Rainbow Dash was up early. Not unusual for her, as her job was often early in the morning. However, the unusual thing was, that she couldn't get back to sleep. Normally, Rainbow Dash could sleep anywhere, at any time, through anything. A bit like a cat really, but, if anypony tried to tell her this, well, let's just say that their day wouldn't end very well. But, back to Rainbow not being able to sleep. Rainbow Dash lay in her bed, listening to all the sounds around her, Scootaloo's soft snores, the gentle breeze of the wind as it brushed past the open window, the rustle of the curtains against the wind and the chirping of the birds, singing out to the morning. After several minutes of trying, and failing, to get back to sleep, Rainbow Dash decided to get up. She walked over to the small mirror in the room and looked at herself, her mane was a mess, strands stuck out everywhere and several had decided to stick to her face. She shook her head and her mane went back to normal. Then, she turned around and looked over to Scootaloo. The filly was still sleeping. Rainbow Dash sighed and walked out of the room. She decided to go and see if Applejack was awake.
'Applejack's a morning pony, she should be up by now.' Rainbow thought. She was right. Both Applejack and Applebloom were up and awake. Applejack was chasing Applebloom around the room, trying to get her brush back. Applejack's mane was messier than Rainbow's had been. It looked as though it had had a dragon migration right through it. Rainbow looked at her friend chase her little sister around the room. Neither had noticed Rainbow enter, so, Applebloom ended up running straight into Rainbow, with Applejack bowling after her. All three of them landed in a heap just outside Applejack's bedroom.
"Got ya Applebloom! Now give me back mah brush!"
"Ok, ok. Here ya go sis. Oh hey Rainbow, what are ya doin' up so early?" Rainbow rolled her eyes at Applebloom's question and addressed Applejack.
"Hey AJ. I ughh, came to.....see you" She finished lamely.
"Rainbow? Why are ya up so early? Don't ya normally jus' sleep in?" Again, Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"No, AJ. I go to work like everypony else. Anyway-" She was cut off by Applejack.
"Ya go ta work? But ya'll're a weather pony, ain't ya? How come Ah never see ya workin' them clouds in the mornin'?"
"Ughh, I'm captain of the weather team. My job is more than just moving clouds all day ya know! Anyway! Can I just get back to why I was here in the first place?" She asked, exasperated. Applejack looked slightly taken aback, but composed herself quickly.
"Sure, sorry sugarcube. Ah was jus' wonderin' is all. Now, why d'ya wanna see me?"
"Well, I couldn't get back to sleep for some odd reason, so I thought you might be up. I'm a bit bored on my own." It was Applejack's turn to roll her eyes.
"Of course ya were sugarcube, ya can't sit down fer five gosh-darn minutes."
"Hey! I can totally stay still for five minutes! I literally sat down in my bedroom staring at the ceiling for, like, half an hour! Ok, maybe more like seven minutes, but that's still a bigger number than five!" Rainbow Dash protested. At this point, Applebloom had already wandered off back into her room to leave the two mares.
"Ok, Rainbow. Now, let me jus' brush mah mane, then we c'n get doin' somethin' alright?" Applejack suggested. Rainbow Dash just nodded and sat down. Applejack picked up the brush and started to brush her mane. Several seconds in, Rainbow asked a question.
"Are you done yet?"
"No Rainbow, Ah've only bin brushin' mah mane fer two seconds!" She went back to brushing, until, a few seconds later,
"Are you done yet?"
"No Rainbow! Ah'm not!" Another few seconds,
"Are you-" Rainbow Dash was cut off.
"No! Ah'm not done yet! An' the more ya ask, the longer ah'm gonna take!" A full minute had passed since Rainbow asked her question. It didn't normally take Applejack this long to brush her mane, but the race around her bedroom, jumping over beds, chairs, running in and out of wardrobes and finally crashing into Rainbow Dash had made her mane messier than normal. Applejack was almost finished, when.
