Progress

by P-Berry

Chapter 5

The paper was surprisingly easy to fill out – it reminded Twilight more to a survey than to an actual form, for all she had to do was answer some simple questions and give some personal information.

“Okay, I think that’s it.” She said and slid the paper back to Pinkie Pie who picked it up and gave it an inspecting look. The pink pony read for a few seconds, then began to chuckle, making a massive effort to hold it back, but failing miserably.

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“A-are you serious?” Pinkie asked, still unable to contain her amusement, “Residence: The Ponyville library? Occupation: Princess!? Bwahaha!”

“What’s so funny about that? It’s where I live and what I do!” Twilight justified herself.

“Yeah, maybe a hundred years ago!” Pinkie said, her voice still quavering, “Sorry, but that,” she pointed at the paper, “Isn’t exactly what my bosses want to read.”

“What else should I write, then?” Twilight asked, confused and slightly annoyed by Pinkie’s sudden laughing fit, “Should I just make something up?”

“No, of course not!” Pinkie replied hastily, “We just have to … adapt it a little.” she craned her neck, making a reflecting pose, “You don’t happen to know the official address of your home, do you?”

Twilight blinked at her friend, not understanding her question, “What do you mean? It’s the library. In Ponyville. … I believe there’s only one tree-shaped library in the city.” She added with a light chuckle in her voice.

“Hmmm, yeah…” Pinkie mumbled to herself. Lowering her head and looking at Twilight again, she said, “Nevermind, I’ll have somepony look it up.” She looked back at the paper in front of her, “And about that Princess-thing…”

“What about it? I am a Princess, you know?” Twilight said, skeptically raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, the only problem is that those governmental stiffie-pantsies don’t see it as a legit occupation.” Pinkie explained, “It’s like if I would say I was the conqueror of the moon or something like that!” she giggled.

“…What!?” Twilight asked visibly confused, “What do you-“

“Ha! I got it!” Pinkie interrupted her and jumped up from her chair, “Government official! That’s the right term!”
Before Twilight could act, Pinkie pulled a pencil out of her breast pocket and scribbled something on the paper. “Alright!” she reached for Twilight’s hoof, shaking it amicably, “Congratulations, Twilight! Your detention is officially over!”

“T-thank you, I guess…” Twilight stuttered, just to be cut off once again.

“Now, we'll just have get you out of that stupid overall and you’ll be out of here in no time!” Pinkie announced and rushed forward, hurrying out of the room and pulling the confused Twilight behind her.

---

Once again, getting torn through the seemingly endless building had managed to deprive Twilight of every kind of orientation; she had been forced to blindly follow her friend through the narrow hallways without knowing where the pink pony was heading.

So once again, she sighed in relief as Pinkie finally stopped in front of a door and said, “Here we are! Don’t worry, this will take only a minute!”

“What are we-“ Twilight wanted to ask, but Pinkie had already entered the room and gestured Twilight to follow her.

“Oh well…” Twilight sighed and stepped inside.

In opposite to the other rooms she had seen that day, the room she was in now didn’t manage to amaze her: it was just a locker room – plain, grey walls, unspectacular wooden benches, bare, green lockers; nothing more.

Pinkie Pie hurried forward and stopped in front of a locker situated in one of the room’s corners. Tearing it open with a quick tug and hastily rummaging around it, she said, “I’m afraid I can’t offer you any new clothes, but if you’re fine with wearing my plainclothes,” she pulled a pair of cyan pants out of the locker and threw it over to Twilight who dodged the sudden assault with a quick jump to the side, “I think it’s certainly better than walking around in a convict uniform.” the second piece of cloth –a pink t-shirt- flew over to Twilight, yet this time was faster than her and landed on her head.

“Ugh. Do I really have to wear those things?” Twilight asked the obvious question as she pulled the shirt from her face.

“Well,” Pinkie said and closed the locker, “you don’t have to. I mean, I didn’t really have the impression that you liked sitting in that sticky detention cell, but if I’m wrong, feel free to go ahead!”

With a mumbled curse, Twilight opened the zipper at the side of her overall and finally freed herself from its scratchy embrace, noticing that Pinkie demonstratively turned her head away from her.

“Oh come on!” Twilight said and slipped into the pants, “Really?”

“Just go ahead, Twily!” Pinkie said without turning her head, “I’m not looking!”

“Pinkie!” Twilight snapped at her while putting on the pink t-shirt, “Come on, we never wore clothes earlier. Don’t act like if it was something new.”
“Sorry Twilight,” Pinkie said over her shoulder, yet kept her eyes closed, “Force of habit, you know?”

“Yeah yeah,” Twilight grumbled and grabbed the bundle of bank notes from the overall in front of her hooves, storing it in one of her newly-gained pockets, “Force of my flank!” Addressing Pinkie Pie, she spoke up, “Alright, I’m dressed now. You can look again.”

