Her Sunlit Lineage

by Graglithan The Greater

Parks and Reminiscing

Back in Canterlot City

As Rainbow and Pinkie walked down the road, the silence was near deafening. All either of them could hear was the sound of their footfalls and the occasional car passing by. To a passerby, it was clear at least one of them wanted to talk. The other, however, looked lost in her own world. Eventually, they started to cut through a park to reduce the time between the school and Pinkie's place.

So it was with a hint of hesitation, that Rainbow finally worked up the nerve to say something. "So, uh, how did classes go for you?"

"They were okay." Pinkie shrugged a bit and looked to the side, looking at her reflection in a nearby pond. "It's just... I really wish this wasn't so hard."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and looked over at her pink friend. "What's hard?" Putting a cocky smirk on her face, the soccer star pounded a fist on her chest. "If this is about taking care of stuff while Sunset's gone, we got this!"

Pinkie sighed and shook her head. "It's not that, Dashie." Fiddling with the curls at the ends of her hair, Pinkie looked into the pink locks in thought. "Everyone acts like they're doing okay, but I know they're not. Applejack. Rarity. Fluttershy. Even Twilight. Everyone's putting on a brave face, but none of them can bring themselves to smile for real. I don't know what's bothering them exactly, but I can tell they're not happy." What few curls were in her hair slowly started to bleed out entirely as a stray tear fell down her face. "I... I always know how to bring a smile to someone's face." A hiccup betrayed her as she stopped walking. "So why can't I? Why can't I make my friends smile?"

Dash stopped in her tracks as she turned to face her friend. She looked around with a grimace, before sighing and pulling Pinkie to a nearby park bench and sat down with her. The two did nothing much for a moment after that. They just sat there and let the wind blow by. "I did something stupid."

"Huh?" Pinkie looked over in surprise at Dash, confusion dancing in her eyes.

With a sigh, Dash let her head fall forward as she hunched over, elbows resting on her knees. "Before...Before Princess Twilight showed up. Back when we were all at each other's throats?" Pinkie gave a hesitant nod, and Rainbow looked forward at the water again. "I may have joined a small-time gang."

"WHAT!?" Pinkie shrieked, before covering her mouth and giving an apologetic glance at a couple she'd startled on the other side of the lake. Once they were back on their way, she turned to Rainbow again. "You did what!?"

Rainbow was busy sucking in a strained breath as she looked away and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, it... wasn't my proudest moment. We all rode around Canterlot during the late hours, when most people were asleep. Most of the time, it was just that. Me riding on a nice bike in the dead of night alongside people I thought were old friends." She scowled and looked down at her hands. "Then... then they started to do things I wasn't cool with. Enjoying the rush of wind on your face was one thing. Vandalism and theft were another."

Pinkie could feel her heart stopping as she let out a small gasp. "Dashie."

Rainbow continued, regardless of the ache starting to form in her chest. "The last thing I heard them planning was a raid on Sweet Apple Acres. They were going to steal all of the hard cider Applejack had been making that year and whatever cash they could while they were at it. I tried to talk them out of it, but they weren't going to back down. Some of them were talking about using a hostage if they didn't get any money immediately." Her face tightened as her eyes stared through her hands and into the past. "I may have been mad at AJ, but... even I knew her family needed all the money they could to get by, and Applebloom didn't deserve to go through that. So, I bailed and went to the cops to let them know what was going down." Looking away, Rainbow let out a sigh herself and found it harder to sit where she was. "Ever since, I've always had that in the back of my head. It doesn't help that Lightning Dust is part of the Soccer team."

Pinkie wanted to put a hand on Rainbow's shoulder but instead found her holding onto one of Rainbow's hands. "Lightning Dust? She...?"

"Yeah. Dust was the one who came up with a lot of the 'plans' we did. Honestly, I think she just has an adrenaline addiction. Her ideas always got more and more insane." Pinkie stared at Rainbow for a second, before a snort managed to come out her nose. Rainbow for her part raised an eyebrow. "What? Did I--" The moment her earlier sentence clicked in her head, Rainbow deadpanned and rolled her eyes. "Oh haha, Pinkie. I'm serious. There's something wrong with that girl. She kept trying to do things that put more than just us at risk. She even stole a set of spike strips from the cops!" Rainbow pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, pulling her hand away from Pinkie. "There were other people that could have got hurt by what we did, and in the end, I wasn't able to keep one of them safe."

Pinkie's throat felt dry, but she scooted a bit closer to Rainbow. "Who?"

"Gilda." Rainbow looked out towards the park from under her bangs, eyes unfocused. "She and I had been friends back in elementary after she transferred over from Griffonstone. So when she offered me a place when all my friends were gone, I didn't question it. I was just happy to hang out with an old friend. To have someone there for me." Her grip on her knees tightened a bit. "I just wanted to keep people from getting hurt. I went to talk with her, to explain why I did what I did, but when I went to her place, I find out she'd been sent to juvie along with a few others after they caught everyone. She took all the blame, just to keep them all from going to jail. She wanted to protect her gang, her family... and I caused her to be in the crosshairs. After everything was said and done, I poured more time into the sports teams. It took me being willing to step down from my top spot to convince Spitfire not to kick me."

When Rainbow felt a hand on her back, she looked up to see Pinkie's sad eyes looking back. "Dashie, why didn't you tell any of us?"

Shame washed over Rainbow as she looked away. "Cause... I was afraid you all would look at me the same way you did Sunset. The same way I did.” Letting out a wry chuckle, Rainbow put a hand over her face to try and hide the tear that had trailed down her cheek. "Some friend I am." Pinkie stood up, and in an instant, Rainbow found herself hauled up off the bench and trapped in a bearhug. "Wha--!?"

