Aliens & Rainbows

by Skyro503

Mysteries Unanswered

Flickers of hope, Dashes of lights.

Illuminating the stormy night.

And so with great tragedy,

Comes great memory.

Because no matter what you do,

He’ll always be there for you.

*****

Rainbow Dash looked upon her old friend with understanding. Taking a moment to let the silence sink in, both of them stood still. The gloominess of the situation hadn’t reflected the serene scenery. Rainbow Dash finally decided to join in her friends silent suffering, letting her own tears trickle from her magenta eyes.

“Then you know how I feel?” Rainbow Dash finally said after a few minutes of silence.

Applejack wiped away excess moisture from her soaking eyes. She turned to look upon Rainbow Dash to find that she had an equally drenched face as hers.

“All too well…”

Rainbow Dash looked upon her friend with compassion, noticing how close the two had gotten to each other.

“I just want him back Applejack, I’ll always love him!”

The two ponies shared another moment of tender silence. A soft breeze tussled at their manes gently, lightening their mood.

“I don’t care if he has amnesia! I’ll teach him to love me back! I’ll…I’ll”

Applejack looked upon Rainbow Dash with confusion. Did she just say amnesia?! That’s not what Spike said. She thought to herself.

“What? Why is everyone looking at me like that today?” Rainbow said remembering her altercation with Fluttershy earlier in the day.

Applejack felt uncomfortable having to tell her best friend the truth under such circumstances.

“Ya mean ya didn’t know?”

“Know? Know what?”

Applejack took a moment to choose her next words carefully.

“Now Sugarcube, ya know I would never lie to ya right?”

“Of course!”

“Well, ah don’t know how ta put this, but…” Applejack started to say biting her lip.

“WHAT!”

Applejack was slow to respond, showing her remorse in telling her friend the truth.

“Blaze isn’t the pony you remember, and no ah don’t mean he has amnesia. The old Blaze is gone, forever…” Applejack revealed this information with unintentional harshness in her tone.

Rainbow Dash backed away, unable to cope with her reality.

“W-what do you mean?” Rainbow Dash said in a shaky voice, her words tumbling from her mouth.

“As ya know after the accident Blaze and Fluttershy were in critical condition. Blaze had done everything in his power ta protect Fluttershy, but at a cost to himself.”

“No! No! I don’t want to hear it!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she backed away from the orange earth pony.

“But yah have ta Sugarcube, you need ta hear this!”

Applejack shot out both forelegs to prevent the delirious Pegasus from flying away, simultaneously drawing her in to an embrace.

Rainbow Dash started to cry uncontrollably, returning the comforting hug of her friend. The two ponies relived the harsh terror of that tragic night.

*****

Rainbow Dash awoke from her irregular slumber, at an irregular time; evening. She hopped out of the tree she took refuge in. Rainbow never quite understood why she slept in trees when she was able to enjoy the plushness of a fluffy cloud. Perhaps she wanted to be more down to earth, be closer to her friends.

Her friends.

The ponies who were always there for her, the ponies she had so many good memories with, the ponies who always supported her. But now, the only pony that mattered hated her and probably never wanted to see her again.

Blaze…

Words cannot describe the sacred love and bond the two share. Although their relationship was still young, it seemed as though the two had known each other since foalhood. In the few short months they had been together they grew so much, learned so much.

But now that may all be gone…

Rainbow grimaced at her reckless actions that drove Blaze away. But how was she supposed to know the value of such a seemingly useless trinket. Had she known the sentimental value Blaze held upon it she would have taken much better care of it, and not have lost it in the Everfree forest.

That crummy stone!

That stone was one of Blaze’s most valued possessions, and the memento of a forgotten past. Although, Rainbow never was the one to sit idly by whilst her chances at true love dwindled away. No, she would make it up to Blaze…somehow.

Rainbow looked upon the fading cerulean sky, her daily weather duties taken care of long ago earlier in the day.

How can I make it up to Blaze? She knew that there was only one thing she could do. One and only one true way she could win back the affection of Blaze.

To find the stone, wherever it may lie in the depths of the endless Everfree.

