In Pursuit
“Are ya kiddin’ me?” Applejack demanded about ten minutes later, her brow furrowing and her lips twitching into a disbelieving scow. “She seemed totally fine when we went to see her.”
The whole group was assembled in Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack’s room, looking on at Rainbow Dash with varying expressions ranging from shock to skepticism. Rainbow turned her eyes to Applejack, an apology hidden within them. “I’m sorry Applejack, I don’t want to say you, Rarity or Twilight is bad at judging character. All I know is that Starlight’s not here and she has something in store for her past.”
“Are you sure you heard the shopkeeper right?” Rarity asked carefully, Spike nodding along by her side. “It is possible that Starlight isn’t planning on going through time.”
Rainbow shot Rarity a hard look. “I’m not taking that chance, Rarity. Making sure that that doesn’t happen is the whole reason we came out here!” she snapped, an edge to her voice that made Rarity shrink away and lower her ears. Rainbow locked up, then took a deep breath. “Sorry…”
“It’s quite alright…”
Spike patted Rarity on the shoulder comfortingly before shooting a nasty look at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, you need to calm down.”
Rainbow grunted but said no more. A long, tense silence fell over the room.
“What do we do, now?” Fluttershy asked in an anxious whisper, breaking the silence and curling her tail around her legs while pulling it closer to her chest with her forehooves.
“We have to figure out which train she planned to leave on,” Rainbow began pacing around the room as she spoke, her body jittering very noticeably as she went. “If what the shopkeeper said is true, then Starlight booked her tickets. She might still at the station waiting for her train to show up. If we hurry, we can stop her before she can get out of our reach.”
Twilight got a stern and thoughtful look on her face, then reached out with a hoof as Rainbow passed and grabbed her by the shoulder, making her stop. “Okay, say we leave right now and find she’s there. What do we do then? Remember, we’re trying to cause as few disturbances as possible, so charging in muzzle-first would be a horrible idea.” she asked firmly.
Rainbow tensed under Twilight’s touch, then brushed her hoof away with a wing. “I know that. But we don’t exactly have time to figure out a subtle plan, now do we? The train is going to show up in ten, maybe twenty minutes. Once it shows up it won’t be long before it takes off again.”
Twilight recoiled slightly when she heard the intensity in Rainbow’s voice. She felt a small blade of fear work it’s way into her heart. “Rainbow…”
“Look, you all get your stuff and get ready to go. I’m going on ahead to the station to scout it out right now. If Starlight’s there, we need to know now.” Rainbow declared simply while cantering for the window.
“Rainbow, wait!” Twilight tried, but the pegasus was not deterred. The window slid open and Rainbow shot out of the hotel at almost sonic speeds. A sharp gust of wind battered the room for a moment, knocking several things over and forcing everypony to shield their eyes. A second passed in silence before Twilight lowered her foreleg to gaze at the spot where Rainbow had been just a second ago.
The floor was dented and cracked where Rainbow had jumped off from.
Rainbow took several long, deep breaths as she flew, doing her best to calm her shaking body and her frayed nerves. But no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to fully get the shakes that were rattling her body to stop, she was unable to get her ragged breathing under control. Moving as fast as her wings would allow without breaking the sound barrier, she was making good time. In only a few minutes she had closed the distance between the hotel and the train station, choosing to set down on the ground a block away. Several ponies cast her confused or curious glances when she burst into a gallop down the street, but most of them didn’t really give her much thought beyond that. Just another mare in a hurry among the hustle and bustle of Manehattan.
Finally, Rainbow came to a stop across the street from the train station to gasp for breath, trying to collect herself. She didn’t allow herself to rest for long, though. After only a minute she cantered through the doors of the building and into the spacious grand hall that made up the train station’s terminus. It was busy but not as busy as when she and her friends had initially arrived. Dozens of ponies went about their business, but compared to the hundreds Rainbow remembered, it was easier to scan the crowds for specific colors, shapes, and faces.
“Where are you…?” Rainbow whispered to herself while scanning the crowd. Finally, she spotted her. Starlight Glimmer was leaning casually against one of the support pillars on the lower floor of the terminal, looking into the pages of some book or other with a small, comfortable smile on her face.
A voice spoke over an intercom, informing all of the ponies inside the building that the ten o'clock morning train bound for Ponyville was pulling in. Rainbow’s face went pale when Starlight perked up at that announcement, her small smile growing somewhat.
“There you are!” The gasping voice of Spike managed through a series of exhausted gasps. Rainbow turned around to see the small purple dragon, along with the rest of the group, entering the station. Spike took the momentary respite of having caught up with Rainbow to lean against Rarity’s side to catch his breath.
“I found her,” Rainbow said in a hushed whisper, pointing to the unicorn in question. “She’s leaving on the same train we were planning on taking.”
“Then we should hurry,” Rarity said with a sharp nod. “We don’t want to be late going home.”
“Not the point!” Rainbow snapped before closing her eyes tightly and trying to compose herself.
Fluttershy hesitantly drew closer to her and offered what comfort she could with a side-hug. Twilight’s face soured with a despondent frown before she turned her eyes to Rarity. “Rarity, get our tickets set up. Make it quick!”
Rarity blinked, then nodded before galloping off. Applejack adjusted her hat slightly while Pinkie also moved forward to offer Rainbow Dash some comfort. “Hey, try to cheer up, Dashie. We’re here for ya,” she said softly, catching Rainbow off guard.