Instantly, Pinkie span around and, grabbing Twilight by her hoof once again, said, “Alrighty then! Let’s get you out of here!”

“What about the overall?” Twilight asked while passing the exit door.

Without turning her head, Pinkie said, “Don’t mind it! I’m sure someone’s going to put it away sooner or later!”
With a skeptical frown, Twilight replied, “I’m not so sure about-“

“Now come on,” Pinkie interrupted her and shot forward, “You wanted to look for Rainbow Dash, didn’t you?”

Twilight sighed, but remained silent and hurried after Pinkie, quickly losing herself in the labyrinth of grey hallways.

---

A couple of minutes later, the two ponies finally passed a large milk glass door and Twilight found herself outside again, blinded by the broad light of the midday sun.

Even before her eyes could spot her, a cloud of blue smoke floated over to her and made her scrunch up her nose in disgust. She turned her head to the right and saw her: leaning against the brick wall of the building, Rainbow Dash hung her head low and looked to the ground; her right wing held the suspected causer of the stench: a small, white rod, not longer than two inches, that emitted a constant stream of bluish smoke at one end.

“Dashie, there you are!” Pinkie noticed joyfully and span around, facing the pegasus with a happy smile.

The cyan mare slowly raised her head; thin strands of smoke escaped her mouth and nose. “What do you want?” she asked; her voice sounded even croakier than before.

Doing her best to give her friend a smile, Pinkie said, “Well, we wanted to-“

“What the hell is wrong with you, Rainbow Dash!?” Twilight interrupted the pink pony and stepped forward, “What happened? Why do you suddenly act like if you wouldn’t give a damn about your friends!?”

“Because I don’t.” Rainbow Dash responded dryly and dropped the smoking object to the ground, “And now leave me the hell alone. I don’t need your company!” she snapped at Twilight and stretched her wings, taking off in the blink of an eye and dashing vertically upward.

“Oh no you don’t!” Twilight growled and took off for her part, speeding after her friend with clenched teeth. She didn’t know what had happened to her friend, but she was more than eager to find out.

The young princess couldn’t tell if her sudden anger made her develop extra power or if her friend was just flying extremely slow, but for some reason, she had approached Rainbow Dash after only a few seconds - her exhausted gasps came to Twilight’s ears; her rainbow tail was about to touch the tip of her nose.

Making an effort to hide her heavy breathing, Rainbow Dash turned her head and, over her gasps, said, “I … said … leave me alone!” she clenched her teeth and, under massive efforts, flapped her wings a little faster, arduously gaining a little advance to her friend.

But it was futile: without making a noticeable effort, Twilight caught hold of her friend’s rainbow tail and gave it a hard tug. The two ponies stopped instantly; Rainbow Dash desperately tried to free herself from Twilight’s grip, but it was more than obvious who was in charge of the bundle.

“Leave me alone!” Rainbow Dash spat at Twilight and squirmed. Turning her head and giving Twilight a petrifying stare over her shoulder, she growled, “I don’t want to hurt you, Twilight, but if you leave me no other choice, I’m gonna have to-“

“Quit talking nonsense.” Twilight hissed back and gave Rainbow Dash’s tail another tug, catching her off-guard and pulling the cyan pegasus closer to her. Taking advantage of her friend’s perplexity, she quickly flung her forelegs around her body and carried the struggling mare to the ground.

“Lemme go! Lemme go!” Rainbow Dash growled, realizing that she stood no chance against Twilight’s hard grip, “Twilight I swear to god I'll kick your fuc-“

She didn’t manage to finish her sentence, for in that second, the two mares landed on the floor and Twilight, remaining on top of Rainbow Dash, pinned her to the ground, paying attention not to hurt her, but completely preventing her from moving.

“Relax, Rainbow!” Twilight urged the still struggling mare, “You have to calm down!”

Though contrary to her expectations, Twilight’s invitation only made the cyan mare struggle harder and she had to make use of her magic to contain the squirming pegasus. “Relax my ass! This shit you’re doing here is illegal! I’m gonna sue your royal flank for criminal assault!” Rainbow Dash spat at her friend, flames burning in her eyes.

Pinkie Pie, who had trotted the short distance from the building’s exit to the two mares’ current position, stopped next to Twilight and said, “Whoa there! What in the name of Celestia is going on!?”

“Argh!” Rainbow Dash groaned under the pressure of Twilight’s magic, “That whore won’t let me go! Tell her to release me!”

“Not unless you don’t tell me what’s wrong with you!” Twilight responded confidently.

“Nothing is wrong!” Rainbow growled. Giving Pinkie a demanding look, she said, “Tell her, Pinkie! I’m as alright as ever!”

