Disappear
Rainbow Dash smacked the cloud and it popped like a balloon without much of the noise. The various mists that made up the cloud scattered and fled in every direction, sighing humidly. They dispersed at her command, and she sent them off by the strength of her conviction. It wasn't just her smacking against it, although that certainly helped.
Vanish
Go away
Perhaps not in so many words, except the last ones, but the sentiment was the same. She ordered the clouds to disperse, and she did so with barely any effort. Most pegasi would coil up, gathering up strength of spirit as much as in their back legs, or banged at it rapidly a few times, tearing the cumulation apart with invictions of will. Fluttershy would have tried to slowly peel the mists apart, kindly pleading that they come apart but oh the poor dears look so comfortable I couldn't possibly- The point was, Rainbow used nearly much, if not more, force of personality as she did force of hooves to clear the skies, or anything else with weather for that matter.
Breaking the sound barrier was as much a matter of speed as her deciding she could not be stopped and convincing the air to agree.
It took hardly any time at all to do a quick favor for her old coworkers on the weather team. She just wished it hadn't involved the conversation that it had. Asking a certain pony in particular a certain particular question had probably been the biggest mistake. Certainly not Rainbow Dash's mistake, no. She was Dash's former second and now captain of the weather team. It had been her mistake for being there and her mistake for being so gosh darned weird.
It had been a get-together of old friends. Co-workers, more like, but they had been friendly then and they could featherin' be friendly now. It wasn't like Rainbow Dash had moved away, she had simply moved on, which might be arguably worst. Certainly, it was a pall that hung over the flock like a fogbank, at least for anypony with the emotional sensitivity of at least a teenager.
And then there was Rainbow Dash.
"So do you guys think I'm hot?"
Poor Thunderlane, he was about as prepared for this as Rarity was, oh so long ago at a Manehatten bar. Thankfully, it wasn't good Grapevine '95 wine, but just some cheap Studweiser Light that somepony brought. While he caught his breath, the others processed.
"Er..."
"Well-"
"What brought this on?"
Because, seriously, how do you respond to that? And it wasn’t that she was unattractive to the lot of them, it’s just a very loaded question.
Well, if one had been a certain pegasus who had been waiting for this moment her entire life, she’d have quite a response prepared for this. And there just so happen to be such a pony. She’d flit down from her perch cloud and sidle over onto Rainbow’s.
Rainbow scooched away from the intrusion, until the offender grabbed her by the cheeks. “Uh...”
“Rainbow, hon, ya know how I say I ‘bang’ ponies? Like, a lot?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I wouldn’t just bang you!”
“Wha- hey!”
“I would smash you.”
“Huh.”
“I would smash you in half.”
Silence.
“Right down the middle.”
“Gosh darn it, Cloud Kicker.”
Evanesce, Rainbow Dash definitely didn't think because who even knows that's actually a word? The effect was still the same, and the second to last cloud evanished without a trace. Just one more-
Oh, horse apples!
She didn't want to see her friends right now, okay? After the whole debacle the other day with Applejack and Pinkie, all her friends seemed to get it in their heads it'd be cool to go visit some random stranger in a stuffy old office and talk about their, ugh, feelings. Thanks to Twilight's recommendations, and whatever the Tart' was going on in Applejack's head, everypony was being super lame.
Speaking of whom, that was exactly why Rainbow Dash fled up onto the last little cloud, as those two walked below her. It didn't look like they spotted her, which was good, because otherwise they might call her down and ask her how she felt. They'd give her these sad, worried looks- no, Twilight would give her this sad, worried look, asking her if she really felt fine. Applejack had even-odds for just giving her this smug look like she really knew how Dash felt. Buck you, Applejack-50%-Of-The-Time! You don't know me!
"How are you feeling?" Twilight said.
"Mighty drained, I tell you what, but it's starting to feel like a good kind of drained, ya know? Like after a hard day's work."
