Rainbow flew as fast as she could towards the city of Canterlot, nearly doing another Sonic Rainboom as she left everything else she knew behind. In her saddlebags she had brought with her, she had over six thousand bits to start everything over, just like how she had done when she left Cloudsdale to chase her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt. But that was also her dream when she met those "Friends" of hers. But....she left all of that behind. She wanted nothing to remind her of them. Nothing at all. It was time to start over.
It felt like everything they did together was nothing but a lie. Now that she thought about it, during those festive times when they were all together, they would sometimes give her nasty looks. Not Fluttershy though. She was probably still too freaking shy to do anything. But she was sure she shared the same feelings.
She closed her eyes and slowed her speed, flying over the capital of Equestria. It was still noticeably fast enough to leave a trail of color behind her, but it wasn't Cyan. It was Gray. Just like the rest of her. Gray and lifeless. She's been through a lot of stuff and the others just didn't care about that. They just wanted......whatever the heck they wanted. Why were they so eager for that anyway? You know what, that didn't even matter. They shouldn't have been so mean to her in the first place. Especially Twilight.
"Buck them, Rainbow," she muttered to herself as she soared past the castle. "Buck them, buck the elements.....buck friendship. It was all just a lie. There are no such things as friends, there are no such things as loyalty." She sighed, coming to the terms that no one is a friend. Not even your parents. The more she thought about that, the more she receded into herself, allowing her dark side to take over. After passing over the city of Canterlot, she came out the other side of the mountain, making her way towards the ground below where another city was in her sights. A city that she barely knew about and was more accustomed to know of as that glittery pony's stupid obsession. Manehattan.
After landing in the entrance, she walked the rest of the way in, just trying to get her bearings. The city was pretty big. Very big in fact. Canterlot had nothing on this place. Must've been built for the big wings. Maybe she can find something good here that'll make her life worthy. Where she can be a new pony without the judgement of others. Although that was not a reality, she still wanted it. She wanted to be looked up to. To be admired. Appreciated. What kind of job can hand that in your hooves?
After awhile, she decided to go towards the big destinations. Where all the companies were. Believe it or not, she had a very good skill at art. She was very good at it too. It was her deepest secret that Fluttershy or her parents didn't even know about. Her best secret now. "I'll do drawing," she muttered. "Painting. Artwork. I need to find a nice house, build a little studio, and more. But I need a new name." She stopped and tried to think of a few ideas as more ponies walked by her. You couldn't even tell it was Rainbow Dash, her gray coat, hair and tail, and eyes giving her a new look. The only way to fully recognize her was from her cutie mark. That was it. Hopefully there was no one here that would know her. Hopefully.
After looking around and thinking, she finally got an idea for her name. Since she looked like it, she might as well be it. "Pencil Sketch," she muttered out loud. "Pencil Sketch. Not bad. Not bad at all." For the first time since being yelled at and technically banished from the group, she turned her attention to the apartments she was walking beside and gave a soft smile. The buildings were small like her parents' house. Perfect. After getting the sale information she went down the street to the office and asked for a tour of it. She needed to get that place and she needed to get it now. Hopefully the owner of it was in, which he was. He was glad to offer her a tour and did, showing her the rooms, style, and balconies. She loved it. A lot. After she said, "I'll take it," she gave him a bag of five hundred bits, buying the whole house in one go.
The stallion was amazed, asking her how in Equestria she was able to buy a house on the spot. She shrugged and told him, "Just go with it, man." After giving her the key, the deed, and some more information on the property, she went out and looked around some more for supplies. She had way too many bits on her. That weather manager job paid very well. Too well even. Whoever hooves it was in now, they were going to get some serious bits. A few hours later, she had redid the whole place. Since it was still morning, a lot of places were willing to help her out. She got art tools, a refrigerator, tools in case of a problem, a bed, paintings for the house—those weren't a lot, a stove that some ponies carried in for her, and a bunch of other things that she would need to survive. Once she was finished, night had already fallen, letting her look at the place, grinning from ear to ear. Yep. This was going to work just fine.
Back in ponyville, a lot of things were just the way they usually were. It was night and Pinkie Pie had a party. Of course. It's always about the parties in Ponyville. Can't go a week without having at least two. It was held in the field in front of Applejack's farm with everyone in the town attending. Even ponies from Cloudsdale, although they had no idea why. DJ PON-3 was blasting that sick mix and everyone was jamming, having a great time. Everyone but Sunshower, who was busy looking for a certain pony. Or Pegasus.
