Even several hundred meters or so from Dash's house, Twilight could spot the blue pegasus on a small cloud. As soon as the argument had ended, Twilight had flown out of the house and flapped frantically to Dash's little grey cloud.
On one hand, she was upset that Dash’s parents thought she was ugly, but that was overshadowed by how touchingly Dash had defended her. She made a mental note to be extra nice to Dash later.
The sky was almost completely dark by now, for what little dusky light was left was blocked by the black storm clouds amassing just a few hundred meters above their heads.
Twilight alighted beside Dash. “Hey, Featherbrain. How are you?”
“Hey, Egghead. Could be better.”
“What’s up?”
“Everypony seems to be against me for some reason. First my relatives, then my parents. My own parents!”
“You sound like Rarity right now, Dash.”
“Didn’t you hear what they said, Sparkle? You’re a slob and I’m a lesbian. So much for my life.”
“I’m pretty sure we can reason with them when we’re calmer. And your relatives all welcome you! Do you know that in Gryphonia, foreigners are given the most respect and prestige? Some Gryphons would give their left rear hoof to get a hold of your Equestrian permanent residency card!”
“I would give my left forehoof just to be accepted somewhere for once…”
“What? What do you mean?”
“You don’t understand, Twilight Sparkle! You don’t understand. I’ve worked all my life to give back and fit in; I’ve been faithful all my life to my communities, and now I’m just a stranger!” Dash kicked off from her cloud and shot away before Twilight could blink.
Twilight sunk into the raincloud.
A raindrop hit her, then two, then many more.
The low roar of thunder filled her ears.
She slowly glided back to Dash’s house.
~*~
“Did something happen to Dash this afternoon?” Twilight sipped at a cup of Pu-er tea, aged seven years.
“Well, she seemed pretty irritated after some relatives corrected her Gryphonese,” said Sunshine. “But they were all praising her about how amazing it was for a foreigner.”
Twilight thought about what Dash said for a bit. She looked around the house. Photos of her marefriend's blank flank days filled the room. She looked at the various trophies, medals, and ribbons adorning the fireplace. Above the mantel, a picture of Dash cheering for Cloudsdale’s bid for the Equestria Games, from atop Trails. Maybe…
“Do you know why Dash left Cloudsdale?”
Sunshine looked to Trails, then back to Twilight. “Yeah, there was an unusual dry spell in Cloudsdale a couple years back,” she said, after a moment’s hesitation. “So dry, in fact, that certain cloud structures had to be used to supply water to alleviate the groundside drought.
“The buildings chosen were the newest ones, since they gave out the largest quantity of rain, and Dash had just moved out from her homestay and moved into her self-built house. The legislation specifically stated that primary residences shouldn’t be selected. But Dash’s registered primary residence… it was still here, 62-bis East Pine, Talon Bay. Homeless, she lived in a friend’s house groundside, and found that she sort of liked the town there. And the rest’s history.”
Homeless. A spark lit in Twilight’s eyes. “Thanks, Sunshine.”
“No problem. Dash’ll probably be back in a while. Some fruit?” Sunshine offered the lavender mare a plate of cantaloupe.
“No, thanks,” said Twilight. “I’ve got a marefriend to comfort.”
Trails and Sunshine smiled. “Good luck!” Trails shouted after her, as she flew out the door into the stormy abyss.