Off the Beaten Path

by wonderkid125

Chapter 1

Another peaceful morning began in the kingdom of Equestria. For most ponies, the day began early and lasted until the sun left the sky. But then again, Rainbow Dash was not like most ponies.

About two or three hours after anyone else would have normally gotten up, the cyan pegasus finally started to stir. A mare needed her beauty sleep after all. She yawned and stretched before finally deciding that it was time to get out of bed and be somewhat productive.

A short and groggy trip around her house to perform her morning routine, which could more accurately described as an afternoon routine, and she was ready to start the day properly. After all, her charming personality and remarkable talent didn’t just happen by itself. She required copious amounts of rest and relaxation to recharge after fitting so much awesomeness into each day.

And there would be a lot of awesomeness to cram into her schedule this time. Today wasn’t anything too special, but tomorrow was a different story. Tomorrow Rainbow Dash and her five best friends were going to go on a hike out into the wilderness outside of Ponyville. Taking nature walks and hikes wasn’t a common pastime for her, but it was certainly worth all of the walking. She could roast marshmallows over a campfire and tell scary stories until she died of old age and she probably wouldn’t get tired of it. Maybe if she was lucky there would be a mountain to climb.

Rainbow Dash quickly exited her home and took in the mid-day sights around her. The air was warm and the wind was light, offering a cool reprieve from the sun and keeping it from being overwhelming. After a brief moment of taking in the scenery, she spread her wings and leapt into the air in the general direction of town.

Finding her friends at this hour usually wasn’t hard. Most of the five mares went to town on an errand of some sort or for a walk at around the same time, and they usually grouped up if they ran into each other. On this day, in particular, the cyan mare found Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle walking together on a side street.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked in a curious manner, landing near the group and walking up to them. The three mares paused their idle chatter and smiled as they noticed their friend approaching them.

“Hi Rainbow Dash. It’s good to see you’re up,” Twilight said in a cheery tone.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been up,” Rainbow Dash replied with an awkward chuckle. Her friends knew all too well that she had only been up for a few minutes at most, judging from her groggy expression.

“Whatever you say, Rainbow… Just be sure to be up early tomorrow so you can meet with us. We don’t want to wait very long for you,” Twilight cautioned playfully while smirking at the pegasus and her attempts to appear more active than she actually was.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. I wouldn’t miss a chance to go hiking for anything,” Rainbow Dash replied in a confident tone, smiling eagerly.

Hearing someone walking up to them, the group turned to the side and noticed Pinkie Pie rushing over to them with an excited expression on her face. Seeing the pink mare smiling wide enough to cause jaw pains by proxy wasn’t exactly uncommon, but today she seemed to be extra chipper about something.

“Guys! I’m so glad I found you!” Pinkie exclaimed upon skidding to a halt in front of the four ponies.

“Hello, Pinkie… you’re looking rather excited. Looking forward to tomorrow?” Rarity asked curiously in an attempt at figuring out just what her pink friend was so hyped up for.

“Well, now that you mention it, I am. I can’t wait to go hiking together!” Pinkie Pie replied while flashing a bright smile.

The others looked around with confused expressions. If the hike wasn’t the reason the pink mare had rushed over to them so urgently, then they had no idea what could have been the reason.

“Uh… Pinkie, is there something you wanted to tell us?” Twilight asked with an awkward smile, waiting for the pink mare to regain her train of thought.

“Oh… right! I almost forgot. Somebody new just moved to town!” Pinkie announced eagerly. The sudden statement wasn’t as big of a revelation as the others expected, but it still made them intrigued.

“Really?” Applejack asked with a surprised expression.

“Yeah! Some pegasus from Fillydelphia. They just got off the train this morning from what I hear,” Pinkie clarified without letting her excitement fade in the slightest. While the pink mare was anticipating all of the things she could do to welcome the newcomer to Ponyville, the others were still pondering the fact that there was one in the first place.

