The door swung open, and Scootaloo silently gestured for her to come inside with a reassuring smile and nod. Twilight entered, noticing first that the room looked relatively put together, or at least certainly more than Twilight was expecting based on everything that had been said about Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo subtly stuck a broom in the other room. There was a lingering smell of old cider in the air, not quite hidden by the scent of cleaning spray.
Rainbow Dash hesitantly stepped forward, but stopped a good distance from Twilight and stared wide-eyed at her. She'd put on weight since Twilight had last seen her; sleek, toned muscles no longer showed through her coat. Twilight was used to Rainbow's mane and feathers being in a constant state of windswept, but now they just looked unkempt – a few feathers stuck at odd angles, begging to be preened, and her mane had been chopped unprofessionally. Twilight's eyes drifted back up to meet Rainbow's, and she noted they were tear-brimmed. “It... it's you... it really is you...” she croaked. Twilight had never heard that much emotion in Rainbow's voice before, and she fought to keep tears out of her own eyes.
In that moment, Twilight forgot everything she was worried about when she'd knocked on the door, and ran to her. Rainbow buried her face into Twilight's neck and sobbed. Twilight pulled her closer with one hoof, using the other to brace from falling over as Rainbow sunk all of her weight into the hug. The smell of old cider increased tenfold. Twilight had never witnessed Rainbow breaking down like this before. In fact, none of her friends had reacted this violently to her reappearance, save Rarity, but Rarity could be like that when she was caught off guard. Rainbow Dash was always the tough one. The one who didn't need help from anyone; the one who always needed others to know she was confident and sure about everything she did.
Twilight wasn't sure she'd ever seen anypony so unlike Rainbow Dash in her life – the irony being that this was Rainbow Dash.
Just when the hug was getting awkwardly long, the weight lifted, and Twilight noted Scootaloo gently pulling Rainbow Dash off of her. “C'mon, let's go sit down, okay?” Scootaloo urged, directing her out of the entryway and toward the couches. Rainbow nodded and continued on her own. Twilight followed, trying not to let the overwhelming worry show on her face.
From what Twilight could remember, Rainbow Dash's home used to be decorated with Wonderbolts memorabilia. The ripped corners of old posters were the only things that still hung on the walls. The room seemed very empty, save the couch, a few chairs, and a table in the middle. There was a side table with a few photos on it. One was a young Scootaloo showing off her cutie mark with tropical trees and sand in the background. The white outline that currently rested on her flank wasn't present in the picture. Twilight also noticed a picture of herself, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie outside of Sugar Cube Corner. Their other friends weren't represented in photographs.
Rainbow Dash sat upright on the couch, still staring at Twilight as if afraid if she looked away, she would vanish. Scootaloo and Twilight settled themselves on opposite chairs. Twilight was glad Scootaloo had decided to stick around. She wasn't sure she could handle this new Rainbow Dash on her own.
“So...” Rainbow said, looking back and forth between Scootaloo and Twilight, before focusing back on Twilight. “Y-you weren't dead? Just... messed up a spell?”
Twilight's ears flattened. “Yes. I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
Rainbow flattened her ears too and looked away. She exhaled sharply. “It's cool. I-I mean, I'm fine. I just kind of missed you, that's all...” The flippant dismissal of a complete breakdown wasn't going to fool anyone, let alone two of her best friends... if Twilight could still count herself among them.
There were a few angles Twilight could try to approach this from. She wasn't sure how much Scootaloo had told her, outside of the reason Twilight was here. Maybe she should just start from the beginning. “That's good to hear...” Twilight said as Scootaloo frowned over at Rainbow. “What... what happened since I was gone?”