The pink pony hesitated, eyeing both of her friends with skeptical looks. After a few moments of silence, she turned her head towards Rainbow Dash and hesitantly said, “You know, Dashie. The old Rainbow Dash would have never flown off when her friends wanted to talk to her.”

“But-“

With growing self-confidence, Pinkie continued, “And the old Rainbow Dash would have never called one of her best friends a ‘whore’!”

“But she has-“

Pinkie’s face became angrier with every second, “And ultimately, the old Rainbow Dash would have shown at least a tiny sign of happiness when her lost friend has returned after 30 whole years! At least a teeny tiny sign of happiness!”

The cyan mare remained motionless for a moment, then sighed deeply and dropped her head, resting it on the cold asphalt of the sidewalk the ponies were standing on.

“I think you can let her go now, Twilight.” Pinkie muttered and stepped back, “She won’t fly off again.”

Obeying, Twilight arose from the rainbow-haired mare and released her from the grip of her magic; her friend remained lying though.
In the second Twilight wanted to take a step forward and look if she was alright, Rainbow Dash –barely understandable- muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Twilight hesitated, “What?”

“I’m sorry, alright?” Rainbow Dash literally belched the words out and raised her head, looking at the Princess with glazed eyes, “I acted like a total fuckhead. You happy now?”

Making an effort to smile, Twilight softly nodded her head and said, “It’s okay, Rainbow. Everypony has a bad day from time to time.” She offered her a hoof to get up.

Just as Rainbow Dash had gotten to her hooves and was about to say something, the general background noise coming from a road opposite to the police station got drowned out by a thrilling ringtone coming from the walkie-talkie on Pinkie’s chest. “Officer Pie, I do not remember releasing you into lunch break!” the slightly irritated voice of a stallion came from the device’s speaker, “Move your flank back in here. There’s work to be done!”

“Oh, hehe…” Pinkie giggled and grabbed the black box, “I’ll be there in a second, Joe!” she assured the stallion at the other end of the line.

“Sorry you guys,” she said to Twilight and Rainbow Dash, “duty calls!” she turned around, facing the building again, “I’ll see you as soon as my shift is over, alright?” she wanted to trot off, but suddenly stopped herself, “Oh, and Twilight,” she said and focused the purple mare over her shoulder, “Keep a stiff upper lip, alright? Life in the city can be tough.” With that, she trotted towards the large entrance door and quickly disappeared behind the bare brick façade of the building.

Silence hung over the two mares for a second; then Twilight turned her head towards Rainbow Dash and asked, “So … what now?”

The cyan pegasus gave her an unbelieving, slightly condescending smirk. “Seriously?” she grunted more than she was speaking, “You’re asking me what you should do now?”

“Well, I actually asked you what we should do now.” Twilight corrected her friend, “I mean…” she mumbled and let her glance wander throughout her environment. She was caught in a concrete desert: surrounded by houses that had at least five times the size of houses in Ponyville and having only a black street as contrast to the grey of the omnipresent concrete, she felt a sudden craving for a plain, green meadow rising up inside her.

She looked for other ponies: while the streets were well-filled with the odd vehicles –their terrible stench had already managed to defeat every potential sensation of hunger inside her- the sidewalks next to the street were nearly empty: apart from one or two stallions in black suits, a mare that took her foal for a walk, and two filthy-looking stallions in yellow reflective vests, her environment was basically desolate.

“…I honestly don’t know where to go.” Twilight hesitantly completed her sentence.

“And you think I do?” Rainbow Dash replied unbelievingly, “Twilight, I’m a detective, no freaking fortuneteller! How the hell should I know where the hell you want to go!?”

“W-well…” Twilight stuttered, “Where are you going?”

Pulling a keyring out of her pocket, Rainbow Dash replied, “I was just on my way to an investigation near the Central Garden. That is, until you interrupted me.” A growl escaped her throat, but she quickly fought it down and shook her head, adding, “I can give you a lift if you want.”

The thought of a garden; of a soft, green patch of grass made Twilight nod her head without thinking further.

“Alright then. Follow me.” Rainbow Dash said and turned around, walking along the building and heading towards a large opening in its façade. Twilight shrugged cluelessly, but –faced with a lack of alternatives- trotted after her friend and quickly caught up to her.

“Coming to think of it,” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself, “I think the old library isn’t that far from the Central Garden.”

“The old library?” Twilight asked slightly confused.

They passed the large opening and entered a huge room that reminded Twilight to a basement: barely enlightened, it was equipped with nothing but some small ceiling lights and two exit doors in the grey walls.

On second look though, Twilight noticed that the room wasn’t completely empty: she spotted several of the road vehicles standing in different corners of the room; none of them seemed to be manned by a pony though.

