I panted as I stared at Discord laying in pieces in the grass. It was over, I was safe.
“Dash! What did you do!?” Twi exclaimed.
“I ended a threat.”
“But…but…you killed him!”
“Like he wouldn’t kill us. His arrogance lead to our win.”
“But he was defeated already Rainbow Dash.” AJ said sternly. “And what was that about Ryan?”
“Just forget about that! Not important.” I said hurriedly. Not liking the direction this conversation was going.
“Seems important to you Rainbow. It seems like Discord was saying that was your name?” Rares interjected.
“My name is Rainbow Dash.” I said firmly.
“Perhaps but you seemed to be hiding something.” AJ responded.
“LOOK JUST DROP IT! We got Discord we can tell the Princesses mission accomplish.”
“We are telling the Princesses.” Twi replied. “ We are telling them everything. A find out what you are hiding Rainbow Dash.” That was it then. It was all over and I lost. Tears streaming down my face.
“Goodbye girls, it was fun. Tell my family I love them.” With that I blasted off and headed away from them, away from home, away from my life.
* * * *
Twilight's POV
I saw Rainbow Dash fly away and was left bewildered by the whole thing. Why did she do that? Why did she kill Discord? Maybe the Princess had the answer. “Let's notify the princesses.” I said.
“What about Dashie?” Pinkie asked.
“None of us can catch her.” There were friend but no pony had a good counter argument for that.
In hours we were back in Canterlot and before the royal sisters.
“I see you have succeeded Twilight, but I notice Rainbow Dash is not among you. Has something happened to her?” Celestia said.
“Yes princess, we succeeded in returning Discord to stone but then Rainbow took to the air. Did a sonic rainboom and shattered him.”
“WHAT!?” The princess asked.
“She shattered his statue.”
“Why?”
“Something Discord kept saying spooked her.” Applejack responded.
“Yes. She sounded like she wasn't a pony while under Discord's influence.”
“How interesting.” The princess said. She looked down thoughtful.
“Princess?” I asked.
“Your friend Rainbow Dash is quite unique. I have been following her since her first Sonic Rainboom and her history is interesting. She appeared in Cloudsdale after a strange lightning bolt that we still don't know the origin of and then adopted by a loving couple.”
“Wait! She is adopted? But she looks so much like them.” I asked.
“Yes, she is adopted Twilight. We have no clue who her birth parents are or even where she was born. She just appeared in Cloudsdale sixteen years ago. I do not know more but maybe her adopted parents do. Seek them out. I need to see Rainbow Dash after what you reported.”
“You have things well in hoof sister so I will join them in their search.”
“As you wish sister.”
“Come Element Bearers.” Luna said and moved from her throne. We followed her and she lead us to the chariot bay and I saw the familiar chariot Princess Celestia uses to travel. But we weren't taking it as Princess Luna passed it and walked towards a black colored chariot with a sleek and fast look. A pair of bat ponies rushed to get harnessed. It was rare to see them outside of their tribe holdings. Likely do to racism they experienced that lead to Princess Luna's turning to Nightmare Moon.
“Climb aboard.” Princess Luna said as she stepped onto the chariot. We all did and with a whoosh we were flying at speed. Manes whipping in the wind.
“Could we please slow down!” Rarity pleaded. And we did slow down a bit and I look behind us as Canterlot was already a speck on the horizon. Applejack whistled.
“And ah thought Dash was the fast one.” She commented.
“Oh she is Applejack. Both the chariot and the armor my guards wear enhance their top speeds. Dash does that all on her own.”
“Oh, well why make this thing go so darn fast?” Princess Luna smirked at her.
“I happen to like speed.” That caused Applejack to roll her eyes.
****
It took another twenty minutes to reach Cathedrals and we landed in front of Rainbow's childhood home. The Princess casted a cloud walking spell on us and we headed for the door. If it wasn't for the seriousness of the issue I would find a total princess ringing a doorbell a bit amusing. The door opened and I saw Firefly.
“Your highness!” She bowed. “You honor me. Please come in.” She opened the door more and she was happy to see us but it was short lived when she noticed a pony missing. “Where is my daughter?”
“Then she is not here. Unfortunate.” Luna responded. “ She faced Discord and it affected her badly. Something about her past being known spooked her. Do you have any clue what it might be?” Firefly thought.
“No, we didn't pry into her passed after adopting her. Didn't want to open the wounds. She was unusually smart for a filly her age. Breezed through math, writing, and did well in science. History was where she struggled. Other then that she was a good filly. Maybe her diary might hold clues.”
“Diary?” Luna asked.
