//------------------------------// // Aftermath of Discord Part 1 // Story: Born For Loyalty // by Admiral Q Ponyform //------------------------------// I panted as I stared at Discord laying in pieces in the grass. It was over, I was safe. “Dash! What did you do!?” Twi exclaimed. “I ended a threat.” “But…but…you killed him!” “Like he wouldn’t kill us. His arrogance lead to our win.” “But he was defeated already Rainbow Dash.” AJ said sternly. “And what was that about Ryan?” “Just forget about that! Not important.” I said hurriedly. Not liking the direction this conversation was going. “Seems important to you Rainbow. It seems like Discord was saying that was your name?” Rares interjected. “My name is Rainbow Dash.” I said firmly. “Perhaps but you seemed to be hiding something.” AJ responded. “LOOK JUST DROP IT! We got Discord we can tell the Princesses mission accomplish.” “We are telling the Princesses.” Twi replied. “ We are telling them everything. A find out what you are hiding Rainbow Dash.” That was it then. It was all over and I lost. Tears streaming down my face. “Goodbye girls, it was fun. Tell my family I love them.” With that I blasted off and headed away from them, away from home, away from my life. * * * * Twilight's POV I saw Rainbow Dash fly away and was left bewildered by the whole thing. Why did she do that? Why did she kill Discord? Maybe the Princess had the answer. “Let's notify the princesses.” I said. “What about Dashie?” Pinkie asked. “None of us can catch her.” There were friend but no pony had a good counter argument for that. In hours we were back in Canterlot and before the royal sisters. “I see you have succeeded Twilight, but I notice Rainbow Dash is not among you. Has something happened to her?” Celestia said. “Yes princess, we succeeded in returning Discord to stone but then Rainbow took to the air. Did a sonic rainboom and shattered him.” “WHAT!?” The princess asked. “She shattered his statue.” “Why?” “Something Discord kept saying spooked her.” Applejack responded. “Yes. She sounded like she wasn't a pony while under Discord's influence.” “How interesting.” The princess said. She looked down thoughtful. “Princess?” I asked. “Your friend Rainbow Dash is quite unique. I have been following her since her first Sonic Rainboom and her history is interesting. She appeared in Cloudsdale after a strange lightning bolt that we still don't know the origin of and then adopted by a loving couple.” “Wait! She is adopted? But she looks so much like them.” I asked. “Yes, she is adopted Twilight. We have no clue who her birth parents are or even where she was born. She just appeared in Cloudsdale sixteen years ago. I do not know more but maybe her adopted parents do. Seek them out. I need to see Rainbow Dash after what you reported.” “You have things well in hoof sister so I will join them in their search.” “As you wish sister.” “Come Element Bearers.” Luna said and moved from her throne. We followed her and she lead us to the chariot bay and I saw the familiar chariot Princess Celestia uses to travel. But we weren't taking it as Princess Luna passed it and walked towards a black colored chariot with a sleek and fast look. A pair of bat ponies rushed to get harnessed. It was rare to see them outside of their tribe holdings. Likely do to racism they experienced that lead to Princess Luna's turning to Nightmare Moon. “Climb aboard.” Princess Luna said as she stepped onto the chariot. We all did and with a whoosh we were flying at speed. Manes whipping in the wind. “Could we please slow down!” Rarity pleaded. And we did slow down a bit and I look behind us as Canterlot was already a speck on the horizon. Applejack whistled. “And ah thought Dash was the fast one.” She commented. “Oh she is Applejack. Both the chariot and the armor my guards wear enhance their top speeds. Dash does that all on her own.” “Oh, well why make this thing go so darn fast?” Princess Luna smirked at her. “I happen to like speed.” That caused Applejack to roll her eyes. **** It took another twenty minutes to reach Cathedrals and we landed in front of Rainbow's childhood home. The Princess casted a cloud walking spell on us and we headed for the door. If it wasn't for the seriousness of the issue I would find a total princess ringing a doorbell a bit amusing. The door opened and I saw Firefly. “Your highness!” She bowed. “You honor me. Please come in.” She opened the door more and she was happy to see us but it was short lived when she noticed a pony missing. “Where is my daughter?” “Then she is not here. Unfortunate.” Luna responded. “ She faced Discord and it affected her badly. Something about her past being known spooked her. Do you have any clue what it might be?” Firefly thought. “No, we didn't pry into her passed after adopting her. Didn't want to open the wounds. She was unusually smart for a filly her age. Breezed through math, writing, and did well in science. History was where she struggled. Other then that she was a good filly. Maybe her diary might hold clues.” “Diary?” Luna asked. “I gave her a magically locked diary for her use. If there is any info it would be there.” “How will we open it if it's magically protected?” “It used a combination lock to make a word. It was fire when I gave it to her but she likely changed it.” We nodded in reply. “And please find her. I may not have given birth