As the train arrived in Ponyville, Dash was still deep in thought.
“Rainbow.” Cloud rolled her eyes when Dash didn’t respond, “Rainbow Dash!”
“Huh? Oh. We’re here already,” Dash said blankly, staring absently out of the window still not really seeing the station right in front of her.
“Let’s go! This was your idea. Come on!” Scootaloo nudged Rainbow trying to get her moving.
Sighing, “Let’s get this over with.” Dash got up and they exited the train just as the conductor made his last call. Rainbow was sure the ponies that were once her friends were going to disown her for what she’d done. She had it in the back of her mind that there might even be a lynching in Ponyville. She almost thought that she would welcome it. How would they even stomach seeing me? Element of loyalty. Ha! I ran out on them. Not even a goodbye. Well, except Twilight. She wasn’t even at the inquiry now that I think about it. And I’m going back to see all of them. She stopped and stood perfectly still. I can’t do this. They’ll just shun me. Or worse. I should’ve stayed in Cloudsdale. At the factory. I shouldn’t even show my face here. Oh Celestia! What am I doing!?
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash, come on. Hello!!?? Snap out of it!” Cloud touched Rainbow gently on her shoulder. “Are you ok? Rainbow Dash. We really need to get out of the middle of the walkway. People are starting to stare.”
Absently, Dash let herself be led along the platform, “Oh… yeah.” Deep in the back of her mind she knew why they were staring. They're staring in disgust; staring at the element that killed all those failu- colts and fillies. “I WAS JUST DOING MY JOB!!!” she yelled, her eyes going wild.
Cloud jumped in front of her, grabbed her head and forced Dash to stare at her, “Stop it! Focus! They're looking at Scootaloo. They're not looking at you anymore.” Dash tried to look around Cloud’s face. “No! Look at me or look at Scootaloo. Don't worry about them. You understand?” Dash just stared at her. “Do you understand?” Dash finally nodded her consent. “Thank you.” Cloud released her grip, stepped aside and immediately began to shake as Dash headed off toward Sweet Apple Acres focusing on the ground rather than what or who was around her.
Scootaloo looked over at Cloud and saw her shaking, “That was either really brave or really stupid. Are you alright?”
“I know, but she needed to understand that they weren't staring at her anymore. Which is a little weird. She still looks the same as she did. Why hasn't anypony come to greet her? Angrily or otherwise? Do you recognize anypony, Scootaloo?”
“They may be too scared of her. Or maybe it's because it's been so long since she's been here that they've forgotten her. Either way, we need to catch up just in case she has another outburst.” They both started after Dash. “I thought that I recognized a couple of ponies, but I can't recall their names or if I really did know them.”
Cloud gave a soft smile, “It's ok, Scootaloo. I didn't mean to put you on the spot.”
Returning the smile, “You can call me Scoots.”
“Oh. I didn't want to because it was a name Rainbow Dash used for you.”
“What? No. My friends used to call me Scoots. Not just Dash. And you, Cloud, are probably my closest friend.”
Cloud stopped and looked sidelong at her. “I thought Dash was your closest friend?”
Looking at her feet, “She was my big sister. We were basically family. That all changed when… She wasn't the one that saved me. She could've come back, but she never did. She may not have been able to outright kill me, but she did leave me for dead in that room. Then you came along and freed me. You and Corona. You two saved not only me, but a lot of ponies that might have failed that awful flight exam after you.” Scootaloo took Cloud into a hug and kissed her cheek. “Thank you so much.” She released her grip and put her hoof on Clouds cheek and smiled, “We'd better catch up.”
Cloud was rooted in place. She watched Scootaloo turn, take a couple of steps and then propel herself into the air after Dash. “But we only saved ourselves. We couldn't save all the other ponies that were in our group. Or Pipewrench,” she whispered to nopony. As she watched Scootaloo shrink into the distance Cloud snapped out of her trance, shook her head, spread her wings and flew after her friends.