It wasn’t very common for ponies to settle down in such an out of the way place like Ponyville, especially from Fillydelphia of all places. The group figured that most pony folk from the city wouldn’t be comfortable with moving somewhere like Ponyville.

“A pegasus from Fillydelphia, eh?” Rainbow Dash said in an intrigued tone.

“They moved in around the edge of town. I was going to go welcome them to Ponyville if you guys want to come with me,” Pinkie offered in a hopeful tone. As much confidence as she had in her own ability to welcome their new citizen, more ponies meant more cheer and enthusiasm.

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity looked at each other for a moment to confer their opinions amongst themselves. They figured that it would be nice to go and see the new arrival. After all, they wanted them to feel as comfortable and welcome as they did in the town.

“That sounds wonderful, darling. We should introduce ourselves and let this pegasus know that Ponyville is one of the most friendly places in Equestria,” Rarity suggested with a warm smile. The others nodded and voiced their acceptance. With the group giving unanimous agreement on the matter, they followed their pink leader and set off for the edge of town.

A solid distance separated them and their apparent destination. The ponies knew that the furthest house they could have possibly been going to wouldn’t take very long to reach, but only Pinkie knew the exact details of the address.

While they were walking, most of the group turned their thoughts to what they would say and do once they met the new pegasus in town. Being from Fillydelphia could have meant that the pegasus had a rough exterior when it came to interacting with others, but this was merely stereotypical estimation at best. If they were being truthful, the group wasn’t sure what to expect from meeting the pegasus. They would be a complete stranger, and that was somewhat exciting in some regard.

“So Pinkie, did you hear anything about this pegasus? Like their name or anything like that?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“No, not really… I just heard ponies talking about someone arriving by train and moving into a house that had been for sale. I think they said he was a stallion though…” Pinkie said while recalling the minute details that she had heard about the pegasus.

“I’m sure they will be friendly enough… at least I hope so.” Twilight shrugged hesitantly as she thought about the possibility of the pegasus being mean spirited, or something negative along those lines. She tried to be compatible, to make friends with anybody, but some ponies just did not have friendship in their life plans.

After a few more minutes of walking, the buildings to either side of them became spaced further apart as they exited the denser parts of the town. Now, all they could see were houses, fenced in properties and the occasional shed.

“Hmm…” Pinkie muttered to herself while squinting to see the addresses of the houses she was passing. She looked ahead and tried to figure out how close they were when she suddenly found what she had been looking for. “There it is…” She gasped, “and look, he’s even outside!” She exclaimed while pointing ahead. Before anyone could even look to where she was pointing, the pink mare zipped off toward the house she had singled out.

“Pinkie, wait up! You don’t want to freak him out on his first day here!” Twilight called ahead to the pink pony, but she showed no signs of slowing down. Finally, the unicorn sighed before picking up her pace and running toward the house. Rarity and Applejack hurried at their own paces to keep up with the purple unicorn and the pink ball of energy.

Pinkie rushed over to the house and walked up to the stallion as he was standing outside and moving boxes of stuff out to the street. She smiled once she garnered his attention and waved to him.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! Me and my friends wanted to welcome you to Ponyville.” Pinkie stated in a friendly tone as Twilight finally caught up to her.

Rainbow Dash struggled to keep up with her friends as they all gathered around the stallion. She hadn’t even been able to catch a glimpse of him once the others rushed off toward him and blocked her vision. She wondered what the pegasus would be like, and if his cutie mark would show whether his talent was something interesting or mundane. As the cyan mare stepped around her friends and smiled as she laid eyes on the stallion, her smile slowly faded and shifted to a surprised expression as she finally saw the pegasus.

The pegasus had dark blue fur and black hair that he kept short. His eyes were a similar shade of blue to his fur, appearing a little brighter in comparison. His cutie mark was a simple blue arrow against a circular black background. The arrow was twisted in the middle and bent, resembling a bolt of lightning heading skyward. Oddly enough, there was something around his right wing. It was a sort of black cloth sleeve that appeared very thick and restricting. What was most surprising about the stallion, however, was that Rainbow Dash recognized him.