Rainbow drew circles into her couch with a hoof. She was quiet for several moments. Twilight waited patiently. “It was hard when you just left all of a sudden, you know?” Rainbow finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I... well... I hurt Applejack real bad, we aren't friends anymore...” Rainbow hung her head. “It was an accident. But I had to leave Ponyville.” It was a very rough description compared to Applejack's side of the story. A quarter of the trees at Sweet Apple acres gone, and Applejack left with an injury that would hinder her to this day. But because Twilight already knew the story, she didn't press it. “So I moved to Cloudsdale, near the weather factory. I worked there back then. And then I made it into the Wonderbolt's recruit training, and then the reserves, and then became an actual Wonderbolt. But then I got kicked off.” Rainbow describing reaching and then destroying her life's goal in such a brief and casual way was hard to listen to. Rainbow continued to look away. “Then I did some bad stuff Twilight. And I went to jail for it. And now I just do community work through the rehabilitation program... and... that's it.”
Ten years summarized in a handful of sentences. “What about our other friends?” Twilight pressed.
Rainbow still wouldn't meet Twilight's eyes. “I dunno. You'd have to ask them, I guess.”
“You don't talk to them anymore?” Twilight tried very hard to sound curious and confused rather than judgmental, and it seemed to have worked, because Rainbow just shook her head.
“Nah. Well, I can't leave Cloudsdale because of – uh, because I've been busy,” Rainbow hastily cut herself off and paused awkwardly, but Twilight didn't call her out on it, so she continued. “Not that they'd want to I guess, but none of them could visit me anyways. They aren't pegasi.” For the first time, Rainbow Dash paused and looked Twilight up and down. “Wait, how are you even here right now?”
“Cloud walking spell – like during the Young Fliers competition, remember?” Rainbow tipped her head but didn't question it further. Maybe she really didn't remember. “And what about Fluttershy? She never visited you?”
“Fluttershy...” Rainbow Dash scoffed at first, but Twilight watched quietly as her ears and wings drooped and her gaze fell to the floor. “I-I haven't heard that name in ages... I... I miss her. She never visits... why doesn't she ever visit?”
“I'm sure she'd love to see you,” Twilight said kindly as Rainbow Dash sniffed. “Why don't you visit her?” Scootaloo immediately caught Twilight's eyes and shook her head no. Rainbow looked up at her, brow furrowed. Twilight frowned and tried to backtrack. “We – we could go together - ”
“Why the buck is it my job to visit Fluttershy, huh?” Rainbow challenged and began hovering, her wings beating furiously but unevenly. She swayed from side to side in midair. “Because I'm the element of loyalty? Is that it?” She edged closer to Twilight, and Scootaloo stood up. “You think it's my fault nopony likes each other anymore, right? That's what you think, isn't it!” Rainbow was so close now that Twilight could feel her breath as her voice increased in volume. She flinched at the scent. “Well, it's not! I've... I've...”
Scootaloo reared onto her hind legs to pull Dash back to the floor, where she collapsed and began sobbing. Scootaloo and Twilight shared a concerned look, and Twilight hesitantly walked over and crouched down. Rainbow flinched as Twilight gently tried to stroke her back, and immediately stood and walked back to her chair. “...It's not my fault...” she muttered, no longer meeting Twilight's gaze.
“I... I never said...” Twilight stuttered, no longer confident in leading the conversation. She looked desperately at Scootaloo, who had just resettled herself in the opposite chair.
“Twilight already knows about the FUIs, Dash,” Scootaloo said, prompting a glare from Rainbow. “Why don't you tell her your side of the story?”
Rainbow huffed. “Why does she know? You told her?” Scootaloo shook her head, and Dash hesitantly met Twilight's eyes. “I-I'm sorry Twilight. You probably think I'm such a loser... I guess I kinda am...”
“No,” Twilight insisted, “I just need to know what happened when I was gone. I won't judge you. I promise.”
Rainbow Dash was quiet for a moment. “Well...” She was quiet for another moment. “Well... after I got accepted onto the Wonderbolts, I started going to their parties and stuff. They were... awesome. Like, out of this world awesome.” A smile snuck its way onto Rainbow's face and she sat up, flexing her wings at the memory. “Any time they perform on the road they invite local celebrities and stuff. Anyways, it was just another party, me and Soarin were chilling with all the upper-class Manehatten ponies. Wish I remembered more of it...”
Twilight tipped her head. “Who's Soarin?”
