Two intertwining spears stopped the mare on the way to her destination. Rainbow Dash stopped a foot away from the locking spears and frowned. Clad in armor from head to hoof and standing on opposite sides to the entrance of the Canterlot Castle were two Royal Guards. The two stallions eyed Rainbow while she stepped towards them, now merely inches away from the obstruction.
“Halt,” one guard said, his stature remaining stiff as a board.
“What business do you have at Canterlot Castle?” the other guard said, finishing the previous guard’s address.
Rainbow Dash sighed and wiped a line of sweat across her forehead as her wings folded into her sides. She raised a hoof and trailed it in the air as she exhaled. She repeated this a few times until her breathing had regulated to a normal pace.
“Just be patient, and talk to them. You’re an Element of Harmony, they aren’t going to stop you for long.”
Rainbow smiled lightly and straightened her posture to accentuate her stance. She coughed a few times to get the frog out of her throat before she spoke.
“I want to speak to Discord.”
Both guard’s eyes widened and the grip on their spears intensified. They exchanged worried glances as the locked spears started to shake.
“The Element of Loyalty wishes to speak to... Discord?” The guard on the left asked.
Rainbow nodded her head and blinked a few times as she placed a hoof over her mouth to cover a yawn. The right guard stepped forward, keeping his spear locked with the other guard’s weapon.
“Why do you wish to speak to Discord?" the guard asked, "Celestia may have given him a second chance, but that doesn't mean he's trustworthy. If you're smart, you'll steer clear of him.”
“I just want to speak with him. Calm down,” Rainbow replied as she placed a hoof in the center of the spears. “Now let me in.”
Both guards exchanged glances once more before they pulled the spears back to their sides. The guard on the right sighed. “Well, we can’t really deny an Element of Harmony. Very well. Follow me.”
“I’m not taking her to him. Buck that,” the guard on the left mumbled as he stood still and stared ahead. The right guard shrugged and jerked his head in the direction of the castle. Rainbow followed the guard up the castle steps, her head tilted down as she yawned again.
“I gotta make this visit quick. Flying to Canterlot... not the best idea when you forgot to eat the only thing that you ordered today... and flew from Cloudsdale to Ponyville... and just... ugh... I’m too tired to finish my thought.”
Rainbow brushed her sweaty mane out of her face as it once again fell in front of her eyes. Once her eyes were free, she noticed that she was falling behind the guard. She quickly caught up, her eyes widening as she almost stumbled over one of the castle steps. She kept her composure and caught up to the guard.
“I’m all freaking sweaty and tired... I should have taken a nap or something. I hope no one notices that I look like I’m going to collapse.”
Luckily, as Rainbow and the guard entered the Grand Hall of the castle, there were not that many ponies around to notice. Some trotted out of the Grand Hall, scrolls buried in their saddlebags while both guards and other ponies loitered around, smiles on their faces and mugs of cider in their hooves.
Two particular guards at the top of the stairs to Celestia’s room looked over at Rainbow as she followed her escort into the hallway. Rainbow looked over at the stallions and straightened herself before she quickly averted her gaze from them, focusing straight ahead on her escort. She stopped for a moment to rub her drooping eyelids before she caught up to him.
”I don't have time to talk to anypony else. I need my answer... so I can go to bed,” she thought.
The escort turned left and walked down a hallway while he tapped the bottom of his spear against the wall every few steps. His eyes widened as he stumbled over his own hooves and fell to the ground. He frowned, pushed himself back to his hooves, and tapped the spear to the wall in front of him. “Little jokester moves his room every day. Anyway... Discord’s room is through here. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “You doing okay? You had a little tumble right there.”
The guard’s frown turned into a sheepish smile and he nodded his head, his face reddening. He coughed into his hoof and quickly regained his composure. “Just walk through there. Discord thought it was funny to enchant part of the wall to be the entrance to his home.”
“Got it.” Rainbow looked at the wall and moved closer to it as the guard walked past her, around the corner, and out of sight. She pressed a hoof against the stone and lost her balance as she fell forwards.
“Woah! Oof!”
Rainbow’s jaw hit wood and she quickly shut her eyes as the pain radiated through her head. She placed her hooves on her jaw and rubbed her chin for a moment. Once the pain started to ebb away due to her rubbing, she pulled her legs into the room and rolled onto her back while a familiar voice laughed from a few yards away.
“You would think that she would be careful about leaning against a wall that the Spirit of Disharmony enchanted. Oh well. We all learn the hard way.”