Corona sat in Dash’s office liking how comfortable her chair was, but not sure what to do for the rest of the day. Especially since Cloud, Scootaloo, and Dash were nowhere to be found. As he sat there looking at Dash’s desk he was amazed at how everything was so perfectly organized. How can a pony so out of their mind be this neat and organized?
Just then Dr. Atmosphere strolled through the door reading over some papers. He grunted his approval at whatever it was and stopped dead as he looked at Corona sitting there. “I’m sorry, Corona, I didn’t know anypony was in here.”
“Yeah, it’s ok. I was supposed to be with Contrail, but Ms. Dash threatened to torture him… or worse, if anything were to happen to me,” Corona said, looking as though somepony had taken his favorite toy away.
Dr. Atmosphere studied him for a moment. “I’m sure she would indeed follow through on her threat if anything were to happen to you, my boy. She has taken a liking to you, you know.”
“Well, I’ll be having a little talk with Ms. Dash when she shows up. I thought she was the one that wanted me to learn the inner workings of the factory!?” His face was flush with frustration.
Dr. Atmosphere took a seat. “Corona, I don’t know why Rainbow has taken to you and Cloud like she has, but she is the Element of Loyalty which means that she will defend and protect you three until her last breath. I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing mind you. Because it’s not only good for you, but, in a way, it’s good for all of us.”
“How’s that? If it means that she can threaten other ponies on Cloud’s and my account?”
“No no. It’s not like that at all. She’s very protective. Sometimes overly so. It was the factory that she was protective over until the three of you came along.”
“So you’re saying that since we came into the picture she’s less protective of the factory?”
“I knew you were a smart pony! In the past, if something like this happened to the factory, she would never have left until we were one-hundred percent up and running again. All of you are now her new focus. So in that regard I need to thank you. You and Cloud Cover seem to have relieved us of the maniacal oversight that was Ms. Rainbow Dash. And now we will be able to get some real work done and have been.”
“Um… you’re welcome,” Corona said, not really sure if that was the right response.
“HA!” Dr.Atmosphere laughed. “Let’s see about getting you back out on the floor with Contrail, shall we?”
“But Ms. Dash’s threat!?” Corona protested.
“Son, I have a feeling that now that Ms. Dash has you three to dote over she will let us be. She’s going to have to let you figure out how to run this place sooner or later. You have my vote for sooner. Plus, she’s not around to do anything right now anyway.”
“What do you mean? Where is she?”
“She didn’t tell you? Hm. Well, her and the other girls went to Ponyville and I don’t know when they’ll be back.”
“Ponyville? What’s in Ponyville?”
“That’s Ms. Dash’s home town. I think that she even has her house there still, but I think that she was going back to see if her friends still remember her. Also to introduce Cloud Cover to Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Dr. Atmosphere said, scratching his chin in thought.
“Typical. She gets to go see the Princess and I’m not invited.” Corona leaned back in Dash’s chair and pushed away from the desk.
“Hoo. That look suits you, my boy. Feels good to sit in the boss’ chair doesn’t it?” Dr. Atmosphere asked with a smile.
Tentatively Corona said, “I… no. I think I need to understand this place before I can handle sitting here.”
Dr. Atmosphere gave Corona an approving nod, then said, “Then let’s get to it. The longer you wait the longer it will take before you’re ready. Come on. Contrail has a pretty good head start. And don’t you worry about Contrail or Ms. Dash I’ll make sure that nopony gets tortured. Or worse. But, you won’t give her a reason to do that anyway, will you?”
Corona jumped up, “No, sir. All I ask is for the chance to learn what I need to to be the best boss I can be.”
“That’s the spirit!”
Corona started for the door. Dr. Atmosphere dropped the papers he was holding on Dash’s desk and followed the ambitious Corona out into the hallway to track down Contrail.