“Oh,” Rainbow Dash gave a small laugh. “Well, he's my ex-coltfriend now. But he was part of the Wonderbolts until a little while ago. Maybe you remember him – he was at your brother's wedding, part of all the Wonderbolts shows, stuff like that.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “He's this big blue guy. Total jerk.”
Rainbow Dash scowled back. “Soarin wasn't a jerk! He helped me through everything with the FUI charges and getting kicked off the Wonderbolts. We just kinda drifted apart after the jail thing, that's all.”
Twilight was more inclined to believe Scootaloo at this point, but it wasn't worth pursuing. “So you... got drunk and left the party and got arrested...?”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “No idea. Woke up in the hospital. Never been that hungover in my life. Apparently my blood alcohol was over the limit and I crashed through some big important building. Had cuts from the glass all over me.” Twilight winced. “And it went super public.” Rainbow frowned. “That's what did me in. Not like a Wonderbolt had never gotten an FUI charge before, but usually they could keep it a secret. It was so embarrassing.”
Twilight opened her mouth to ask about the other charges, but Scootaloo cut her off. “It wasn't alcohol, Dash. It was drugs. And I have proof!”
Rainbow Dash quirked a brow. “Uh, hate to tell you squirt, but doesn't matter what kinda influence it was – an FUI is an FUI.”
Scootaloo glanced over at Twilight. “Yeah, it does matter – but I'll tell you later, after Twilight leaves.”
Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. “Eh, tell me now. If it's really that good, maybe Twilight should hear it.”
Scootaloo looked back and forth between Twilight and Rainbow Dash, her expression serious. “Dash, Soarin got arrested. He's in jail right now.”
Rainbow's eyes widened. “What? Why? Same as me?”
Scootaloo shook her head. “No. It... Rainbow Dash, it was sexual assault charges,” she said carefully, but firmly. Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed in suspicion. “It's not public knowledge yet, but Misty Way told me about it. Nopony came forward about it until recently. They're expecting more mares to pile on once it gets out. The ones who did so far all had the same story – they went to a Wonderbolts party and woke up the next day with no memory of what happened.”
Twilight's ear twitched in recognition, but Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Ah, come off it, Soarin isn't like that. There's no way that's true.”
Scootaloo couldn't hide her disgust. “Some of them he even left notes, Dash. It was an open-and-shut case. Guess he was getting with upper-class mares thinking they wouldn't want to risk the public's view of them if they ever came forward. He got away with it until now, but there's some evidence it started three years ago – right around the time you went to jail.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as Twilight's widened. “Soarin didn't need to drug me to get with me, so why would he? Besides, I ended up through a building, not in a bed.” Dash crossed her forelegs. “Seems unrelated.”
Scootaloo was saying something in response. Something about how the motive was different – he probably wanted her off the team because she was the best flyer they'd ever had – probably realized how easy it was which set off the attacks. Twilight couldn't hear it clearly over the sound of her heart beating in her ears. Rainbow was yelling something back.
“He... he was your coltfriend?” Twilight squeaked out. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash paused to look at her.
“Yeah, exactly, he was my coltfriend!” Rainbow growled to Scootaloo. Something about how he was always there for her. How she'd never doubted him. He'd loved her, so why would he hurt her? Both of them were yelling. It was loud. Scootaloo probably should have waited to mention it. These were all secondary thoughts to Twilight, who could see Soarin in her mind's eye now. The reminder about the wedding was helpful. Rainbow Dash was dancing with him back then. Pale blue coat, bright green eyes...
This was what Rarity didn't want Twilight to mention. Twilight felt sick, her hearing replaced with a dull buzz. She muttered that she needed air and left, though Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash's argument had turned tearful and neither of them paid her much mind.
Twilight curled herself onto Rainbow's front step, trying to settle her breathing. Rarity had played the affair off as a drunken one-night stand, but really it was a targeted attack that had driven a wedge in her marriage, produced a bastard foal, and was set to end her career. It was awful. It wasn't fair. Rarity must have concluded that she'd cheated on her husband with her friend's coltfriend. Somehow, that made it even worse. What would unveiling the truth bring?
