The First Wonderbolt

by Essay Jay

Issue 1.4 - A Home Is Where The Heart Is

Rainbow Dash flew at a brisk pace. Faster than she normally would, but she didn’t notice that. The only thing she did notice were her own thoughts racing in her mind. Everything was conflicting inside her. Her brain was as chaotic as Discord’s first reign, in terms of things happening at a random pace, but in this case, it was her thoughts.

It wasn’t because she was a little bit wary. No, why would she be? There was nothing wrong with the world! Just that Equestria was at war and that something felt incredibly off about this whole ordeal. No, not even the fact that she seemed to be living in a completely different time period from when she was last aware of her surroundings.

The clouds above her whizzed by, lending their white blurs in contrast to the blue sky. The ground moved just as fast; trees, hills, roads and paths going unnoticed as she flew. She knew not how much time had passed, but as she took a glance up, she could estimate that it was just before noon. Having left a bit after sun up, she could say that it had been about an hour or two of flying.

Rainbow could feel the weight of her saddlebags slowing her down. The very air dragged her, making her that much slower. She wanted to keep pushing herself, to get to Ponyville faster. But she knew that if she did, her saddlebags would fly off with little to no warning, and she would lose all her supplies for the fly there and back. She hated being slowed down. She didn’t like not being fast enough.

She could feel her stomach roll with hunger, partnered with how dry Rainbow’s mouth now felt. She didn’t want to stop. She needed to keep going. As another stomach rumble protested Rainbow’s ignorance, Rainbow sighed, slowing to a stop as she dropped her head.

Flying up above the cloud layer, she looked for a comfy cloud to rest on. Spotting a particularly plump nimbus, she hovered towards it. Gently setting down her saddlebags, she plopped down, taking her goggles off and tossing them into saddlebags for the time being. She proceeded to pull out a simple daisy-oats sandwich that she had prepared to be packed with protein, so she could have more energy to use up.

While she munched on the basic snack, she peered lazily over the edge of her cloud. There was nothing interesting, as per usual. Just the occasional tree and stretching prairies. Green grasslands waved and shifted in the wind, her own cloud moving of it’s own accordance to the wind. Smiling at the gentle breeze contrasting the sun’s heat, she tilted some of the feathers in her wings and closed her eyes.

She could feel the many tiny shifts in the air, wind patterns and calculations running their course in her mind. She had flown marathonic routes like this before, and each time she had found her way by detecting where the wind moved and how it felt at certain places. Something was a bit off with the wind current where she was at right now, but she estimated that she was only a few hours away from Ponyville.

Having finished her meal, she packed up and donned her goggles once again. Pushing off from the cloud, she flapped her wings, beginning to gain momentum and burst off once again at her top safest speed. She allowed her feathers and internal compass to direct her to where she knew Ponyville would be, and allowed her mind to wander.

---

Rainbow slowed to a hover as she neared the mountain she knew Canterlot to reside on.

The city on the mount that she knew was unmistakably there, but it missed something. Something very grandiose and unique. Something that had been a presence since before she was born. She didn’t want to believe, yet all the facts were there. She looked left, right, up, down, though to no avail. Knowing she should at least be able to see the dot of civilization that Ponyville was from Canterlot, she pushed her goggles up and squinted.

There wasn’t even a rooftop. It all seemed like open fields and forest. She could see the ever-changing Everfree from her vantage point, but nothing else. Narrowing her eyes, she steeled herself. She shifted her saddlebags so she could gain some hold on them and put her goggles back down. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to Ponyville in record time.

Her saddlebags threatened to release their contents as she sped to where she knew Ponyville to be. She just hoped that whatever she was thinking, it wasn’t real. Maybe Canterlot had lost it’s castle and the sisters moved to another location?

Yes, that must be it! But Rainbow, with all her arrogance and laziness, couldn’t wrap her hoof around the thought that everything she knew was gone. As much as she hated being wrong, she hoped she was. Just this once.

She should’ve seen more than one road leading to Ponyville, yet they all veered off to the Everfree. Not a single path from where she knew one to be was present. She couldn’t see a train of any kind, she could not even sense the sort of draft that came with wind travelling through a town. No musks of apples or anything reached her nostrils, and she was beginning to fear.

As she came to a stop, she huffed. Breathing in and out, her eyes remained hidden behind her reflective goggles, but not for much longer. As she lifted them up for the upteenth time, her eyes were wide with disbelief. Her heavy breathing soon became more of hyperventilation as she darted her eyes back and forth. Looking for anything. Looking for something. Even just the mark of civilization would’ve been enough for her.