“B… B-Blue Bolt?” Rainbow Dash stammered slightly in utter bewilderment as she looked the stallion up and down.

“Rainbow Dash?” The pegasus said in an equally surprised tone. He smiled briefly before looking back at her with an expression of pleasant disbelief.

“Wait… you know him?” Pinkie Pie cocked her head to the side while turning to her cyan friend. Everyone else turned to hear a response from the stunned pegasus.

Rainbow Dash felt all of her friends’ eyes on her, but she was still transfixed by the blue stallion. She never thought that she would see him again, and yet here he was standing in front of her. A myriad of memories and emotions started welling up inside her, but she couldn’t stay silent forever as her friends kept their attention squarely on her.

“Um… y..yeah. We met back in high school. What are you doing here, Blue?” She asked curiously. It felt so strange speaking with the stallion again. She felt like she was still back at home sleeping. This couldn’t have been anything but a dream.

“Uh… well uh… I figured Ponyville would be a good place to settle down and clear my head,” Blue Bolt explained. “I heard you moved here a while ago… but I didn’t think I would run into you this soon… and with your friends no less. You guys came all the way out here just to welcome me to town?” He chuckled awkwardly before letting a smile build on his face.

“Of course we did! We want to make sure everyone feels welcome here… especially old friends!” Pinkie Pie stated cheerfully while turning back to see what Rainbow Dash was doing. The cyan pegasus was still staring ahead blankly, trying to figure out how she should be feeling right now.

“Pinkie… I umm… I’m not sure if…” Rainbow Dash paused uncomfortably while glancing back to the blue stallion. He seemed to be just as confused and uncomfortable as she was.

“Well? You are friends, aren’t you? You said you went to school together after all,” Pinkie asked in her usual manner of innocent ignorance.

All eyes were on the cyan mare again, and she could already feel herself getting more and more uneasy. She was trying to think and sort out her emotions, but she couldn’t exactly think straight with the others staring at her expectantly.

“Uh… y-yeah, we were friends,” Rainbow Dash admitted with a nervous chuckle. She was being honest after all. She looked to the blue stallion, who looked back to her with an understanding expression of unease and hesitance. Still, he seemed to be at least somewhat happy to see her. Maybe things wouldn’t be as bad this time around.

“Hey… umm… I appreciate you guys coming down here to see me, but could you give me and Rainbow Dash a minute to talk?” Blue Bolt asked while motioning off to the side.

Oh my gosh… he wants to talk? To me…? Rainbow Dash sweated nervously as she listened to the blue stallion.

“Of course. You two go on ahead.” Twilight suggested helpfully. The others nodded and motioned for the two pegasi to go off to the side.

Blue Bolt started walking over toward the house while the other mares stayed by the street. Without even realizing it, Rainbow Dash started walking over with him. She was sweating bullets at this point.

What would she say? What would he say? A million different scenarios flew through her head as she finally stood in front of the last stallion she ever thought she would see again. No, everything would be fine. She didn't have anything to worry about. After all, he was the one that should have been nervous about seeing her again.

“Umm… Rainbow Dash… I uh…” Blue Bolt sighed and flashed a brief smile before returning to an uncomfortable expression. “This is really weird… isn't it?” He asked in an uneasy tone.

“Yeah… a little bit,” Rainbow Dash admitted with an awkward smile.

“I uh… I'm not sure what to say… It's good to see you again,” Blue Bolt said with a sincere smile. The cyan mare felt herself cracking a brief smile as well.

“Heh… y-yeah… you too,” Rainbow Dash added sheepishly. She couldn't believe what she was saying, but a part of her just felt happy being in the stallion’s presence.

“Is there anything you want to say? Anything you want to… talk about?” Blue Bolt asked after a brief uneasy pause.

Rainbow Dash froze up as she heard the last thing she wanted to. There were at least a hundred things she could say, but none of them were things she wanted to bring up. She didn't want to open up old wounds for herself or the stallion, but at the same time she wanted some sort of closure.