"It sounds like you're starting to feel better, Applejack," Twilight said with a happy sigh. "I'm glad."
"Thanks, Twi'."
"No problem. Ya know, you really are the emotional center of this group. You're so stable. Not only is it surprising to see you off-kilter, it's actually kind of distressing." A pause. "N-not that that's the only reason I want you to get better!"
"Nah, nah, Twi'. I getcha. By the by, you can see Rainbow's up there too, amirite?"
"Oh yeah. I'm hoping hearing us be centered and content will convince you to go to the therapist as well."
"UGH, YOU GUYS ARE SAPS!" Rainbow yelled down below. "What the featherin' clouds do you talk about with this guy, anyway!?"
"Ya know, I didn't mean to end the world. It's just, I thought, if those six didn't become friends, then some six other ponies would save the world. Maybe Trixie would be the Element Of Magic and, well I dunno, what's the mail mare's name? Derpy! Aaaand- Maud? Maud, 100% Maud.
"Whatever, okay? I thought anypony could have stepped up and done their job. And maybe, I dunno, been more amenable to my vision of an equalized, talentless utopia. Or maybe not, it was a dumb idea, I know that now. I might have gotten just as mad at 'Princess Trixie' and tried to timewarp her friendship and then have it rubbed in my face that all my ambitions and beliefs will end the world. Or just the reckless use of time travel, I dunno. Spike made me read all his 'Trot To The Future' to teach me how fickle time travel is.
"Ugh, it's just- I've come to really love those girls, okay? They're all really great in their own way. But apparently they're the chosen ones, and them alone. If you stop them from becoming friends, the world ends. Nothing but a barren wasteland. Or it gets conquered by Tirek or Chrysalis or the Flimflam brothers, whoever they are, or something. Whatever, I only saw the Maregnarok timeline so...
"Doesn't that bother you? That our entire world is a house of cards where the stupid interpersonal relationships of six lovely mares is the only thing hold it up? It ticks me off... ticked me off. Nopony was supposed to be that special."
"I worry that I'm not pulling my weight sometimes. As a heroine of Equestria, I mean. Such a silly thing to worry about, am I right? I'm a successful businessmare, I'm frankly beautiful and, oh yes, I'm a heroine of Equestria. I think asking to be one of the stars players of that last part is perhaps asking a bit too much. Could you imagine? I'd almost be one of those starlettes in some trashy young pony novel!
"Mmm. I worry about it though. I worry about Applejack, I feel like she in the same position as me. Not quite the same though- she's a rock and just about a second Twilight in an emergency. But she and I? We're not the fastest pegasus in Equestria, we're not the mightiest sorceress since Starswirl the Ugly Bell Hat, we're not a beautiful, beast mastering forest princess straight out of a fairy tale and we're definitely not Pinkie Pie.
"We hold our own, and that should be enough, don't you think? I think so. Did Applejack ever bring this up? Right, confidentiality, hush-hush, I understand. I'll just ask her myself. Actually, I should just ask her, we can talk about it. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"
It took her awhile to even speak, let alone open up. It helped that the good doctor wasn't even a pony, and he was willing to crawl in her lap to let her pretend he was just a dog. Sure, as one of his breed, he actually out massed her by a factor, but that certainly never stopped that pony.
"I'm not kind, I'm very mean. I just never say anything, but I think it. I'm just awful. I think so many mean things about my friends. I always keep it to myself, and I don't say mean things and ponies think I'm nice. They think I'm kind, and I'm just quiet. I think bad things about a lot of ponies, my friends more than others. Like...