She had come upon a vast expanse of empty field. Dotted with the occasional tree, it bordered the edge of the Everfree, and there was nothing to be found. Not a pony, not a soul. Animals looked up curiously at the flying visitor, but there was nothing else to be had.

Rainbow could feel her eyes begin to water and her throat begin to close up, but she remained strong. There had to be something. Feeling her vision begin to blur along with her breath catching, she shoved her goggles down and began to scan the area. Once, twice, even three times she began to circle Ponyville’s land.

There was no Castle of Friendship. There was no Fluttershy’s Cottage. No Boutique, no Bakery, not even Sweet Apple Acres. Even her cloudominium was gone. Not a single house, no Town Hall, no Schoolhouse. There was nothing for her here.

And that broke something inside Rainbow. Rainbow plopped down on a tree in the middle of the prairie and decided to rest there. With no care left, she dropped her saddlebags haphazardly. Nothing could possibly make it any worse than it was right now. Her breath was becoming ragged, both from her state at the moment and from her frantic flying.

Ponyville was gone.

There were two possibilities. Either she was far into the past, or centuries into the future. Rainbow couldn’t decide which one was worse, and that made it all the more hurtful. Her vision was now beginning to blur even further, because she knew exactly which one was true. She was in the past.

A past where Ponyville had yet to be created. A past where Luna was still to be banished to the moon. A past where Canterlot did not even have it’s landmark of a castle. A past where her friends did not exist yet.

A past where she shouldn’t be.

Dropping to one foreleg as she tumbled away from her tree, she began to cry. Rainbow did not even care that she was doing something she had considered as ‘not cool’. After all, who was there to judge when everypony was gone?

Now sobbing with streaks going down her face, she threw her goggles and screamed. She screamed for all the world to hear. Birds flew away from their perches startled. Critters and fauna of all kinds ran away in fear of whatever was happening. Rainbow didn’t care.

All of her friends, everything she knew was gone and she had no way back.

And so she cried. With the torment of a pained soul, she let her heart out. She punched the ground in frustration. She screamed as she tore plants from their roots and kicked a tree next to her. With eyes red and her breath hitching, she took her uniform from off her body and grinded it forcefully into the dirt before grabbing it in her teeth and throwing it away.

Finally, Rainbow stared, breathing heavily as she watched her uniform only fly a few feet before lazily floating to the ground. She continued to watch as each fold of fabric rested gently onto the ground, and Rainbow sniffled and continued to cry. Her voice kept catching as she breathed in and out. She slowly approached her battered uniform and held it with a hoof.

Rainbow collapsed onto the ground, and she pulled the uniform close, cradling it. Alone, and with nopony to see, she held tighly onto it as if her life depended on it. Sniffling, she closed her eyes…

And she let the tears fall.

Comments

[Mares-a-Mares]

Poor, poor Dashie.

You really captured her desperation in this chapter.

[harts fire]

this story is moving along and it feels like the mane story is still developing.
I will be keeping a eye on this to see ware it goes from hear.

[DualKitsune]

Yup, there's that breakdown!

[Void Runner]

The very air dragged her, making her that much slower.

The very air dragged at her, making her that much slower.

As another stomach rumble protested Rainbow’s ignorance, Rainbow sighed, slowing to a stop as she dropped her head.

As another stomach rumble protested Rainbow’s stubbornness, Rainbow sighed, slowing to a stop as she dropped her head.

Gently setting down her saddlebags, she plopped down, taking her goggles off and tossing them into saddlebags for the time being.

Gently setting down her saddlebags, she plopped down, taking her goggles off and tossing them into her saddlebags for the time being.

But Rainbow, with all her arrogance and laziness, couldn’t wrap her hoof around the thought that everything she knew was gone.

But Rainbow, with all her arrogance and laziness, couldn’t wrap her hoof around the thought that everything she knew was gone.

Her heavy breathing soon became more of hyperventilation as she darted her eyes back and forth.

Her heavy breathing soon turned to hyperventilation as she darted her eyes back and forth.

She screamed as she tore plants from their roots and kicked a tree next to her. With eyes red and her breath hitching, she took her uniform from off her body and grinded it forcefully into the dirt before grabbing it in her teeth and throwing it away.

She screamed as she tore plants from their roots and kicked a tree next to her. With eyes red and her breath hitching, she took her uniform from off her body and ground it forcefully into the dirt before grabbing it in her teeth and throwing it away.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Damn... I'd feel the same way if I was in her shoes....

[SpyketheRAWRCat]

MY HEART
IT BURNS