Where the Clouds Move By Their Own Accord

by Church

The Funeral

Now, that may sound dreary, but no need to go insinuating at what kind of story this is right off the bat. The truth is, it is actually very light-hearted and understandable.

Heh, understandable.

If only you knew the first thing about understanding. What kind of a story is it if it isn’t understandable? Obviously you haven’t created a pleasant read if the reader can’t either relate to it or at least emotionally connect. And I don’t mean emotional like, “Waaaaahhh! Waaaaahhh! Soooo Sad!”. I mean like, real emotions... all the colors of the rainbow, everything under the sun emotions. I would like to pontificate as such, that all we ever wanted was to be understood anyways. All we ever wanted was to understand and be accepted. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, I know that much-

My apologies, I digress. Sometimes I really do get off track.

Back to the story- a funeral. Ah, yes, the funeral. Truth be told I wasn’t entirely off script, the story does begin with a heaping pile of understanding. Now, let me ask a simple question-

just how much did you truly understand about your first funeral?

Hmph. I presume not much. The idea of death is intoxicating. That could be in both a beautiful sense and an uninvited sense. Your first funeral could have meant anything, the implications are endless. You may have cried without the slightest of clues as to what the situation at hand pertained. You may have kept a silent vigil, either unmoved or emotionally stable. Hell, you may have laughed because you thought the poor soul was a bastard, or its demise silly. I honestly don't care. Because the awful truth is, no matter how old you were, you were inexplicably in awe by the deciding force of nature.

Don’t tell me that you were prepared for it! No one is ever prepared for it. Even if you never knew who the fated individual was in the first place, it is hard to sit in a room full of grief stricken subjects that did. Their painful cries pry into your very being like a spearhead driven through a paper plate. I’ve attended such funerals. I’ve been to such places. Some of them are grand, and would grow to look less like a funeral so much as a cult gathering if it weren’t for the crying folks. Others are small, and oddly enough the most emotionally draining. But it truly all comes down to how you accept it, how you address it- because the simplicity of it is really remarkable when you take a step back and look at it.

So, quite blatantly, it began at a funeral. Not just any funeral, but a first funeral. It begins with a pony who has no name. It begins with the most emotional funeral I have ever seen. It begins with a desire to understand. Remember what I said about smaller funerals? Well... this young pony happens to be the only one in attendance on this date. I believe that I had almost shed a single tear at their last goodbyes, and that is saying a lot, mind you. Oh! But I don’t wish to spoil it! That would be rotten of me! I must know a storyteller's place. For, as with everything:

It all begins with a means of understanding.

The soil was soggy and muddied, as if somepony had trodden upon it numerous times over for no apparent reason. A mound of dirt stuck out of it, neatly packed but still makeshift, making it appear to be an overgrown ant hill. There were several lines drawn in the dirt, but none more pronounced than the word “Mom” placed in the middle of the mound with a crudely drawn heart encasing it. An old rag doll completed the piece, as it rested reclined next to the mud pile. The pony before the despicable sight looked on dissatisfied. This was as far from proper as it could possibly get.

“I’m so sorry I can’t do more than this,” she thought, eyes shuttered and head turned away. “this is an utter disgrace...”

And, for lack of a better word, she was sorry. Sorry for many, many things. Sorry that she never went back. Sorry for a life most unwelcome. Sorry for the way she cast her mother away, leaving her stranded on that forsaken porch in the middle of an unrelenting downpour. She was sorry for the way her mother looked at her as she left... a look of melancholic approval, a nod in the right direction.

“This is the only way. This is what must happen.”

A single tear spilled from the corner of her eye. The words rang in her head, sweeping back and forth in a psychological bell toll. She held herself tightly, unwilling to accept her memories as truth. “Abandon ship” was not a part of her extensive vocabulary. She was strong, faithful, ever so clever, and talented, proving to be a handful to anypony who crossed her the wrong way. Yet, on that night, the white flag was waved. They had given up. Her closest companion through all of her filly years... gone. The goodbye was swift and bittersweet. The reunion- a drawn out and graceless goodbye.

No. This was wrong. She was determined to leave her past behind her. What happened then was not her fault, and it certainly wasn’t her battle to fight. Well... wasn’t it? Just whose battle was it if not hers? The constant argumentative wars in her head had ravaged her mind over the years. Which side to take regarding the predicament was unclear. Interesting how a heart and head befuddlement could make you so weak, could make your entire body ache.

NOTE: Regarding the Heart and Head situation-

What her heart told her- Go back. She needs you. She needs her daughter.

What her brain told her- Stay out of sight. You are not strong enough to face your demons.

For all of those years, she had reluctantly listened to her brain. Listened to reason, if you will. But, she didn’t want to be reasonable. She wanted to be valiant, she wanted to be a hero, she needed to be a savior. There were times when she had fully intended to go back to that rain-soaked porch. She would have everything packed, every tangible piece to the puzzle would be strewn together, everything she needed would be at her disposal. But the intangible was never there. Her wits were never there. Every time she was ready to go, she would slowly break into a teary sob, and she would slump to the floor. She would curse herself, and she’d claw at her heart in frustration. It was always the same old story, and she loathed that story with every fiber of her being. The story never failed to tell itself though, and history would always be sure to take notes.

But, is this the way it was supposed to be? Her mother had told her to leave! She had told her to go, and to never come back! It was better this way, she said. And, all things considered, it truly was. Her life was most definitely not a big bushel of roses, but it couldn’t be worse than those years. Those dreadful years... she could be dead. Her mother had saved her. She was so young, and she had so much to live for, so much life ahead of her. She could not have helped in any way back in those years.

So, why was this so hard?