“Your former home, egghead.” Rainbow Dash answered her friend’s question with a light chuckle in her voice.

“My … my home?” Twilight stuttered, needing a few seconds to count one and one together, “So, that means … you’ll take me home?” she asked, suddenly feeling a wave of euphoria rise up inside her.

Without turning her head, Rainbow Dash shrugged casually and said, “If you say so.” She grabbed a key from her keyring with her mouth; a deafening bleep echoed throughout the room; Twilight saw an orange light flashing at its other end and gave a startled jerk.

“Now come on, I don’t have all day.” Rainbow Dash urged her friend and trotted over to one of the vehicles.

Twilight, still feeling the adrenaline rush through her veins, obeyed and trotted over to her friend, skeptically approaching the vehicle. It looked mostly similar to the one she had seen the day before; the only difference was that it was completely black and lacked the set of blinking lights on its roof.

Rainbow Dash opened a door in its front and dropped herself onto a seat, gesturing Twilight to do the same. “Come on, enter already. My lunch break is over for twenty minutes!” she summoned her impatiently.

Twilight –unable to miss noticing her once again shaking legs- hesitantly trotted forward and stopped in front of a door at the other side of the vehicle, unsure what to do in order to open it.

“Oh for goodness’ sake,” Twilight heard Rainbow Dash growl as the cyan mare leaned over to her and opened the door from the inside, “You could at least do something by yourself!”

“S-sorry…” Twilight muttered absentmindedly and sat down on the seat next to Rainbow Dash, noticing that the unpleasant smell of smoke her friend seemed to emit almost continuously was nearly omnipresent in the cabin they were sitting in. She scrunched up her nose and, intending to show her friend that she was able to cope with the new technologies surrounding her, used her magic to close the door and gave the cyan mare a weak, yet proud grin.

But she had already lost her friend’s attention: rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash grabbed her keyring and inserted a small, plastic-coated key into a lock next to the steering wheel in front of her. The black vehicle awoke with a soft growl and Twilight winced noticeably, yet managed to hold back a squeal this time.

With a dry smirk, Rainbow Dash rested her front hooves on the large wheel in front of her and, without looking at her friend, said, “Oh you’re gonna have a bad time here, egghead.”

Before Twilight could question her friend, the vehicle jerked forward and pressed her into the scratchy fabric of her seat.

With proficiency that –at least Twilight thought so- could only result from many years of practice, Rainbow Dash used the steering wheel to maneuver the vehicle past the obstacles in her way and towards the gap in the wall that indicated the exit.

“What do you mean with ‘bad time’?” Twilight finally asked as their vehicle shot out of the darkness of the building and into the broad sunlight of the day, merging into the continuous flow of other vehicles on the road.

“Well…” Rainbow Dash said and shrugged carelessly, her look always focused on the street in front of them, “Remember when Moonbutt came to Ponyville for the first time?”

It took Twilight a few seconds to realize what her friend hat just said. She slowly turned her head towards the cyan mare; her eyes widened in disbelief, “Excuse me!? Did you just call Princess Luna ‘Moonbutt’!?”

“Yeah yeah,” Rainbow Dash put her off, “Luna, Lulu, Moonbutt, whatever. When she came to Ponyville, she didn’t have the slightest idea of how things were running here, right?”

“…and?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well,” the pegasus commenced and brought the vehicle to a standstill in front of a red traffic light, turning her head towards her passenger, “Don’t you see some kind of, you know, similarity here?”

“What do you-“ Twilight replied but cut herself off as she got her friend’s point, “Are you kidding?” she asked her with widened eyes, “Luna was gone for a thousand years, I only for thirty years! You … you can’t compare that!”

With a huff, Rainbow Dash turned her head back and said, “Thirty years, thousand years … where’s the difference?” she let out a weak sigh, “Time means nothing nowadays, Twilight. A lesson you’ll learn sooner or later.” With a dry smirk on her face, she looked back up and said, “But if you’re so sure about being up to date, please tell me what that is.” She said and grabbed a small parcel from a tray between their seats, presenting it to her friend.

“Well, that’s…” Twilight leaned forward and read the small text on the white carton, noticing that the dominant, smoky stench that filled the room came from inside the box, “…’Mareboro’? What in Equestria is-“

“And how do you call the thing we’re sitting in, huh?” Rainbow Dash probed before Twilight could answer, “I’m sure those things didn’t exist back in your days.”

“It looks like a-“

“And what about those odd speech-boxes here?” Rainbow continued with growing anger and pointed a hoof at the black box fixed to her chest, “Do you know what they’re good for?”

“I-“

“And why in Tartarus is everyone wearing clothes all the time!?” she threw her hooves into the air and smashed them against her covered chest, “Why did you get arrested for not wearing some!? Come on, tell me, you little smartass!”