“N… no. I don't think there's anything that needs to be said.” Rainbow stated after regaining her composure.

Blue Bolt frowned slightly and looked down. He seemed to be thinking about something, and she had a good idea what it was. He must have felt sorry for everything that had happened. She frowned as well before looking away uncomfortably and starting to walk away.

While the two pegasi were walking back over to the others, they could see that they were already talking about something amongst themselves.

“Oh, are you two back already?” Rarity asked curiously while noticing the pair walking over.

“Yeah, we uh… had a good talk, but now I think it's time I got going,” Rainbow Dash said while forcing a disappointed expression and walking away.

“Aww… but we just got here!” Pinkie Pie protested in an upset tone as she watched the cyan mare leaving. “We were just about to ask Blue Bolt if he wanted to go with us on the hike tomorrow,” She added with a slightly disappointed tone.

What…? Rainbow Dash paused mid-step as the pink pony finished her statement.

“What?” Blue Bolt asked with a surprised expression.

“Yeah, we're going hiking tomorrow and camping out for a few nights. Since you and Rainbow Dash were friends back in school, we thought it might be nice if you came along. You two can catch up on lost time! It'll be great!” Pinkie bounced eagerly at the mere thought of two old friends getting reacquainted with each other.

“Well… umm…” Blue Bolt paused for a moment while thinking. “I would love to… but… but I don't want to impose. I mean… as long as Rainbow Dash is ok with it,” He said, turning to the cyan pony.

Rainbow Dash felt her heart plummeting as all of the weight in the universe was shifted to her shoulders. Still, her decision was firm in her mind. There was no way in Tartarus that she was going to agree to this.

“Yeah… sure,” Rainbow said with an awkward smile and a forced chuckle.

What am I saying?! The cyan pegasus couldn't believe what she just blurted out. With everything that had happened between her and the blue stallion, the last thing she wanted to do was spend a lengthy amount of time out in the woods with him.

“That’s great!” Pinkie cheered while turning to the blue pegasus. “We’ll come pick you up tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to get to know you better!” She added in an excited tone.

“Any friends of Rainbow Dash are ok in my books… I’ll see you all tomorrow then.” Blue Bolt replied while flashing a genuine smile. Everyone else smiled warmly at the stallion’s friendly disposition.

The rest of the day flew by in a flash. Soon enough Rainbow Dash found herself back in her home. Despite having spent all week looking forward to the nature hike, now she was dreading it as she thought about the blue stallion coming along.

“Oh my gosh… I can’t believe this. Of all the towns in Equestria he could have moved to, why did he have to pick Ponyville?” Rainbow Dash groaned while jumping into bed and rolling over. She stared up at her ceiling while mulling over the events of the day.

She had agreed to the stallion coming with her almost instinctively. Why did she do that? It felt so right and natural, as if he were a longtime friend of hers. Right now she wasn’t sure what to think of the blue pony. Despite everything that happened, she could vividly and fondly remember the first time she had met Blue Bolt, and how he had impacted her life during her last couple of years of high school.

---

-A few years ago-

The sun shined down on the clear skies of Cloudsdale. The arid summer heat was only relieved by the cool wind whipping through the many clouds and buildings throughout the floating city. Many fine and proud pegasi called the city home, from the humble weather worker, to the high-flying Wonderbolt.

Over at the Cloudsdale school building, young pegasi of many colors and walks of life were growing and learning how to be standup citizens and productive members of society.

As the last bell of the day released all of the students from their classes, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walked through the halls out toward the exit. The yellow mare was content and cheerful as she usually was, but her cyan friend didn’t seem to be holding up as well after a long day of school.

“Ugh… I swear if I hear anything else about rain models or the slopes of a cloud I’m going to lose my mind,” Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration while taking every effort possible to expunge what she just half-learned from her brain. Every time she closed her eyes she shuddered as fractions and all manner of bizarre symbols and numbers flashed through her mind.