Rainbow opened her eyes and inhaled to try and ignore the seething pain in her chin. Her eyes widened once she looked at the floor and tilted her head up to stare from the walls to the ceiling. The entire room was painted like a rainbow. From the wooden floors and walls to the ceiling, it looked like Rainbow’s mane when she got out of a shower. The floor had its own pattern of colors such as different shades of red, yellow, and orange while the wall harbored green, light-blue, and any shade or tint in between. The ceiling carried the last colors of a rainbow: dark-blue and purple while the corners of the room melded with the green to create an ugly and abhorrent brown that would have Rarity faint from the mere sight of it.
It didn’t take long for Rainbow to close her eyes again once she finally focused on her surroundings. A small knot of pain throbbed in her temple and she raised a hoof to massage it away as she tried to focus on the room’s layout instead of the colors that were currently giving her a headache. In the back of the room, Rainbow could make out a bathtub and a refrigerator, both of which were turned upside down and stuck to the ceiling. There was one window on each wall except for the wall that carried the exit, each providing a view of Canterlot, Ponyville, and the horizon that lead to the Crystal Empire respectively. Drapes covered the edges of each windowsill, the silky fabric matching with the colors that surrounded it. The drapes looked like they were dipped in different buckets of paint and tossed aside, although the magical aura that flowed from them seemed to show otherwise.
Rainbow shuddered and turned to Discord, who was sitting in the middle of the room on top of a cloud that hovered over a crimson couch. An apple tree stuck up from the floor behind Discord. The fruit that hung from it looked surprisingly familiar. The apples were nothing but cores, stripped bare of any skin or flavor — or so it seemed.
Discord stretched and let out a groan of relaxation as he looked at Rainbow. He motioned towards the room with his talons. “Do you like my new dwelling? A little bare, I’m not going to lie, but I can always add furniture when visitors come over.”
Rainbow growled and pushed herself back to her hooves. “Alright. Admit it!” she yelled as she pointed a hoof at him in accusation.
Discord pointed his paw at himself and raised an eyebrow. “Admit it?” He asked as an apple core hovered over to his talons. He grabbed the apple and spit back up a piece onto the apple, leaving it half-eaten as he tossed it at Rainbow Dash. “I’ll admit that I’m not exactly the best decorator when it comes to Feng-Shuei. But apart from that, I have nothing to admit to you.”
Rainbow stepped to the side, letting the apple drop onto the floor and roll over to the wall. She turned back to Discord and shook her head. “Don’t play dumb with me! What did you do to Twilight?!”
Discord blinked. “Um... I’m assuming you’re asking what I’ve done to her lately? Because I’m pretty sure that you’ve been around the same time that I was around her; except for the time when I took your Element away and made you give up on your friends. You probably don’t remember any of that.”
Rainbow clenched her teeth. “Shut up, Discord. Stop playing games with me, I’m not in the mood.”
Discord snickered before the room suddenly shook with his laughter. “Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha! You’re telling me not to play games?!” Discord placed his paw over his stomach and pointed his talons at Rainbow Dash. He continued laughing and closed his eyes once he started to laugh too hard. “You may as well tell water to stop being wet!"
Rainbow’s right eye twitched and she trotted over to Discord’s couch. With one jab, she disintegrated the cloud underneath Discord, who immediately noticed. His back met the cushion, which prompted him to stop laughing. Discord straightened himself on his couch and stepped off of it, moving to his mismatched legs. He glared down at Rainbow, raised his talons, and snapped them.
Rainbow winced, but didn’t feel any pain. Instead, a cloud formed once again on Discord’s couch and he leaned back onto it, but remained sitting.
“I don’t appreciate my furniture being messed with,” Discord said flatly as he outstretched the lion paw and pushed Rainbow’s face. “Which is kind of weird once you think about it. The Spirit of Disharmony doesn’t appreciate his furniture being messed with. I guess that’s how all you ponies must have felt when your houses were upside down.”
Rainbow stumbled backwards and fell onto her rump. She sighed in relief and clutched her chest. Her heart was still beating.
“Whew... that was a close one. For a split second... I thought that he was going to take away my Element again... or worse.”
Rainbow shook her head and adopted the angry persona once more. She rose back to her hooves and brushed her shoulder off. “Now that we have each other’s attention, I want to talk to you about Twilight. I’ll ask the question again, what have you done to her?”