Cloud caught up with Dash and Scootaloo. She landed, dropping gently down onto her hooves and slowly walked along not saying much. So this is the Ponyville I’ve heard so much about. I see why Rainbow liked it here. Everypony seems kind enough. I just can’t figure out why nopony has come to see Dash. They look like they see her and are ignoring her. And Scootaloo. Doesn’t anypony care that she’s come back from the dead? Ugh. Maybe they aren’t as friendly as I thought. I think this is almost worse than getting confronted about what happened.
“Don’t you agree, Cloud?” Scootaloo asked and waited for a response. “Cloud!?”
“Huh,” she said, snapping back.
“I said that Ponyville seems like a good place to settle down still. Don’t you agree?”
“Oh. Yeah. It’s very quaint. I could see myself staying here I guess,” she said, looking around.
Scootaloo stared at her. “Are you alright, Cloud?”
“I’m concerned.”
“Concerned? About what?” Scootaloo asked.
Dash spoke up softly, “She’s concerned about why nopony has come out to greet us. Didn’t think that I noticed did you?”
“No. I didn’t, but you’re right. They keep glancing at us and then ignoring us. I’m not sure if they’re scared of you or don’t want to cause a scene or what,” Cloud said just as soft.
Scootaloo started to stare at the ponies that they passed. “You’re right. They won’t even look at me.”
“Let’s just get to Sweet Apple Acres. I hope that they don’t feel the same.” Dash pushed off the ground and took off as fast as she could to Sweet Apple Acres.
“Come on.” Scootaloo followed Dash’s lead.
“Fine.” Cloud jumped up and flapped her wings hard to try and catch the leader. She could barely catch Scootaloo, who wasn’t even winded, much less Rainbow Dash, who was almost out of sight already. “I knew you were getting better, but wow, Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo was focused on Dash, “I was never as good as she wanted me to be, you know?”
“What?”
“I tried so hard to be as good as she was at everything she taught me, but I just wasn’t good enough. She was always encouraging me, but I could see it in her eyes. I would do my best, but it was always just short of her expectations.”
They both flew on in silence until they caught sight of Dash at the start of the path to Sweet Apple Acres. Landing beside Dash, the three of them looked down the lane.
Lining both sides were apple trees just like the last time Rainbow had walked it. This brought back memories of naps interrupted by Applejack bucking her particular tree for no reason other than to annoy her or Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle making enough noise to wake the dead. A smile broke across her face. But… something… something was different. It seemed quiet. That’s why she came here to nap, but… hoping to get her mind off it, “How ya doin’ there, Scoots?”
“I’m ok,” she said, looking around slowly. “It seems the same. Kinda. I can’t put my hoof on it, but… it’s not.”
Dash started looking around too. “I was thinking the same thing. Just an odd feeling.”
Scootaloo agreed, “MmHm. Cloud, what do you think?”
Cloud’s eyes went wide, “Me? I’ve never been here before. It all seems fine to me. It looks like an apple orchard.” She shrugged and could tell that wasn’t what they wanted to hear. “Sorry.”
Dash gave her a small smile, “That’s ok. We’re almost to the farm.”
Cloud looked ahead. She could just make out two buildings.
“Oh. I wonder if Granny Smith has any pies made?” Scootaloo asked, ears perked, eyes sparkling with excitement.
Dash stopped dead as she looked away from Scootaloo. Running her hoof through her mane, “Um. Yeah, about that. Granny Smith… well… she passed about five years ago.”
“WHAT!!?” Scootaloo’s ears pinned to the side of her head as she turned away from the others. “You should’ve told me, Dash”
Dash wanted to hug Scootaloo and almost moved to do so, but thought better of it and instead just said, “I know. I didn’t think about it.”
Spinning around to face Dash Scootaloo shouted, “That’s the problem! You don’t ever think about other ponies! You were too busy killing them to think about all the lives that were being destroyed. Not just the ones you killed, but their families too, Dash.” Scootaloo paused regaining her composure, “Is there anything else you know about that I don’t? Or that I should know before we go see anypony else?”
