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by All Art Is Quite Useless

Is Being Out On Your Ass

Rainbow Dash felt her eyebrows tightening in place as she stared at Twilight, her chest still heaving from the impossibly fast flight, her wings drooped and stiff. "You're absolutely sure?"

Twilight nodded for the fifth time, her muzzle twisted in confusion. "Yes Rainbow, I'm completely and utterly sure. Fluttershy had Tank all day, there's no chance he isn't still with her. What's this about?"

Rainbow exhaled a breath of relief, at least Tank was okay. Following her discovery, she had sped straight to Twilight, completely forgetting that Fluttershy had a spare key, and that she often took Tank for a few days when Rainbow was out of town. "It's my house, it's..." Rainbow cut herself off, her voice was still shaky. In her worry for Tank, she had almost forgotten what had happened, the state of her home, its walls and furnishings diminished and gone, her possessions all lost.

Twilight took a cautious step towards her, but it only caused Rainbow to back away. "Rainbow Dash, what happened?"

"I... I don't know." Rainbow's eyes widened as she looked at Twilight, her lip quivering, "I came home from training in Baltimare this afternoon, right? I had a real long weekend, and I was looking forward to..." she choked back a heavy sob, "to relaxing. And then I came home, and, and... It was gone, Twi." Her voice dropped to a muted whisper as she gestured out of the window, back to where her home should have been. "All of it, gone."

Twilight became alarmed, her lips parting and brows raising as she took in Rainbow's words. "How can it be gone? That doesn't make sense. Cloud homes don't just up and vanish, Rainbow."

Rainbow could see how skeptical Twilight appeared to be, but she didn't have time for her to second guess her account. "I'm telling you, Twilight, it's freakin' scary. I came back and there's like a sixth of the place left, all of the ground had been ripped up around it like a tornado or something sliced through, it looked like a war zone or something."

Maybe it was the scarcely heard seriousness in Rainbow's voice that led Twilight to drop her quizzical expression, but it quickly appeared to be replaced by a spark of realisation, characterised by a small blink. "Hold on, Rainbow. You said that the ground looked like it had been cut up by a tornado?"

Rainbow had to take her attention away from actively attempting not to shiver in order to manage a short nod. The surreality of the situation was quickly beginning to be superseded by an insidious dread, clawing at her consciousness as it endeavoured to take control of her. Her body ached, but that didn't impede her mind, which constantly rushed from one possibility to the next. In the few short seconds she had spent not worrying for Tank's life, she managed to outline a million different ways her life had effectively been ended.

Twilight's face had become extremely grave, her jaw was so tense it looked as if it was about to snap in two. "The Ponyville weather team came to see me two days ago, they wanted to create a class one hurricane on the outskirts of Ponyville in order to shift away dead foliage and other debris." Twilight cocked her head, her brow furrowed as she nervously tapped a hoof against the floor. "But surely there's no way a localised hurricane of that magnitude could cause that much damage to a cloud home? Why would it even have gone near it?"

Rainbow's mind was currently going into overdrive. What had she lost? How much was there in her home that she would never see again? Twilight's question helped to pull her back to the present situation, and she felt her teeth grinding as she began to comprehend the possibilities. "Y-you're telling me that the weather team might have just destroyed everything I own with an errant hurricane?" A moment, and it began to feel even more ludicrous. "A hurricane they created just so they could clear away dead plants?"

Twilight drew closer, though she barely saw it in her peripherals, given that she had taken to staring at the floor. Rainbow's back was tremulous—she seethed with anger and upset. Twilight began to rub her withers, but it did absolutely nothing to calm her. "Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry," her cadence was soft and true, her voice outlined her empathy, "I'm truly sorry. I feel like this is my fault for letting them go ahead, I shouldn't have let it happen..."

Rainbow twitched violently, frightening Twilight's hoof away. "How were you to know?! You're not an expert on weather practice, and nopony should expect you to be. It's them..." When she looked up, her eyes expressed a pure and unholy rage, "It's those asshole weather fliers that are too lazy and incompetent to do a proper job! Talk about cutting corners... Whose bright idea was it to create a freakin' hurricane just to shift a few fucking shrubs?!"

"...I don't know, Rainbow Dash, I really don't." Twilight shook her head, backing up a few inches and looking her dead in the eyes, "I know how hard it is though. I lost a home once too, remember? It's difficult letting go of that, terribly so."

"Yeah," Rainbow scoffed, throwing her eyes, "Not like you didn't have a castle waiting for you."

Twilight's face hardened, as did her tone. "Come on, Rainbow, you know I still lost everything. I had things from my childhood in there, signed first editions that I'll never see again, and then there were all the memories you, me, and the girls shared in Golden Oaks. It was more than just a home."