“It’s alright, Rainbow Dash! Calm down!” Twilight interrupted the raging pegasus. Slowly turning her head away, she mumbled, “You know, I was just hoping. I was hoping that I didn’t miss that much. That I could just, you know, continue where I stopped when I left.”

Rainbow Dash hesitated; her head slowly sunk onto the wheel as she weakly mumbled, “Hoping…” She remained like that for a second, until the muscles in her body tensed and she growled, “Oh no!” Suddenly, her head shot upward; her stiff upper body turned towards Twilight as she yelled, “Hoping won’t bring you shit! Depend on your hopes and this shithole of a city will eat you whole and alive!”

The young princess felt tears flooding her eyes as she rested her head against the window in her door and whimpered, “I ... I was just…”

“Yeah, I once was too! And look at me now!” Rainbow Dash yelled and angrily smashed a hoof against her stained shirt, “I’m wearing fucking rags, I’m driving a rusty, old pile of junk, I’m living in a filthy apartment I can barely afford…!” she smashed a hoof against the steering wheel, “For fuck’s sake, my life is a complete pile of shit!”

Twilight wanted to reply something, but in the second she opened her mouth, the traffic light in front of them switched to green and Rainbow Dash spurred her car; the growling noise coming from its front –presumably where its engine was situated- filled the small room and drowned out every noise that tried to escape Twilight’s mouth.

Resting her head against the door, she watched her friend steer their vehicle through the broad streets of the city; the muscles in her forelegs were tensed to the maximum, her teeth clenched. “Trust me, if there’s one thing I’ve learned,” she hissed, her look stoically focused on the crowded street, “then it’s that you can’t depend on anything or anyone. Don’t pin your hopes on someone else, don’t think that anyone on this goddamned planet gives a flying fuck about you!”

Twilight took breath in order to say something, yet hesitated, realizing that she wouldn’t find the right words to comfort her friend. So she sighed deeply and turned her head to the side, watching the scenery of the metropolis as it rushed past her window.

She still didn’t know how to describe it: she had often read about megacities – places where thousands, maybe even millions of ponies live in a localized manner; yet the only place those cities appeared were science-fiction books; stories that were set in the distant future, that told stories about heroic ponies who saved Equestria from all kinds of threats.

But those were all stories; fictional happenings made up by ponies who were paid for thinking of those things. The situation she was in was real: she was caught in the future; she was in the middle of a city that burst the limits of her imagination; and she had no idea of what to do or where to go – it felt in fact like if she was caught in one of her sci-fi novels. Though with a wistful sigh and a short glance at her emaciated body, she realized that, neither physically, nor mentally, could she compete with the heroes of her books.

Trying to take her mind off things, she shook her head and, moving her glance away from the skyscrapers whose roofs she couldn’t look at, even if she craned her neck to the maximum, let her glance wander throughout the vehicle.

To her surprise, its structure wasn’t much different to that of a carriage: there were two seats in the front, three in the back, and four doors at each side, a small window integrated into each. She inspected the area in front of her seat: a large, black box –presumably one of the ‘walkie-talkies’ Pinkie Pie had mentioned earlier- divided Rainbow Dash’s from her seat; her look made its way over to a tray in front of her seat, passing something that reminded her to a radio, and resting on a black piece of metal.

Raising an eyebrow, she leaned forward and lifted it with her magic, eyeing the object with growing interest. It appeared to be shaped like an ‘L’; while one end looked like a handle, the other end was square with it and had some similarity to a pipe, showing a narrow opening at one end; a thin bow of metal connected the two elements and covered something that looked like a small lever.

“What in Equestria is that thing?” Twilight asked curiously, her look still focused on the object.

Rainbow Dash turned her head towards her; her eyes widened instantly. “Hey, hooves off that thing!” she yelled and shot forward, wrenching it from the grip of her magic and throwing it to the ground in front of her hooves, “That’s not a toy!”

“What the hay, Rainbow?” Twilight said and gave the cyan pegasus a confused look.

“Leave it.” Rainbow Dash told her dryly and hastily leaned back, focusing her attention on the traffic around them again, “That’s nothing for you.”

Instead of obeying her friend, Twilight unhesitatingly leaned forward and picked the object up once again, continuing her inspection, “What is it then? Some kind of tool?” she span it around, making the small opening face her, ”What’s that lever good for?”

“For fuck’s sake!” Rainbow Dash yelled and leaned over to Twilight once again, yet this time grabbed the object and tore it over to her, putting it into a small sheath fixed to a belt around her waist, “When I say ‘leave it’ I want you to leave it! Not to pick it up again!”

“What is that thing, Rainbow Dash? Why won’t you tell me?” Twilight asked the cyan mare flabbergasted, “Friends aren’t supposed to keep secrets from-”

“I said it’s none of your business!” Rainbow snapped back, “There are some things in Equestria you don’t need to know about!”