Discord leaned back against the couch and sighed. “I’m already losing patience with you. If I considered your question to be a joke the first time, why do you expect me to take you seriously the second time?” he asked.
“Because you might be hiding something from me, and if you are, then you are hiding a reason for me to get you sealed back in stone!” Rainbow yelled as she stamped her foot to emphasize her point. “I know how much you love jokes, and I’m here to tell you that what you did to Twilight and my dad is not a joke!”
Discord blinked again. His small frown of annoyance slowly turned into a smirk as he snapped his talons. Discord disappeared from the couch and reappeared above Rainbow Dash. He sat on her back and Rainbow let out a grunt of exertion at the sudden weight. Discord snapped his talons again and she felt the weight disperse.
“Interesting,” Discord mumbled as he stared down at Rainbow. “I did something to your father and Twilight Sparkle? Okay, I’ll bite. What did I do?”
Rainbow growled and bucked her legs behind her, forcing Discord to fall off of her and onto the floor.
“I’m not your chair,” Rainbow said.
Discord moved back to his feet and brushed himself off. “If you say so. I was just wondering if pegasi were more comfortable to lay on than earth ponies. Guess I was wrong.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Rainbow yelled, “and what does that have to do with Twilight?!”
Discord smirked. “Nothing, really. But I’m pretty sure I don’t have to spell it out for you. I’ll give you a hint. I taught Pinkie how I party, all night long.”
Rainbow’s right eye twitched as she turned to face Discord. Her wings flared out and she pounced. Discord’s eyes widened and he quickly snapped his talons. He vanished right as Rainbow was about to collide into him and she stopped the moment she was about to hit the multi-colored wall. Rainbow pressed her forehooves against the wall and jumped off of it, landing in the middle of the room. Her wings folded back against her sides as she stared ahead, waiting for her target to materialize.
Discord appeared a few feet away, unfazed by her sudden attack. “Once again, pouncing the Spirit of Disharmony in his own world is not exactly the best of ideas. But considering you decided to come into my room and lecture me about something that I have no clue of...” Discord looked out the window and then back to Rainbow, “judging by the time, I guess your best thinking is in the AM.”
Rainbow growled and flared her wings again. “If you did anything to Pinkie... I’ll...”
“Do what? Cry to your Princess? Call Twilight Sparkle? Since she isn’t here with you, I’d assume that you can’t call her, and I’m sure you don’t want to bother Celestia with your paltry personal problems.”
Rainbow paused, her teeth grinding together as if they were gears at the Rainbow Factory. Discord continued.
“In case you haven’t noticed, Rainbow Dash, you are in my world. Princess Celestia has given me this room to be myself, since she knows as well as I do that letting someone be who they are is a part of friendship.”
Discord’s expression slowly changed to a complacent smile.
“Trying to hurt me in my world is as pointless as an earth pony fighting you in the air. You have the advantage. As do I.”
Discord snapped his paw fingers. A skinned and hollowed-out coconut with a straw appeared in his paw and as he sipped (what Rainbow assumed to be coconut milk), the skin slowly started to grow back on the coconut from the bottom to the top.
“And before you ask, no, I have not done anything to Pinkie. I just wanted to see your reaction. Comical, to say the least.” Discord sipped the coconut again and snapped his talons, once again appearing on the couch.
“You only acted this impulsive and threatened me when your friendships were in jeopardy. Judging by your predictable nature, I’m assuming that it wasn’t just the Pinkie comment that made you pounce at me?”
Discord snapped his talons one more time and Rainbow squealed as she was teleported onto a blood red chair that faced the ceiling. Discord appeared in a brown arm chair with a pipe between his lips and a suit adorning his form. A small notepad rested on his crossed legs while Discord wrote Rainbow’s name on the top of the pad.
“Let therapist Discord sort you through your problems. I recently had a visit from one. He was very patient and rational, not like you at all.”
Rainbow swung her legs over the edge of the chair and sat up. “Discord. I want the truth,” she muttered as she stared into the being’s asymmetrical eyes.
Discord didn’t blink, merely wrote a little more on the pad. “About what I did to your father and Twilight? What makes you think that I’m going to tell you?”
“Because if you did something to Twilight, or my dad, Princess Celestia would turn you back into stone for abusing your powers,” Rainbow said as she lightly smirked. “And I know you. There’s no way that you can stop using chaotic magic just like that.” Rainbow smacked a forehoof into her other to emphasize her point. “You’re a trickster, just like Pinkie and yours truly, but even I know when a joke goes too far. You dodged my question the first time by playing a trick on me to change the subject because you knew that sitting on me would annoy me. You dodged the question because you knew I was right.”
