//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - The clues we hide. // Story: A Color Divided // by MrDynasty //------------------------------// The blue cyan pegasus awoke from her deep sleep, to see that she was lying beside one of her dearest friends. The orange coated earth pony was still sleeping, blissfully. The cyan pegasus got up to see that she where she was, only to notice she was sleeping in a barn. The pegasus noted to herself of what she was doing in the barn, laying beside her friend… Applejack. She remembered of the night before hand only to know how deep her feelings were for her friend, she wanted Applejack to stay as a friend. She got up off of her sleeping position and walked over to a small table in the barn, trying not to wake Applejack. She wrote a note that said, “To Applejack, I had to leave you… I need time to think, it’s nothing about you… it’s me, please understand. Don’t look for me.” ~~~ Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow frowned and shuddered as she read the note back. She knew what she was doing, it felt wrong, but Rainbow needed time… or help. She placed the note carefully beside Applejack, trying not to disturb her sleep. Remembering just before she flew off to the morning sky, she took off the Stetson style hat and put it back on Applejack, who was still in a beautiful, deep slumber. Rainbow studied her while she slept for several seconds. Applejack was elegant and she had a really nice shine to her because of the small light coming from through the window above. Rainbow knew that leaving Applejack alone was wrong, but she forced herself to leave, knowing Applejack was going to wake up soon. Rainbow took off, looking behind her… knowing where she would go. -------------------- -1 week earlier- It was an amazing morning, almost stunning. Rainbow Dash woke up from a rough night of flying. Slowly edging out of bed while stretching, Rainbow remembered that she decided she would visit Twilight yesterday, to see if there were any more books to catch up on. As Rainbow got out of bed, out of the corner of her eye, she saw that she slept a lot longer than she intended to. She gasped “I promised Twilight I would visit her early!” she then grew a smile and waved her hoof “She won't mind me being late, she knows me… although I was wanting to get some training done this morning” She put her hoof on her chin and walked towards the door. Rainbow flew calmly to admire the beautiful day, she never usually caught eye on the sky. She flew down as she reached the apple orchards, nabbing a couple of apples as she flew overhead. Rainbow stopped as she heard a familiar voice call out her name. “Rainbow! I thought I told ya to ask before you took my apples!” “Or what?” Rainbow felt confident in herself. Just as Rainbow talked, a long rope was hauled over her chest, she dropped all the Apples she picked up and she was taken out of flight and pulled towards the orange coated earth pony. Applejack had a concerning look, as if she was expecting Rainbow to get caught in her lasso. “Or that” she said with a small smirk on her face. Rainbow let of a long hesitated sigh as she was getting the lasso taken off of her. “Fine… can I have some apples?” Applejack never spoke for a while. Rainbow analysed her for a while… carefully. She had an elegant, outstanding orange coat, with a sleek blonde mane. Rainbow looked into her eyes; they were shining with a great colour of emerald green… “Uh… Rainbow? You alright?” Applejack said, looking confused while her friend was in some sort of trance. “What? Oh yeah… I’m fine, so…” she continued to stare at Applejack. “Rainbow, you can take ma apples… but you hafta ask first!” Applejack never intended her last sentence to sound so angry. “So can I take some of your apples then?” Applejack gave a slight nod as she trotted away. Rainbow gathered up the apples that she dropped after being forced to the ground by Applejack’s lasso before she took flight and headed for Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow flew swiftly towards the middle of Ponyville, eating most of the apples on her way. She landed just outside of Sugarcube Corner, slowly edging the door open. Then all of a sudden she was knocked on her back by a pink earth pony who appeared as if out of nowhere. “Dashie! Oh it’s so good to see you, you want to plan a party? You want to have a cupcake? I have plenty of cupcakes! So what can I do you for… maybe a muffin, or a cake! You want a-“Pinkie was cut off by Rainbow. “No Pinkie, I’m just here to pick up Twilight's order for the party” Rainbow walked through the door slowly and Pinkie came up from behind the counter. “Oh you mean the order she placed three days ago? Yeah I got it right here, so how’s the party planning going, you want my help?” Pinkie took a long gasp “I could make it the best party ever by adding balloons and stuff like-” Pinkie was cut off by Rainbow, who was getting a bit impatient at Pinkie’s constant rambling. “Pinkie, I’m just here to pick up the order! We need nothing else, I’ll let you know if we do” Just then Pinkie went behind the counter and pulled out a medium sized box with string wrapped around it. “Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said excitedly, Rainbow grabbed the package