“I didn’t think it was that bad. Well… maybe the rain models were a bit hard,” Fluttershy said in a vain attempt at cheering her friend up. The pair walked out of the front doors to the building and down the steps. While everyone else brushed past them and took flight eagerly to return to their homes, the two mares lingered on the stairs and took a moment to enjoy the fresh air.

Rainbow sighed. “I need to blow off some steam. I’m going to head over to the flying course, you want to come?” She asked curiously, turning to her yellow companion.

Fluttershy contemplated the offer for a moment before politely shaking her head.

“No thanks, I think I’m going to head on home. I’ll see you next week,” She said while walking away. After taking a few steps she took off into the air and hovered away. With a brief turn and a wave, the yellow mare flew away into the distance, leaving Rainbow Dash on her own.

The cyan pegasus flew around the school building until she reached the flying course. The area appeared empty, leaving her to her own thoughts as she rounded the course to reach the starting cloud. The many obstacles and course markers immediately made her feel at ease as nostalgic memories came flooding back to her.

Although it was a lot smaller and less specialized, much of the track and many of the obstacles were similar to the layout used at flight camp. The course was technically meant for the resident athletes to practice flying, but the school was ok with anyone using it in their off time, and the cyan mare loved coming here and unwinding. After all, this was as close as she could get to reliving the day she earned her cutie mark without flying all the way out to flight camp.

Kneeling at the starting line and peering around the course, she took a moment to let the wind blow her mane around and breathed in a few times. If she were to look down, she might catch a glimpse of the faint green ground far, far below. Many places in Cloudsdale offered harrowing views of just how high up the city was. The view would terrify any other pony, but most pegasi were used to heights.

With a brief mental countdown and the imagined blare of a starting horn to send her on her way, Rainbow Dash leapt downward and spread her wings as she picked up speed. The world around her blurred into a mess of white and interspaced colors as she flapped her wings and rapidly gained momentum. The only thing stopping her total freedom now was the planned out track for the flying course and her desire to follow it.

The familiar obstacles, twists, and turns of the course whipped by much faster than she always remembered. Then again, it was hard sometimes to remember that this wasn’t actually the course from her memories. Still, as fast as she was as a filly, she had of course gotten better with age. There was scarcely a pony in the school that could keep up with her at top speed.

Around the time that she was soaring up and passing the halfway point of the track, she suddenly noticed that she wasn’t alone anymore. She had no idea where they came from, but there was another pegasus flying along the track behind her, and they were actually catching up.

This wasn’t a big deal. She didn’t own the track after all, and it wasn’t unusual for there to be other ponies trying to use it at the same time as her. The cyan mare had no problem with sharing with another flyer.

Returning her attention forward, Rainbow continued her usual routine whenever she flew along this track. She did a few spirals and loops as she was rising higher into the air. Around this time was when she would have been building speed for a sonic rainboom, but she didn’t feel like breaking the sound barrier today.

Suddenly, she heard something beside her. As she turned her head to look, she was greeted with the sight of the pegasus from before flying alongside her. Judging from appearances, it was a blue stallion with a black mane. The stallion looked at her and smirked before motioning ahead with his head.

Does he want to race? Rainbow Dash wondered to herself while looking down to see how much of the course was left. There was just the final descent to the finish line after they peaked in the air. Surely the blue pegasus didn’t want to race her. Nobody in the whole school would challenge her to a race anymore. Then again, she didn’t recognize the stallion from the school, so perhaps he was new.

Suddenly, the stallion pulled ahead and started widening the gap between himself and the cyan mare. Even though she wasn’t going full speed, and the stallion looked like he wasn’t either, Rainbow Dash was surprised and a little impressed by how fast he was going.

“Alright… you asked for it.” Rainbow Dash smirked and started flapping her wings extra hard. If she wanted to build speed enough on the downward slope to the finish line, then she would have to work at going faster before she dived down.