“I gave her a magically locked diary for her use. If there is any info it would be there.”
“How will we open it if it's magically protected?”
“It used a combination lock to make a word. It was fire when I gave it to her but she likely changed it.” We nodded in reply. “And please find her. I may not have given birth to her but she is my daughter. Without her I wouldn't of had Dawn.”
“What do you mean?” Luna asked.
“Five years before we adopted her I had a still born foal.” I winced and heard gasps from some of the others. “I refused to have another fearing the same fate. We got her and thanks to her my confidence return and we were gifted with Dawn. So please, PLEASE find her and fix your mistake.” I blinked at that.
“What?” She looked at us coldly.
“I know my daughter. Discord wouldn't have scared her but something you said to her drive her away. So you better get MY daughter back.” We all nodded and left. Looking around I saw the sun would soon set. Luna frowned. Apparently she lost track of time like the rest of us. Well with Discord's antics that is understandable.
“Seems we must delay our search till tomorrow. Follow me, I have a place for us to sleep.” We followed her till we were before a palace. It like all of Cloudsdale it was made of clouds shaped into a Pegaspolis style with columns and rainbow fountains and statues of armored pegasi shattered around it.
“Is this the old Commander's residence?” I asked. Luna nodded.
“Yes it is. Technically I am the Commander of Pegaspolis so it is my residence.” I blinked at that.
“But…how? The government’s of the three tribes were dissolved when Equestria was formed.”
“Not entirely true. The governments still existed but acted as regional governments rather then national government and stayed that way till Discord. There was basically no government left. We tried resorting them but ultimately they basically faded away to what we currently have but our previous titles still stand this this is technically my place.” Princess Luna lead us in and soon we were served dinner and assigned rooms. There wasn't much talk, we were all thinking of Rainbow and her actions and mystery. I soon entered a troubled sleep.
****
Luna's pov
After seeing to the element bearers needs and some paperwork. I enter my domain. The dream realm, before was several stars representing the dreams of her subjects. This were not the best with some nightmares here and there due to Discord. I quickly took care of them then searched for the one dream I wanted. In minutes I found her and she was having a nightmare. I approached and unlike the others where I merely cast a spell to give them a pleasant dream her I am going in personally. I look around to get my bearings. It was black everywhere but for a cone of light shining on Rainbow Dash. Images of her friends, family and even her and her sister glaring at her.
“Fake!”
“Not one of us!”
“Not my daughter!”
“Not my sister!”
“You don't belong here!”
“Fake pony!”
“They will never accept you Ryan.” Discord taunted. I had heard enough. With a stomp of a good I vanished the images away. Dash was still curled in a fetal position whimpering. It hurt to see the normally proud and courageous pegsus. I moved in and touched her on the shoulder. Dash batted it away.
“Please, go away.” She said with such a broken voice. I would not. I grabbed her and hugged her. She tried to fight it but I was stronger and she started crying as I made cooing noises and stroke her mane with a wing. I just held her to comfort her and tried to find where was in the real world but she was resisting my attempts. I kept trying but her will was strong. If I kept it up the dream will collapse. So I stopped and just comforted her the best I could till she woke.
*****
The next morning I met the Bearers in the dinning room for breakfast. I made my own order. As we waited I told of my attempts to find Dash in the dream realm. “Wait, you can enter dreams?” I nodded.
“Yes, I am the Alicorn of the Night. Dreams are a part of the night. Thus mine to look over. I will generally keep things private but Dash is a special case.”
“Well what did ya find?” Applejack asked.
“Sadly I could not determine her location in the physical world. But did glimpse her mindset.” I looked down, no doubt with a sad face. “She is hurting. She fears we would reject her if we knew her secret. The phrase fake pony kept coming up.” They all thought on that as did I. It made no sense. Dash had been in the hospital many times. The one she taken to when she first appeared did a full physical and everything said a normal pegasus filly. Why would she think she was fake? Twilight Sparkle spoke first.
“Sounds like we need to go to her home to get more answers.”
“We shall after breakfast.” With a plan in place they had their meal.
****
Dash pov
I woke up groggily on the cloud I slept on last night. Certainly a downgrade in sleeping arrangements but she had no choice. She l looked around and saw a river and flew down to take a bath, a really cold bath. I shivered as I left the river and drank the water. I looked around for food. She didn't see any nearby so she took flight staying below the tree tops. After a few minutes I found some berry bushes. I check and they were edible. Pegasi schools taught field survival, a hold over of their Pegaspolis days. I ate them as I considered my plans. Couldn't go home, I was a fake pony and they likely knew by now and plan on imprisoning me or something. So stating in Equestira was out. There was Maretania or Saddle Arabia for options. I'll try Maretania first since it was pony populated. Wishing Equestria luck I began forging for food to the trip and hope for the best. I had nothing else now.