“But-“

“And now stop asking questions or I’ll chuck you out on the spot! You’re still sitting in my car after all!” Rainbow Dash clarified unambiguously and stiffly turned her head back.

That was a clear statement. Concluding from her behavior earlier that day, Twilight would have really trusted her friend to make it reality; to leave her all alone in a basically foreign city.

So she remained silent and leaned against her door again, well-knowing that her friend wasn’t up for a conversation.

Several minutes passed like that; Rainbow Dash focused on the chaotic traffic around her, Twilight looked out of the window, still dumbfounded by the breathtaking size of the scenery passing by.

To Twilight’s surprise, the silence got broken by Rainbow Dash who, while they were waiting in front of a red traffic light, let out a deep sigh and said, “Look, I’m sorry for yelling at you. My life hasn’t really been that easy recently and … I hardly sleep and … yeah, sorry for overreacting.”

Pleasantly surprised by that unexpected turn of events, Twilight sat up and turned towards her friend, giving her a friendly smile and saying, “It’s alright, Rainbow. Everypony can have a hard day from time to time … or a hard month.”

The pegasus nodded weakly and turned her head back towards the street, softly accelerating her car as the traffic light switched back to green.

“But still,” Twilight carefully started over, “I mean, if you don’t mind me asking, what has happened?” she asked curiously, “What about your job at the Weather Patrol? Your cloud house? What has become of all that?”

Rainbow Dash let out a moan and closed her eyes for a moment. “Do you really wanna know?” she asked with a noticeable touch of anger in her voice.

“Why of course!” Twilight replied without hesitating, “You’re my friend, and I want to know what’s wrong with you so that I can help you with it! That’s what friends are for!”

Slowly, the cyan mare turned her head to the side and looked at Twilight. “As much as I hate to put a damp on your enthusiasm…” she commenced, frowning at her friend, “But it’s your fault.”

Those words hit Twilight like a sledgehammer – the world around them seemed to blur as she –seemingly in slow motion- set up on her seat and, with pounding heart and widened eyes, looked at her friend. “Wa- what!? N-no, this can’t be! You must be kidding!” she stuttered unbelieving.

Keeping a straight face, Rainbow Dash turned her head back and said, “I actually didn’t want to talk about it, but now that you asked…” she hesitated, clenching her teeth and letting out an angry snort, “Yes, it is all your fault!”

“But … why? How?” Twilight asked with growing despair, “What did I-“

“You disappeared.” Rainbow Dash answered her question soberly, her face still contorted with anger, “You ran away and got lost in the Crystal Mountains.”

Twilight couldn’t help but notice a shiver running through her body as the memory of the icy hell she was stuck in popped up in her head. “Yes, but … what does it have to do with you? How did that make you lose your job and house?” she asked, not making an effort to hide her confusion.

Rainbow Dash dropped her face into her hoof. “And I thought you were smart enough to count one and one together.” She growled to herself.

“What!?”

“Look,” Rainbow Dash said and turned her head towards her, “When the great, new, young Princess gets lost on a mission her own mentor has sent her on, what do you think happens?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Well, I-“

“Right!” her friend cut her off unhesitatingly, “The Princesses move heaven and earth to find her! They send hundreds of guards into the Crystal Mountains and literally comb the whole area. And what do her best friends do?”

“I think-“

“Right, they do the same! They forget about their everyday lives, drop everything, and spend day and night ploughing through tons and tons of snow!” Rainbow Dash continued her explanation and turned her head back, “Now let me ask you something: when the search –an undertaking that costs hundreds of bits per day- lasts on for several months and still remains inconclusive; when the guards lose their motivation and more and more quit their jobs, what happens? What do the Princesses do?”

Twilight remained silent, feeling tears flooding her eyes once again.

“They give up! They just declare her missing in action and go home!” the pegasus continued, regardless of her sobbing friend.

The young princess turned her head away, trying to hide the tears that now began running down her cheeks.

“Yes, they all left! They all gave up hope!” Rainbow Dash explained bitterly, “Even her best friends left after a couple of years!” She paused for a few seconds to let her statement sink in, then added, “Everyone but one.”

Twilight felt the desire to cry out loudly rise up inside her as she turned around and faced her friend with tearstained eyes, slowly getting her point.

“Yes, one mare stayed to the end. One. Loyal. Mare.” Rainbow Dash continued without turning her head, “She forgot about everything around her and just focused on finding her friend. She spent days, months, hell even years in those damned mountains, doing nothing but plowing through the endless ice desert, hoping that she would find her lost friend!”

“Rainbow, you-“ Twilight whispered, but got cut off by a weak sob coming from her throat.

