Rainbow Dash stared solemnly out over the city of Canterlot, that thrived once more. She was amazed by how quickly a ruined city had built itself back up and moved on. It was only six months prior that the rag-tag rebellion had marched through the streets. Five months since the fall of emperial Equestria. Four and a half months since the birth of the republic.
It was a victory Rainbow had no choice but to be a proud of. The pride came at much to great a cost though. "Hoofson!" Rainbow called to her attendant, Rich Hoofson.
"Yes ma'am?" Hoofson was a bland, grey stallion. Not the type a younger Rainbow Dash would have ever associated herself with.
"I'm going out again today."
Hoofson had a stern expression on her face. "Ms. Dash, you've been taking a lot of time off. Are you sure you're cut out for this kind of responsibility?"
Rainbow was silent. She turned and looked out the window behind her, with a perfect view of the newly revitalized city. "I don't know..." She finally admitted.
"I hope that, for all our sakes, you figure that out soon." Dash nodded in agreeance, then flew out the window, over Canterlot. Equestria was a better place now, but at what cost? How much must one mare lose for the greater good of us all?
Dash landed on a small hill far north of Canterlot, on the boarder of Equestria proper. At the hill's peak their lay four wooden crosses, each a different color. A white cross. A purple cross. A yellow cross. An orange cross. The Elements of Harmony. The four fallen heroes of Old Equestria.
"NOPONY should have that much power." Her own words echoed in Dash's ears as she remembered her former friends. "If you're not with me... I guess you're my enemy too."
Rainbow Dash turned coldly away from the crosses and flew off. “They were wrong. They deserved their fates.” She reassured herself, heading back to Canterlot, the capital of the New Equestrian Republic.
“DASHIE!” Pinkie called out into the rain. “DAAASHIE!” She looked around town, trying to find her friend. The rain was too heavy, and she was worried Dash would catch a cold. She finally found her, laying on her back behind a tree. “Hey silly, whatcha doin’ layin’ around in the…! TWILIGHT!” She ran back to get Twilight and the others, who were waiting at Sugar Cube Corner for a surprise party for Rainbow. “TWILIGHT! RAINBOW’S DEAD!”
Rainbow drifted into consciousness, very much alive. She found herself at Sugar Cube Corner, surrounded by her friends. “She’s not dead, Pinkie.” She could hear Twilight explaining. “She just hit her head a little too hard. She’ll be fine.” Dash hadn’t noticed it until Twilight mentioned it, but her head really was in a fair bit of pain.
“Oh. That’s a relief. OH! We should have a party! Celebrating Dashie not dying!”
“If not dying’s worth having a party, shouldn’t we have a party everyday?”
Pinkie gasped excitedly. “THAT’S A GREAT IDEA TWILIGHT! Oh, I need to go get some streamers!” Before anyone could question her, Pinkie bolted out the door and down the street. Dash let out a quiet chuckle. Pinkie Pie was so random.
“Oh… You’re awake.” Twilight noticed. “You really need to start being more careful, Dash.”
“It’s not my fault. Somepony put a tree in my way.” Twilight shook her head, then gave a friendly smile. Rainbow wasn’t necessarily the smartest pony, but there was one thing Twilight was sure.
Rainbow Dash would never abandon her friends. Ever.
When Canterlot came under fire, the library became a safe-haven for civilians trying to escape the violence in the streets. It was a neutral ground, where Emperial and Rebel leaders would meet several times to attempt to come to an agreement. Unfortunately, no agreement was ever made, and the battle raged on.
Rainbow’s old friend, Twilight Sparkle, spent a large amount of time in the library back when she lived in Canterlot. It was, in fact, by her own efforts that the library was kept peaceful. While the rest of the city was laid to waste, the library stood unscathed. It is one of few remaining reminders of what once was.
Rainbow walked through the library, which was much emptier than it was during the attack. Given the circumstances, very few ponies were interested in reading at that point. If Dash concentrated hard enough, she could see herself talking to Twilight Sparkle on the upper level, laughing blissfully. Dash would show off and knock down some books and Twilight would get upset, but they would laugh it off.
Twilight returned to Canterlot after spending several years in Ponyville. Around that time, Rainbow Dash moved to Canterlot as well, to join the Wonderbolts, who finally thought she was mature enough to fly with them. Because of this, Twilight and Rainbow had much more contact with each other than their other friends in the later years.
“You need to slow down and think now and then.” Twilight lectured Rainbow Dash when she came in one day limping after an accident. Rainbow laughed just laughed it off as usual.
“I’m too fast, my mind can’t keep up.” She would brag.
Twilight would giggle then change the subject. “I saw Applejack today.” Rainbow wouldn’t respond to this. She would act like she didn’t hear Twilight. “She was in town selling apples to the grocery store. Sweet Apple Acres has been getting a lot of business lately.”