A sudden gust of wind blew up, scattering particles of mud in various directions. She clutched at her raggedy old bag she called a coat and bundled up inside of it, shivering under the near complete uselessness it provided for warmth. In times like these, it was common for her to delve deep into her psyche. She would conjure forth fond memories, in which the brief moments of bliss could tide her over until she found someplace warm. If nothing else, it simply made her forget the cold she felt outside. “Finding an inner sun,” as she preferred to call it. She sought into her mind, willing for the kind words of an old friend to play across her eyelids like the writing of a quill across papyrus.

But no revelation was to be played today.

Only the grim reminiscences of a soul plagued by regret.

“Oh, mom...” She managed to pipe out. Nothing else.

She sat in silence before the grave for hours, fighting through the daunting wind that swept across the valley. The blustery waves of icy air lapped at her frame, carrying with it any ounce of heat from the overcast sky. She bit her lip and frowned. Her teeth were chattering against each other. Her eyes were glazed over, and they began to replicate the forms of small ice rinks. She lowered her head into the wind and closed her frosted eyelids. It would take a volatile concoction of inclement weather to dissuade her from staying a bit longer. She sat in the frigid conditions, unmotivated to make a single movement...

because if she knew anything at all, she knew that nothing lasts forever.

“How fitting.” She thought as she opened her eyes and glanced up at the swirling storm clouds. It was bound to rain soon. She flattened herself down into the mud, fully stretching out her body into a strange contortion. It looked rather uncomfortable, her hind legs overlapping each other and her torso twisted sideways. She leaned her head on her left hoof, letting out a huff of breath that floated out into the atmosphere and quickly disappeared. A discouraging smile formed on her lips as she watched her breaths dissipate in the stale air. Odd, everything seemed to be just smoke and mirrors. She breathed a long, forlorn sigh. The wind shifted, racing down the plains, enveloping her, its chilly claws inescapable. She shuddered, turning away from the new direction it took. A drop of water sloshed down upon her cheek, and she failed to wipe it away. “Was anything even worth it?”.

A foreboding darkness now shrouded the grounds. The clouds peered down on her, faceless and mysterious. They could not sustain the weight that they carried, and they had picked this moment to discard their payload. Without further adieu, the rain began falling from the sky.

At first, she felt only a slight drizzle. The pitter-patter of tiny droplets could be felt on her coat, tarrying with them reconciliations of the times she gazed out from her lonely window in her old room. The window that stood for an escape into another world, another dimension even. She shrugged the thought off, the memory shattering like a pane of glass. Then, the rain came down harder. The muddied soil beneath her splashed up with each drop and gripped her coat with a solemn reprise. All of the memories came back... all of them. They flashed across her brain in a cognitive dissonance, surging through her spinal cord, and thus making the area before her seem to quake with malice. Her expression turned from blank, to fear. These memories would revisit her often, and each time they did, she despised the outcome. It would leave her on a hellish train ride to nowhere, or, at least that’s how it felt. The cold seeped into her insides, freezing her solid. The wind gingerly carried her soul along, leaving her stranded in murky waters. In the end, it was not the weather that made her leave, it was the notions that they carried.

She sat up begrudgingly, and through the rain that was picking up with each second, she watched the mound slowly melt.

“Thank-you, mother. Thank-you for everything.” She whispered, her voice being drowned out by the rain. It was now impossible to discern what was rainwater and what were tears rolling from her cheeks.

The rag doll that sat on the grave stayed there, now sopping wet and beginning to fuse itself to the mud. It watched the pony trudge away, the grey mist from the rain veiling her as she went. Slowly, the torrential rains washed her figure away from sight, just as it washed the doll away from existence.

“Oh-oh.” Rainbow Dash gasped, springing out of her bed and shooting into the air. She spun around in a violent circle. “Where is it where is it where is it?”

Her room was messy. The floor was littered with an assortment of trash, subscriptions to Wonderbolts Weekly, and various other trinkets that evidently struck Dashie’s fancy. It looked as if it were in ‘Pinkie Pie party recover mode’. Dash sorted through the wreckage, frantically searching for the item that she was in dire need of.

“Nope...”

“Uh-uh...”

“No...”

“Blech! What even is this?”

Articles of clothing and other useless items were being heaved to and fro. Rainbow fluttered from corner to corner, digging through random objects until she would scrape the floor beneath. Only when she ransacked her room entirely did she remember something that she should have remembered the instant she got out of bed.

“Oh, dear Celestia.”

Dash put a hoof to her face. She exited her room, where just outside the door was the basket she was supposed to take to the picnic today. She had left it there overnight, so that she would not forget about it come the next day.

“Lay off the cider a bit, Dash, wouldya?” She said to herself.

Dash snatched the basket from the doorway with her mouth and pivoted to look at the clock. 12:15... boy, did she oversleep. She snarled, swinging the basket around and placing it on her haunches.

“Last time I stay late at one of Pinkie’s parties.” She chimed. Then, as her name implies, and seriously no pun intended here, she dashed out the... well... window.

It was a very sunny day in Ponyville, and the sun beat down with vigor. It pierced through the treelines, making any a shady spot extremely difficult to find. Other than the terrible heat, it was a nice day- just nice enough to do something productive. Ponies everywhere were out flying kites, hang-gliding, or earning their cutie marks by scaring some chickens half to death (don’t tell Fluttershy). Particularly, our five ponies sat on a hillside, in an ideal place for a picnic. They were blowing fans in their faces in an attempt to counteract the gruesome heat which, to their dismay, did not seem to be working. They were sweating profusely under the conditions, and the refreshments seemed to be disappearing by the second. There was a dragon there whose apparent vocation was to scuttle from town to hillside and vice versa, each time carrying a load of water that seemed to evaporate almost as soon as it got there. When he didn’t return one time after storming off in frustration, it only grew more humid. There was a certain white pony who absolutely could not stand the conditions, or the dragon’s attitude. A light bulb flicked on inside her head. She had gone back to her abode only to bring back a dozen humongous motorized fans, which had turned the hillside into a blast of fresh air, and-

wait... five ponies? Ummmm...