Rainbow covered her mouth and yawned loudly, her eyes watering due to the length of her yawn. Once she finished, Discord’s eyes narrowed and he slouched slightly in his chair. “Already tired? Did you use all your brain to come up with that?”
Rainbow growled and rose into the air. She poked Discord’s chest with her forehoof and stared into his eyes as her poking became an assault. “Admit it! Admit that you made Twilight and my Dad fall in love so that I can call Princess Celestia and have her take care of you!”
Discord grabbed Rainbow’s hoof as she continued the onslaught of pokes to his chest and he stood up from his armchair. He snapped his paw and Rainbow winced and closed her eyes once more. Once she realized that nothing happened to her, she opened one eye followed by the other. Discord walked over to the room exit and placed his paw upon it. His paw glowed with golden energy, intensifying until Rainbow could no longer keep her eyes open. As the glow disappeared, Rainbow opened her eyes again to see Discord pressing her hoof against the wood that used to be the exit. The hardwood remained in place despite the pressure and her eyes widened.
“He sealed off the escape...”
Discord dropped Rainbow to the floor and took a few steps back. Once Rainbow was let go, she immediately knocked against what used to be her exit with a forehoof and backed against it. She started to pant as Discord’s talons glowed once more, his contented smile turning into a smirk as the coconut he was previously drinking levitated into his talons.
“You caught me, Rainbow. You found out my plan. Now, tell me, what are you going to do about it?”
Rainbow glanced at all three windows in the room and quickly jumped off of the wall, heading towards the windows with her forehooves sticking straight out.
“I gotta get out of here! Discord never was reformed!”
“Ah ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Discord’s talons lit up with a golden color once more and the closest window that Rainbow dashed to was immediately blocked with a golden aura.
“I wouldn’t want you to break my room after I worked so hard to make it just right.”
Rainbow grit her teeth as she turned back to Discord.
“What do you want with Twilight and my dad!?” she yelled. “What did you do to them!?”
“Oh, nothing, really.” Discord raised an eyebrow. “Just a little mind magic here and a letter there. You’d be surprised at how well you can conceal your identity when you write with actual fingers.”
Discord wiggled his paw before he started to pace back and forth, sipping from his coconut every few steps.
“Now, I bet you’re wondering why I decided to betray both Fluttershy’s and Celestia’s friendship?”
“I’m not wondering at all. I had a feeling it was you from the start. I knew you couldn’t be good forever,” Rainbow replied through her gnashed teeth.
Discord let out a low laugh. “Well, lucky guess I suppose, not that it matters. Since our adorkable little Twilight Sparkle is too busy with your dad to focus on her royal duties, that means that the final Element of Harmony cannot be used!”
Discord sipped the last of the coconut, replenishing the rest of the skin on the fruit before he tossed it behind him, where it landed perfectly inside of a white trash can, its tongue hanging out of its open mouth. “Then, since all the other alicorn Princesses cannot stop me, I will rule Equestria and turn Ponyville into the chaos capital of the world once more!”
Rainbow growled. “You’ll never get away with this! I’ll break the spell! I’ll find a way to stop you!”
Discord laughed again. “You will never have a chance, Rainbow Dash. You are in my way, and I believe it’s about time to take out the trash. The Rainbow Dash trash. Hmm... that has a nice ring to it.”
Discord snapped his fingers and Rainbow yelped as she was thrown from the window overlooking Canterlot and forced to levitate right in front of Discord, who had stopped pacing and was now staring out the window. His grin slowly widened as he placed his talons underneath Rainbow’s chin.
Rainbow placed her forehooves on Discord’s talons and pulled, panting and grunting to no avail.
“I’m too tired. I didn’t eat that much and I’m exhausted from flying. I can’t stop him... buck my luck.”
Rainbow let go of Discord’s talons and hung limp in his grasp, her piercing stare mimicking the Spirit of Disharmony’s. “I hate you.”
Discord snickered, then covered his mouth before his demeanor completely shattered. He dropped Rainbow to the floor and erupted into a fit of laughter.
“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! You shoulda seen the look on your face!” Discord said as he wiped a tear from his eye. He held out his eagle claw for a high five. “Aw, put it there Rainbow Dash! I gotta hand it to you, I was trying my hardest to remain in character. But that dopey, ‘I’m trying to be a bad mare’ glare was just too much!”