Not being able to see anything from the ground she took off into the air and looked down, hoping to find some type of trail with a rainbow on it. Ever since that "Gray Boom", that everyone's calling it, happened, she had gotten a bad feeling revolving around Rainbow Dash. A very bad one. What if someone had copied Rainbow Dash's magic and they were misusing it? That could mean trouble for everyone that was partying down there tonight. She looked around some more, checking twice to make sure she didn't miss one spot. She didn't get not a scent of Rainbow Dash down there. But she did see the other Elements. Partying and having a great time. Drinking, eating, talking. No care in the world just like every other pony down there. They were all there. Except one. Odd.
She sighed, figuring she wasn't going to figure it out tonight and landed back on the grass to try and enjoy herself. She'd figure it out tomorrow when she sees her. Hopefully she'll know what happened when she went to Twilight's soon.
The alarm clock on Rainbow's drawer woke her up suddenly the next morning, making her flutter her wings a little bit and nearly fall out the bed. Man that thing was annoying sometimes. She lifted her hoof and felt around, eventually finding and pressing on the snooze button, cutting it off. Looking out the window, which had a great view of the main road of her house, which was two stories just like her old mansion, she smiled, realizing it was a new day in her new life. Well, new morning. She slid out of the bed and stretched herself, forcing a crack out of her back. She sighed in relief and took on a dopey expression. Man, that felt great. She looked at herself in the mirror right across from her, seeing her new look. Classified as Pencil Sketch. To be honest with herself, she looked really good in it. Just the gray and white. It was actually really stylish. Actually....she was literally no longer Rainbow Dash. An entirely different persona that nopony would know about. White shower curtain, white sink, everything was literally just white. Sort of matches her theme.
After getting herself ready, she ate some breakfast and built the studio, setting her paintbrushes in a specific place where she can grab it with her mouth and wings easily. She put her inks in a strategic area too, just like when she was a kid and didn't have a lot to worry about. Eh, that was in the past. This was her new life. Living inside of herself and allowing Pencil Sketch to take over.
Settling down, she chose some quills, pencils, brushes, ink, and paint for this. Of course it wasn't going to be that big a deal, but if it was, then she was set. After everything was organized and within reach, she went to work outlining the image in her vividly. The lines working out on the paper like she was just building blocks. Which is what it was like when you're making something amazing. That took her an hour to make and she didn't even know it. Of course it could be because she didn't even glance at the clock on the wall that was above her head, or the fact that she had closed all the curtains in the house. Either way, it didn't matter because she moved onto the next step.
Inking. After the pencil sketch, she moved onto making the outline bolder to stand out to the person who is looking at it. Of course a lot of paintings stand out to the viewer. Practically all artists make their marks by turning their art into a very vivid image with the outline, but there was a very deep secret to catching a pony's eye with their work. After the outline was finished she started on the color. She grabbed some white, blue, orange, red, and gold for this one and started the painting. Three hours later it was finished. Yeah, it was small, just on a regular canvas. But if this image goes well, she'll be able to buy something more effective for her eye. Right now, she had to be careful with her bits. Weather manager didn't pay that much.
She grabbed a sunlamp and positioned it so it covered the entire painting while she went outside for a bit. Being inside was so taxing on her body. Not to mention her brain. She grabbed her saddlebags and stepped out into the air, breathing in the fresh scent of the morning dew. It was still morning since she got up at around five to start on her painting, so she could probably just go for a walk or something. With no one to bother her. No one at all. Hopefully the art would dry by the time she returned.
"Where is she?" Sunshower asked herself as she and the rest of the weather ponies were waiting for their orders by the Cloudsdale weather manager. There was supposed to be an overcast today and they needed to get to work. But they couldn't do anything without them. That could spell disaster for the workers, but for the manager far more. Not to mention the ponies down below.
"I don't know," Clear Skies said as she looked around. She was a minor purple coated mare with a deep purple mane with streaks of much lighter purple going through it. "She's usually the first one here. Do you think she skipped out or something?"