“Uh, anypony seen Rainbow around lately?” Twilight Sparkle asked, fidgeting around on the checkerboard patterned blanket beneath her. She looked to her friends’ expressionless faces, their manes flowing in the artificial breeze. They obviously had no idea.

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy stammered, “what if something happened to her? Do you think that she wandered off into the Everfree forest again? I keep telling her not to, but she never listens... we don’t have to go find her, do we? Oh, forget I said anything...” Fluttershy turned away bashfully.

“I’m sure she’s fine, Fluttershy.” Twilight said. She searched the skies, waiting for the pegasus with the rainbow colored mane to come bulleting out of its midst. “She’s only... um, fifteen minutes late.”

The five ponies rested at their usual location for the picnic, and only for the umpteenth time. Twilight considered it highly unlikely that Rainbow had forgotten where it was. She swished her mane back, her lovely dark blue colored hair with pink and violet highlights standing out in the bright sunshine. “Oh well, the show goes on.” she thought. She turned back to the banquet, where a delicious array of sweets and other delicacies presented themselves with a grandness that could only be tailored by a crafty hand.

Pinkie Pie had brought the Cakes’ new dragonberry lemonade cupcakes, the likes of which Twilight had been eyeing for some time now. Each cupcake was frosted with a creamy butterscotch, which was turned a light blue color, and was adorned with sprinkles and a single dragonberry on top. The cupcakes themselves were a hot pink, and teeny bits of the berries could be discovered in each mouthful. Of course, the box was widened and every treat was separated from the rest, so that they would not touch (according to Twilight’s specifications). “They made ‘em out of dragonberries and lemonade! Isn’t that silly? I’ve never heard of such a thing! You know, you’re lucky I didn’t just scarf ‘em down on the spot, they looked de-lish! I’m a good friend, aren’t I Twilight!?”. Pinkie Pie’s words rambled around in her skull as she marveled at the cupcakes. She couldn’t help but imagine Pinkie’s incessant laugh afterwards, either.

“Pinkie, I must say, those cupcakes look stunningly good! I’m really having a tough time waiting for a bite.” Twilight said.

The pink pony she was talking to cheerfully raised a hoof and wavered it through the air. She was busy gulping down one of Applejack’s finest apple fritters, but it didn’t stop her from replying through a mouthful of half-chewed food. “You and me both sister! I can’t stand it when we have to wait all ‘lady-like’ for somepony else to show up. They’d just eat all the food anyway! Oh, and they made ‘em out of dragonberries and lemonade! Isn’t that silly? I’ve never heard of such a thing! You know, you’re-”

“Yes, I know I’m lucky, and you are a great friend, Pinkie.” Twilight cut her off, already knowledgeable about the rest of the sentence. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes went wide, staring wildly at Twilight. Apparently, Pinkie had no recollection that they had shared this conversation earlier in the day, and she contributed Twilight’s knowledge to her magical abilities. Pinkie sat back on the grass, eventually sliding the rest of the fritter down her gullet. It slid down with a gulp and she immediately transfixed her eyes back on the unicorn.

“You know, Twilight, it’s not very nice of you to read someone’s mind.” She scoffed. Then, as if everything had just been utterly forgotten, she smiled and kicked up three of AJ’s fritters, catching each of them in her mouth.

Everypony else shared a similar, dumb expression as to what Pinkie was talking about.

Rainbow Dash was barreling through the sky, her mind in a state of flux for being late to the picnic. She had never been late before. Her internal alarm clock was usually right on the button. So, why had it failed her today? Eh, no matter. The congregation today wasn’t of grave importance anyway. Who the hoof cared if she was but a few minutes late? Still, she didn’t slow down. The food she carried in her basket began to turn to mush she was traveling so blindingly fast. She didn’t notice, and still flew faster-

“You know Pinkie,” Twilight started, “you’re right... I mean about the food thing,”

-and faster-

“If Rainbow wants to show up late, then that’s her problem. We shouldn’t have to wait on her with empty stomachs.”

-and faster still-

“Everypony, dig in!”

They all dove into the delicacies awaiting them. Twilight Sparkle lifted one of the dragonberry cupcakes from the cardboard box with gentle telekinesis and cradled it into her hooves like a fledgling. She licked her lips, eyes welling with the promise of a treat most incredible. Her mouth opened wide, readying itself to savor every last bite of the-

“I’m HEEERRREEEE!!”

Twilight looked up unexpectedly. Rainbow Dash came gunning out of the sky, funneling down with an undesired destructive tendency. Twilight had a split second to react, but any motion away would be to no avail. Dash smacked squarely into her with awesome power. The cupcake carromed away from Twilight’s grasp, shooting across the field as if it were fired from Pinkie’s party cannon. It vanished with a twinkle off in the distance.

Dash lay on top of Twilight, a little disoriented from the collision, the blanket that everyone was sitting on now shriveled up around them. Twilight lay underneath, in severe shock. Stars were buzzing around her head, and her mouth stood gaped open, still anticipating the decadent flavor the cupcake was sure to provide. Sadly, that cupcake was now a lost cause.

“Hey How’sitgoin’ What’d I miss Nice weather right? Hey AJ what’s up didjya miss me?”

Everypony cocked their heads to the side as they guised at Rainbow’s interesting entrance. Her nostrils were flaring, her mane was all sorts of wind-blown, and she still erected herself over a discombobulated Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow looked at her friends as if she were a bull and she was seeing a crazy amount of red. Her vision blurred her friends images, as they appeared to be slithering up and down like snakes. It was likely she should be tested for a concussion. Dash rubbed at her eyes viciously. Her left eye was flinching sporadically as the scenery now transformed itself into an outlandish Dali portrait.

All the others saw was a completely distraught Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie crashed to the ground, cackling in an mused whinney.