“Twilight?” She froze, slowly looking up to see Sweetie Belle walking toward her with a concerned frown. “Uh, sorry, I was trying to stay within eyesight so I knew when you were done – are you okay?”
Twilight stared at her. She couldn't talk to Sweetie Belle. Not right now, and certainly not about this. “I...”
There was a loud thud from inside. Sweetie Belle hurriedly reached to open the front door. Rainbow Dash hovered unsteadily above Scootaloo, who was resetting a chair that was overturned. “Just go...” Rainbow muttered, staggering back to the floor and turning her back. “I want to be alone...”
Scootaloo caught Twilight's eye and came over. She carefully closed the door behind her. “Sorry about that,” Scootaloo said quietly. “She was doing really well with you; I thought maybe she wouldn't totally freak out...” Scootaloo trailed off, concern creasing her expression. “Are you okay? I didn't even notice you left.”
Twilight forced a smile. “Y-yeah, I'm fine.” Sweetie Belle fortunately didn't say anything to the contrary, just looked between Scootaloo and Twilight with a frown. Twilight leaned in closer to Scootaloo, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You need to tell Sweetie Belle what you just told Rainbow Dash. Gently, and somewhere private.” Twilight doubted that Scootaloo knew the full drama, and maybe Twilight shouldn't be getting her and her lawyer marefriend involved in Rarity's affairs, but this needed to come out, and it needed to come from a friend.
Scootaloo at least grasped the seriousness of Twilight's words, and nodded slowly. “Got it. You want to talk to Rainbow Dash alone.” Scootaloo smiled at Sweetie Belle. “How about we go back to my place for a bit, give them some space?”
Sweetie Belle brightened. “For real?! Yeah, totally!” She hesitated, turning to Twilight. “You sure you're okay if we go?”
“Of course,” Twilight said, as if she wasn't holding back tears. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo trotted away, and Twilight released a sigh. If Sweetie Belle was in the loop about this, she would be able to warn Rarity before the media got a full hold of the story. Maybe this would be a good thing. The truth could smooth over many of Rarity's problems. This was what Twilight was trying to accomplish, after all – helping her friends recover from the mess she'd left them in. Step one of anything could be difficult.
She kept telling herself that as she gently opened the door to Rainbow Dash's house again, and doubled down on the mantra as she spotted Rainbow Dash on her floor with a bottle of cider in her hoof. She was consuming it at an alarming pace. Rainbow's love for cider had never struck Twilight as worrying ten years ago, but seeing the end result so blatantly made her feel stupid for ignoring it. She didn't think the Apple family's cider had much alcohol in it, but then again, there was no way the cider Rainbow was drinking came from Applejack.
Twilight closed the door behind her, and Rainbow Dash's ears flicked. “I told you to go away,” she growled, but dropped her glare when she turned and saw Twilight standing there instead of Scootaloo. Her ears flattened. “...You came back,” she muttered, eyes quickly averting toward the floor. “Sorry about before...” Rainbow Dash said slowly, still not fully meeting Twilight's gaze. “Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Everypony I trust leaves me eventually. Soarin's just another on the list.” She forced a short laugh, and Twilight frowned.
“Not everypony,” Twilight insisted, though Rainbow just rolled her eyes. “Scootaloo is still here for you, right?”
Rainbow Dash pondered this for a moment while taking another swig of cider. “Yeah. She's a good kid, I guess. But it's just a matter of time before she finally stays away when I tell her to.”
Twilight approached cautiously. “Scootaloo told me she could get you your job at the weather factory back. Maybe that's a good idea to start fresh. Meet some new ponies, reconnect with old ones...”
Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Can't do it. I can't fly anymore.”
Twilight's heart sank. That was impossible. “What do you mean you can't fly anymore?”
Rainbow finally met Twilight's gaze, then shifted it down to the cider bottle. She flicked it with a hoof. The hollow ring across the room suggested it was nearly empty. “Legally, I mean. I'd have to get clean or I'd just end up back in jail.”