"Nah, that's not like Dash. She doesn't just skip if she doesn't have a good reason. Let's check her house. Stay here everypony!" She and Clear Skies flew towards the loose mansion in the sky that was separated from Cloudsdale, hoping to find the weather manager there. It was so unlike her to skip out. They landed on the cloud, or the lawn, of the building before making their way slowly towards the entrance. But something was definitely off. Because for one....it was way too quiet. Whenever Rainbow was at her house, there was noise. If she was asleep, she would snore. If she was awake, she would be making something in her kitchen or playing some music or something else that revolved around noise. But this time.....it was quiet. Strange and serene.
"Do you think she's home?" the other mare asked, noticing the same thing as Sunshower.
"Maybe, maybe not. let's knock and find out." They stopped at the door before Sunshower hit on the door three times very hard. The house was big and Rainbow wasn't always in the front. "Rainbow! We need you out here, you crazy mare!" They waited a few seconds before trying again. "Rainbow!" Thirty seconds later, still nothing.
"Maybe she's in Ponyville?" Clear Skies suggested, pointing towards the town below.
"Maybe. Let's go." The two took off for the town and abandoned the search at the mansion, looking for a lost mare.
They landed down in the market and looked around, hoping to spot some type of clue as to where she could be. Or at least where she was. "Rainbow, where you at?!" Clear yelled out, attracting some ponies' attention. They started asking them questions of Rainbow's whereabouts, only coming up with the same answer that no one has seen her since yesterday morning. Same thing with other ponies.
"Well...that's almost everyone. We still have to ask Twilight, Rarity, Applejack-"
"How are you keeping up with all the ponies here that we've asked?" Sunshower asked her coworker and friend as they walked along.
"Well I know, like, almost everypony. The only one I haven't actually gotten to really know was Pinkie Pie. But I only see her during the parties and she's too busy throwing cupcakes into everyone's mouths. So there's that."
Sunshower chuckled before she walked up to the library's door, knocking lightly. A few seconds later the door handle started jiggling. She looked really exhausted, evident by the bags under her eyes. Sunshower didn't really care for that though, it was usually a regular sight around here. "Hey, how can I help you girls?"
"Hey, Twilight," Sunshower greeted, looking past her into the treehouse. "Have you seen Rainbow? We can't find her anywhere, nobody else has either, and she's not home."
"Sorry, but I haven't seen her," she responded shaking her head. "Maybe she's out with her family?"
"Her parents don't go out. They stay in Cloudsdale. I know because I went and visited last night after I didn't see her at the party yesterday."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. That was a little odd. "Hmmmm....ask Applejack. She tends to go on her farm and take naps."
"Thanks, will do." The two mares turned around and started running towards Sweet Apple Acres in search of the missing Pegasus. Twilight watched them go with interest. The pony was probably teaching Scootaloo or something else. Sighing she closed the door and walked past the casing with the Elements in them, not noticing the Element of Loyalty chest plate has turned from its rich red to a dull lifeless gray....along with cracks on it.
"Applejack!" The pony looked down from the roof of the barn she was finishing to see two Pegasi running towards her. "Have you seen Rainbow? In the trees or anything?" Clear Skies asked her.
Applejack looked at them before looking at the trees in the surrounding area of her farm. After a few more seconds she looked back down and shrugged. "Nope, she hasn't been and is not here. If she was, Winona would've let me know and I would be able to see her from up here thanks to that blue coat of hers. Why?"
"We have to get some overcast in today for the plants of Ponyville. Too much sun and it's drying out some of the crops like your apples." Sunshower responded, picking up a dried apple from off the ground. "We need the weather manager to give us orders so we can get it done, but we can't find her and neither has anypony else."
"Oh, well maybe Fluttershy has seen her. The last time we saw her, she ran out of the library after breaking a spell Twilight had created."
"Okay, thanks....wait.....a spell? She broke a spell and ran out of the tree?" Clear Skies asked suspiciously.
"Pretty much. But we sort of got mad at her when she did it. We can't use any of our magic because of it for a week. Twilight's been taking it really hard."
Clear Skies and Sunshower shared a look before looking back at Applejack. "Thanks...we'll...keep that in mind," Clear Skies said suspiciously before turning to Sunshower. "I'll go to Fluttershy's, you tell the other ponies to go home. I have a feeling that overcast won't be happening today."