“HAHAHA Hehehe ah, oh! Do you guys see the look on her FACE!? Haheh, totally classic! Haha!” Pinkie snorted, rolling around on her back.

Dash shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the strange illusions. The world slowly drifted back to its appropriate state, now revised to a crisp scene and ultimately culminating in a sense of relief for her. She could still hear sirens ringing in her ears, however. Oh, wait, that was just Pinkie’s fanatic laughter.

“Haha! And look at Twilight! Oof! Hahaheh!”

“Rainbow, not to disturb you or anything, but do you think that you could remove yourself from Twilight’s bubble? You seem to have... mangled her.” Rarity called to Dash. She winced at the sight of Twilight, who looked very uncomfortable. The poor purple unicorn was caught underneath Dash, and she had absorbed the worst of the collision, her eyes staring mindlessly up at the careless pegasus. The definition of “starstruck” was reset to “repeatedly getting bashed in the head by a series of intense lights” as far as she was concerned.

“Heheheh, maaaagic n’ unicorns n’ boooooks and stuffs!” Twilight whistled, totally out of it.

“Whoops.” Dash uttered, realizing that she was towering over the unicorn. She jumped off of Twilight and meandered over to AJ, who was still trying to decide whether or not Dash was ill in the head. Dash looked at AJ and shrugged her shoulders. She parked herself on the grass and turned away, sheepishly rubbing her front leg with a hoof.

“Somepony be a dear and fetch some water for her.” Rarity said, limply gesturing a hoof in Twilight’s direction.

“Ugh! Forget it! I totally didn’t wanna go to the picnic anyway!” A voice screamed from the bottom of the hill.

“Twilight, I really am sorry... I didn’t see you clearly.” Rainbow Dash said, the sincerity in her voice pure. She poured another glass of water and set it down in front of the unicorn.

“Rainbow, I’m fine! Honestly!” Twilight claimed. She was now wearing Dashie’s sunglasses to protect her head from the harsh light. “What about yourself? You took a pretty brash hit also.”

“I-I’m fine... I think we’re a bit more worried about you.”

“Well, I appreciate your empathy, but I am completely all right!”

Twilight’s tone of voice was not arguable. No one dared tell her she need go home. She got to all fours wobbly and shot her concealed gaze over Dash’s way, smiling approvingly. Dash nodded and managed an unsure smirk. Twilight proudly lifted her head and took a first step. She nearly toppled right over, the ground spun. The blanket shifted beneath her. She clumsily stumbled around like a mad ballerina, performing feats of incredible dizziness. Dash watched Twilight step all over the salad and bread as she tried to maneuver through the picnic.

“Whoa, heheh, um, I meant to do that...”

She trampled over the party platter-

“Um, who put that there? Hehe...”

She tripped on her own hoof-

“Wha, YAAAGGHH!”

And she clonked to the ground.

“Um, I think I’ll lay down here...”

Dash smacked her face with a hoof and rubbed straight down, the skin stretching and snapping back resiliently. She rolled her eyes to Twilight, who was still stuck to the floor, trying to make polite small talk as if nothing were wrong. The sunglasses that were on her head were now askew. Everything about her, really, was now askew.

“Rainbow... didn’t you bring a basket of food?” She asked.

“Oh, yes, and it was most delicious.” Fluttershy answered from the corner of the blanket. She was cringing as Rarity assisted her in combing mashed up food stuffs from her mane.

Rainbow Dash again smacked her face with her hoof.

“Guys, really, I’m sorry for ruining everything.” she said.

“Oh, darling, you didn’t ruin anything! Now hush yourself and eat some of those rolls, you look starved!” Rarity cooed. She took the time from toiling with Fluttershy’s mane to run a personal fan across her face, her newly designed fanciful cap jostling around.

“Ummmm...” Dashie muttered, pointing at the rolls that had been laid waste to by Twilight’s hooves.

“Oh. Well, no matter, Applejack over there still has some apple pie left.”

“Darn tootin’! Here RD, try yer fancy at this’n, new recipe from Granny Smith!”

AJ shoved the pie in Rainbow’s face, her cheeks ballooning to size of a chipmunk set for winter. “Mmmmm! Fanks gyes! Oor teh bessht!”

And after all the hooplah died down, the day gradually took a turn for the better. Sure, Twilight Sparkle did have a moderately serious head injury, but no worries, she’d be fine. At least as the day drew on she was able to right herself and walk. The sunlight kept blasting through the sky, putting Rarity’s fans to good use. Dashie's sunglasses proved to Twilight's benefit. She accompanied Fluttershy, chatting it up in the corner as the other four invented a new game.

Rainbow Dash hailed it, “monkeyball”, and the objective was only to keep the ball from hitting the ground. Of course, this game had already been invented... but it hadn’t yet been played before in gale force winds. When the ponies hurled the ball into the air, it raced around in numerous directions midflight, making the game considerably harder and a lot more entertaining. They all jagged around in meticulous footsteps, tagging along behind the ball as it circled. As you might expect, AJ and Dash were exceptionally good at the game, and they got the majority of the taps. Pinkie Pie was surprisingly good, if not a bit energetic. There were several occasions where the others were annihilated by her as she fought for the ball. And Rarity...
tried.

Don’t get me wrong, Rarity was a strangely athletic unicorn for her lifestyle. She just wasn’t much suited for this game. Oh! She did get the last tap of the game in though!

The ball deflated on her horn with a hiss, its rubbery remnants cloaking her face.

Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle snickered in the corner at her misfortune.

“Twilight! Twilight! Check this out! Look! Look!” a voice cried from just within earshot. It was Spike squabbling up the hillside, waving a letter from the Princess in his right claw. Everypony halted their activities to see what all the fuss was about.