and walked out of Sugar Cube Corner, feeling relived that she wouldn’t have to sit there with Pinkie. Rainbow enjoyed Pinkie’s company, but when she was hyper, it would just give Rainbow a headache. It took a small ten minutes to reach the library. Just as she reached the door, it slammed wide open, Spike flew across Rainbow’s face as she was trying to see what was going on. “Twilight, what was that for?!” Spike shouted as he was trying to regain his balance. “You ate the gem I was studying!” Twilight walked out the library with a small frown on her face, she then caught eye of Rainbow who was standing, waiting for Twilight and Spike to finish arguing. “Rainbow… you were too late, spike ate the gem!” Twilight looked over at Spike, who was getting up. “Hey, if you didn’t want me to eat it, why did you leave it out in the open?!” Spike put on an enraged look and crossed his arms, tapping his foot. “So I could study it in the morning! Now I need to find a new one” Spike shrugged and walked into the library. “So, Rainbow… you are a bit… late, even if Spikes appetite never got hold of him, I would have finished my study by now” Twilight motioned for Rainbow to walk into the library with her, they walked through the door and Rainbow looked at all the books that were lying on the floor. Spike was picking them up and putting them back into place. When Rainbow entered the library, she felt comfortable, warm and secure. The library always had a great feel to it, even though Rainbow never intended on going anywhere near one for any other reason than asking Twilight for the next book in the Daring Doo series. “I see you picked up my order from Sugar Cube Corner, any trouble?” Rainbow placed the box on the table beside her and walked towards Twilight. “Oh you know, Pinkie Pie” Rainbow giggled as Twilight rolled her eyes, knowing what Rainbow meant. “Well, thanks anyway. So is there anything I could do for you?” Twilight walked towards her study desk, placing a marker in her book then closing it. “No, not really. I just wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to continue our research on Flight aerodynamics” Rainbow walked around the library looking for the book they were reading yesterday. “With this mess on the floor, we can’t do much can we?” Twilight using her magic to lift up the books to put them back into order, Twilight never noticed that she picked up a book that Spike was holding on to. “Twilight, let me down, I got the book here!” Twilight released her spell, causing Spike to fall to the ground. Rainbow and Twilight giggled at the baby Dragon’s misfortune. “Ha-ha, very funny… Anyway here’s the book” Spike handed the book over to Rainbow who grasped it in her mouth and sat on the nearby couch, opening it up, skimming through the pages to get to the one she ended at yesterday. “Ah here we go, Reversed Flight Patterns” Twilight walked up to Rainbow and sat next to her, Twilight only knew that there would be words that Rainbow wouldn’t understand. -------------------- It was late in the evening when they finished reading the book about aerodynamics. Rainbow closed the book and placed it on the table, only noticing now that Spike cleaned up the mess that was on the floor. Twilight stretched “So what are you going to do now Rainbow?” Twilight asked with a gazed look on her face. “I might just head home, I feel tired” Rainbow let out a yawn that caused Twilight to giggle. Slowly getting off the couch, Rainbow started walking towards the door as Twilight gathered her thoughts. “Why don’t you help me organise the party for tomorrow, it would be great getting your opinions on how well it’s going to turn out” Twilight smiled slightly, looking over at Rainbow. “I think I should get heading Twi… but I’ll be there for the party tomorrow” Rainbow put on an innocent smile as she trotted towards the door. Twilight did not mind her friend leaving early, it would give her time to study and concentrate on what she was planning to do this morning… she looked over at Spike who was walking around in circles. “Spike, what are you doing? I didn’t upset you did I?” She frowned slightly as Spike looked over at her. “No Twilight, it’s just… why do you always over react when I do something wrong... Come on… it was a gem, did you expect me to leave it alone?” Again, Spike put on his serious face and crossed his arms. Twilight noticed that Rainbow already left… she looked over at Spike with a small smile on her face. “Because sometime you deserve it, I may have over reacted at you this morning, but I’m just trying to keep you in line. You should have known better than to eat a gem that you knew I was studying” Spike put on a sad face and walked up the long, wooden stairs that lead to his bed. “Fine, I deserved it, but can you blame me?” Spike looked over at Twilight who was opening the book that she marked this morning. “Yes… yes I can” Twilight put on a smile and looked over to Spike who was already more than half way up the stairs “Where you going Spike?” Twilight put a worried tone into her voice as she said that, not sure if she wanted to. “I’m going to lie down for a bit, I’m kind of tired” Twilight never stopped him and just carried on with her studies. Three hours later, Twilight decided that she studied enough for