Rainbow Dash took to the sky, stretching her wings as she let the waning evening winds carry her off into the setting sun. Rainbow contemplated an easier way of tracking the stone on her way to the Everfree. Rarity should be a prime candidate for the job, as she had a gem seeking spell. But that wasn’t quite suited for Rainbow’s needs, as the stone she was looking for was just a stone, nothing more. Maybe Fluttershy could enlist the help of the nearby woodland creatures, if they ever happened by the ruby rock they could bring it to her.

Yah! That’ll work! Rainbow snickered at her own shrewdness. In no time I’ll have that stone and everything will be back to normal.

Rainbow Dash picked up her speed, she wanted to waste no more time away from Blaze’s loving embrace. She started to near Fluttershy’s Cottage. But something was amiss. There, held above Fluttershy’s cottage, was a dark and ominous cloud. Its sheen was black as night, but seemingly illuminated the waning light of day.

Ponyville doesn’t have any storms scheduled for tonight.

Rainbow changed her direction to inspect the seemingly ubiquitous cloud. As she drew nearer and nearer to it, though, she noticed the screams of her friends. Upon further inspection of the cloud Rainbow found that it was a blazing fire set in the Everfree Forest. When she realized this she took off for the scene with great celerity.

Although, midway through her accelerated flight she saw a huge explosion manifest itself slightly above the raging forest fire. And through the fire and the flames Rainbow Dash saw him fall.

Blaze fell to the ground with a sickening thud, his seemingly lifeless body kept still. Rainbow Dash, seeing that the fire had been choked out by the explosion, sped over to the pony she still held feelings for. She landed near the scorched earth where Blaze now laid. He shuffled around in his recumbent position. Seeing this Rainbow picked up Blaze and held him in her hooves. His body resonated heat from the previous explosion, and heat dried blood was caked across his face.

“Blaze! Blaze! What happened! Are you alright?!” Rainbow exclaimed to the pony she clenched so dearly.

Blaze just gave Rainbow Dash a sincere smile, a smile she had come to love.

“I saved… The… Forest…and…Fluttershy…” Blaze was weak from the explosion. His words were intermittent and barely audible.

Rainbow Dash was greatly confused, her mind still reeling from the previous explosion, and Blaze’s current condition. She surveyed her surroundings, her vision reduced to a haze through all of the smoke. Blaze tugged at Rainbow’s hoof.

“Rainbow…” Blaze tried to muster up enough energy to relay his message, “I…I just wanted you…wanted you to know…”

I’m sorry…

With his words finally given Blaze let go. The smile on his face slowly faded away, and so too did the soft pounding of his heart. Rainbow Dash let out a heart wrenching squeal, as she let her tears flow. She watched as his fiery spark faded from his eyes.

Rainbow Dash was unaware of her surroundings. Through the smoke and haze a familiar unicorn galloped to her side.

“He’s dead! HE’S DEAD!!!” Rainbow screamed thrashing her head violently, trying to shake the reality away from her mind. The unicorn, without thinking, knelt down and touched her horn to the lifeless corpse. Her horn gave off a bewildering glow as sparks started shooting off from it. The unicorn, however, soon lost control. Her eyes gave an ominous glow that was brighter than her horn. With a powerful bang a spark shot from her horn sending the unicorn backwards and stumbling to the ground.

There were a few eerie moments of uneasiness.

The body that was lifeless just seconds ago sprang back to life. While still unconscious, Blaze started to hack and wheeze, showing his regaining of life. Rainbow Dash, seeing this, wasted no time to carry Blaze off into the sky towards the hospital, Urgent Medical. She left an amazing Rainbow trail in her wake.

One thought raced through Rainbow’s mind…

Please, be alright…

*****

There was a moment of awkward tension between the two mares.

“That spell Twi’ put on Blaze changed him. He wasn’t the same… He’ll never be the same…” Applejack explained.

Rainbow Dash pushed away from Applejack and fell to the ground, unable to cope with reliving the trauma of that event, and the honesty of her words.

“What does it mean? Who is he then?” Rainbow Dash said to the pony looking over her.