Twilight closed the gap between them and gently reached out a hoof to the cider bottle. Rainbow relinquished it, though there indeed wasn't much left in it. “Flying is who you are, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight insisted, shaking the bottle lightly in front of her. “This isn't you.”
Rainbow's gaze snapped into a glare. “Yeah? What the buck would you know about me anymore? I haven't seen you in ten years! Nopony has!”
“You're one of my best friends...” Twilight insisted, sniffing as Rainbow groaned and looked away. “The Rainbow Dash I know would never lose touch with everypony, no matter what.”
Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a look that could only be described as pity. “Damn, you're really out of the loop, huh?” Twilight hung her head. She wasn't. She'd heard these recounts from four other ponies now. But each was as hard to take as the last. “Look, I... I tried with Applejack for years. I ruined her life, Twilight. I can't even forgive myself for that, let alone expect her to. Rarity it's more of an image thing.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Her company, whatever it was called, cut my sponsorship and basically put a restraining order against me. I'm not even legally allowed to see her, Twilight.” Rainbow gave another short, forced laugh. “She sends letters still, I don't know why she bothers. Guilt, I hope. And I haven't seen Fluttershy since I got recruited as a Wonderbolt. She never reached out to me after the FUI stuff, maybe she was scared, I dunno... but I know her relationship with Applejack was... tense. I didn't want to make it worse by forcing her to keep in contact with me.”
Rainbow quieted as Twilight waited for her to talk about the last pony in their friend group. “What about Pinkie Pie?” Twilight prompted after the awkward silence suggested the topic wouldn't come on its own.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Maybe a few times a year she comes by. I think she sees me more than she sees the others, but I guess that's not saying much.”
Twilight again waited for Rainbow Dash to elaborate, but that was all she had to say. “Do you know where I can find her?”
“Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow Dash asked, surprised. “She doesn't live in one place. I found her ages ago before by following sighting rumours, but it would be a lot harder without wings. She moves really fast. I wouldn't worry about Pinkie Pie, though. She did the right thing and removed herself from all the drama once Ponyville started collapsing. Her talent ties her down a lot less than the others.”
In theory, Rainbow Dash's talent tied her down the least, yet she seemed to be the only one of the six who had completely abandoned it. Rainbow Dash never flying would be like Twilight never using magic. It had to be slowly killing her. “So... if you can't fly, what do you do here?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Odd jobs, like stocking shelves or moving trash. Whatever they tell me to do. Pays the bills and gets me out of the house. Not like it's impossible, I mean, Scootaloo gets around fine.” Twilight could not imagine Rainbow Dash having the patience for that. “It just sucks because everyone knows me here. Nopony will look me in the eye. It's like I'm invisible.”
“...Have you considered moving?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and gestured to the bottle that Twilight had set on an end table. “How do you think I got here, Rainbow? I could fly you wherever you wanted to go on the royal chariot.” Getting Rainbow clean would be the better solution, but that might not come until Rainbow went somewhere she could thrive. And Rainbow actually perked up at the offer, putting Twilight's excitement to help into overdrive. “We could go to the Crystal Empire! They're pretty disconnected from other cities, nopony would know you there – I could settle back down with my family, and we could make new friends together!” And apple trees didn't grow there, so there wasn't much in the way of cider. It was perfect.
Rainbow Dash slowly grinned. “That does sound pretty cool... I'll think about it.”
...
The meeting went better than Twilight had expected. Rainbow Dash was difficult to keep on topic and easy to provoke, but she'd always been a bit like that. Twilight would not describe her as a different pony, just one who had been severely let down by her friends and her society. Scootaloo eventually came to collect her, and Rainbow waved them off pleasantly.
“This is gonna sound weird,” Scootaloo said as they walked off, “but that was the most coherent I've seen Dash in a while. I'm really glad you went to see her.”
Rainbow hadn't touched a second drink the whole time Twilight was visiting with her. Twilight smiled. “It went well. Rainbow Dash was open to moving to the Crystal Empire with me.”
Scootaloo chuckled. “She really needs to go to rehab first. Betting it will be a lot easier to get her to go now that she has a goal for when she gets out. Thanks so much, Twilight.”