to her but she is my daughter. Without her I wouldn't of had Dawn.” “What do you mean?” Luna asked. “Five years before we adopted her I had a still born foal.” I winced and heard gasps from some of the others. “I refused to have another fearing the same fate. We got her and thanks to her my confidence return and we were gifted with Dawn. So please, PLEASE find her and fix your mistake.” I blinked at that. “What?” She looked at us coldly. “I know my daughter. Discord wouldn't have scared her but something you said to her drive her away. So you better get MY daughter back.” We all nodded and left. Looking around I saw the sun would soon set. Luna frowned. Apparently she lost track of time like the rest of us. Well with Discord's antics that is understandable. “Seems we must delay our search till tomorrow. Follow me, I have a place for us to sleep.” We followed her till we were before a palace. It like all of Cloudsdale it was made of clouds shaped into a Pegaspolis style with columns and rainbow fountains and statues of armored pegasi shattered around it. “Is this the old Commander's residence?” I asked. Luna nodded. “Yes it is. Technically I am the Commander of Pegaspolis so it is my residence.” I blinked at that. “But…how? The government’s of the three tribes were dissolved when Equestria was formed.” “Not entirely true. The governments still existed but acted as regional governments rather then national government and stayed that way till Discord. There was basically no government left. We tried resorting them but ultimately they basically faded away to what we currently have but our previous titles still stand this this is technically my place.” Princess Luna lead us in and soon we were served dinner and assigned rooms. There wasn't much talk, we were all thinking of Rainbow and her actions and mystery. I soon entered a troubled sleep. **** Luna's pov After seeing to the element bearers needs and some paperwork. I enter my domain. The dream realm, before was several stars representing the dreams of her subjects. This were not the best with some nightmares here and there due to Discord. I quickly took care of them then searched for the one dream I wanted. In minutes I found her and she was having a nightmare. I approached and unlike the others where I merely cast a spell to give them a pleasant dream her I am going in personally. I look around to get my bearings. It was black everywhere but for a cone of light shining on Rainbow Dash. Images of her friends, family and even her and her sister glaring at her. “Fake!” “Not one of us!” “Not my daughter!” “Not my sister!” “You don't belong here!” “Fake pony!” “They will never accept you Ryan.” Discord taunted. I had heard enough. With a stomp of a good I vanished the images away. Dash was still curled in a fetal position whimpering. It hurt to see the normally proud and courageous pegsus. I moved in and touched her on the shoulder. Dash batted it away. “Please, go away.” She said with such a broken voice. I would not. I grabbed her and hugged her. She tried to fight it but I was stronger and she started crying as I made cooing noises and stroke her mane with a wing. I just held her to comfort her and tried to find where was in the real world but she was resisting my attempts. I kept trying but her will was strong. If I kept it up the dream will collapse. So I stopped and just comforted her the best I could till she woke. ***** The next morning I met the Bearers in the dinning room for breakfast. I made my own order. As we waited I told of my attempts to find Dash in the dream realm. “Wait, you can enter dreams?” I nodded. “Yes, I am the Alicorn of the Night. Dreams are a part of the night. Thus mine to look over. I will generally keep things private but Dash is a special case.” “Well what did ya find?” Applejack asked. “Sadly I could not determine her location in the physical world. But did glimpse her mindset.” I looked down, no doubt with a sad face. “She is hurting. She fears we would reject her if we knew her secret. The phrase fake pony kept coming up.” They all thought on that as did I. It made no sense. Dash had been in the hospital many times. The one she taken to when she first appeared did a full physical and everything said a normal pegasus filly. Why would she think she was fake? Twilight Sparkle spoke first. “Sounds like we need to go to her home to get more answers.” “We shall after breakfast.” With a plan in place they had their meal. **** Dash pov I woke up groggily on the cloud I slept on last night. Certainly a downgrade in sleeping arrangements but she had no choice. She l looked around and saw a river and flew down to take a bath, a really cold bath. I shivered as I left the river and drank the water. I looked around for food. She didn't see any nearby so she took flight staying below the tree tops. After a few minutes I found some berry bushes. I check and they were edible. Pegasi schools taught field survival, a hold over of their Pegaspolis days. I ate them as I considered my plans. Couldn't go home, I was a fake pony and they likely knew by now and plan on imprisoning me or something. So stating in Equestira was out. There was Maretania or Saddle Arabia for options. I'll try Maretania first since it was pony populated. Wishing Equestria luck I began forging for food to the trip and hope for the best. I had nothing else now.