Applejack sighed deeply to herself.

“He’s still Blaze, just different. He’s just got himself a new brain is all.” Applejack said even confusing herself with that statement.

Rainbow just looked away with disgust. Her friend’s words carried no comfort. Only pain, pain she just wanted to escape. It seemed that everything she had done, all those pleasant moments with Blaze were in vain. The pony she had come to love was gone, and she needed to come terms with that.

Or maybe not.

Maybe she still had a chance to win him over once more. To restore the love she once had, restore the life she craved for so enviously. And with that Rainbow Dash found new vigor, new reason to push forward.

I still have a chance

The cerulean pony regained her footing on all fours. She took a moment to stabilize her hysterical breathing, which she just noticed. She turned to look upon the pony which revealed to her so much.

“Applejack?”

The orange earth pony was relieved to see her dear friend regain her composure.

“Yeah Sugarcube?”

Rainbow cocked her head slightly to give herself a jocular appearance.

“I think we have a party to get to.”

The earth pony just smiled at her friend. She trotted up next to her to start their journey to the ‘super-secret special meeting’. Midway through their walk Rainbow wanted to break the tranquil silence.

“Hey Applejack, who were they?”

Applejack stopped in her tracks to question the meaning of Rainbow’s statement, “What’dya mean?”

“You know, the pony you love…what happened between you two?”

She took a moment to think about her answer.

“We just decided to stay friends, I think it’s fer the best though.”

Rainbow Dash looked upon her friend intently. Applejack tried to hide her true emotions, and her true intentions. But Rainbow Dash decided not to pry, now was not the time, for if they procrastinated any longer they actually would be late for the party.

The two mares carried onward, both feeling some sense of relief.

*****

“THEY’RE COMING!! EVERPONY HIDE!!!”

Everypony in Sugar Cube Corner hunkered down, hiding behind anything that would obstruct somepony’s vision from the windows. An unusually energetic pony scurried over to the wall and killed the lights. She then stealthily crept up to the side of the door, as if she were going to attack the next pony to enter.

“Everypony ready?” She asked in an excitedly hushed tone.

A series of giggles filled the room as a sign of approval. Ponies shuffled around in the room trying to get a better position. The pony near the door peaked out the window to see two familiar ponies. She gave an excited squeal as she signaled to everypony else in the room.

“Huh? That’s weird, are buildings usually closed in the afternoon here in Ponyville?” One of the ponies questioned on the other side of the door.

“Blaze, can you please open the door for me?” The other voice said.

A few moments passed before the door slowly creaked open, sending streaks of light that filled the room. Just as one of the ponies from outside stepped through the door the pony near the door jumped out from her hiding place. She squealed with joy!

“SURPRISE!!!!!”

Blaze reeled back in excitement, nearly bumping into Fluttershy

“Bwaaah!” He yelped.

Before he could even react, the pony, seemingly, flew toward Blaze and wrapped her forelegs around him. A familiar conversation ensued.

These actions were observed by two ponies from within the crowd, who just barely made it to the party on time. Although, one pony seemed to be confused.

“Wait, Pinkie knew about what happened to Blaze too?” Rainbow Dash said incredulously to her orange earth pony friend. The earth pony just gave an unsure shrug.

“Word travels fast in a town as small as Ponyville.” Applejack explained.

Rainbow Dash brushed off the inconsistency, that didn’t matter right now. What mattered now was Blaze and winning back his affection. What better time to do this then at his own party?

“Okay silly, enough with all this standing around, LET’S PARTY!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed in her usual state of energetic happiness.

Ponies around Rainbow Dash threw colorful hooffulls of streamers and confetti into the air. And a familiar tune filled the room with jovial sound. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel as though this had just happened, inside of her dreams. She shrugged it off as a mere coincidence.

“Well Sugarcube, Ah don’t know bout you but I’m gonna get me some of that punch before Berry Punch hogs all of it. Catch ya later.” Applejack trotted off into the already shifting crowd of ponies.

