Rainbow's End

by Bronyxy

3 Breaking the News

Rainbow faded away from a dream she was having and lay still for a moment while her aches and pains checked in. The sheer level of pain told her that her dream was over and this was either reality or a nightmare. She prayed it was a nightmare and that she could wake up from that too, but it was not to be.

“Well good morning young ’un” greeted the old stallion “Gave me quite a fright last evening, yes you did.”
Rainbow tried to raise her head but a whole load of new bruises seemed to persuade her to the contrary.
“You ain’t in no state to do nuthin’, ‘cept get better. S’pose I’d better look after yuh – at least till the snow melts.”
She groaned.
“No, I ain’t so keen neither, but I can’t jus’ throw you out, now can I?”

Her host was at the very least mercurial, but he was the only hope she had so she would have to play by his rules, whatever they were. He had at least dressed her injuries to an adequate standard and provided breakfast, so in spite of his peculiar ways and quick temper, he was a good pony. Probably. Deep down, anyway.

***

The Royal Guard had been drafted in from Canterlot to help in the search for Rainbow Dash; pegasi by day and Bat Ponies by night, but no matter how wide they cast their net, they found nothing.

Once it had been discovered that the storm had passed over the weather station manned by three novice weather ponies from the Cloudsdale weather factory, concerns were raised for their safety too. Attempts were made to rouse them by teleprinter, but no messages were acknowledged and so fears grew. In response, a contingent of Royal Guards under the command of no lesser figure than a Captain was despatched on an urgent rescue mission.

Having undertaken the long journey, he felt the energy return to his tired wings and braced himself for the horrors that awaited him. It was worse than he had thought; the three pegasi were still watching hoofball repeats and the teleprinter was switched off. He switched the dormant system back into life and was shocked to see a stream of unrepeatable abuse cascade from its memory, before eventually a message bearing a time and date stamp from days ago was printed out. The message read in part “STORM BUILDING FROM SOUTH WEST. INTERCEPT AND NEUTRALISE”

He stood in front of the three pegasi and unplugged the TV to a chorus of groans.
“Which one of you geniuses switched off the teleprinter?” he asked.
“He called us geniuses.”
“Yeah, but he was looking at me …”
“The system was full of obscenities” he commented disapprovingly, cutting through their mindless banter “You do realise that it Is a lifeline not just for you but the whole of Equestria and operating it is a big responsibility?”
They stared at each other. Not another pony without a sense of humour ranting at them, they winced; it was always the same, nopony ever appreciated them.

“You had been tasked to protect a number of towns in Equestria by intercepting a storm before it got too big to handle” he said, throwing the printed message at them “And because you didn’t do your jobs a brave weather pony has gone missing.”
“Yeah, but at least the storm’s gone now – right?
“So, we don’t need to get up anyway.”
“Result!”

“Useless is too kind a word for you” he said with thinly veiled disgust before turning to leave.
“Hey - turn the TV back on will you?”
He just happened to tread on the remote control and then twist his hoof repeatedly, grinding it into the floor until it lay in dozens of tiny fractured pieces. He continued staring them down as he shook his hoof to dislodge any remaining debris.
“Sorry” he said with suppressed rage “Accident.”

They all whined, but none dared challenge him directly.
He stormed out leaving the three pegasi to make polite conversation with each other until they were rescued. Somepony else would have to deal with those miscreants; he was simply too angry and could not trust himself to deal with them personally without getting on the end of disciplinary action or even a jail sentence.

***

A sombre Princess Twilight Sparkle summoned an extraordinary meeting at the Castle of Friendship comprising the three other Princesses, Ivory Scroll, the remaining members of the Mane Six, Starlight Glimmer, Spitfire, Discord and Rainbow Dash’s parents. The atmosphere was glum. Everypony knew why they were there, but nopony wanted the honour of chairing the discussion.

“Mrs Whistles, Mr Hothoof, Princesses and esteemed guests” began Twilight “It is my duty to call you all together to report progress in the search for Rainbow Dash.”
She looked round the table and saw nothing but deep sadness in everypony’s eyes. She really didn’t want to do this, but she knew that she owed it to her friend to continue, and so she would to the best of her ability, but inside she felt a strange hollowness she had never known before.

“I should like to thank Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for having released so many Royal Guards and Bat Ponies respectively to conduct the search.”
Both Princesses acknowledged their contributions with the slightest perfunctory bow, but neither smiled in recognition.
“And further thanks to Princess Luna for having searched so extensively throughout the Dream Realm.”
Her acknowledgement this time was little more than an extended blink with a barely perceptible nod.