Rainbow’s glare slowly started to break down into a blank stare as the Spirit of Disharmony continued to laugh. Her wings folded back against her sides and she took a step back from the laughing creature. Her demeanor instantly filled up with rage. “Do you think this is a joke! I’m dealing with a crisis here, and the last thing that I want is you toying with me when all I’m trying to get is an answer! Can you stop being yourself for five minutes and just give me an answer so I can leave! I’m not joking!”
Discord stopped laughing upon Rainbow’s outburst. He blinked and with another snap, he was sitting back in his armchair. “And neither am I. Despite the clever train of logic that you provided for me, I’m going to have to disappoint you and say that I have nothing to do with your father’s and Twilight Sparkle’s love. I have been here this whole time, doing everything out of the ordinary.
“However, that is not to say that the two of us are in good enough standings that I would never toy with you. I just did, after all, and while that may be because toying with you is fun, I will not lie and say that I didn’t get a certain pleasure out of what I just did.”
Rainbow shook her head a few times and placed her forehooves over her head. A sharp pain split through the back of her head and started to radiate through her skull. She nodded her head, even though she was sure she didn’t get any of what Discord just said.
Discord continued. “You of all ponies, despite the fact that you carry the Element of Loyalty, have been the least loyal pony that I have met in my life. And I’m not going to count the fact that all it took was a little mind magic for me to turn you against your friends. I’m talking about the day when Fluttershy tried to reform me.”
Discord snapped his talons and another apple from the tree behind him levitated over to his claw. He snapped his other hand and a straw materialized in midair. The straw punctured the apple core and Discord took a sip. Once he pulled back, half of the apple was already replenished. He sighed in relief and tossed the apple behind him, where it landed into the trash can and exploded.
“That really hit the spot. Anyway... where was I? Oh yes... the lunch. Fluttershy was the only one that decided to trust and put faith in me that day. She believed that I could be brought over to your side, while the rest of you not only didn’t trust me, but didn’t trust her. She stayed by my side, that entire day, even though I was planning on using her to wreak havoc upon Ponyville once I had her out of the way. She offered her home to me, gave me many chances to show that I was reformed, and promised to not use her Element on me, even though she knew that in doing so, I would have won.
“But you know what, Rainbow? Life isn’t about winning. Life isn’t about bending everyone around you to their needs. Life isn’t about taking everything and enjoying what you could make of it. That is what my life used to be, and while I could easily give it all up and go back to being the old Discord, I would be imprisoned in stone once more by your Elements. Funny, isn’t it? I’m bound by what you ponies consider to be harmony, and I’m trying to make the best of it. I’m trying to reform an image that I have been rejecting since that day. I’m trying to make friends, and with somepony like you, it’s extremely hard.
“What have you done, Rainbow Dash? What were you doing the entire time that I was trying to reform myself? What did you do during that lunch?”
Rainbow growled. “Don’t even bring that up! You spilled hot gravy on me and tried to pass it off as an accident!”
“That’s because it was.” Discord paused. “Er... it was on purpose, but not because of me. The gravy boat spilled on you intentionally, I didn’t make it do that. I didn’t think that the gravy boat would do such a thing until you insulted it. But during that whole lunch, none of your friends trusted either Fluttershy or me. You in particular were quick to blame me and suggest that Twilight imprison me back in stone.”
“No one trusted you back then! We had no reason to trust you because you were taking advantage of Fluttershy the whole time she was trying to reform you!” Rainbow yelled. She could feel her throat start to grow dry, and she coughed a few times before she continued. “I don’t have to be loyal to you because I wasn’t your friend! I am loyal to my true friends!”
Discord raised an eyebrow and then walked past Rainbow over to the window that overlooked Canterlot. He leaned against the nearby wall and placed his talons upon the windowsill. “Ah, I see. You’re only loyal to your true friends. Tell me, what constitutes a true friend?”
Rainbow turned around to face Discord, her burning eyes staring into his own. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves as she replied. “Somepony who I can trust! Somepony who I can depend on, one who never lets me down. Somepony that respects me, and in turn, I respect them. Ponies that resemble honesty, kindness, generosity, loyalty, and laughter, and those who I can show these traits with. I want a friend that I can be honest and kind to, someone who can make me laugh and won’t stab me in the back.”
Rainbow’s eyes began to water as she tried to rub away the pain in them. “Someone that doesn’t turn my words against me... or makes me have to travel to Canterlot just so that I can get a bucking answer...”