"And you don't think I feel the same way about my place?" Rainbow shot back, her wings flaring, "Ever since I left Cloudsdale I've called that place home, and now I have what?" Apparently, Twilight didn't realise that that question wasn't rhetorical. Rainbow shook away a sniffle. She held Twilight with a hoof, imploring her to respond. "What do I have, Twilight?"

"You have..." Twilight grasped Rainbow's hoof with her own, slowly setting it down and casting a soft gaze over her. "You have me and the girls, and you have Ponyville."

For a long time, Rainbow Dash said nothing. She just stood there, her hoof feeling alien against the floor. That brief contact with Twilight had been her security. She felt as if she could barely stand, but knew that if she sat she would only become more anxious, more restless. Everything was gone, but she still had her friends. "...I know, Twilight." she nodded, more to herself than anypony else. "I know. It's just a bit of a shock, you know? My entire adult life I've lived there, I thought I was gonna grow old and retire in that place, or something boring like that..." When Rainbow looked at her again, her eyes communicated her utter exhaustion. "I wanted something boring like that, Twilight, and now I can't have it."

Sometimes, when you don't know what to say in order to make a situation better, or if you even can make it better, it can be best to say nothing. Clearly, Twilight understood that, as instead of offering a verbal response, she chose to step forwards once more. This time Rainbow was calm and demure, barely moving besides the rapid fluttering of her chest as she desperately attempted to control her breathing. Twilight unfurled a wing, wrapping it over her and sharing her warmth.

Rainbow briefly nuzzled into her friend, guiltily conscious that she was wiping fresh tears on her coat. She was immensely grateful when Twilight didn't comment on it. "I had plans for that place, you know?" It wasn't even relevant, and she knew it, but she felt as if she had to say it. It was that or taking a deep breath, and she didn't feel ready to breathe yet. "I was gonna buy more furniture for it, get a little bit of it decommissioned, cause it was always too big for me, decorate it and install a lift or something so I could have Scootaloo around without magic. She'll get too big to lift eventually... I was gonna make a room for Tank, and he could fly around with his little helicopter thing or play in a little thing I built for him."

Rainbow turned to face Twilight, her eyes glossy, her voice trembling. "You know what I mean, Twilight? I was gonna build Tank a thing to play in... A thing. And now I don't get to do that, and he doesn't get to play in it," a loud sniffle, "And Tank doesn't get to have his thing..." Rainbow buried her face in Twilight's side, expelling fresh tears.

"I know, Rainbow, I know," Twilight hummed, gently stroking her mane as she wept. "We'll still build Tank a thing, I promise."

Rainbow realised how ridiculous she must have sounded as soon as she heard that. She broke away, hiding her face as she tried to collect herself, failing once, and trying again until she had managed to put on some semblance of stolidity. "I know we will, but it won't be in our home, Twi. I think that's another thing that's really getting to me, it was our home, not just mine. I know I'm being silly, but it really hurts."

"You're not being silly," Twilight assured her, wiping her eyes and giving her a light squeeze, "You've had a really stressful day, I know that. You can stay here for as long as you like, and I'll see about getting a temporary place set up for you while we contact the cloudstone architects. Does that sound good, Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash only nodded, her cheek brushing against Twilight's side. "Can I see Tank soon?"

"Of course you can, Rainbow," Twilight said, "I'm going to send some ponies round to your place to see what they can find of yours, okay?"

For the first time since her arrival, Rainbow's voice was completely level. "There's no point, Twilight. There's nothing left, I saw that much."

Twilight didn't question her. For the first time, Rainbow was beginning to accept the gravity of what had happened. It didn't matter how it had happened, or even why. What mattered was that it had happened, and no amount of pondering or wishful thinking was going to do anything to change that. Right then, she needed a long rest, a shower, something to eat, and to see her Tank.

"Say, Twilight? When you lost the library, what brought you closure?"

Twilight sounded as if she had an answer on the tip of her tongue, but she faltered and hesitated at the hint of an utterance. Eventually, she managed to speak her mind. "Having a part of it in the castle made things a lot better for me, honestly."

"...You can send someone over. Let them grab whatever they can."

Twilight said nothing, but Rainbow knew that she had heard her. Through all of this, maybe having a bit of the place to hold on to would make the transition that little bit easier. Maybe it wouldn't, but she could at least try and convince herself that it would.

It had to at least help, right?

Comments

[Beakwood]

Hum....if it was somepony in the Weather Team that did that I would force them to have Rainbow Dash move into their house until she can be back on her own....wings? Eh.

That would be hilarious and awkward considering how mad she is atm.

[lord Martiya]

Someone is going to be fired. Possibly after being asked if they like mmm! bananas.

[WildCard65]

8550191
No, the weather pony should get a class 1 moon banishment :P