The pegasus above her finally reached the top of the course and bolted downward. He was going at a fairly decent speed, and he would doubtlessly reach the finish line in roughly a minute. Any other pegasus might be worried that they would lose at this point, but then again most pegasi weren’t Rainbow Dash.

As she reached the peak of the track, the cyan mare arched downward and let her momentum carry her into her final trajectory. Once she was on her way, she started picking up speed at an alarming rate. She could feel the air funneling past her as she stuck out both hooves to streamline herself to go even faster. Although she wasn’t trying for a sonic rainboom, she was going to give the stallion a humbling defeat he wouldn’t soon forget.

Just as the stallion was halfway to the finish line, he was nearly blown off to the side as he felt something whipping past him. Looking ahead, he saw a blur of colors in the rough shape of a pony darting across the finish line and slowing down.

“Haha! Woo!” Rainbow Dash cheered excitedly as she landed on a nearby cloud and let her adrenaline gradually settle back to normal levels.

Around this time, she would normally look over to see her would-be competitor scowling at her as they moped in defeat, but instead, she heard equally cheerful laughter as she noticed the pegasus from before landing next to her.

“Heheh… That was some pretty good flying there. I didn’t stand a chance,” The stallion stated while also coming down from the energy of the brief race. He seemed genuinely unaffected by the fact that he lost. Most ponies would call this humility or being a good sport, but the cyan mare wasn’t used to such a thing.

“Well, uh… you did pretty good yourself,” Rainbow Dash said in a friendly tone, still examining the stallion. He definitely didn’t look like someone from the school. Perhaps he was a new student or someone who had gone to the school in the past and felt like reliving some memories on the flying track like the cyan mare had.

“Thanks for the compliment, but you don’t need to flatter me. You are clearly way out of my league,” The stallion said while offering a playful bow to his opponent. “I’m Blue Bolt… it’s nice to see some ponies with real talent here.” He added while sticking out his hoof to shake with the cyan pony.

“Thanks… I’m Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said in a giddy tone. As much confidence as she had in her own abilities, she still felt good hearing other ponies praise her on her performance. “I haven’t seen you around here before… are you new?” The cyan mare asked curiously.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. I’ve been homeschooled ever since I was a kid, but my parents wanted me to try something new this year. I don’t suppose I could persuade such a popular pony to show me the ropes a little bit?” Blue Bolt said with a slight smirk.

Rainbow Dash had to forcibly contain her giddy outburst so the stallion wouldn’t think she was weird. She had never been deemed popular outside of the race track, and although she had gotten over the other students not thinking she was cool, it practically melted her into a gooey ball of mush to hear it from a new arrival. It was like she was the most popular pony in the school for this brief moment.

“Well… I guess I could find the time to take you under my wing. After all, you did come a little bit close to beating me,” Rainbow Dash said in a more confident tone. The stallion raised an eyebrow and smirked in disbelief at the cyan mare’s insinuation.

“Really…? A little bit close?” Blue Bolt asked suspiciously. After a brief pause of silence, both ponies started chuckling warmly.

“Wow… look at the time. I need to get going. I’ll see you in class next week?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“Oh, definitely.” Blue Bolt said with a confident nod. “And hey… don’t forget to get up early tomorrow. You don’t want to miss the hike, do you?” He added casually.

“Wait, what…?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion. She didn’t remember this part of the conversation happening.

*Beep* *Beep* Beep*

The sudden blaring of her alarm clock sent Rainbow Dash into a brief panic. She shot upwards, only to catch herself and rest on her bed. It was at this point that she looked around and noticed she was in her room. Not only was she in her room, but there was daylight streaming in from a nearby window.

She must have slept through the entire night without even realizing it. One minute she had been thinking about her past, and the next she was apparently dreaming about it. She thought that the feeling of racing down the track was a little bit too vivid. Still, there was one thing that she couldn’t ignore now. It was the day of the hike with her friends, and she would be forced to see Blue Bolt again.

“Aww… horse feathers,” Rainbow Dash groaned while thumping her head back against the pillow behind her. Something told her that the next few days were going to be some of the longest in her life.