if I hadn't of run away then I wouldn't even have to choose between you." She sighed and sat down on the lounge. "Just over a month ago, I was sitting on a street in Manehattan, and I didn't care much... about anything really. But then Trixie found me. She took me into her home when I needed help and took care of me. And if it weren't for her, I'd probably be dead by now..." "So... Are you staying here with Trixie?" Rainbow Dash looked up to Twilight and sighed. As much as it broke her heart, she had to tell them. "I made a promise with Trixie and I'm going to keep it." She paused for a moment as a few tears streaked down her face. "I want to stay here with Trixie." Rainbow Dash watched as her friends faces started to tear up. "I'm sorry, but... I'm not coming home with you. I'm sorry." "It's okay." Twilight said, wiping her eyes. "I understand. You can stay, we'll be on our way." "You don't have to leave right away, you can stay here for a bit if you want..." Rainbow Dash said, also beginning to cry slightly. "Rainbow Dash... Goodbye." Twilight said. "Come on, girls. Let's go." Rainbow Dash watched as Twilight headed towards the door, her head lowered and her tears running down her face and onto the floor, which was already wet from Rainbow Dash. She could see Fluttershy's pain and sadness of her broken heart building up on her face, tears streaming from her eyes. Suddenly, Fluttershy lunged forward, wrapping Rainbow Dash in a tight hug. "Rainbow Dash, I don't want to go!" she sobbed. "Fluttershy, you have to. You belong in Ponyville. Please, go. I don't like to see you sad..." Fluttershy pulled away from the hug and looked at Rainbow Dash. She gave a weary smile as Rainbow Dash raised a hoof and wiped the tears off her cheek. She turned around and joined the others who were heading towards the door, just as heart-broken as Fluttershy. "Twilight, wait." Trixie said abruptly. The five mares stopped at the door and looked over to Trixie, who was walking towards Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash," Trixie said, there were also a few tears in her eyes. "Please, go with them." "Trixie, I... I made my choice." she replied. "I'm want to stay with you." "But I don't want you to." "W- Why not?" "I just want what's best for you, and this isn't it. You don't deserve a life like mine." "What do you mean?" "You're not... happy here. I know how much you love your friends, you need to go with them." "No, of course I'm happy here." Rainbow Dash smiled slightly. "No you're not. Please, go with them." Rainbow Dash looked back to the others who were still standing by the door. "But what about you? You said it yourself, you're lonely." "I know... But I don't want you to be the same." Trixie said, grinning ever so slightly. "I'm not asking you." Rainbow Dash gave Trixie a slight nod. "I don't know what to say. You took care of me, and now I'm just going to leave..." "Just... go and live your life. I'll be fine on my own." "Are you sure?" "Of course, don't worry about me." She leaned forward and gave her a hug. "Goodbye, Rainbow Dash. I'll miss you." "I'll miss you too." Rainbow Dash said, hugging her back. "I can't thank you enough for all you've done for me." "Nah, it's fine." She pulled away from the hug. "Actually, I should thank you. I haven't had a friend like you for a while." Rainbow Dash smiled, and walked towards the door. "Bye, Trixie. I'll visit you." "Thank you, Rainbow Dash. This has been the best month of my life... Goodbye." Trixie smiled as she fought back tears. "And don't forget to say sorry to Amber when you get back." "I will." And without another word, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy left the room. As Fluttershy shut the door behind her, the room became dead silent. Trixie had almost forgotten what it was like to live alone. She sighed, and sat down on the lounge. "That was fun while it lasted..." she said to herself. She closed her eyes and leaned back. "Well, back to my depressing life of loneliness." Suddenly, the silence was broken when Trixie heard the door opening. She looked up, and saw Rainbow Dash. "Hello again." she said. "Trixie, I had an idea." Rainbow Dash said. "It's pretty stupid, but... would you..." Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. "Would you like to live in Ponyville with us?" Trixie looked at Rainbow Dash blankly. "You... You want me to come with you?" Rainbow Dash nodded. "If you lived in Ponyville you could make more friends... You wouldn't have to be lonely anymore." A slight smile formed on Trixie's muzzle. "Rainbow Dash, I would like nothing more." Rainbow Dash breathed in the warm summer air as she and her six best friends walked beside her. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Trixie. When she had ran away, she thought she had no friends. Now, she had six. Six wonderful ponies who stood by her no matter what, and she loved each and every one of them. As they walked over the small hill, Rainbow Dash beamed as she saw distant buildings which could simply be described as home. It was the best thing she'd seen in a long time. She slowly spread her wings and lifted herself up into the air. "I'm gonna go ahead and find Amber." she said to her friends. "This is going to be the best apology ever!" Author's Note I did it! I finished A Rainbow Alone! This is where I'm supposed to put the 'Thank You's. So, here goes. Thank you to everyone who read, liked, commented on, or even read the title. Special thanks to everypony who favourited it. I know my story wasn't the best, but I'm only 14 so my stories aren't going to be great. I don't expect them to be this popular, so this was pretty different for me.
Chapter 0: PrologueWhat was wrong with Rainbow Dash? Well, what was right? That would be the shorter answer. Her hooves were aching, and her legs were tired. She was hungry, thirsty, and hadn't slept in days. She was certainly too weak to fly. She could feel herself sweating under the harsh summer sun, dehydrating her to the point of nearly collapsing. She watched as ponies passed her, silently judging the mare based on the poor quality of her coat and mane, which she could understand. Her filthy, scruffy coat looked atrocious when compared to their coats. Manehattan ponies were always so egotistic when it came to these sorts of things. She looked up the sky, it was very bland, only a few clouds were left dangling in the picturesque blue sky. It reminded her a lot of Ponyville, her home, but she quickly shook away these thoughts. She didn't want to think of Ponyville right now. She didn't even want to think of her friends. They were all so angry at her when she had left. Rainbow Dash was feeling awful, and not just physically. She was hating herself at the moment. Everything she had done, why she had left, it all made her feel so ashamed and guilty. Eventually, she stopped walking, and looked around. Her hooves felt like they were about to shatter. She looked around for somewhere to rest, but upon not seeing anywhere suitable, she just decided to sit down beside a nearby bale of hay, resting beside a building. All she had with her was her saddlebags, which she had only packed enough food and water to last her a couple of days, but was now empty. She groaned slightly as her hungriness got the best of her, the city ponies still looking at her as a disgrace to their society. Rainbow Dash wished they would help her, but why would they? She was no different from the many other homeless ponies they passed. No one cared, Rainbow Dash wasn't even sure if she cared anymore. She ate a few stalks of hay from the bale that she was resting against, but of course that didn't satisfy her hunger. She wanted to eat more but she knew she couldn't, it wasn't hers to take. Although she knew she had to do something soon to save her own life, she just sat there, trying to overcome her memories of home. She thought about what she had done, why her friends were mad, and why she had to leave. She didn't think somepony's life could fall apart in a mere ten days, but somehow she had managed to do it. She also thought about how it had all started. She thought back to ten days ago, a single orange feather falling from the sky... Author's Note A short prologue, intended to make the reader curious, therefore making them want to continue reading.