today. She walked up the stairs to her bed only to notice that her window was open, she sprung across her bed to peak out her window. “Spike!” Twilight shouted, only concerned where the dragon went to. She decided to go out and search for him; she knew Spike would not leave the bounds of Ponyville. Twilight raced out her front door, shutting and locking it with her glowing horn, she decided she would walk around Ponyville to see if she could find Spike anywhere. Twilight was walking mindlessly as she stumbled over a yellow Pegasus and a small white bunny who was riding on the Pegasus. “Oh, Fluttershy… and Angel, I’m sorry I bumped into you, are you okay” The tone in the Pegasus’ voice was smooth, silent and calming. “Oh yes, I’m quite alright. Why are you dashing around Ponyville at this hour?” The curious Pegasus asked. Twilight put on a worried frown while answering Fluttershy’s question, “Spike ran away again, I may have hurt his feelings and I’m trying to see if I can catch him before he goes any further” The sentence was rushed but Fluttershy understood. Fluttershy putting her hoof on her chin as she thought for a moment, a sudden thumping sound came from behind Fluttershy… both Twilight and Fluttershy noticed that Angel was tapping Fluttershy’s back while looking impatient. “Oh sorry Angel, I’ll be with you in a second” “Twilight, I saw Spike not moments ago. He was leaving Sugar Cube Corner as I was going out for a late night walk with Angel” Twilight liked Fluttershy’s confidence; she stood there waiting for Twilight to answer, or at least acknowledge her. “So I can still find him if I’m fast enough! Thank you Fluttershy, I better be going now” Twilight ran past Fluttershy who caught eye on Angel. “I’m sure Spike will be fine Angel” Fluttershy claimed as Angel gave her a reassuring nod. -------------------- Twilight galloped across Ponyville to find any sign of where Spike would have lead to. She stopped and thought to herself… I should ask the Cakes at Sugar Cube Corner. Not moments later she ran through the door of Sugar Cube Corner, which was all but empty beside a Pink coated earth pony beside a couple filly’s “Were sorry Pinkie, we never meant to ruin the cake” Claimed an orange filly with a purple mane. “Scootaloo, Pinkie… have you seen Spike? I’m looking for him, he wondered off after we had an argument” Pinkie looked round at Twilight and smiled, she pointed towards Sweet Apple Acers. “Spike said he was going over to visit Applejack… Twilight you want anything like a… Cupcake or muffin?!” Pinkie was always enthusiastic and always acted positively, Twilight liked that but she had better things to do than sit and eat a cupcake with one of her friends. “No Pinkie, but thanks to the offer, I just need to try and find Spike. I’m getting really worried about him” Twilight put a saddened look on her face as Pinkie nodded in return. “Okie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie said with a bit too much happiness in it. Twilight walked off as she heard Scootaloo saying something to Pinkie, Twilight couldn’t make it out and she didn’t bother to try. Galloping towards Sweet Apple Acers, Twilight caught eye on Applejack who was standing outside her barn, staring at Rainbow Dash’s cloud home. “Applejack?” “Huh… what in tarnation? Oh hey Twi… how ya doing?” Applejack was in some sort of concentration, or dream as she was staring at Rainbow’s cloud home. Twilight ran up to Applejack, gasping for air. “Spike… has gone… missing” Catching her breath, she continued her sentence. “I need help to try and find him” “You don’t need to try and find me Twilight!” came a voice from inside the barn. Twilight looked over at Applejack who seemed just as confused as she was. “Spike? Can you come outta’ there” Applejack said in a serious tone… the both heard Spike mumble as he opened the barn door. With a sleepy look on his face, Spike walked over to the two and stood there… expecting Twilight to give him a lecture about things he couldn’t even understand. “Spike! You know better than to run off without my permission! Why did you leave anyway” Twilight turned from worried to angry in a sudden gaze. Spike was wobbling and was losing balance… he was exhausted, Twilight could see it. “Come here Spike, I’ll get you into bed” Twilight said as she pulled Spike onto her back with her teeth, Twilight then caught eye on Applejack who was focusing on Rainbow’s cloud home again. “Applejack, why are you so… interested in Rainbow’s house all of a sudden?” Applejack looked round fast at Twilight only with a saddened look on her face. “Uhh… it is um… nothing, I just really…” She paused to look at it again, then she turned back to Twilight again with an unconvincing smile on her face “I really like her house” Twilight looked over at the house before walked away from Applejack, nodding and making gestures to explain she had to get going. Applejack just waved good bye and sat on the grass, staring at the house again. Twilight opened the library door and closed it quietly. She trotted up the stairs and she put Spike into his bed, expecting to get answers the next day. Twilight moved slowly into her bed, falling asleep under the moon’s vivid, luscious light… Luna must have been happy today, she thought as she fell silently asleep.