"Are you done yet?" This was followed by a snicker. However, the voice did not belong to Rainbow Dash. Applejack turned around and came face to face with a pair of bright blue eyes. Those blue eyes were inserted into a bright pink face. That bright pink face was attached to a bright pink head and that bright pink head was connected to a bouncing, pink body. That bouncing, pink body, belonged to none other, than Pinkie Pie.
"Hey Applejack! Hey Rainbow Dash! WOW Rainbow Dash! You're up super duper early! I've never seen you up this early! Well, except for the time when you moved to Ponyville, you got up REALLY early because you didn't want to bring attention to yourself. Though I don't know why, who wouldn't want to bring attention to themselves when they move into a new place? I would, cause then I could go around making friends with everypony!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack just stared at the pink pony.
"Morning Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash finally said. Applejack just looked at her Rainbow friend and thought about what Pinkie had said.
"Ya didn't wanna be noticed when ya first came ta town? That ain't the loud pegasus Ah know." Rainbow Dash just sighed and ignored Applejack. She didn't like talking about this stuff. But Applejack kept persisting, it wasn't like Rainbow Dash to be shy, so why had she practically snuck into town? "Why didn't ya wanna be noticed? That ain't like ya." Rainbow Dash kept ignoring Applejack. "Come on now Rainbow. Ah c'n tell somethin' must bin botherin' ya when ya came ta town, otherwise ya wouldn't ta avoided everypony." Rainbow sighed, turned to look at Applejack and said,
"I don't want to talk about it, ok?" Applejack was about to say something else, but she noticed a slightly pained expression in her friend's eyes, and decided that it was best to just leave it. But she was still concerned, she'd have to ask Pinkie Pie about it later, maybe Fluttershy.
--
It was several hours after everypony had gotten up and Twilight was sitting at the desk in her room. She had asked Princess Cadence about this 'queen' in the prophecy, but, unfortunately, Princess Cadence couldn't help. Just then, Applejack walked in. She looked concerned.
"Hi Applejack. Is everything alright?" Twilight asked.
"Ah'm not sure. Ah'm slightly concerned fer Rainbow."
"Why? Did she hurt herself? has she done something? Did she-" Twilight was cut off by an orange hoof being placed in her mouth.
"No Twi, she ain't done nothin'. But, this mornin, Ah found out from Pinkie that when she came ta Ponyville, she tried avoidin' everypony. Now, that don't sound too bad, but when Ah asked her 'bout it, she seemed hurt. Like somethin' had happened."
"Ok, I still don't see why you're concerned. Maybe Rainbow was just a bit afraid of meeting new ponies, everypony is scared of something sometimes, even if they normally aren't scared of that thing."
"Ah don't think she was scared Twi. Ah went ta talk ta Pinkie an' Fluttershy earlier ta see if they knew anythin'. Pinkie didn't know at all, but Fluttershy said she knew whut was wrong with Rainbow, but, couldn't tell me."
"Why? Wait, something's wrong with Rainbow?"
"Twi, from what Fluttershy told me, Rainbow's fine, she ain't hurt or nothin' like that. But, she's gotta come ta us ta tell us whut's wrong when she's ready, otherwise, things are gonna git worse. That's whut worries me."
"The fact that Rainbow won't come and tell us what's wrong? If she doesn't tell us, then it's nothing serious."
"No, Twi! Ya don't understand! It's big Twi. Ah saw the look in her eye when she told me that she didn't wanna talk 'bout it. An' Fluttershy didn't seem ta like keepin' Rainbow's secret. She told me that she wished she could tell me, but couldn't." Twilight saw how desperate Applejack was. Applejack wouldn't make a fuss over nothing, would she? No, if Applejack said that something was bothering Rainbow Dash, then there was most likely something bothering Rainbow Dash. But, why come to her?
"Ok Applejack, I can see that you're concerned. I won't dig into it now though. Rainbow Dash seems fine as it is and I don't want to make things worse. But, I have one question, Why come to me? I don't know Rainbow Dash very well, Rarity knows her better. And she's far better with the comforting side of things and knowing when something's wrong."