Rainbow smirked slightly at Pinkie. “Heh… not used to you being any kind of quiet there, Pinks.” Pinkie smiled warmly in response to the praise before reaching out offering what she could of a hug. For almost a minute they were content to stay like this.
The sounds of the train pulling into its spot could be heard a moment later, reverberating quite loudly in the enclosed chamber. The hug came undone when Rainbow locked her eyes onto Starlight, who was now holding a small suitcase next to her in her magic. Rainbow looked desperately to Rarity, who was now galloping back with their tickets held firm in her magic. “I got them!” she said as she came up.
Rainbow snatched up hers without a second thought. “Alright! Let’s go!” she said simply before breaking into a brisk gallop for one of the doors to the train that was now taking passengers, the rest of the group in tow. The conductor by their chosen door looked over their tickets real quick when they arrived before waving them in with a small nod.
Rainbow looked left and right as soon as she was fully inside, her eyes frantically searching for Starlight. It wasn’t until Twilight came into her field of view with a stern and worried look that Rainbow got a hold of herself. “Hey,” Twilight said quietly, putting a hoof on the back of Rainbow’s head. “We’re here, okay? We made it. The train ride is going to take a while, so we can afford to stop, calm down and think before we do anything else. Okay?”
Rainbow bit her lip and looked away, but eventually gave a small, shaky nod. “O-okay, okay. You’re right. C’mon…” she uttered before starting to trot down the rows of seats, eventually finding an empty one and sitting down. She locked her eyes on her hooves and didn’t move. Twilight’s ears drooped and her heart sank with them.
You were perfectly fine just yesterday, Rainbow… she thought to herself before looking back to the others, having a question but not sure how to ask it.
“Go on,” Applejack answered quietly for her with a small, reassuring smile. “Go to her. We’ll figure out where Starlight is and come back to y’all when we do. Then we can figure out a plan, okay?”
“Great idea, Applejack,” Rarity nodded before looking at Pinkie and Fluttershy. “Pinkie, Fluttershy, does that sound fine to you?”
Pinkie nodded chirpily while Fluttershy glanced past them at Rainbow Dash. “Um… uh…” she looked then to Twilight and made eye contact. She shuffled uneasily before nodding. “Okay. Take care of her, Twilight.”
Twilight was somewhat taken aback by Fluttershy’s choice of words. All the same, she managed a small, thankful smile to her friends and gave a quick nod. “I will. Try not to draw attention to yourselves, okay?”
“You too, darling,” Rarity smiled before looking down at Spike, who was tapping the tips of his claws together over his chest nervously.
“Twilight?” he asked, looking up at her with nervous eyes.
“Yes, Spike?”
He looked down then shook his head. “...Nevermind. Fluttershy already said it,” he muttered before looking up at Rarity. “I’ll go with you. I don’t think I can help her very much right now.”
Rarity patted Spike on the head with a hoof in a comforting manner before giving Twilight a confirming nod. She then turned and began to make her way deeper into the train, the others following closely behind her. Twilight watched them go until a door closed behind them. She then turned and made her way to the seat Rainbow had claimed, taking a seat right next to her. “How are you holding up?” she asked gently.
“Not good,” Rainbow admitted with a sigh, finally deciding to raise her eyes away from the floor. “But… I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Twilight wrapped a foreleg around Rainbow’s shoulders and drew her close rather quickly, earning a surprised squeak from the pegasus. “Don’t ask me to not worry about you, Rainbow. Just don’t,” she whispered into Rainbow’s mane, nuzzling her affectionately. Outside, they could hear the words ‘all aboard’ being shouted, as well as the sound of the train starting to rumble once more into life.
“Twilight?” Rainbow asked, not sure what Twilight’s words really meant.
“I worry about you because I care, Rainbow. Don’t you dare ask me to stop worrying, okay?” Twilight continued, pulling Rainbow closer before pulling back a bit to look her in the eyes. “Asking me to stop worrying about you, especially when you're like this… it’s like asking me to burn a book, or asking you to become a fully certified botanist.”
Rainbow couldn’t help but snort at that. “Heh… yeah. Like any of that’s ever gonna happen.” she commented quietly, deciding to lean into Twilight’s embrace some more.
“Exactly,” Twilight answered, giving Rainbow a gentle squeeze with her foreleg. “So don’t ask me to stop worrying. I won’t. I can’t.”
Rainbow nodded slowly and closed her eyes. “...I’ll take your word for it.”
The sound of the loud whistle of the train being blown pierced the air. The train doors slid shut, the wheels began to turn and the train was put into motion.
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Rainbow, don't mess this up.. what if Starlight also get glimpses?
Well, at least she's not the one confronting her. On the downside, I have to wonder what changes would be cause due to Starlight being present during the invasion?
Twilight...you're a good friend. Please talk some sense into her....
Alright, it’s fine if you want it to be kept secret till the end, but what romance does this involve, exactly?
8756818
Twidash.
Duh.
Goddamn it! I love these two!
8756823
I thought so-
I believe there's supposed to be a "be" in there.
"She might still be at the station waiting for her train to show up."
I believe "life" is supposed to be "like".
"especially when you’re like this…"
I think that should be a Like not life.
your
8755408
As explained in the prequel, only ponies in connection with the Elements can get flashes.
I feel bad for rainbow she's just so scared that she is acting irrationally even for her. She doesn't want to loose everything that's important to her again. She doesn't want more people she loves to die. Poor thing still hasn't recovered from loosing her parents she needs a therapist.