Spike panted into the center of the six mares, where he doubled over, outstretching his arm in Twilight’s direction. “Here, its a-a... phew! A letter from the, *wheeze*... Princess.” He coughed. He leaned over on Applejack’s shoulder, catching his breath.

Twilight lifted the scroll from Spike’s grasp with dazed magic. She rubbed at her head and dropped it to the ground in front of her, instead choosing to unroll it with her hoof. The others watched Twilight as she studied the scroll. She looked up with shock after only studying it for a short time, flipping it to the back as if there had to be more to it.

“This is so... strange...” She said, eyebrows raised.

“What’s it say?” They all asked.

Twilight looked up. “It says its for you.” she replied, pointing distantly at Rainbow Dash.

Dashie’s eyes pondered Twilight. The purple unicorn stared back in disbelief, the letter before her legs threatening to blow away in the breeze. The others were taken aback. Dash never turned away from Twilight as she approached the letter. She stood in front of Twilight, and with an awkward glance, she rotated the letter to face her. It was succinct, containing one sentence-

From Princess Celestia in Royal Canterlot,

Rainbow Dash, you’re up.

“Rainbow! Would you lay off? I’ve already sent several letters back questioning what it was for. Spike’s claw is going to snap off if we keep sending!” Twilight Sparkle spat at Dash, her own mind perplexed by the curious letter. The two and Spike were the only ones in the library, discontented that they had not received any mail back. Rainbow hid herself in the corner, ready to be carried away by the Royal Guard or worse. She imagined the letter to be a warning, a warning that she had done something dreadfully wrong, and that Canterlot was after her for it. Images of the guard floated around her head. Her figmentations became all too real... and she panicked.

“YAAAUUGH! I didn’t mean to take that extra orange! They put it in my bag and I accidentally took it oh don’t make me go awaaaaa-ha-haaay!”

Twilight looked over the pegasus cowering in the corner and shook her head. “Rainbow, no one is going to take you away, that is absolutely ridiculous." she reasoned. "Spike... anything yet?”

Spike rubbed at his stomach, attempting to encourage a letter to spew forth. “No... sorry.”

Rainbow coiled up even more in the corner. Paranoia whispered her name through the air- “Rainbow Dash... Rainbow Dash...”. Her ears twitched around as the incriminating name nestled itself into her brain. Bravery be damned, this was Royal Canterlot we were talking about! And they wanted her? What for? What could she possibly have done? Gee, if the Guard didn’t act soon, the anxiety would kill her before they’d even arrive.

“Hm. Rainbow?” Twilight said, tip-toeing her way over to the frightened pegasus, “If you want, you can stay here for the night. We can, uh, see if we get a letter back by the end of it. You just need to... relax... I assure you no one is going to ‘come and take you away’. The idea that the Guard wanders off and steals anyone away in the night is illogical.” She grabbed a blanket from the floor and tried to cover Dash with it.

Dashie involuntarily nodded her head and let Twilight drape the blanket over her. The wind outside was picking up, causing the treehouse to tremble in its foundations, and leaving Dash in a self induced earthquake. Her head bobbled around from atop her neck as precariously as Pinkie’s sanity. The room swirled in a cosmic nuance as the night seeped to the insides of the house-

And there was the Royal Guard cutting through the scene.

And there was Luna, out painting those dots and dashes, gazing on restlessly.

And there was Rainbow Dash, squeezing Twilight Sparkle to near asphyxiation.

“Ergh, Rainbow!” Twilight garbled out, “Let’s just get in *oomf* bed!”

Twilight muscled away from Rainbow’s grip and lifted up the blanket that had conveniently fallen from Dash’s haunches. She could hear Dashie’s heart thumping from the inside of her chest, the irregular rhythm seemingly surrendering her to a haunting numbness. The chills were contagious. Twilight was tingling all over from an antic anticipation. Now, she was not at all worried about the Royal Guard, that fear was indeed unsolidified. What she was truly afraid of was the absence of a response from the Princess. Was there something that she wasn’t supposed to know?

NOTE: regarding the letters sent-

Canterlot would not receive a single one of them.

“Rainbow Dash, what can I do to assure you that nothing bad is going to come of this?”

Dash said nothing, she merely drew Twilight’s covers over herself as she sat in her guest bed. The room grew as silent as the howling wind outside would allow. Only Dashie’s eyes could be made out from the porthole she made through the covers, the window from which she peered out of revealing a fed up Twilight Sparkle.

“Yeah, let’s just get some rest. Good night Rainbow.”

“WAAAUUGHHH!” Rainbow shrieked as the lights flickered off. Limbs were most likely torn away from their anchors on the tree in combination with the wind. The ear piercing shout dropped Twilight to her knees and sent Spike shuffling backward.

“Cut it out Rainbow! Here!” Twilight hollered amidst the screams.

Twilight plugged in a night light that she had not desired to use since her infancy. Suddenly, a dainty glow illuminated the room, and the shadowed outlines of stars and crescents danced on the ceiling. Rainbow Dash thought them to be her hallucinations. The shapes rotated as if they had developed their own axial rotation, or as if they were a 2-D mobile. The ball that spun from inside the light sputtered, irking out a constant clicking sound similar to that of a clock hand. Nonetheless, it calmed her, the lucidic trance spurring her away. It was the best decision Twilight had made all night.

Twilight sighed in finality. Rainbow Dash had layed back on the bed, tremors still visible, but far less drastic. “Good night Rainbow, Spike.”

Neither heeded Twilight’s wishes, as both had entered their respective dream states.

Rainbow awoke with a start. The morning sun bled through the curtains, prying itself into the room. The consistent clicking sound being emitted from the night light was still present, and faint fragments of the shapes could be seen prancing on the floor. Other than that, the room was still and unstirring. She checked her vitals and pinched herself to make sure she was awake. Pain, the thankful sign to tell you that you had not been taken away, imprisoned, and tortured in the middle of the night. A tad ironic if you ask me. Rainbow hopped out of bed, cautious not to startle a dormant Spike. She discretely fluttered over toward the exit, trying to be no more a burden to Twilight than she was the night before.

