//------------------------------// // Rainbows Across the Horizon // Story: Rescued by a Rainbow // by Indeliblink //------------------------------// Years later It was a beautiful morning in Cloudsdale, and as the sun peeked over the horizon, the cloud city practically glowed in the early-morning rays that illuminated the area. Several early-rising ponies paused to gaze out the window at the spectacular sight before resuming their morning activities. This moment of peace could only last so long, however; this fact made itself known in the form of a cyan colored blur that cut across the cloudscape, too quickly to be identified except by the vivid rainbow trail it left behind. In the town square, a few pegasi were setting up cloud structures in the form of shacks and stands. Hearing a faint whoosh that steadily increased in volume, they smiled and stood back just as the light-blue shape dove towards the center of the area. After a few loops, the pegasus spiraled and pulled sharply into a graceful landing, touching down directly in front of one of the shops and leaning against the counter casually. "G'morning, Rainbow Dash," the clerk greeted, holding out a large muffin flecked with blueberries and a dash of cinnamon (as per request). Said pegasus grinned and took the treat with a nod, and when the stallion wasn't looking, wolfed down the entire muffin in one bite. When he turned back to her, she was nonchalantly observing her hoof, putting a bored expression on her face. "Well? You got my usual?" Rainbow Dash looked up at him hopefully. "Don't tell me you forgot!" she whined with mock disappointment. The baker stared at her in amusement. "Oh no, of course not," he assured her, "I'd never risk disappointing my number one customer." He turned and reached towards the storage unit behind him, pulling out another similar muffin, which he handed to the smug young mare. She opened her mouth wide enough to eat the muffin whole, but paused upon hearing the salesman's voice. "Oh, and that'll be another four bits." He chuckled as Rainbow Dash looked at him with shock. "Which brings the total to eight bits." "What?" she asked innocently. "How come? This is only my first one!" "You have crumbs all over your face." He smirked as she wiped her face off with a hoof, staring in confusion at the specks of sugar and blueberries she discovered. "Huh..." She grinned nervously at him, shrinking back when he gave her a knowing look. "H-How did those get there?" "Give it up, Dash," he laughed. "My memory isn't that bad yet. Eight bits please." "Oh fine." She begrudgingly pulled out the correct amount and tossed it on the counter before resuming eating her flaky, warm, delicious-- "You know," the clerk interrupted with a grin, "you're gonna get fat if you keep eating so much junk food." "Ugh!" She screamed with exasperation and marched away, electing to take the treat to-go for later. Once she had made a few turns, she found herself on a street she didn't recognize and decided to explore for a bit. Now excited at the prospect of discovering something new, she trotted happily down the sidewalk. After a few minutes in silence, she started to feel confused, if not a bit nervous. Where is everypony? This place is like a ghost town! She frowned and glanced around at the seemingly deserted buildings. This is getting creepy... and just plain boring. I'm outta here! She flared her wings and prepared to dart away when she noticed an open, low-to-the-ground window in an alley to her right. Curious now, she sneaked between the two adjacent buildings and approached the window carefully, and with a quick look around to make sure nopony was watching, bent to peek in through the window. She was disappointed and sufficiently annoyed at first glance when all she could identify was an empty, shadowed grey room. However, she did a surprised double-take upon seeing the blond mess of hair in the far corner, and when she squinted she could just make out the dimly-lit form of a sleeping pony. Now what are they doing sleeping there? she wondered. "Psst, hey," she whispered, "wake up." A quiet groan reached her ears and she thought she saw the pony shift positions slightly. "Hey you!" she tried, a little louder this time, and was rewarded with a yawn as the pony lifted its head and looked at her. For a long moment, neither of them moved, rose eyes locked onto gold. Rainbow Dash blinked, finally breaking the silence with a slight wave of the hoof. "Hi," she called softly. The pony noticeably flinched and squeezed back farther into the corner, and Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Um... are you okay?" The mysterious pony stared straight back