//------------------------------//
// Charred Remains 
// Story: Fearless 
// by TrustTheTARDIS 
//------------------------------//

Her feet moved softly through the lush grass. Taking walks was what Twilight Sparkle liked to do on Sunny days. She had been walking for almost half an hour accompanied only by her singing. She finally reached the top of the second hill. To her surprise, there was a small forest in the valley below. Naturally a bit curious, she started her descent. As she stepped into the trees she heard strange sniffling noises. 

“It can’t be… Rainbow Dash?”

The sniffling stopped immediately. Twilight knew it was her and searched for her friend. This mare had almost never been caught crying. As she searched her hoof struck something, a tree root. As she looked up she saw a picture frame. She gathered herself together and levitated the picture to her. 

Inside it held the image of three pegasi. The first was lavender with a spiky rainbow mane and tail. The second was a small, cyan blue filly with almost the same hair; Rainbow Dash. The third was a mare a tad younger than she herself. She also possessed the same hair but her mane was less spiky and reverse order. The forelock held purple, blue, then green, and the mane held yellow, orange, then red. Twilight figured this might possibly be Dash’s mother. 

She soon found Rainbow curled up under a burnt blanket, almost asleep. Tears ran silently down her face. Surrounding her was the charred remains of…

“…A cabin. Rainbow. Rainbow Dash! Wake up.”

Rainbow shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Twilight continued to try to get her friend to talk about this… place. Finally, Rainbow couldn’t stand it any more. 

“Will you shut up and leave me alone?!” 

Twilight was taken aback by this outburst. 

“I-I’m sorry, Twi. I didn’t mean to be so mean. Forgive me?”

“Only if you tell me what’s going on.”

“Huhm-Fine… You’re probably wondering why I’m sitting way out here. Well, see, after my dad died when I was a little filly my s-sister took me here to live. Do you remember when you were a filly and there was that little uprising in Canterlot?”

“Of course! They nearly destroyed my home.”

“You know how bad it was in Canterlot, but in Cloudsdale, it was hell come to earth. My sister had been called for a special-ops mission, but my dad didn’t want her to get hurt, so he went himself. He…never came back. We were devastated. Soon after, somepony burned down our house so Spectra, my sister, took me here. Here it was safe from attackers. It was close enough to a town to be able to go get food. And there was this cabin. We watched for about a week and when nopony ever came back to it, we moved in.”

“I can tell this will be a long story. If you want, we can go back to the library and you can tell me the rest of the story there.”

“Ok. But I’m taking the blanket.”

Twilight looked closer. There was a lump of something under her wing. 

“Rainbow, lift your left wing.”

She hesitated then did so. Out fell an old, bloodied bandage. Twilight levitated it in mid air.

“What’s this?”

Rainbow tried to grab it but was unsuccessful.

“It was Spectra’s! Now, please, give it back!”

Twilight did so. There was a nagging feeling in her mind that said Rainbow really needed to talk about whatever was troubling her. So, they set off for Twilight’s