“So... how did it go with Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked.
Scootaloo was quiet for a moment. “I had no idea about Rarity. I've never seen Sweetie Belle that angry before. She asked where the Cloudsdale jail was so she could kill Soarin. I think she was serious. Figured I'd give her a few minutes alone to cool off.”
Sweetie Belle still looked set to kill somepony when they approached her. She was waiting in the same space in Cloudsdale where they'd been dropped off, her ears flat and shoulders hunched, staring intently into space. “You okay?” Scootaloo asked quietly as they approached, though Sweetie Belle jumped as if she'd yelled the question.
Sweetie Belle huffed. “No. I'm still trying to figure out how I explain this to Rarity.” She looked anxiously at Twilight. “Please don't say anything to her about it until I do.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “I won't.” The longer Twilight processed the situation, the more she felt that Rarity had to have at least wondered if something less innocent than a few too many drinks had gone on that night. Scootaloo was probably right when she'd suggested the upper-class mares didn't want to take the risk of coming forward. Rarity still may not.
When the Canterlot royal carriage pulled up, the three of them hopped in. It took Twilight a moment to realize what was odd about that. “Are you coming with us...?” she asked Scootaloo, though the carriage was already starting to take off.
Sweetie Belle looked pointedly off the side as they soared away from Cloudsdale, her ears still flat. Scootaloo nodded at Twilight with a grin. “Yeah – I got kind of inspired by you, actually... going to all of your friends to try to help them is super cool.” Scootaloo nudged Sweetie Belle, who pretended not to notice. “And we have one friend we haven't checked on in ages.”
Sweetie Belle sighed, turning to glare at Scootaloo. “I told you Scoots, you can't just go see Apple Bloom. She's... I don't even know how to explain this...”
“I don't care what she became,” Scootaloo insisted. “She was our friend. I never gave up on Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom left her family and we never bothered figuring out why.”
Sweetie Belle groaned. “First of all, we tried, but she stopped writing back, remember? We were only ever friends because we all didn't have cutie marks. She got hers and left. Newsflash Scootaloo, foals grow up!”
“And you're still one of my best friends, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo implored.
“It's different!” Sweetie Belle yelled. The pegasus ponies flying the carriage glanced backward at the outburst, then quickly looked away when they saw Twilight had noticed them. “She's... she's just...” Sweetie Belle was starting to tear up. “She's an awful pony, Scootaloo... there's nothing more to it than that...”
Scootaloo frowned. “I don't care. I need to do this.”
“Fine!” Sweetie Belle screeched. “Go without me then – but don't say I didn't warn you!”
...
The carriage dropped Sweetie Belle off at her apartment, where she offered a halfhearted “good luck” and was gone.
Scootaloo sighed after her. “I thought maybe she'd have a change of heart... but that's okay. I'll just go on my own.” The guard ponies looked back at them. “If you could just drop me off at the train station, that would be awesome. Can't exactly ask you to fly me all the way to Manehatten.” They took off again, and Scootaloo looked curiously at Twilight. “So, what are you going to do now?”
“Back to Ponyville,” Twilight said. “I'm really worried about Applejack, and I want to check on Fluttershy, too.”
“Yeah?” Scootaloo deadpanned. “And how'd your meeting with Applejack go the first time?” Twilight looked away with a frown. “Yeah, I figured.” Scootaloo offered a sad smile. “I know how all of Dash's attempts went. Listen... why don't you come to Manehatten with me?” Twilight blinked up at her. “Maybe it didn't seem like it, but Apple Bloom really looked up to you when we were foals. Maybe between the two of us, we can convince her to go with you to Ponyville.”
It wasn't a bad idea. The Apples needed each other – Apple Bloom had to feel that way, too. And Applejack wasn't Apple Bloom's only relative in Ponyville. Twilight wasn't sure of the relationship between Big Mac and Apple Bloom. He hadn't mentioned her, but then again, he hadn't said much. “Alright,” Twilight relented. “I think it's worth a shot.”