Hours later, beneath a warm sunset, I had finally calmed down.
I sat on folded hooves on the precipice of a cliff. But not just any cliff—one that overlooked an inexplicably deep canyon that stretched north and south, jutting through the otherwise soft and pliable earth. A brisk wind blew through the crevice, and some of it gusted up out of the mouth and kicked at my short bangs and tail. I had lost my cloak somewhere behind me, which mattered little at this point. I always felt more naked when the sun was to the west—when I didn't have something directly behind me to outrun.
Evenings were always lonesome. This one promised to be the most lonesome of all.
But if there's anything I've learned in life—it's that promises are made to be broken. Sometimes, it can be even be a good thing.
The silence of the moment was broken by a series of tiny wheels crunching through the grass. I heard them coming to a stop behind me, followed by a small set of hooves padding over the soil.
"I see you found Ghastly Gorge," the filly's voice said with more than a small touch of nervousness. "It's... one of Equestria's Natural Wonders. Heh... pretty neat, huh?"
I took a deep breath without looking at her. "You'll get no argument from me, kid."
Scootaloo cleared her throat. "Look, Miss Petals... I know that you're far from home... but that doesn't mean you're without friends. Those ponies you met back in Sugarcube Corner? This might be hard to believe, but they really like you. We would all really like to get to know you more. And if you're having any nasty thoughts, just know that we've all got your—"
"I'm not contemplating jumping to my death, if that's what you're worried about," I droned.
"Oh? Really?" Her wings drooped at her side as she exhaled through a dumb smile. "Whew! Thank Celestia..."
I smiled ever so slightly to myself. "I was foaled and raised on the edge of a mountainous cliff. Being here... is comforting." I gulped. "In a way."
"I guess... I-I'll just have to take your word for it."
"Works for me."
"Me too."
Silence.
I sensed her tiny orange body plopping down beside my slightly less tiny orange body. "How'd you even run into Ghastly Gorge, anyways?"
"I don't know." I shrugged, staring into the windy space beneath us. "I just did."
"But if you came from Wintergate to the east..."
"Guess I must have gone southeast," I muttered. "I didn't think. Just... picked a straight line and galloped."
"Heh... that's an infectious thing to do, isn't it?"
I nodded. "Must be easy to deal with obstacles when you have wings."
I sensed her fidgeting a bit. "I've... had my fair share of obstacles, Miss Petals."
"Please..." I sighed. "...just call me 'Gold Petals.'"
"Finally settled for a name, huh?"
I swallowed. "No promises."
The filly nodded. "Fair enough."
The sun sank lower and lower behind us, casting the Gorge into deeper shadow. We pierced the divide, scouring the east for any traces of color left behind.
"So you really met Rainbow, huh?" Scootaloo eventually asked.
I felt a lump forming in my throat again. "Yes. I did." I exhaled.
"How... uh... how did you learn about Ponyville?"
I gulped. "She... mumbled it in her sleep."
"... ... ...in her sleep?"
"She fell unconscious while she was fighting the monsters in Windthrow," I explained. "Some sort of dizzy spell. It was frightening. Nopony else dared to get near her... so I took her in and gave her a place to recover. I heard her mumbling the name of 'Ponyville' over and over again in her sleep. Among other weird... random things." I scratched the back of my head. "Something about... 'apples?'"
Scootaloo coughed.
I looked at her.
She smiled politely at me, saying nothing.
I arched an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you knew her well?"
The filly giggled... then chuckled... then giggled again.
For once, I was inclined to squint at her.
She cleared her throat, slicked her mane back, and composed herself. "She was... kind of a mentor to me," she plainly said. "A source of inspiration."
I cocked my head to the side. "How old are you, Scootaloo?"
She stared into the gorge. "A heck of a lot older than I was when Rainbow first flew east."
I nodded. "So you're a wizard's apprentice?"
"A dragon wizard's apprentice."
"I don't entirely understand that, but it sounds pretty snazzy."
"Well... he's a kid dragon... but it's still pretty darn cool."
"I bet."
"Nopony else... can brag about that... neither here nor in Wintergate."
"Mmmm..." I looked east again. "...you're at least half-right."
"Well, that's a start, I guess."
More silence.
I bit my lip. "Do you know why?"
"Why what?"
I waved a hoof over the canyon's edge. "Why she started flying? Why east? Why so... alone?"
Scootaloo kneaded the thin layer of soil before her. "Her closest friends were gone. And with the death of Discord, a big freakin' chaos rift had formed in the heart of Ponyville."
"Is that why that big concrete building is there?"
"The Sarcophagus? Oh yeah. That's where Princess Celestia sits—contained with the breach—trying to keep the rift sealed for as long as she can. Her sister, Princess Luna, is now in charge of the Sun and Moon."
"Guh..." I shook my head in disbelief. "Your 'Equestria' is pretty incredible."
"Not half as incredible as the mare who saved it."
"She really stopped the Evil of this 'Discord?'"
"Oh, you bet. Soaked up the remaining essences of the Elements of Harmony and owned him super hard."
I shuddered. "And now... she's gone."
"She decided to fly to the Midnight Armory."
I flashed Scootaloo a look. "Huh?"
Scootaloo winced slightly. "It's... the location of an Alicorn relic on the Dark Side of the world."
"... ... ...Dark Side of the World."
"Yeah. Y'know... like on the opposite side of the flat plane that we all live on?"
"And just why is she flying there?"
"Just because." Scootaloo smirked. "She's Rainbow Dash."
I nodded at that. My eyes trailed about. "So... she just randomly decided to stop in Windthrow along the way to help me and my fellow villagers...?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "Rainbow Dash was always prone to distractions."