“Mrmmm... Rainbow? Is that you?” Twilight inquired, raising out of bed. Her mane was entirely bed-ridden, and she lazily rubbed at one eye with her hoof. A terrible light protruded through a poor window location, or rather a poor bed location, making the room seem much too vibrant for the wee hours. Rainbow turned around in midair to scan Twilight’s sleepy visage. She put her head down miserably, recounting the happenings of last night.

“I didn’t mean to wake you... sorry. I, uh, was gonna leave so I wasn’t in your hooves for the rest of the day. I take it I was quite a hoof-ful last night.”

“Well, did you think that I could just turn you away like that? I don’t think that you could have even made it home.”

Dashie siged. “You’re right... but still..." she put her head down, " Did Spike get anything at all?”

“Well, I guess he slept pretty soundly through the night, so I’d say no. Sorry Rainbow, we’ll get to the bottom of it, promise. I’ll tell you when we get a response.” Twi replied.

“Thanks Twilight," Dash rubbed at the back of her head, "I’ll get going now.”

Twilight watched the blue pegasus head for the exit, her wings hardly upbeat. “You don’t want breakfast or anything like that? I’m sure when Spike wakes up he can make us some pancakes.”

Rainbow stopped at the base of the hall. “Thanks for the offer, Twilight, but really, I have to go.” she replied, not twisting her head back to catch a last glimpse of the purple unicorn.

Twilight didn’t get the chance to get another word in. Rainbow exited the library, its vast selection of books and scrolls echoing in an ancient slumber. The winding hall was ominously lit by the morning sun, the hollowed out trunk revealing strange, natural engravings in the wood. “Get a hold of yourself, Rainbow,” she thought, “nothing’s going to happen, it’s probably just some odd-job she wants". Dash picked her head up and composed herself. The hall would eventually lead out to the front door, and beyond that a normal Ponyville. At least those were the usual circumstances. As far as she was concerned, the situation at hoof was not the usual. She kept telling herself not to worry; “Don’t worry, there’s nothing to worry about...” she would reiterate in her head, as if the game would help any. The only word she could catch out of the sentence was “worry”.

Twilight’s front door creaked open slowly, the hinges groaning in a long agony. Rainbow Dash poked her head out from around its sides. Everything outside appeared casual... that’s not to say that it would be once she set foot out the door. In the very least a stampede of ducks would storm through, as there was never a normal day in this town. Rainbow put her front hoof on the welcome mat, readying herself to return to the world.

Just... one... step...

“Hiya, Rainbow!” Pinkie Pie shouted, popping out of the bush that resided next to the door. Rainbow went completely stiff and fainted, her legs sticking straight out. “Haha, silly! You’re supposed to say hi back! Watcha doin’?”

Rainbow never looked at Pinkie Pie, her eyelids twitched and her eyes shrunk. “Oh, you know, just hanging around.”

“Jeez louise, can you believe it! I was doing the same thing! I saw you coming out of Twilight’s treehouse and I just thought I’d stop by to say good morning! Well, I didn’t actually say good morning, but it is the morning, so it’s kinda sorta implied I guess. Good morning anyways!”

Dash hiccuped, scared out of her wits. She choked out some incomprehensible garbage before finally finding the spontaneous pink pony, “Your idea of saying hello is jumping out of a bush and shouting it?”

“Sure! Why? Do you prefer the morning party poppers?”

Dashie disregarded the question. She righted herself on the doorstep, now facing Pinkie head on. “Pinkie, what are you doing out this early?”

Pinkie smiled and prepared to tell a story that she had vowed to tell later, but, of course, could not help but divulge now. She sucked in a deep breath of air, and blew it out in Dashie's face. Dash winced and waved it away. “Well, I was only out taking my morning walk. I do it most mornings... duh. But boy, what a walk it was this morning! No, it wasn’t so much a walk as a trot. You see, I spent my morning trekking off of the usual path cuz’ I saw a nasty lookin’ storm cloud floating through town,” Pinkie lifted her hooves up and growled in order to produce a menacing feel, “and I had to follow it to see where it was going. Oooh, and I followed it. I followed it all over the place! It went over rooftops and bridges, but I never lost track of it!”

“What? It isn’t supposed to rain today, though.” Dash interrupted, oddly intrigued by Pinkie’s story.

Pinkie continued- “That’s what I told it! I said, ‘Hey, you’re not supposed to rain! What’re you doing?’ but it didn’t listen! Awful cloud. Ya gotta be a good listener in this town... else bad things could happen.” she said. She shook her hoof around at the clouds’ wrongdoings.

“Pinkie, focus. Where is the cloud now?”

Dash put her front hooves on Pinkie’s shoulders, staring wildly. Pinkie searched the skies with uncertainty. “Ummm... somewhere?”

“I thought you said that you had tracked it all morning!”

“Yeah! But then you showed up, and I got sidetracked. What’re you doing at Twilight’s anyway?”

Dash grunted and ascended to the skyline of the town. She scanned the skies, which were entirely clear, and slowly drifted away from the treehouse. Pinkie watched Dash go, her mind slightly puzzled.

“Okay, bye Rainbow!” she wailed.

Twilight then came to her front door, finding it odd that Pinkie was sitting in her bushes. The pink pony was still turned off in the direction that Rainbow had went.

“Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie shuffled around in the bush to face Twilight. She grinned. “Hiya, Twilight! Whatcha doin’?”