Ears drooping slightly Dash didn’t like being scolded, “Look, Scoots, I’m sorry. You were dead when I was told about it.”
With eyes shut Scootaloo asked as calmly as she could, “How was the funeral?”
“I didn’t go.”
“You didn’t even go to the funeral?” Scootaloo raged.
“I couldn’t go. Everypony would’ve started asking questions that I wouldn’t have been able to answer. And now they know what I was doing and I don’t even know why I thought that this was a good idea. Everypony thinks I’m a monster. So much so, that they won’t even look at me in the streets.”
“We just need to show them that you’ve changed.”
“HA! Have I really? You say that I didn’t think about the lives that I was affecting. You have no idea what I went through each and every time they gave that blasted test. In the thirty plus years that I’ve been working in that factory exactly 8,859 ponies have lost their lives at my hooves. Twenty-seven of those were co-workers and friends. Because of the rules we had to live by I wasn’t even allowed to give my condolences to their families. I see every face that has been through that factory every time I close my eyes. I had to stop leaving the factory because when some of the failu- ponies that came through were faces that I knew or knew their parents it was that much harder. We called them failures so we could justify why we had to do what we did. After a while it got easier. I don’t know if I’d call it easier. For how bad it sounds I did enjoy it after a while. I made up a game to see if I could guess what sounds they would make or what they might say to save themselves or somepony else, but it was just so I didn’t have to think about what we were doing. So what’s changed?”
“You didn’t kill us,” Cloud said.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed.
“You’re right. I could’ve. And if it wasn’t for you, Scootaloo, I would have. I was distraught after you came through, Scoots. I… went numb from anger and disappointment. Not at you, but at myself. My own sister. A failure. I had taught her everything she needed to know. She could pass the test in her sleep. The instructors assured me of that, but somehow I failed her and I had to be the one to…” A tear ran from her shut eyes. “And then you were back… back from the dead. Somehow, Cloud and Corona brought you back to me. A second chance to be with the one pony that I love. I felt again. I felt joy. I feel joy. I feel love. I also feel pain. The pain of knowing what I’ve done. And I’m scared.”
“You’re not scared of anything,” Scootaloo said.
“I’m scared of what might happen to you, Cloud, and Corona. I’m scared that my best friends ever may not forgive me for what I’ve done. Or worse, they do forgive me. What do I do then? Because I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.” Dash paused for a moment. “You’re right, Scootaloo. I have changed. I’m not the same pony I was when I left Ponyville.”
“That’s not what I was talking about.”
“What were you talking about then?”
“You changed in that room with Cloud, Corona, and me. I saw it with my own eyes. You were psychotic and then you changed. You didn’t kill us. You… you…” Scootaloo frowned and shook her head.
“The only thing that’s different is that I have a bit of my sanity back. I don’t think that’s a good thing really. The only good thing that I find in it is that I can spend time with my sister and new family and can remember it. The downside is that I can remember all the other stuff too. All the stuff I’d rather forget.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Yes she does,” Cloud said.
“That’s what I like about you, Cloud. You get it,” Dash said, nodding at Cloud.
“So why did you take us under your wing?” Cloud asked.
“You brought me Scootaloo,” Dash said, as if it were obvious.
“But she had been there the whole time.”
“I didn’t know that. Nopony was ever supposed to go into that room after that day. That reminds me, I have to get even with Dr. Atmosphere for lying to me for all those years,” Dash said, rubbing her chin.
“Hey! He’s the reason I’m still here. You need to thank him, not get even. Maybe you haven’t changed as much as I thought,” Scootaloo said.
“You still haven’t answered my question, really,” Cloud said.
Dash took a breath, “Look, I can’t tell you because I don’t even know myself. I was impressed how two ponies that couldn’t pass a simple flight exam were able to stay alive while my factory was being destroyed in the process of trying to kill them. Then you found Scootaloo and brought her back to me. I will forever be grateful for that. I guess that gave you the warden’s pardon. I don’t know. I feel that you and Corona deserve to be family.”