at her, not moving a muscle, and it was starting to make her uncomfortable. "Anypony home?" The figure finally inched towards her into a square of light and materialized into the form of a grey pegasus mare about Rainbow's age. Rainbow noticed that she had one wing awkwardly folded behind her back while the other was splayed across her chest, but shrugged it off as a strange gesture of greeting and smiled warmly. "What's your name?" she chirped. The mare looked her over cautiously for a moment and then replied with an inaudible mumble. Aw mane, not another Fluttershy! Rainbow dash facehoofed. "Could you, like, speak up a bit?" she asked as nicely as possible. "Ditzy Doo," the stranger said, a bit louder, and Rainbow made a face at the name. "Really?" she muttered. "Ditzy?" "Yeah," Ditzy sighed. She shuffled her hooves, and Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of a red cut across one of her forelegs. Now that she looked closer, this 'Ditzy' actually had a lot of cuts and bruises all over her body, some even bleeding slightly, as if they were very recent. "Oh Celestia," she whispered, "what happened to you?" She looked at Ditzy with concern, who avoided her gaze. "Nothin'," Ditzy mumbled. She looked up at Rainbow Dash with a sudden spark of hope. "Do you... do you have anything to eat?" Rainbow looked at her curiously. "Why, are you hungry?" That was probably the stupidest thing I've ever said. She winced as she looked over the scrawny form of the pegasus, whose ribs could clearly be seen poking through her skin at odd angles. Rainbow's thoughts went back to the muffin she had bought but not yet eaten, and her mouth watered. "Um, d-don't you have some food of your own?" she asked nervously, not wanting to risk losing the delicacy to her sense of generosity. Her ears fell flat to the sides of her head when the grey mare shook her head sadly. "No, he doesn't feed me very much. Just enough to keep me alive." He? Who's 'he'? Rainbow Dash stepped back from the window, looking away from the other pegasus. "Um, I gotta go," she said, and she could practically feel a wave of disappointment and loneliness from Ditzy as the pony's eyes watered. "Oh, okay," she whispered sadly. Rainbow Dash gave one last worried glance towards Ditzy before she turned and made her way out of the alley. Once she remembered exactly where she was, she decided to backtrack along the road on her left. She leaned forward slightly to begin the trek back to the market square, but her legs wouldn't budge. She just looked so sad... The pegasus could still see those large, wet, shiny golden eyes peering out at her in her mind. And hungry. Rainbow paused for a few moments, frowning slightly as guilt and pity nagged at the back of her mind. "Aw, what the hay," she muttered, spinning and galloping over to the window once again. She looked inside where she saw Ditzy sitting, hunched over in the square of light coming from the window. Ditzy's ears perked up when a shadow moved over her, and a familiar voice met her as she turned around. "Hey, Ditzy." The grey pegasus squeaked in surprise when a small object dropped into her lap, and she nearly tossed it away before a delightful smell reached her nose. Rainbow Dash smiled upon seeing her new companion's hypnotized expression, and a trail of drool on Ditzy's mouth made her giggle. "I'll see ya later." Ditzy moved her dazed eyes up to meet those of the amused pegasus looking down at her, and she shook her head with a small smile. "Cool," she whispered. Her golden eyes were pulled back to the still-warm muffin in her hooves, and she stared at it with the face of a child unwrapping a brand new toy on their birthday. Rainbow Dash smirked. "Cool? I'd say awesome is a much better word." With that, she kicked off the ground and soared straight up between the buildings. She slowed down as she approached the roof of the building and hovered in place for a moment as she prepared to put on a boost of speed. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of dark red and shifted her gaze to a window next to her, and she recoiled wildly when she looked straight into a pair of eyes focused on her--eyes filled with hate and suspicion so intense it took her breath away. Once her heart had started up again, she blinked and shook her head. She peered in the window tentatively, but the eyes, along with the pony they belonged to, were no longer there. "Whoa," she breathed, and let out a nervous chuckle. With an uneasy glance behind her, she began flying away at a leisurely pace, heading towards her home on the other side of town. "I must be seeing things... Maybe I really do need to lay off the muffins."