“Do you know what that meant for me, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked her, her anger now mixed with a distant wistfulness, “I had to give up everything. I couldn’t maintain my house, I got fired for not appearing at work, I missed the acceptance test for the Wonderbolts…” she oppressed a sob, stiffly staring at the street, “All my plans just … crumbled into dust.”

“Why didn’t you-“

“But you know me!” Dash continued; the muscles in her forelegs began to tense again, “I didn’t just give up! I tried! Again and again! I tried to both; to spent the days with training and the nights with searching for you. I wanted my job back; I wanted my life back!” she clenched her teeth, noticeably disgusted by the memory, “And I didn’t want to believe that you were dead!” her breath quickened; her grip around the steering wheel tightened with every second, “Everyone told me to give up. Everyone said I should just accept your demise and live with it.” Her breathing turned into snorting, “But I didn’t! I kept on searching you for three whole years!” her head shot around, facing Twilight with eyes widened with rage, “And for what!? For nothing at all! I froze my ass off just to be faced with even more empty snowscape! Every single fucking day!”

“But why-“

“Do you wanna see what that cold has made of me!?” Rainbow Dash yelled and tore her shirt off with a hasty movement of her right hoof, granting Twilight full view of her exposed upper body.

She gasped. Several tufts of the cyan fur were missing, revealing the view on Rainbow Dash’s skin: some spots looked like if they had just been burned, some had the color of a ripe plum; others were severely scarred. Yet what stuck out the most were her wings: while they usually were covered with light blue feathers, looking soft and fluffy, they now reminded her to a dying tree, having only a fraction of their former number of feathers.

Too aghast to give a proper reply, Twilight stuttered, “W-wha? I-is that f-frost-“

“Do you have any idea how terribly frostbite hurts!?” Rainbow Dash yelled at her, pointing a hoof at the scarred spots of skin, “I could burn each and every single inch of your skin with a fucking blowtorch and it wouldn’t hurt as much as it hurt me back then!”

Twilight gulped with discomfort, doing her best to give her friend an empathetic look. She knew that she had to say something, but the thoughts popping up in her head –the seemingly endless list of things Rainbow Dash had sacrificed for her- had literally made her lose her tongue.

With a both, furious and wistful sigh, Rainbow Dash turned her head back and accelerated her vehicle again; her shirt remained unbuttoned, granting Twilight full view on the scars she had –more or less directly- caused, and torturing her with endless amounts of self-reproaches now popping up in her mind.

After a felt eternity of silence, Rainbow Dash finally spoke up again. With another wistful sigh, she said, “But I wish the frostbite was everything. After all, physical pain vanishes with time – either your injuries heal, or you learn to ignore the pain. But mental pain remains forever.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked carefully, apprehending to already know the answer.

To her very surprise, the reply came without a derogatory comment about her lack of knowledge: Rainbow Dash slowly turned her head towards her and, with the most drained look Twilight had ever seen, said, “My wings.” She pointed at the scraggy extremities, “I can barely fly anymore.” She paused and tried to oppress a wistful sob, “I lost my hopes of getting my job back, my dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt…” another sob made its way up Rainbow Dash’s throat, “…and Scootaloo.”

Twilight choked from the horror rising up inside her, yet managed to bring out a mumbled, “W-what do you mean? I-i-is she…?”

“It’s my fault!” Rainbow Dash yelled and punched her steering wheel with all of her force, “How the hell am I supposed to be her role model when I can’t fly any longer? What reason did she have to look up to me? To a fucking earthbound pegasus-crip!?”

Without leaving her friend time to react, Rainbow Dash grabbed a thin wallet from the tray between their seats and threw it over to Twilight who grabbed it with her magic and hesitantly flipped it open. Her look fell onto a small passport photo that was glued to the inside of the purse: it showed a young mare, dressed in the orange overall she knew all too well from her short stay in prison, and looking into the camera with a dull, angry frown. Her mane and coat were an absolute mess - unkempt, scruffy, and stained with several greyish blotches; several smaller bruises and scars across her face testified some rough times she must have been going through in the past. Twilight could only guess who the pony on the picture was.

“I told her that drugs were nothing to joke with!” Rainbow Dash yelped furiously, “I told her that she would get in trouble for experimenting with that stuff! But did she listen to me!?”

Twilight remained silent, well-knowing that the question was rhetorical – the photograph in front of her answered all of her questions at once.

“No!” her friend yelled out, “Of course not! Why should she listen to me anyway!? I’m a fucking cripple!”

“Now come on, Rainbow.” Twilight, glad to finally have found a point to contradict her friend, interrupted her, “That really isn’t-“

“You shut the hell up!” Rainbow Dash furiously cut her off and suddenly jammed on the brakes; her vehicle came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the road, “It’s your fault that she’s turned into a god damn junkie!”