"Rainbow has been my best friend since I was a filly and a constant bane of my peace of mind. Pinkie is annoying, but when anypony else says that I get mad because they don't know how hard she works to make everypony happy. Twilight is such a know-it-all and self-righteous and such a suck-up. Sometimes I'm uncomfortable when Applejack is near me because I think she still likes me and looks at me creepy and I'm scared I look at Rarity that way and I'm so mad that she doesn't like me the same way I like her because I'm weak and not strong like Applejack and Rainbow Dash and it makes me even angrier. And then- then-
"I hate Starlight. I hate what she did to me, I hate when I had to pretend to believe her awful lies, I hate what she did to everypony, especially when I heard what she did to Equestria with her time spell. It's wonderful what Twilight did with her, it's wonderful that she turned her around, it's oh so wonderful that she's a better pony now, and I hate it. I want her to hurt and to suffer and to be punished and I know it won't help anypony, it certainly won't help her but it will make me feel better. I'm just...
"Awful."
He whined. "After everything that happened to you, these feelings are completely understandable. Feelings of anger and resentment are to be expected after the trauma you went through. You're not a bad pony for feeling this way."
"I- I really wish I could believe that, doctor."
"Ya know, stuff."
"Uh-huh."
Twilight prodded Applejack, tilting her to the side to draw the farmer's attention. Applejack looked, her eyes widening for a moment before smirking. "Woah nelly. Welp, we best get goin', Rainbow Dash, don't wanna take up more of your time. Come on, Twi'!"
Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she watched the two go, the pair of them looking so smug and knowing. "What in the world are you two-"
"Hey, Dashie!"
Rainbow did a double take here, between her escaping quarry and this new factor. Growing suspicion and resentment warred with a desire to give this her attention.
"Um, hey, Pinkie."
Another look confirmed that those two, probably laughing at her behind her back now, had already turned a corner and disappear. She could track them down, but then she did have to ditch-
"Wanna hang out?"
Rainbow looked back down at Pinkie. "Uh, sure." She kicked off her cloud and kicked again, evaporating it while barely thinking. She landed softly on the ground next to the jittering, excited pony.
Rainbow shifted her eyes about. "So, uh, what do you wanna do?"
"Dunno!" Pinkie seemed so excited by that. "We could just go for a walk, and see where it takes us."
Rainbow rolled her shoulders. "Sure thing." She looked, glancing where those two went and then in the other direction, quite deliberately so. "C'mon."
"Coming oning!"
Rainbow snorted.
And they walked.
Like, actually walked, the both of them. Rainbow didn't get tired of the ground and Pinkie didn't hop, but rather kept at least two hooves on the ground at all times as they made their progression. This uncharacteristic behavior on the former's part was brought in part by the latter. Something about Pinkie's relative stillness compelled her to go along with it. There was also her relative closeness to take into account, as Pinkie kept brushing up against her.
Suggestions on where they might spend their time kept being met with, "Whatever you want, Dashie!" Or some eager agreement thereof. This was not exactly unusual for Pinkie; definitely not as passive as Fluttershy, but Pinkie was down for anything as long as her friends were having fun. In fact, Pinkie could be easier to drag to things, because Fluttershy could be quite actively passive.
Nor was was this normally disagreeable to Dash, who quite liked it when ponies got with the program. The program being her program, of course, the best darn program there ever was. However, something about this situation seemed to be rubbing her the wrong way, much in the same Pinkie kept rubbing up against her.
"So, uh, hey, how about we swing by your place?"
"Ooo, a cupcake for my Cupcake!"
Okay.
"Pinkie, is this a date?"
Rainbow felt her stumble more than she saw it, because Pinkie was practically glued to her side at this point. The party pony recovered quickly and gave the athlete a big and somewhat nervous looking grin.
"It's a little bit of a date," She admitted. "Is that okay?"
Rainbow stopped, giving an askance look toward her companion. Pinkie stopped with her, still smiling, waiting and nervously jittering. After a moment of that, Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes. She lifted up one of her wings and wrapped it around Pinkie's barrel. Pinkie gasped and squealed and did a little dance on her hooves.
Then she decided to be a little bit more bold and leaned in to give Rainbow Dash's cheeks a big ol' smoocheroni! What she got instead was a mouthful of feathers as Rainbow's other wings came and blocked her dive.
"Nope, none of that."
"Awww."