They all stood there looking around trying not to make eye contact. They failed to notice the pony hiding in the shadows.
“What about the family ya left behind?” a familiar voice called out.
Dash winced at the sound while Scootaloo’s eyes lit up searching. Cloud just stood still.
“Don’t just stand there! Answer me, Rainbow Dash!”
“AJ, I…”
“Don’t ya dare come here after all these years and call me AJ! How could you, Dash?”
“I knew this was a mistake. I’m really sorry, Applejack. I’ll be going.”
“What? Ya show up in my orchard screamin and yellin and expect me to not come investigate? Now I find out it’s you! You have some explaining to do.”
“Applejack. I don’t think that I can.”
“The buck you can’t! Why didn’t ya say goodbye?”
“I couldn’t. I couldn’t bear to have my heart broken five more times. Once was enough.”
“What about mine, Rainbow Dash? Or the others? One day you were here. The next…”
“AJ, I-“
“Don’t you even say you’re sorry! That isn’t going to cut it. Dang it, Dash!”
“I knew I shouldn’t have come back.”
“Why did ya come back then? Just to rub salt in the wound?”
“What! No. I was hoping that I could try and make things up to you, and Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.” She was frantically searching for AJ. “Even though I said goodbye to Twilight I still need to make things up to her too.”
“Hmph. We’ll see about that.” She still sounded upset, “So who are your new friends?”
“You know one of them. The other is Cloud Cover.”
Cloud stepped forward. “Hello.”
“I don’t know that other mare.”
“It’s me, Applejack. It’s Scootaloo.”
“Scootaloo. But you were banished,” Applejack whispered. “You came back. We had heard a rumor that you had to leave Equestria. Where did you go?” Applejack asked as she appeared off to their left.
“Well, it’s kind of a long story.” Scootaloo looked to Dash not sure how to explain, or where to even start.
Applejack just stood there staring, as if waiting for something. Finally, she said, “Well?”
Scootaloo stammered, “It started-“ she was interrupted by another voice.
“I think that Rainbow Dash should explain herself first, darling. Not that we don’t want to hear about your adventures, Scootaloo, but that will have to wait, dear.”
Rainbow Dash shrunk down a little at hearing that voice.
“That’s a story I want to hear for sure, but Rainbow Dash, your story comes first!” A bubbly voice said.
“I guess we should give her the opportunity to explain,” a barely audible shy voice squeaked.
With the addition of each new voice Dash sank lower and lower until she was lying on the ground eyes shut hoping beyond hope that this was a nightmare and she’d be waking up soon. She heard Applejack’s voice again.
“Let’s all go to the house. I think we should wait on Twilight before any story telling or apologies are given or accepted.”
“I agree.” As she said the words Rarity appeared a couple paces to Applejack’s left.
“Ok. I guess so,” Pinkie Pie huffed as she appeared to Applejack’s right.
“O-ok,” Fluttershy whispered. She was standing beside Rarity opposite Applejack.
Cloud was in awe. Dash had told her stories of these ponies. They are all Elements of Harmony. And she gets to see them all together. She started to wobble as her knees started to give out.
Scootaloo noticed her unsteadiness, “Cloud, are you ok?”
“It just hit me who’s standing in front of us.”
Scootaloo was confused. “Yeah? It’s Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. What’s the big deal?”
Cloud looked at Scootaloo like she had grown a third head, “Are you serious? These are the hero’s that Dash told us about!”
“Told you about. I know them. Come on. Let’s go introduce you.” Scootaloo nudged Cloud forward.
Still laying in the path Dash knew that this was her trial. The one that she didn’t get from Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. She would’ve welcomed that. But, for her closest friends to be the ones to pass judgment is the worst thing that could’ve happened.
“Rainbow Dash! Snap to! Get to the house, sugarcube,” Applejack yelled back.
Maybe it won’t be so bad after all. She called me sugarcube. “Coming.” She hurriedly got to her hooves and followed after the others to the house.