Rainbow Dash floated through Ponyville, eyes open for mysterious storm clouds and Princess Celestia’s royal chariot. Neither of the two made their presence known, which invoked a feeling of indifference. Rainbow examined the horizon, striking and brilliant, the sun just barely clipping the treeline. It lit up a series of dismantled trees, all having been severely whipped around in the lofty wind last night. Branches seem to have been thrown everywhere, sometimes lodging themselves into the siding on the houses. Sort of a rude awakening to get up and find that a giant stick had shot through your house in the night. Dash suddenly had a random thought as to who sold the insurance in this town. Surely that was a busy pony. Now, Dash shook her head, getting back to business. She ascended higher up, her view becoming broader, her hooves coming to rest on a puffy white ball of wispy cotton.

Wait... what?

Dash glanced down to find the lone cloud in the sky directly in front of her. It wasn’t holding any rain water, nor did it really look threatening at all. It was not a whole lot bigger than Dash, nearly the perfect size for a hammock. Pinkie’s description of it was apparently a bit misleading... shocking. Dash hovered over it for a spell, checking out its origins, pondering its isolation up here in the sky. She ran her hooves through it, its contents trickling over her coat.

“What, Cloudsdale, bit of a mistake this morning?” She said to herself. She alighted upon its mass, its frame caving in and bouncing back buoyantly under Dashie’s weight. “Okay, let’s get you home.”

Dash spun off of it, some of the puffs getting kicked up into the air. She circled around its side. The direction to the Cloudsdale cloud making facility wasn’t very difficult to gauge for her anymore. Sometimes Cloudsdale could get lost in the, well, clouds, and it really couldn’t be seen. But since Dash always knew where she was now, she could guess the appropriate angle to take to get there. It became 'easy schmeazy', so to speak. After circling the cloud a couple of times, she picked a reasonably plush side of the cloud to push along. She put her hooves to it. She began pushing...

and pushing...

and pushing...

and shoving...

and kicking...

and beating...

but the cloud didn’t budge.

How could it not budge?

Dash panted, out of breath. The cloud looked to be gloating, though, of course, the imagery was merely in her head.

“What the hay?” She whispered. The cloud was sweet and puffy on the outside, but what was the middle composed of, bricks? Maybe Rarity’s suitcases?

Dashie’s face went blank as she was overcome with these series of awkward occurrences. The letter from the Princess, the cloud, what was next? She wondered if Twilight ever got a letter back at all. “Rainbow Dash, you’re up", it was eating her up inside. What could she want with her? Twilight would normally get all of the news, this was abruptly and entirely new. None of the solutions thought up by her mind gave satisfactory answers. Worst of all, at this point, she was alone. She hadn’t thought about that. Excellent, something new to worry about. Dash ate at herself as she watched the remnants of that strange cloud apathetically amble away.

Wait... WHAT!?

Yes, the cloud, it was definitely moving under its own free will. Now, this was unreal. If only Discord were the cause of this, it would be easier, but that was improbable. He had been imprisoned once and for all. Plus, this cloud was not made of cotton candy, nor was it pouring chocolate milk from its orifices. No, it was simply uncontrollably raking across the sky- which was the scariest thing of all. Dash snorted, contemplating whether or not she should chase the thing. Maybe Fluttershy could assist her?

“Fluttershy, I need your help in finding out why this cloud over here is moving around by itself.”

“By itself?”

“Yeah, I don’t know, it’s weird, so we gotta check it out.”

“Oh... hold on, I think that I got a call earlier saying that the Everfree forest was missing a cloud... I’ll go back and tell them that you found it. Thanks for your help!”

*Door closes*

Oh yeah, so that’s how that situation would play out.

Dashie sucked in a deep breath, disparagingly conquering her fears. She blasted off into an unknown future.

Dash hugged on tightly to the cloud. It swept along, gradually gaining speed and relishing a certain ambiguity. She did not relinquish her grip on the intruder in the sky.

“Well, if you won’t move for me, I suppose I’ll just have to find out where you’re going.”

Rainbow Dash and the cloud drifted higher and higher as they moved along. Dash gripped onto the handlebar she made from the cloud material, holding it tight. They nearly emaciated a skein of geese. The cloud burst through the group, taking a lot of squawks and feathers with it. Dashie brushed some of them off of her coat and let them float back down to the earth. She screamed her apologies out with them, hoping they'd reach the group.

Apparently, the cloud had a mind of its own as well, as they did not stop moving faster until the geese were clearly out of sight. They flew a considerable distance before the cloud slowed to a steady pace, growing to become the equivalent of a boring kiddie ride at a theme park- one that did not cease to stop. Its straightened path through the skyway bore no mark of obtrusion. The sky itself was a humid bowl of accentuated light. They were immeasurably high into the atmosphere, and the features from the ground below were now indistinguishable. This was much higher than Cloudsdale's elevation. That destination was now out of the question. She was literally in a sea of sky, there was absolutely nothing else in her surroundings.

If it weren’t for the severity of the occasion, a cider and some Daring Do would be the only items needed to make this heaven. She now regretted not taking something to go in Twilight's library. Oh, well, guess she’d have to make due. Rainbow whirled around onto her back, kicking her hooves up and begetting the majority of her frets. She submissively let the eerie quandary play out, no longer concerned if it were Canterlot they were indeed headed to, or a troll’s front door. She shut her eyes. She stuck two puffs of the cloud into her ears. The world was now a world that Dash controlled, and that was how she liked it.

Funny how daydreams are always so much more realistic than your natural dreams. You’d think that if you left your mind to wander, you’d dig up some curiously exotic illusions; Especially in Dashie’s case, the poor pony in a constant state of chaos since the letter. Think about it. You’re resting on a cloud for Celestia’s sake, how much more inspiration for invention do you need? But no, for whatever reason, all she could think about was Pinkie Pie doing cartwheels on Sugarcube Corner. The superfluous thought scrambled her brain, the nodes sending impulses to other caches of weird memories in her head. Twilight read a book. Applejack said “sugarcube” over and over. Fluttershy relaxed in a spa bath, swimming in a graceful peace. The thoughts were just fiscal fragments of memories that, for some odd reason, had not been forgotten. They sparked up and shocked her, buzzing around like electric lady bugs.