Rainbow Dash found herself alone, figuratively speaking of course. Although surrounded by other ponies she couldn’t shake this overwhelming feeling of incredible loneliness. She was still looking for somepony, but she couldn’t find him through all of the confusion. The mingling bunch of ponies shifted continuously. But as the crowd shifted so did Rainbow’s view. That is until Rainbow found the pony she was looking for. Their eyes met for just a moment. Rainbow still wanted to win Blaze over, but first she needed to apologize for earlier, and in the crowd was not the place.

She broke away from the crowd and walked away into a nearby room, trying to escape the craziness of the ensuing party. Suddenly an overwhelming sense of Déjà vu came upon Rainbow Dash. But yet again Rainbow Dash shrugged it off as a coincidence. She walked over to the nearby window, and looked outside for no apparent reason.

“Hey Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash turned to inspect the source of the voice. The question had come from Blaze, who had pursued her into the room. Rainbow returned the unclear greeting.

“Blaze.” Rainbow Dash said surprisingly colder than she wanted.

A few moments of awkward silence followed. Neither one wanted to continue the conversation. Rainbow Dash looked upon Blaze, as if trying to find out what he was thinking. Blaze started to become nervous, and it showed through the beads of sweat that were trickling down his coat.

“So…was there something you wanted to say?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Blaze was slow to reply, his gaze shifting from object to object within the room.

“Uhhh…yah…I just…I wanted to…to say…”

Before Blaze could finish his sentence he felt something press up against his lips. He shifted his eyes to see exactly what was obstructing his mouth. To his surprise it was Rainbow Dash’s hoof, and Rainbow Dash was looking upon him caringly. Somehow she was able to close the distance between the two in less than a second.

“Don’t…It was my fault…I’m sorry.”

How’d she know what I was going to say? Blaze was confused and he showed it. But this only made Rainbow Dash giggle softly, which melted Blaze’s heart.

“Let me try to make it up to you.” She smiled at Blaze gently, trying not to show her true feelings. “You probably don’t know how to fly. Well I just happen to be Ponyville’s best flier!”

Rainbow was tooting her own horn yet again; a habit Blaze never got her to break. She started to trot out of the room. But before she excited she turned back to the confused Blaze.

“We’ll start training tomorrow,” She gave Blaze a soft peck on the cheek. “You’re cute when you’re confused.”

She started to trot out of the room once more leaving the bedazzled Blaze to contemplate the meaning of her statement, and the kiss. But before Rainbow Dash fully excited the room she left Blaze one last message.

“Oh, and Blaze, you might want to get your wings checked before going back to the party.” She said with a large grin on her face as she left the room.

What does she mean check my wings? Blaze thought as he looked upon his wings, which were uncontrollably flared open. When did that happen? He thought to himself not fully understanding the meaning behind the erect wings. Regardless, he managed to will himself to close his wings, an appendage he was still getting used to. Maybe I do need some training

Blaze still had a party to attend, one that was thrown in his honor. He had guests to mingle with.

Well I guess I should get to know everypony here in Ponyville…

*****

The waning light of day partially obstructed Blaze’s view of the cottage. The party, it seems, went on much longer than anticipated. Chuckles of a surprisingly tipsy pony filled Blaze’s ears. It also appears that somepony had spiked the punch at the party, and Fluttershy had a bit more than she could handle. To say she was drunk off her flank would be the understatement of the century.

“Hehehe, look at me I can fly!” Fluttershy said as if it were the first time she discovered this.

Blaze just gave a gentle smile to the intoxicated pony. He knew he would have to help guide her home, so he left the party at the same time as her. Fluttershy zipped around through the air, barely keeping her body above the ground. Blaze lazily kept his hooves on the ground; his judgment was not clouded by a suspicious party beverage.

Together the two Pegasi continued onward through the growing darkness of the evening. Fluttershy continued her drunken mishaps all along their journey. Occasionally stumbling over a peculiarly placed rock in the road, or smacking face first into low hanging branches. But eventually the two ponies finally made it to their destination, just before the inevitable setting of the sun. Blaze opened the door to let the overly tipsy Fluttershy in. As she went through the door, however, she stumbled over one of the stools placed in the living room, causing her to fall over. Blaze, shocked by this event, galloped over to aid the seemingly injured Fluttershy. But, much to his surprise, he found that Fluttershy was giggling uncontrollably to herself.

