//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Old News 
// Story: Old Coltfriends, New Problems 
// by Delta Blade 
//------------------------------//

It had been nearly a month since Cloudburst had dumped Rainbow Dash, and nearly a week since she had received the newspaper that had revealed to her the coming of his karma. Of all the things Rainbow thought she’d do with that newspaper, the last thing she expected herself to do was keep it.

Why am I still holding on to this thing? she thought.

Dash was sitting on the couch in her cloud-house, staring into the black-and-white picture of Cloudburst on the ground in some unknown alleyway; the toner revealed a black eye upon his face with three (or five?) mares whose faces could not be seen as they walked away from the broken Pegasus Stallion.

Dash read the article over and over in her head.

He broke my heart, she thought. He deserves this! Why do I care what-

“Good morning honey!” said Coconut, the love of her life, interrupting her thoughts. “You’re up early.”

Rainbow looked at the clock: 7:23 AM. She decided to ignore his comment (this newspaper and its contents had been bothering her since six in the morning).

“Uhh, I don’t think I’ll be going to work today babe,” she said, changing the subject.

“Why not?” Coconut asked, before giving it some thought. “Oh right, I think the forecast for today called for only partially cloudy skies. Do you want me to cover for you?”

The chocolate brown Pegasus then looked to his cyan Pegasus partner for confirmation, but instead found a sad look on her face instead. It was barely noticeable, but if you’ve been with somepony for a while, you get to know their looks, especially the one’s you’ve never seen before.

“Something wrong?” he said, already knowing the answer.

“It’s kind of complicated,” she said after a brief silence and a deep sigh. “But yeah…”

Coconut came over to Rainbow and sat next to her on the couch before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Lucky me,” he said. “I’ve got just enough time for a, ‘long story.’”

Rainbow smiled at this, happy to know that she found a truly patient and caring partner in life. Though they weren’t married, she wouldn’t be surprised if a proposal came soon from this stallion.

Shaking off the thought, the cyan mare got down to business, readjusting the newspaper in her hooves.

“Uh, well, I got this newspaper in the mail last week,” she started while not entirely sure how to start. “Long story short, it’s about…him.”

She gingerly placed the newspaper in his lap while looking at the floor, feeling slightly guilty.

“Ah,” said Coconut. “The stallion who dumped you. I think you’ve only mentioned him to me once or twice, but I won’t forget the gist of what you’ve told me about him.”

“I’m so sorry!” Dash blurted out. “I didn’t want to keep thinking about him, but…oh I should’ve just thrown it out! I-”

“Hey! Hey, it’s alright. I completely get it.”

“You do?”

“Sure, I mean…from what you’ve told me about him, it seemed like he was the first pony to ever show you true love and dedication right? It’s only fitting that you still…oh how do I put this?...”

It took a couple seconds for the stallion to find the right words (a couple agonizing seconds from Coconut’s perspective).

“My point is,” he said. “You’re the element of loyalty right? You probably just feel some loyalty towards him still, for what he allowed you to experience I mean.”

Rainbow nodded in agreement at this, though a bit of a shaky agreement it seemed.

“I mean, I could be wrong,” said Coconut, seeing this. “After all, you know yourself best right?”

“Oh don’t be so modest,” said Dash with a laugh. “I think you hit it right on the head!”

The two shared a quick laugh, glad to get any awkwardness out of the way. But they both knew that they weren’t done yet.
“You want to go see him, don’t you?” said Coconut with a more serious, almost grave tone in his voice now. “That’s why you told me you didn’t think you’d be making it to work right? To go see him?”
“Just to make sure he’s okay,” said Rainbow quickly, sensing the distrust in his voice. “I’d never get back with him, especially not now. You know I’d never do that.”
Coconut then gave a solemn nod before replying, no regret could be found in his voice.
“I know. Nopony deserves to suffer like that...not even him. Just be careful okay?”
“Thank you, Coco.”
Smiles returned to both of their faces.
“Don’t call me that,” said Coconut jokingly as he got off the couch. “And you’re welcome. And don’t worry, I’ll cover for you at work. Now let me get today’s newspaper while you start packing!”
“Oh I’ve already packed what I needed,” said Dash. “And I’ve already eaten breakfast.”
“So you’ll head out now?”
“Yep!” she said before flying up and down the stairs in a flash, a saddlepack appearing on her back where there wasn’t one before. “Don’t wait up!”
“Okay Dashie,” said Coconut with a chuckle. “Have a safe trip!”
With a hug and a kiss, Rainbow Dash was out the door, Coconut waving goodbye from just beyond the frame.