"Awesome distractions."
"Hahahahaha!" Scootaloo's wingtips fluttered. "Totally!"
"Heh..."
There was more silence as the world around us darkened.
"Scootaloo...?"
"Yeah?"
I exhaled. "When did you find out that Rainbow died?"
Scootaloo's ears drooped.
I murmured further: "Do you even know how it happened?"
Scootaloo somberly shook her head. "No clue," she said quietly.
"Then how do you even know...?" My words trailed off.
She picked them up for me. "Princess Luna had... placed an enchantment on the Loyalty Pendant. Y'know... that necklace that you saw her wearing?"
"Right..."
"It allowed Luna to speak to Rainbow Dash for three consecutive nights out of the month, whenever there was a full moon. And... well... one night Rainbow Dash had her last and final conversation. And ever since... over five months of complete magical silence and... well..." Scootaloo gestured with her hooves. "There's nopony more loyal than Rainbow Dash. It's pretty much a no-brainer why she hasn't contacted us since."
My heart sank. I looked into the dark ravine before us. "I see..."
"The last time she talked—oddly enough—it was with Princess Celestia. And... she didn't sound like her normal self. Rainbow was all sad and super emotional. According to Luna, just a day or two before, Rainbow had entered some depressing place called 'Silvadel' where a huge nasty Dragon Queen had bullied an entire civilization under her claw and..." Scootaloo clenched her teeth, tensing briefly. She exhaled, then said firmly: "I can't think of an awesomer challenge for Rainbow Dash to have thrown herself at... one last time."
"So that's what Rainbow Dash does when she meets obstacles," I said. "She throws herself forward."
"She wouldn't be the Rainbow Dash I knew if she didn't."
"It's... almost solacing, in a way," I said, ears drooped. "At least... to see it once in her eyes. That there was only one destination—an impossible one." I closed my eyes, sighing. "And the senselessness in sharing it with a pony like me."
I felt Scootaloo shifting slightly in the grass. The tone that came out of her muzzle was gentle. "You loved her too? Didn't you?"
My eyes flickered open. I looked at her.
She smiled calmly at me.
I arched an eyebrow. "I... don't think I loved her in quite the same way you did, kid."
Scootaloo shrugged. "Does it matter?"
I blinked.
"Your life just isn't the same now that you've known her," Scootaloo said. "And once you've witnessed awesomeness... there isn't any going back to 'ordinary.'"
I exhaled. I felt the tears coming again. I fought them back with the truth. "All my life, I was treated like a worthless servant... a spinster in the making. I fought for so long to achieve the worth that I always knew I deserved." A shudder. "Rainbow was the first pony to treat me like the awesome soul I was all along."
Scootaloo nodded. "It's a little scary knowing that everything is actually in reach, huh?"
I felt a tear falling down my cheek. "What was she ever afraid of?"
"Rainbow Dash? Pffft. As if." Scootaloo shook her head. "That pony figured it out long ago. She just... keeps moving before the fear can catch up."
I choked on a sob. "It's not as easy as it looks."
Scootaloo broke the shadows between us with a wink. "I'm sure she'll tell you the same thing if you ever caught up with her."
I sucked a breath in. My tears—for the moment—ceased as I cocked my head to the side. "...you don't really believe that she's dead."
Scootaloo looked away.
My blurry gaze narrowed. "You don't, do you?"
It was Scootaloo's turn to be misty-eyed. Her voice was too firm to register it. "Luna maintains that she must be 'deceased' by now. Celestia has mourned her passing. Everypony around town continues to pay their respects to the monument and Golden Oaks and..." She slowly shook her head. "I see right through it all. Oh, sure..." A slight pause as she rubbed her cheek dry. "I tell them that Rainbow's passed away. I maintain the 'truth' that everypony else chooses to believe just so I won't come across as a complete maniac... but—"
"Deep inside, you don't believe it," I said. "You can't."
"This world..." Scootaloo gazed east into the darkness. "...this magically huge world is so vast and epic and crazy..." A devilish smirk. "It was made for her, you see." She looked at me. "Rainbow's merely the spark that'll get it spinning once again. Then it'll be ten times as awesome."
I smiled back at her. "She's lucky to have a friend like you."
"I'm luckier," Scootaloo said. "Because whenever anyone—including myself—talks about Rainbow's death... I just tell myself that it's not a death. It's just... just..." She shrugged. "...a hiatus. And when we hear about Rainbow Dash once again... we'll be all the better."
I sighed, brushing a hoof through my bangs. "That's a lovely thing to believe in."
"I have to," she said.
Silence.
"So... you really came all this way from Wintergate, huh?" Scootaloo asked.
I nodded. "Yeah."
"Over hills and mountains." The filly's amber eyes blinked. "On hoof."
I gulped. "Yeah..."
"Then..." Scootaloo leaned back. "...I guess I'm not the only pony who believes it."
I exhaled. "I feel crazy. That's what I believe."
Scootaloo merely nodded. "Rainbow Dash saved Ponyville... and because of that, Ponyville is still the heart of friendship in Equestria—and all the magic that it entails." She stood up and extended her tiny hoof towards me. "How about living with us here, Gold Petals? In Ponyville?"
I stared nervously at her hoof.
"You'll have friends," she said with a smile. "I promise you—we can be crazy together."
I looked the filly in the face. Sniffling, I smiled back. "Ah, what the Hell..." I took her hoof—although it was by my own strength that I stood up and turned west, away from Ghastly Gorge. "I'm too tired and smelly to trot all the way back to Windthrow anyway."
Scootaloo giggled. "When I get older, I could totally fly you there to visit."
"Heh... we'll see about that."