Discord looked out the window. The sun was slowly starting to set on the horizon. Splashes of gold and purple blended in with the sky, no doubt the introduction to Luna’s beautiful night. Discord sighed and teleported back to his chair. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but I have no desire to help you with whatever problem you happen to have. You didn’t want to help me then, and I’m not going to help you now.”
“You didn’t even try to reform yourself until Fluttershy showed you how it felt to not have a friend!” Rainbow yelled out as she moved her hooves to her head, her migraine intensifying. “Ow.”
“And now I’m going to show you how it feels. Get out of my room.”
Discord raised his talons and snapped them. The wood near the exit to the room slowly started to cave inward, as if a large force was pressing against it. Eventually, the wood splintered, revealing a glowing white portal that showed Canterlot Castle’s hallway.
Rainbow removed her forehooves from her head to look up into Discord’s eyes. They were staring down at her, blank and emotionless. Rainbow reached out a hoof.
“Discord, I’m sorry,” she muttered, “I was out of line.”
“You were out of line the moment you stormed into my room, yelling and accusing me of doing something that you had no proof of.” Discord replied, his tone as hard as steel. “We never were friends, Rainbow Dash, and now that I see what kind of pony you are to someone that treads over the imaginary line of what you consider to be wrong, I don’t want to be your friend. I’m going to ask one more time, please get out of my room.”
Rainbow craned her neck to look at the glowing portal behind her before she turned back to Discord. Her eyes couldn’t resist leaking any longer as she took a step towards Discord. “Please, Discord, let me make it up to you.”
Discord sighed. “Make it up to me? It’s a bit late for that. Twilight Sparkle sent me a letter the moment I agreed to use my powers for good, because she wanted to talk and make sure that I was alright. Fluttershy invited me over to her cottage from time to time. Rarity made enchanted drapes for my windows as a housewarming gift for my new room.” Discord said as he motioned towards his windows. “Applejack baked me a pie from the chaotic apples that grow from the tree in my room.” Discord pointed behind him. “And Pinkie Pie held a housewarming party for me once I got my room all decorated. What did you do? Nothing. You stand there, pressing me for answers after I told you that I had nothing to do with your problem. You can make it up to me by leaving.”
Tears leaked down Rainbow’s cheeks as she turned her back to Discord and slowly started to walk over to the exit. She sobbed and closed her eyes as she stepped through the ethereal passage. Once her hooves met the comfortable fabric of the Royal Hallway rug, Rainbow wasted no more time in heading for the Castle’s exit. She bent her head down and followed the hallway, ignoring the idle chatter and mumbling as she exited the castle and headed outside.
Rainbow stumbled down the castle steps, her eyelids drooping while her head pounded with her newfound migraine. She sobbed and after making it to the final step, she walked past the two guards that allowed her into the castle.
The guard on the left looked over at Rainbow as she passed them and sighed. “That’s what you get for wanting to talk to Discord. I told you.”
“Shut up!” Rainbow yelled as she spun around to face the guards. Both guards froze up, their hooves clenching their spears as Rainbow looked back and forth between them. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, only to have her vision glaze over again. She growled in frustration and stepped towards the guards. “Just shut up and do your bucking job!”
Rainbow turned her back to the guards and spread her wings. Within seconds, she was soaring through the sky, hooves pointed directly towards Ponyville while she closed her eyes and continued to sob. She eventually ascended above the clouds and remained there as she flew, her tears puncturing the clouds before they reached the earth.
~~~
Rainbow threw open her front door and stepped inside before she closed it behind her. She stared down at the floor and walked past her living room, down the hallway, and into her bedroom. She collapsed on her bed and wailed out while her forehooves beat down upon the blankets. The moonlight shone down upon her body through her open window as she wailed and screamed, tears melding into the cloud-like material of the bed.
“I didn’t mean to!” she wailed as she pulled a blanket over her face, muffling her screams. “I’m sorry!”
Her hooves continued the onslaught upon her bed sheets until the minimal amount of energy that kept her going finally ran out. Tank soared into the room, his helicopter decelerating to a mere buzz as he rubbed his head against Rainbow’s sweaty and smelly mane. Rainbow raised her head to look into his eyes and she hugged the tortoise to her chest. She slid under her sheets and tucked Tank and herself in. With a sigh and one final sob, she closed her eyes. “At least I have you.”
Tank rubbed his head against Rainbow’s neck before he retreated inside of his shell, falling asleep within minutes of his owner.