“Oops!” She finally managed to say.

Blaze, after observing these events play out before him, decided Fluttershy wouldn’t be able to make the trivial task of climbing the stairs on her own. He, much to Fluttershy’s surprise, slung her over his back. Fluttershy was too weak from her constant antics on the way home and just accepted the free ride. Although, she still wasn’t incapacitated…

“Hey, hey Blaze wanna hear a secret?”

Blaze just sighed to himself, knowing that whatever the answer may be, it was going to be stupid regardless. But he decided to humor her.

“Sure…”

Fluttershy only giggled to herself as Blaze started the journey up the stairs.

“I think Rainbow Dash Likes you!”

This time Blaze giggled to himself. No kidding. He thought to himself with a smile on his face.

Blaze finally made it to Fluttershy’s room. He set Fluttershy upon her bed. To his surprise though, he found that Fluttershy was already in a deep slumber. He deduced that she must’ve fallen asleep when he was carrying her. Blaze decided to show some care back to the pony who had given to him so much. He covered up the sleeping Pegasus with a blanket. She was quick to take the blanket into her embrace, as if it were a cuddly bunny. She continued to sleep happily as Blaze started to exit the room. But before he left the room he felt something draw him towards the window.

A mysterious force, unknown to Blaze, pulled him towards the window. As he came upon the opening he found himself looking upon a recently scorched Everfree forest. What happened next not even Blaze could explain. He opened the window and jumped out of the cottage.

Blaze started walking towards the forest, still not under control of his own body.

*****

It was already night time, the moon had long since risen, becoming the only source of light for Blaze as he still inexplicably walked through the burnt soil and brush of the Everfree. For what seemed like an hour Blaze had been wandering through the Everfree, yet somehow he knew all too well where he was, and where was going.

The forest, for the most part, was lifeless. Not even the chirp of a cricket was audible in the dead silence of the night. With each hoofstep he felt himself getting closer and closer to his destination, wherever it may be. But something glinted off in the distance, it broke Blaze’s trance like state. He looked over to see what the source of the glinting was. In the direction he looked at he saw several trees overturned around what seemed to be the epicenter of an explosion. He decided to investigate further.

As he drew nearer to this epicenter he found the source of what was shining at him earlier. It was a small red stone, which was conveniently located at the origin of the epicenter. He picked up the stone with his hooves, and almost immediately he felt a surge of great power fill his body. The stone he held was surprisingly warm, as if it were radiating heat. Blaze couldn’t help but shake a feeling of great importance towards the stone.

What does this mean?

As Blaze looked upon the object it started to glow brightly, blanketing the once dark landscape around him in an amazing ruby tinted light. He felt familiar voices start to speak inside of his head, but he didn’t understand what they were saying, or who was saying it. The intensity of the light started to grow, expanding into the sky, giving the night a new source of light.

As the light grew more powerful, so did the voices inside of Blaze’s head. The intensity of the light gave Blaze a splintering headache, accompanied by the voices Blaze started to become dazed. He dropped the stone unable to cope with the trauma it was unleashing upon him. Just as he slipped into unconsciousness he noticed a silhouette manifest itself above the stone. It uttered an undecipherable phrase.

“Si go, Nu nu alem…”

Blaze slipped off into unconsciousness yet again…

Comments

[Cirrus]

HMM... I WONDER WHO APPLEJACK LOVED? IT OBVIOUSLY ISN'T HINTED AT GLARINGLY AND CLEARLY.

Lol, just kidding. I know who wanted us to pick that up, but i gotta say, RD is pretty dense if she didn't.

[derpy von muffins]

this is brilliant.. thanks for writing it. will be looking forward to the new chapters which are hopefully not too far off

[NotATree]

60756 yeah it was about as subtle as a sledge hammer to the temple

[Sweetie_Belle_Derelle]

61128

As an air horn to the ear

[Bomber]

This story is... amazing. Certainly a clever idea. Can't wait to read more!