“Equestria has never seen a bigger and more committed search for any missing pony, but we are now three days on from the storm and there is still no trace of her. Given the ground we have covered, I fear we are going to have to start facing some unpleasant possibilities; probably that she lies under a snowdrift.”
At this, Bow Hothoof broke down with a loud sob and buried his muzzle with his forehooves, crying loudly onto the table. The sight wrenched the hearts of everypony present, even the usually random Discord found no avenue to exploit his own unique brand of humour, for there was none to be had. Windy Whistles did her best to console her husband, but soon succumbed herself with the realisation that she would never be able to hold her daughter alive again.

Twilight desperately wanted to stop and prayed that her voice would hold together; she couldn’t let the meeting fall apart before she had finished what she needed to say, or they would just have to hold another one later on and go through the whole process again.

“We may know for certain when the snow thaws, but even then there is no guarantee that she will ever be found.”
Everypony knew what that meant; her freshly revealed body would make a tempting meal for any wandering carnivore, of which there were plenty, especially around the Everfree.

“I’m sorry to say that it looks like we may never see Rainbow Dash again, and although we can continue the search, it is probably best to start making plans for how we are all going to move on without her.”
Now, even Twilight couldn’t hold back her tears and although she tried her very best, she couldn’t manage any longer and had to sit down, head hung low, no longer able to meet anypony’s gaze. She wiped her eyes and didn’t care any more who knew she couldn’t keep going.

“Twilight is right” spoke Celestia gently “This has been a difficult time for all of us, but there will have to come a time when we stop the search. The ponies conducting the search are all tired and we don’t want to see any further accidents; also everypony involved has their own families, and they all deserve to spend some time with them too.”
She did not mean to sound heartless, but she was right. The search had been going on without a break round the clock, but there was only so far Rainbow could have got, and all the ground had been covered many times over.

“I understand that calling off the search means that we do not expect to see Rainbow Dash ever again, but we will remember her as she was, and she will continue to live in our hearts forever.”
Celestia paused, this wasn’t easy for her either, even with the number of eulogies she had delivered to worthy ponies passed.

“If we all recognise that she is not coming back to us, then I propose we hold a State Funeral to honour her for the example she has set through the life she has led.”
There were now no dry eyes around the table and even Celestia was fighting to keep her composure. She could see that nopony else was in a position to do any better, so she forced herself to continue.

“Windy and Bow, you are welcome to spend this period of togetherness in the Court of Canterlot where we would be delighted to receive you as honoured guests. But, much as it pains me, I propose we call off the search and set a date for the formal event a fortnight from now.”

“Thank you Celestia” spoke up Discord, his dulcet tones resonating with uncharacteristic formality, sensing the difficult position she was in “Your kind words and those from Princess Twilight Sparkle have served to show what Rainbow Dash has meant to us and will continue to mean to us all. I propose we adjourn and action Celestia’s bidding.”
“Seconded” croaked Cadence through a veil of bitter tears.
Then, with their sad business done, the gathering broke up to go their different ways.

***

Soon after the search was called off, life returned to normal around Equestria. A new weather pony was appointed to protect Ponyville and there was a change in the Wonderbolts line-up, but many ponies were left feeling bereft, none more so than Scootaloo who had lost her surrogate sister, her mentor and her idol.

Spitfire and Fluttershy as the two ponies Rainbow trusted with spare front door keys, joined forces to meet up at her eerily quiet Cloudominium. Although the two pegasi had nothing in common; the timid animal lover and the brash display flyer, they were both Rainbow’s most trusted friends and entered her home with hushed reverence, each reliving different facets of their friend’s personality through what they saw. They had been granted the morning to sort out the place, which as usual was in urgent need of being tidied up, prior to the arrival of her parents.

Far from being the sad and maudlin exercise they had expected, they both found items during their tidying that reminded them of personal anecdotes and shared them with each other, laughing at some of the things they had each done with Rainbow and celebrating her many and varied exploits. Before long, the morning had flown by and the house was ready for inspection, Fluttershy taking the opportunity to ensure that some long-hidden pictures of Rainbow’s parents were on prominent display.
“Nice touch, Shy” said Spitfire respectfully, noticing the animal lover’s careful attention to detail, “Nice touch.”

With everything in order, the two unlikely friends filed out of the front door and stood as a guard of honour for two very important guests. Bow and Windy arrived to be impressed by the presentation of the house and discussed what they should do with their daughter’s belongings. Spitfire suggested a museum in honour of her legendary flying abilities, so all could remember her at her best, an idea that was received with great pride.