Rainbow didn’t like to talk about her old friend Applejack. Twilight never understand why, but she usually tried to respect it. “That’s good for her.” Is all she had to say on that subject.
Twilight Sparkle was Princess Celestia’s faithful student. Rainbow never entirely understood why people obeyed the Princess so blindly. Even then, it seemed wrong to her for one pony to have so much power. She never mentioned this to Twilight. It just never came up organically.
Across the street from the library was… An office park. At least, that’s what was there now. At one time, Joe’s Donuts stood there. Every month or so, Rainbow Dash would meet Pinkie Pie there for donuts and friendly banter. Twilight would show up sometimes, and nothing made Pinkie happier than seeing her two friends again.
Pinkie missed the old days just as much as the rest of them, but she never showed it. Nothing could beat the carefree bliss of youth, but they were all reasonably happy now. Rainbow Dash was a Wonderbolt, Twilight ran Canterlot’s library, still studying under the Princess, and Pinkie took over Sugar Cube Corner when Mr. and Mrs. Cake retired. All in all, all was well.
Yet Dash’s mind was filled with doubt even then. Something was brewing inside of her. Nopony ever expected Dash to be the one to be unsatisfied. Nopony expected her to be the one to even care. And yet she was among the first.
“Pinkie…” Dash finally asked one time. They sat alone at night at Joe’s, finishing off a few final doughnuts. “Do you think it’s right… For one pony to have complete power?”
“… What do you mean?” She gave Dash a confused look.
“I mean like… Do you ever feel like the Princess has too much power?”
Pinkie looked at her, obviously dumbfounded, for a few moments, then closed her eyes and smiled. “Oh Dashie, you are SO random!”
“A’right girls” Joe finally broke in. “Closing time. Ya don’t gotta go home, but ya can’t stay here.”
“Seeya Dashie!” Pinkie hugged Dashie good-bye and headed off into the night, to the library to stay the night. She’d invited Dash to come too, but she had some things she needed to think through.
Dash shook off the sudden wave of memories, remembering that in reality she’s still in the near-abandoned library.
“You never were entirely sure, were you?” A voice asked Dash from behind. She didn’t turn around, or even acknowledge the voice at all. “Yet no one knew what to tell you. No one had the answers.”
“Shut up. I did what needed to be done.”
“But why?”
“Equestria needed a change…”
“Did it? Equestria had been just fine for thousands of years.”
“But…”
“Go back further. Back to Ponyville. It was because of her, wasn’t it?” The voices words caused Dash to tense up suddenly. A very small part of her knew this mystery voice was right.
Without looking behind her, Dash bolted through the libraries window, and out of Canterlot. After a long while, she was flying over Ponyville. The sight was just as painful now as it was six months ago. Unlike Canterlot, Ponyville had had great difficulty rebuilding. Most of the town was still in ruins. Most of its inhabitants had left for something better, and very few remained.
Dash stepped inside the dark, dismal remains of Sugar Cube Corner. All around her were phantom faces, phantom shadows, empty chairs and empty tables. She closed her eyes, and then her friends were all there. Pinkie and Gummy danced happily with her, while Rarity and Fluttershy bobbed gently to the sides, sipping punch. The gang was all there, happy as ever.
“Dashie, are you okay?” Pinkie was concerned by Dash’s slightly less excited behavior.
“Yeah, I’m fine, let’s party!” Dash shook off the thoughts going through her head and continued dancing. Even then she felt that burning desire. The desire for change.
She stepped out from the party to be alone for a moment, and Pinkie Pie followed close behind. “You sure you’re all right?”
Rainbow sat down on a nearby bench. Pinkie sat down beside her giving her a concerned look. “I don’t know Pinkie… I just feel like…” Dash couldn’t find the words to express herself, but Pinkie was more perceptive than ponies gave her credit for.
“Dashie, don’t worry about it. We’re on your side!” She smiled reassuringly.
“But… What if I was wrong?”
Pinkie shrugged. “We all make mistakes, right?”
“… Yeah. I guess so…”
“You WERE wrong.” The voice from the library came again, shattering the memorial fantasy Rainbow had built around herself.
“I know… That’s what got me here. I was wrong. I fixed it.”
“You didn’t fix anything. You just made everything worse. Your friends died because of you.”
“No. I helped fix a dying world. Their deaths were because they were too stubborn to change.”
The voice laughed mockingly. "You aren't cut out to save anything. You couldn't even save yourself!"
"Shut up SHUT UP!" Dash turned and bolted out. She flew blindly down the streets of Ponyville, then took the sky. She rested on a cloud of a few moments to get her head together. Her old life didn't matter. This was real, and this was now.
She had a job to do.