.	.	.

The chocolate brown stallion now wore his weatherpony outfit while sitting at the table. He was reading the newspaper while sipping on some coffee when he realized, this was last week’s news! The same newspaper that Dash had handed him before she left!
“Aw, Coco!” he said, facehoofing before brushing aside his straw yellow mane. “Ah, I must’ve seen it and thought it was this week’s issue. C’mon Coconut! You’re better than this!”
He got off his seat and walked toward the door, continuing to talk to himself, as he usually did when he was alone.
“No wonder I was reading stuff I already knew about,” he said after opening the door, seeing the newspaper right there at his hooves. “Well, no biggy, just grab the new and read about the new. No need to-”
He stopped as he was reaching to pick it up, for the front page news had interrupted both his motions and his thoughts.
And immediately made him regret his decision to let Rainbow Dash go…

.	.	.

Rainbow Dash flew over Manehattan, glad to bypass any and all traffic that may have been clogging the streets below. Rather, she had to fly through the financial district, given those buildings were so exponentially taller than the rest, but other than that she was pretty much flying over the city.
As the narrator digresses, we find Dash flying into the shadier part of the city, a place she had only visited once during her short time as Cloudburst’s marefriend.
I highly doubt he’d be in the same place, she thought. But it’s worth a shot I guess.
She landed just outside a run-down shop, located at the intersection of Calabrese Boulevard and Saddle Street; though, the last time she was here, it wasn’t so run-down. There were no broken windows, and no signs of theft, whereas now there were both.
His former fiancé’s may have been responsible, she thought.
Still, she pressed on. She entered the shop not knowing what she might find. What she did find however, was the last thing she expected to see.
Cloudburst, the once proud stallion, now a beaten blue husk seeming desperate to pack his things. The bell that rung when she opened the door stopped him. He looked to her, squinting for a moment as if he couldn’t believe what he saw, before a look of pure anger and fear contorted across his face.
“You?!” he exclaimed. “What do you want?!”
“I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Dash stuttered.
“Well now you know,” he said harshly. “Now leave!”
When she didn’t move, he began to walk, almost stomp, towards her.
“I said le-AAhow!”
His face now contorted in pain as he grabbed his side, kneeling down. Rainbow immediately rushed inside to help, tossing her saddlebags to the side. Despite all of Cloudburst’s statements that he could do it himself and that he was fine, Dash stubbornly helped him to sit on his futon, the same one that he was packing his own saddlebag on.
As he lay back on the soft, cushioned surface, still clutching his side, he looked at Rainbow once again, but this time with a different look. His face was calmer now, more at peace.
As was his voice.
“You,” he said softly. “You’re such a sweet mare. After everything I’ve done to you, you still come back to me like this?”
“I’m not here to get back with you,” she said flatly, a slight tone of annoyance in her voice. “I just came to see if you were doing well enough and…and to see if you’d learnt your lesson.”
“Oh believe me, I’ve learnt my lesson from those mares. It’s just that, *ung!* all the dues haven’t been paid yet, so to speak…how have you been?”
“I’ve been just perfect,” said Rainbow, backing away and striking a proud pose. “I’ve found the perfect stallion who’s truly committed and actually loves and cares about me. No thanks to you!”
When Rainbow opened her eyes again to look at Cloudburst, she was surprised to see him smiling.
“I’m glad…I’m glad to hear that,” he said honestly before taking on a more serious expression. “Get out of here Rainbow, don’t let me taint your life any further.”
If the cyan mare wasn’t concerned before, she certainly was now as she slowly began to interpret the implications of what he was saying.
“Wha-Wha’dya me-?”
“You can’t even afford to be seen with me, Rainbow! Don’t you get it?”
Before she could respond, sirens began to sound from outside.
“Police!” shouted an officer. “Come out with your hooves in the air! If you do not comply, we will be forced to enter!”
There were now only two questions in Rainbow’s mind as panic began to set in.
“Wh-Who…what are you? What did you do?” she thought aloud.
Realizing that she didn’t know, Cloudburst simply responded, “You don’t wanna know.”
Taking a glance to the front entrance he said, “Quickly, they’re going to come inside any second now! There’s a back door that way; just follow the hallway out to the back alley and you should be safe.”
“What about you?!” Dash squeaked.
“It’s too late for me, the law’s caught up to me now.”
“Hey!” came a muffled voice from the window.
The two looked over to see a police officer in the window looking in.
“I think he’s got an accomplice!”
“They can’t know for sure,” said Cloudburst to Rainbow. “It’s too dark in here from the outside, but you have to leave now!”
Without another word, nor another thought, Rainbow Dash “dashed” down the hall away from the front door before she heard it get bashed open just seconds later.
“There she goes!” came a voice from behind before she darted around the corner. “I’ll detain the convict, you two don’t let her get away!”
Pure panic was now in control of Rainbow as she made a plan in her head to take to the skies (in the correct direction so as not to be seen by the cops) as soon as she reached the outside alleyway.
As she made her plan quickly, thoughts of what had just occurred were flowing through her head equally as fast:

	What did he do?
Why are the cops after him?
Why can’t I be seen with him?
Unfortunately, she would discover that these questions and more might be answered sooner than she had hoped, for mere seconds later, as she was about to burst through the back door, a slightly larger police stallion opened it and stepped through, causing the cyan mare to skid to a halt right into the stallion’s chest.

Staring up at him, and he staring down, Rainbow backed away slowly, her eyes wide in terror, her breaths on the verge of hyperventilation. The stallion approached her, her breaths becoming shallower with each step until it was almost a whimper, before he elbowed her right in the nose, causing Dash to squeal in pain and drop to the floor, clutching her muzzle. After a moment the shock of pain turned into a slow, painful throbbing and she could bring herself to let go of her nose.

As she looked at her hooves, she could see small bloodstains on them. Her whole body shook as she continued to stare at them as if they weren’t hers, blind panic continuing to freeze her in place, whimpering fully now as sweat matted her mane to her fur.

She didn’t even notice the pair of policeponies who were pursuing her round the corner behind her. One of them	tackled her onto her side, then pinned her onto her stomach before cuffing her hooves behind her back.

The pegasus merely laid flat with her head to one side as the third policepony began to read off her rights; that of which Rainbow Dash could barely hear as she was struggling to hold back her own sobs.

When the cop behind her finished reading her rights, he said, “Uhh, boss? Is her nose bleeding?”

“Her orders were to show no restraint to him or any of his accomplices,” said the tall pony in front of Rainbow.

Her orders? she thought. Does that mean-?

“Yes sir, Commissioner,” said the other pony behind her, confirming her suspicions.

“You two would hit a mare?!” said the first pony.

“If your beliefs prevent you from doing anything unchivalrous, then you may refrain,” said the commissioner.

The conversation being had around her was certainly making her heartrate rise, as her breaths were becoming noticeably quicker and shallower again.

“With all due respect sir, I did not join the force to watch mares get beaten up! And police brutality is at an all-time high right now. I will NOT be a part of that statistic!”

“Wait!” blurted Rainbow in sheer panic. “C-Can we jus-AAH!!”

With a swift kick to the stomach from the tall stallion, the ability to breathe was momentarily taken away from the cyan mare, and she turned her head to face the floor with pupils smaller than she had before.

“Hey!” his voice boomed. “We said you had the right to remain silent! If we want you to speak we’ll tell you!”

“I can’t watch this,” said the pony behind her as he turned around. “I read off her rights. My job is done.”

Rainbow could make out hoofsteps behind her from the stallion walking away back down the hall. It was about now that Rainbow could breathe again.

“Please,” she wheezed before taking a deeper breath, tears streaming down her face. “I-I’m innocent…”

“I can’t believe this bitch for one second,” said the remaining officer behind her. “I’m putting her under.”

The policepony behind her then picked her up and forcefully pinned her against the wall; he then let go of her before taking out his nightstick and giving Rainbow a swift whack to the back of her head.

The last thing Dash remembered was her head hitting the ground as she keeled over again.