With writing like this in okay with his death
This doesnt feel right
10137881
why doesn't it feel right?
Presumably she's going at mach 4 or so.
10137891
No not that fast
10137895
Well, supposedly acccording to Death Battle-
You know what? Just take a look (if you haven't already).
If I merely need to clarify, *ahem*.
"Well, by this time, if RD is serious about getting away, she would be going around mach 4. Can the chariot go that fast?"
10137924
I have but lost faith with them after the Goku Superman battle
10137930
Really, I prefer to ignore the controversy over that one. And also Skylanders for Spyro's design. I just treat both with an eye roll.
10137937
There was also the terminator Robocop f8ght. That should have been a draw
10137981
Honestly, that's one of my favourites. Especially the aftermath portion. To paraphrase...
10137887
It is too rushed. (I am not even going to rag on the editing) some parts of the conversation you short hand (including the important parts that could of provided an emotional connection to the audience) followed by exposition crammed into a paragraph maybe two. Then we get whiplash with a scene change (expertly done on the PoV). Same thing happens again and again till chapter is done. They are both over reacting in the physical sense and under reacting on the emotional; they are like dolls saying thier lines with the proper emote. After which they sit and wait thier turn.
How do they (the mane 5) feel about this? Is Rarity thinking about the flag? The oddity of it might bring it to mind. Are there any foalhood memories that might make better context to Fluttershy after hearing about fake pony or Ryan? How do they feel about her after smashing Discord? Dash just murdered someone, ran off into who knows where, is hurting from something and they don't care beyond "Dash is hiding something = Dash lied = Friendship Problem" (which is in character thus far shown). Celestia seems to be the only one who cares about the context of what is going on. She is a sphinx though; i expect her to pretend and put on the act she acts only to drop it once it's time to take care of business.
Thumbs up to dash's mom; she doesn't care about Dash withholding information. That doesn't matter. She cares about the context that the other's don't care about; she's hurting, she's gone and she's alone. While mother was almost as flat as Twilight we got to see her emotional state and a glimpse of how she interpreted the event. A good mother. Now we need true friends.
This is a great story. Vary consistent. You have captured the alien mindset that the ponies have and the contrast with Dash (who can act her age) is wonderful.
This chapter, though, felt flat. Specifically in the feels.
10138128
I have to agree on that, I love this story and personally this chapter really Could use a rewrite, Q not saying you need to, but would be very nice to atleast edit it and make it feel a bit more real, other then that, okay chapter, happy to see this continuing
Ooph. Feeling a bit of cabin fever? Because this reads like something that just had to get out, and damn everything else.
Here's hoping they dont pull some magic crap and read her diary.
Im sure they can past the lock easy, but it will take plot contrivance for them to be able to read the language.
10138128
This is only part 1
10138138
How?
10138192
Who says its written in english?
this is going to be interesting to see play out.
10138207
That's what I would write it in if I was in her place. Also you need to edit the chapter you flip-flop on your pov between first and third
10138247
She is not perfect and darn I try to stay in either first or third.
I think Ryan is thinking too much for the fact that everypony around him is really nice and yes I know the Zecora thing make him feel he won't be accepted but he can just say that he have the memory of the previous life and I really wonder what makes he feel that he is not a pony, since he already in a pony body.
10138777
Yeah I agree on that, incarnated as Pegasus and remembers past life, probably most likely reason for all of this anyhow
10138207
Ah, i see. Regardless i still hope they dont read her diary. To me thats a friendship ender. Not respecting anothers privacy. If they want to know her, they should speak to her.
10139536
Sorry that is happening.
It's good so far we'll see where you heading with this
She must still be discorded, where is her trust? Why is the bearer of the element of loyalty so thoroughly denying and assuming her closest friends (and parents!) betrayal?
So confused it feels like she's being railroaded for the sake of a forced plot...
Firefly's statement about them saying something that caused her to run away comes from literally nowhere. How the flip can and be so dead certain about that? So odd...
Keep going! ;)
10140588
remember Zecora. it ingrained in her that they could never learn her origin.
10140792
Perhaps. But Zecora was an unknown, while she is not. Hence our concern that her headspace is still messed up. Twilight may have fixed the overt influence from Discord, but the remaining injury still hasn't healed.
You can remove the poison, but the damage is already done...
10141601
she has had this fear for awhile Discord just revealed the issue.
Keep up the good work thanks for the the good story.
10138039
That is the first one I ever watched from them. Its great