"I... I want to say that we wouldn't have done that." Pinkie muttered into Rainbow's shoulder. "I really really really do, but after everything that's happened, I can't." Rainbow shook for a moment, before Pinkie's grip tightened, making her wheeze a bit. "But that doesn't matter! We all learned something from what happened. I made a Pinkie Promise to myself not to make my friends cry ever again after that night. So while I might have a hard time smiling at the moment, I won't let my friends frown or beat themselves up!" Pinkie broke the hug and held Rainbow at arm's length, hands on her shoulders. "You were only trying to keep Applejack's family safe, and you did what you needed to do! I'm sure if we found Gilda, she'd be willing to talk, no problem!"

Rainbow Dash stared in shock for a moment, before a small smile started to creep onto her face. "Thanks, Pinks. That means a lot."

"No, problemo!" Pinkie beamed for a moment, before hugging Rainbow yet again. "Guess I just needed to get that off my chest too, cause I'm feeling loads better now!" There was a small flash of light before Pinkie paused her return to Happyland and started feeling her face. "Huh, that's weird. I feel really tingly right now.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow before her eyes moved up to the top of Pinkie's head, and her jaw dropped. "Uh. That might be the reason you're feeling tingly Pinks."

Pinkie reached up and into her hair, only to find a pair of pink pony ears sticking out of her head. A second look at herself made a note of her extended hair. There was also the far more noticeable pink glow that surrounded her entire body. "Hey! I ponied up!"

"Aw Yeah! At least we still got magic on our side!" Rainbow high-fived Pinkie before she paused and chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "Also, uh, could you not tell anyone about all of that? I kinda don't want AJ to chew my ear off. That, and I made us waste a lot of time with that emotion dump, and we still need to get to your place."

Gasping exaggeratedly, Pinkie grabbed Rainbow's wrist. "You're right! I need to let Maud know that I'm feeling better!"

"That's not what I--" Before she could finish, Rainbow started to dangle through the air as Pinkie took off, dragging her along with. Whatever she had been saying, was lost to the wind as the duo disappeared from the park.

---

At the Pie family home, Limestone grumpily threw yet another bag of garbage into the trash. Each one had been filled with either empty bottles of cleaner, broken eggshells, and other debris from Pinkie's cooking rampage. An entire bag was even dedicated to the remnants of her failed attempts, which was the one she had just gotten into the trash. "Why are we the ones doing this?"

Maud remained neutral as always, putting some clean dishes away and starting on the next load. "Pinkie fell asleep mid-baking again and had to go to school. We're cleaning this up to be nice."

Limestone growled as she slammed the trash can lid shut. "Pinkie needs to clean up after herself!"

Through the increasingly one-sided argument, if only because it was hard to tell if Maud was actually arguing or not, Marble sat and watched quietly. A part of her wished that Limestone wouldn't shout so much, but she understood where it was coming from. Pinkie was kind of messy, and while the grey girl never said as much, Marble was happy when they finally got separate rooms. However, at that moment, she was more worried about how sad Pinkie looked when she left that morning. It wasn't like her sister to be so dejected and unmotivated. It reminded her of what Pinkie was like when Granny Pie passed.

Marble shook her head and sighed, instead choosing to focus on her sisters, who were here at the moment. Limestone's shouting drowned out most sound, but while trying to pay attention to the arguing, Marble's ears picked up the sound of something rattling. "Hmm?" She looked around, trying to find the source when her eyes widened at the sight of the trashcan starting to tremble.

Limestone and Maud had moved their discussion on Pinkie's mess into the same room she was in, and Marble hesitantly moved closer. "I am just saying that Pinkie should at least help more! We can't keep babying her because she 's,--" Limestone's rant stopped as Marble tugged on her arm. "Hey, can't you see we're talking here!?" Marble's finger shook as she pointed at the garbage can, making Limestone give an annoyed roll of her eyes. "What? It's just garbage! You can't tell me you're now scared of that too!"

Maud was about to tell Limestone to calm down when she felt something bump against her foot. Looking down, she spotted one of the failed cupcakes from Pinkie's baking last night. Picking it up, Maud looked as confused as she turned it over. She could have sworn she had already collected them all and gotten rid of them.

Then it trembled in her hand, and the burnt outer shell cracked.

Author's Note:

I know you're going to scream at me about not telling you more on the Sunset side. But please, do so anyway in the comments.

Comments

[Edguy0009]

Nice to know what's going on back in Equestria.

[Sherlock Hooves]

What in the fuck is going on?!

[sonicfan05]

So that's why Lightning Dust went after the Rainbooms! It was all because Rainbow Dash bailed out from her gang and then ratted them out.

The Rainbooms better be careful of running into Lightning and her goons.

[badninja]

I hope Lighting Dust gets stopped and goes away for a long time.

[Hobbestc]

Umm, baked bads?

[Graglithan The Greater]

9639953
HAH! They wish.thumbs.gfycat.com/LoathsomeUnluckyFlickertailsquirrel-size_restricted.gif

[FanOfMostEverything]

Good to see Pinkie back to her usual self... but I'm deeply worried about what that means for the delayed blast cupcakes.

Meanwhile, we have context for Lightning Dust. And at this point, I'm amazed anyone's following that madwoman. Gilda's probably there just to make sure the others don't get themselves killed.

[Vaguely Demented]

It is the cupcalypse! All shall drown in seas of molten batter as the dead rise to once again consume the frosting of the living!