“…with all due respect, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight hesitantly replied, “I understand that you’re upset, but-“

“I said shut up!” the cyan pegasus cut her off again, “It’s all your fault! Don’t even try to bluff it out!” she planted herself in front of Twilight, her teeth clenched in anger, “If you wouldn’t have gotten lost in that glacier, everything would be fine by now!”
“Okay,” Twilight said, trying her best to comfort her furious friend, “Okay, I understand that I’ve made a mistake by running away.” She jugged, trying to hide her shaking body, “But I promise you, if there’s anything I can do to help-“

“Get lost.” Rainbow Dash finished her sentence and pointed a hoof at the door behind Twilight. Her voice was calm again, but still quavering, reminding Twilight to a volcano that was just about to erupt.

“No.” Twilight replied decisively, “I have caused all that trouble, and I will help you-“

“I said fuck off!” the cyan pegasus snarled at her, her eyes beginning to widen again, “Get out of my car! Pronto!”

Twilight rebelliously shook her head, “No, Rainbow Dash. I will not go until you don’t-“ she silenced abruptly as her look fell onto Rainbow Dash’s right wing: she had grabbed the peculiar black tool from its holster on her belt and now pointed it at Twilight, aiming for her chest.

“You will go. Now.” Rainbow Dash said with a terrifying calmness.

“R-Rainbow, what are you doing?” Twilight asked, her horrified look steadily focused on the odd device in front of her.

“This is your final warning.” Rainbow Dash growled through her clenched teeth, “Get. Lost. Now!”

Doing her best to suppress the quaver in her voice, Twilight stuttered, “R-rainbow Dash, please! Let us talk like-“

She didn’t manage to finish her sentence. In that second, a deafening boom ran throughout the cabin of the vehicle and the window glass behind her burst with a terrifying shattering sound; the device in Rainbow Dash’s wing emitted a thin stream of smoke.

“I won't fumble next time!” Rainbow Dash yelled on top of her lungs, “Now fuck off!”

Twilight definitely didn’t need to have that told twice – she didn’t know why her friend reacted that aggressively, but she definitely didn’t want to risk her life trying to find out. Letting out a horrified scream, she jumped through the now gaping hole in the door next to her and took to her heels, hurrying away from the vehicle with her furious friend in it, and getting into safety without looking back.

---

It had taken her a few minutes of running to notice how soft the ground underneath her hooves was. After casting a quick glance over her shoulder and realizing that Rainbow Dash’s car was completely out of sight, she slowed down and finally came to a halt, catching her breath with exhausted gasps.

“What … in Equestria … was that?” she asked herself over her gasps. She had seen Rainbow Dash losing her mind before; she had even seen her downright furious during their first encounter with Discord, but never would she have imagined that the cyan pegasus could snap like that - that she would even maroon her best friend in a place she didn’t know at all.

And the device Rainbow Dash had pointed at her – was it a weapon? It did break the car window after all, but would she ever do this? Would she ever threaten her friend with a weapon?

Twilight noticed her legs suddenly turning into butter and preventatively sat down, noticing that the ground she was sitting on was made of slightly withered grass.

“No…” she mumbled to herself, “This can’t be true. This just can’t!” she slowly raised her head, taking a look around: to her very surprise, she was surrounded by grass – at least two miles of the grassy green surrounded her, and she noticed how the soft sensation underneath her body sent a delightful tickle through her spine.

Though her enthusiasm quickly faded again as she noticed what was behind the grass. The horizon was covered by grey concrete – encircling the small meadow, and making her feel like caught in a prison once again.

Feeling deprived of every kind of power, she slowly lowered her head again and rested it on her hooves. A weak sigh escaped her lips as she closed her exhausted eyes – she knew that taking a nap in between the concrete jungle wouldn’t help her situation, but at the same time she didn’t know what could do otherwise – Rainbow Dash would definitely be the last pony to help her right now, Pinkie Pie was more than beyond reach, and her other friends … no, she didn’t want to think about them – she already had enough reasons to cry, she didn’t need three other ones.

Trying her best to keep her spirit free of her outside world, Twilight slowly drifted away, feeling how the distant noises of passing cars rocked her to sleep.

Author's Note:

Yup, that's it for the time being. I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

Comments

[eraser]

Is it still "Cancelled"?

[Fwelin]

Hooray, update!

[StarzGecko]

This story is really sad, is it still alive?

[P-Berry]

6575499
6573807

I'll go with a straight and unmistakable 'yes and no'.
Honestly, my ambitions to write more for this aren't too high, and I doubt that it'll ever be finished, but I do work on it every now and then and I might have another chapter done at some point.
Though, seriously, you shouldn't wait for it since it might take a few months.