Sunshower sighed before turning around and flying back up to the clouds where the others were waiting while Clear Skies went on towards the little cottage on the edge of town, hoping to at least get a clue as to where the weather manager could be. This is bad so far. It seems Rainbow is missing or out of town without notice. It wasn't a crime, but it was very inconvenient. She touched down in front of the small and quiet home and knocked on the door which opened a few seconds later, revealing a nervous eye.
"Yes?" Fluttershy asked timidly through the crack in the door. "Can I help you?"
"Hey, Fluttershy. We're looking For Rainbow Dash. We need her to put the clouds over the town and we can't find her anywhere. Have you seen or spotted her anywhere?"
Fluttershy glanced to the ground for a moment before opening the door a little wider. "You haven't seen her at all?" Clear Skies shook her head while Sunshower landed behind her. "She wasn't at home either?"
"We don't know but it was a little quiet there," Sunshower answered. "Most of the time she's making noise or something. Even at night."
Fluttershy was a little confused. Rainbow wasn't the type to go anywhere without letting anyone know first. "Well.....wait for maybe two more days. If she doesn't show, then we'll do a search for her."
The two pegasi sighed. A report had to be written for the reason why they didn't have an overcast for the ponies below by somepony. But the manager wasn't there to do it. And no one else was allowed to. That and she had went AWOL. Great.
Pencil Sketch walked back into her home and locked the door after an hour long trek. Along the way, she had gotten some strange looks. It might be because she was the only pony that looked like she came straight out of a comic book that a certain dragon would read.
Pushing that irrelevance out of her mind she walked towards the painting to see it fully dried. And beautiful. She gasped as she looked at it. Out of everything she has saw in the past about paintings, she has never seen anything like this. Whoever drew this deserved a medal. She looked both ways before grinning to herself. Man she needed that medal badly. One more thing, this had to be signed. She put it back on the board before grabbing a quill and putting her name in a cursive right by it. Pencil Sketch.
She looked at it for a moment before raising an eyebrow in thought. Yeah, that could work but...if someone claimed it as theirs, she's need some backup evidence to prove that she made it. Which meant she had to put her real name up there as well. Sighing she leaned her head down really close and wrote in very tiny letters underneath the cursive. "RD". That's good enough. For comparison, she grabbed a nearby sheet and put the same thing on it, making sure that it was the exact same shape and size. Once it was finished, she grabbed a frame and carefully placed the painting inside of it. The frame was very ornate, having gold on the edges and silver in the corners.
Once she put it down, she looked it over once more. "Perfect," she muttered before placing it on her back. Phase One complete. Time for Phase Two.
After walking a few miles, she turned into an art exhibit. Simple, not crazy. After she walked inside, she passed some more ponies viewing another painting and made her way towards the office. This place was a little crowded, a little too crowded. But it was okay. No one knew her there, and she definitely didn't know them since she never actually showed up to that city before now.
She shook those thoughts out of her mind when she stopped at the office desk that had a very sophisticated pony there, definitely somepony who knew what they saw when they looked at things.
"Excuse me," she said, catching his attention. "i'm trying to get this work into the exhibit. How do I get that done?" She started to pull the work off of her back.
"Ma'am, you can't just.....send...in....." He trailed off when he saw the beautiful painting in front of him, making him stand up slowly. "What....is that?"
"This is called 'Celestia Magnificent,'" Pencil responded, smiling at him. "I created it this morning at-"
"There is absolutely no way you could've made that!" He responded in disbelief, attracting some of the other ponies' attention in the building. "I know art and this is way too good to be done in one day!"
"Well....I did it," she responded casually. "Now, can I-" The stallion started rapidly pressing on the bell on his desk, trying to get some attention. She cocked her head to the side when another pony, a female unicorn came out from the door behind him.
"Yes, what is it, what's going on?" She asked, looking around frantically.
"She-she-she painted that!" The stallion stammered, pointing towards the painting with his hoof.The mare look at the mare in front of the desk and nearly jumped out of her skin.
"WHAT??!!" Other ponies were starting to gather around, trying to figure out what the big deal is. "How did you..."
"I sketched it, outlined it, then colored it in, added some slight contrast, whites, blacks, and some mixes of colors as you see here. Took me all morning and I finished. Now can I please get this in the exhibit?"
"In the exhibit?! This belongs in a freaking museum!! Step into my office." She reached forward and grabbed Pencil Sketch's wing, pulling her past the door and inside towards her new calling.