“Ow... that kind of hurt.”

then another quick shock.

“Ow, what gives?”

Rainbow opened her eyes and looked at the cloud, which had grown dark in appearance and had tiny volts of electricity shooting through it. She jumped up and shivered.

“Now THAT’S weird!” she exclaimed. And truly, how weird was it that the cloud had turned to one capable of ill weather instantly? Oh, yes, no weirder than a cloud moving by its own power. Duh. Another thing, as Dash now realized, it had come to a complete halt. Its immovable mass sat in the sky just as it had before.

Dash sat up in mesmerization. She was being booted from the ride. The cloud was now listing heavily to the right, dribbling out droplets of water as it rolled. Dash fluttered aside as the cloud fully turned itself. It dumped out a careening waterfall like a massive bucket, the contents spilling straight down to the stark looking dirt far below.

By the way, where the heck was she?

Dash peered through the glistening waterfall, a rain like which she had never seen before. An endless stream for such a small cloud seemed hardly plausible. Dash stuck her hoof into it, the water parting and continuing to spiral to the ground. She looked down. The ground beckoned her, eagerly awaiting her arrival. She had come this far... pointless to waste the trip.

Rainbow followed the constant stream straight down. It went on for quite a while, Dash hadn't realized just how high up they were.

It was boring.

Dash played with the water as she descended. She enacted faces into it, kicked it, punched it, pretty much did just whatever she pleased. This could only go so far. Dashie's attention span hummed inside of her head, beeping out an annoying tick. This was the reminder that played in her head whenever something was deemed a chore. Fascinating, the mind of Rainbow Dash.

"Yup, I'm bored." she proclaimed.

Dash slung herself toward the earth.

The ground revealed itself to be a great plain. Flowers buckled in the breezy wind, blowing in the long grasses, reaching outward and caressing the air. Random spots of dead plant life were seen in varying spots in the grasses, their presence a bit disheartening, but in an odd way adding a sense of individuality. The low rising hills scored the valley like a great giants morning stretch. The sunlight made all living things reach taller, combatting the others in a race to snatch the rays. Rainbow had seen nothing like it. Its beauty and grandness was so regal it was on the verge of rebellious. She circled the stream of water, taking in all of the sights with a vivid splendor. The charming display was something she would see in calendars... not here, wherever ‘here’ was.

Rainbow’s hooves touched down on the cool grasses almost surreally. She looked to the base of the waterfall, which was flattening a cropping of daisies, drowning them in a muddy bath. There was a small speck of mud in the middle where the daisies did not sprout their roots from. She looked to it. Something was congealed in it, a small chip of some sort.

What in Equestria was that?

Dash drew in closer to get a clearer visual, when, out of the blue, the water stopped gushing from above. The cloud had fully disintegrated, letting the chip glisten in the beams of the sun. Dash skipped through the marshy meadow, advancing on it, bending down to uncover the truth. As it turned out, it was not a small chip she was looking at, but the corner of a washed out, dirty old box.

“Ugh, time to get my hooves dirty. This had better be worth all the trouble, Princess.”

Dash sorted through the mud, her hooves getting caked in the moppy, wet sludge. Fortunately, the box was relatively miniscule in size. The mud was pushed away effortlessly as it made way for the item it was hiding. Dash carved away just enough of it to heave the box from its location. She rocked backward from the force, falling on her hindquarters, the box landing in her lap. She blinked a couple of times, then fell her eyes to the tiny, convoluted item she now held in her grasp.

It was a sore sight, even without the garnish of mud. Rainbow lifted it and jiggled it, the grime peeling off, the tenderly constructed box threatening to break. it was lightweight, perhaps only a stack of feathers so.

“Rainbow Dash, you’re up.”

She sighed. The box was whisked open without so much as a further gesture.

Another scroll.

“Oh, sweet Celestia.”

Dash delicately lifted the scroll and hugged it to her chest. It made a crunching sound as they touched, the paper worn and crumbly. Dash quickly searched around, making sure that no one was watching. The coast was clear... as it had been today, and the night before. She removed the scroll from her chest and slowly unrolled it, revealing a series of scribbled letters in elaborate penmanship.

And Dashie then knew that this was all wrong.

This is mom.

No. What an exquisite lie, this could never absorb the hole I feel in my heart for her.
This is an ashamed slip of paper, and it’ll have to do.

They tell me that she’s dead, my mother. They tell me that father finally drove her away and killed her, slew her as he slew my childhood. And, though the news doesn’t travel from reliable lips... I believe them. I believe those untrustworthy, heartless criminals. All because he stole her from me, that bastard, and I’d rather her be dead than share a less than life with him. A cruel twist of fate, one might say, that he won this game. He won the game of life fairly and justly. What an omnipotent fool. He doesn’t have me.

I will live on, though at times it will be grueling. I have nothing to turn to, nor anywhere to go. I have no food to stab at my ravenous hunger, nor beverage to slake my intense thirst. But letting that sick being receive any satisfaction from my demise will be motivation enough. My story will be told, for I will tell it. His name will linger on in an infamous resonance, and the walls will glower upon word of him.

I leave my rubies in the park for a kind soul to find.
They sparkle and shimmy, shimmer and shine.
A quest awaits, and I will go forth.
If I fail, we’ll pass the torch.

Mother, a new world has presented itself to me. It is full of crooks and villains and thieves and the like. It is not the life you would have chosen, given my strengths. But when life hands you a stick to shake, you snatch it away and ram it back down its windpipe.

wind and rain strum upon my rooftop, cooing softly. They ask of me, “where will you go?”
I brush away the cobwebs in my head, and I answer to them:

“Where the clouds move by their own accord.”