"Well Twi, Ah coulda gone ta Rarity, but Ah noticed that when we first met ya, ya seemed closer with Rainbow than with the rest o' us, so ah thought ya might wanna help, besides, Rarity'll probably just put 'er in a dress." Twilight couldn't help but giggle at that last comment. She smiled when Applejack told her the reason why she came to her rather than Rarity. She then realized that she had felt closer to Rainbow than the others, she felt closer to home, she remembered to back when she was a young filly, just getting to know the castle, she remembered staying up late in her castle bedroom, practicing for her next exam. She remembered when she was around Celestia, she felt comfort, the same comfort she felt around Rainbow and she remembered that she felt friendship around Celestia, the same friendship she felt around Rainbow. Around Rainbow Dash, she felt comfort and friendship. But, no time to dwell on that now.
"Ok Applejack, thanks. I'll try and talk to her later, but I'll try and come at it tactfully." Twilight smiled at Applejack.
"Thank's Twi." Applejack said and left.
--
Rainbow Dash was just lying on her bed in her bedroom in the castle. She had just been outside practicing for the wonderbolts. Now she just wanted a rest. But, it seemed that her rest had to be cut short, as there was a knock at the door and Twilight walked in.
"Hey Rainbow." She said with a smile.
"Hey Twi. What's up?"
"Oh, I just wanted to ask you a few things, get to know you better. I was going to ask at the Summer sun Celebration, but then the mayor cut in, and, well, you know the rest."
"Alright." Rainbow sighed, sitting up. "What do you wanna ask?"
"Well, I was wondering what sort of things you did as a foal. You said that both you and Fluttershy grew up in Cloudsdale. Did you know each other then?"
"Yeh, me an' Flutters were best friends. I met her when I first stood up for her at flight camp."
"So, you just stood up for a random filly who you didn't know?"
"Yeh, of course I did. I couldn't just let her be teased by those jerks."
"Alright, so, what did you two do together when you were best friends?"
"Uhh, we didn't really do much other than only see each other at flight camp. We went to different schools. Though I guess once or Twice I went and had a sleepover at Fluttershy's house."
"So, umm, when did you move to Ponyville?" Twilight tried to ask this one slyly, so Rainbow wouldn't get suspicious, but, it seemed that Rainbow was already onto her.
"Ughh, Twilight. I heard your and Applejack's conversation earlier. Stop being worried. I'm fine."
"How did you hear our conversation?!!"
"I was out flying, your window was open, I heard AJ say my name and decided I'd eavesdrop you know?"
"It's not nice to eavesdrop. Rainbow Dash."
"It's not nice to talk about ponies behind their backs."
"You're right, but Applejack was only worried."
"Well, she doesn't need to be. I'm fine." Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. She seemed a bit annoyed at Twilight, but she put on a smile and Twilight saw that it was mostly genuine. Ensured that Rainbow was actually ok, Twilight apologized and left.
---
Deep in the Everfree forest, Nightmare moon had begun to gain more power. Her army was coming along nicely and she was gaining more and more of her magic back. Unfortunately, for her army, there was getting less and less clear space in the Everfree forest to train her army. Nightmare moon was slightly confused that the pesky Princess Cadence hadn't come with her friends to finish her off. Especially now that the element bearers had found out that they were the elements bearers.
'Curse those stupid fillies! They should have brought me that book! I thought they wanted to help me! Well, at least it doesn't seem that they are coming to destroy me. They must think that I have gone completely. Yes, I can use this to my advantage.' With that, her horn began to glow, so did the surrounding area of the Everfree forest. Soon, new land began to form in the middle. A dried up desert was built, it stretched for miles inside the forest, and more trees were added. Now, the Everfree forest was much bigger, and it had a desert inside it, where there was no water or vegetation. From anywhere in Equestria, apart from in the Everfree forest. It looked like nothing had happened. The Everfree forest looked the same size. But if you were to go inside, you'd find that it was much bigger than before.