The End of the Rainbow

by JTH

Chapter 5

Rainbow Dash flew through the sky of Ponyville after finishing yet another day of cloud busting. It was one of her favorite things to do, after napping maybe. It was just another way to show off her amazing skill to both her friends and other ponies passing by.

Though down at the surface below she could hear the ponies below speaking of trouble. Among them were the Crusaders; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and her best friend Scootaloo, who she took under her wings some time ago. The talking grew louder amongst the grounded ponies, which perked Dash's interest. She stopped to hear of the issue at hoof.

"Rainbow Dash, Thank goodness you're here!" Scootaloo called out. "There's a super mean-o cloud causing trouble. We really need you to bust it for us!" The sentence was followed by an almost euphoric calling from the other ponies. "Yes Rainbow Dash...Help us!"

"Don't worry citizens of Ponyville. That cloud is as good as gone! Back in a jiff!" And with back, Dash flew up higher into the sky to observe the surroundings for any stray cloud that needed taken care of.

What was becoming odd upon observation that any cloud the townsponies spoke of was completely unnoticed to Rainbow Dash, who rubbed her chin in confusion. "Huh...if I were a stray cloud, where would I be so that Rainbow Dash wouldn't bust me?"

So she decided to turn about and search, but insanity behind her all along was the culprit cloud.

But the cloud wasn't near what Dash was led to believe. The cloud in fact was only about half the size of herself. "You gotta be kidding me...that's it?" She said aloud. This had to be a joke right? The puffy little cloud just nestled next to Rainbow Dash, showing no signs of being a problem. But Dash said she would take care of it. So with a little boop of a hindquarter, the cloud scattered and vanished. "Phew...what a workout." Dash said sarcastically to herself and began to trail back home.

But instantly, turning around, the same small tiny cloud just was there in plain sight again in front of her. "Seriously!?" She yelled before giving a groan that could have been heard from below. Dash proceeded to flap her wings harder to blow the cloud away into oblivion. "There! Time for a nap!"

She then turned around, to her shock again, there the same little cumulus hovered again in her way. Now visibly frustrated, her face turned red. She grabbed the cloud and then threw it as hard as she could. "STUPID CLOUD!!!" But with the force of the throw, the cloud slammed into her back again, still intact. She couldn't take it anymore and started to yell aloud. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GO AWAY WHEN I BUST YOU!?!"

Suddenly, the tiny cloud began to shake slightly...and then gave a shallow squeaking sound as two streams of water came out from each side. Like it...was crying.

Dash suddenly felt bad for saying the mean things she said. "Uh...sorry little cloud, but you are supposed to disappear when I bust you. It's kinda my thing..."

But the cloud didn't seem to like the answer, and began to cry louder. The streams of water then struck Rainbow Dash in the left hoof. The rain though wasn't like normal rain, it felt boiling hot like lava. Dash screamed out in pain when the rain struck her, she began blowing on her hoof to try and make the pain recede.

Something began happening though. Something wrong in fact, for when Dash blew on her hoof, it began to blow away in the breeze. She cried in panic, trying to grab her hoof remnants and put them back. She managed to do so, very poorly mind you. While doing so however, something began to hover above Rainbow Dash up high in the sky. And when she looked up, she gazed upon an enormous dark cloud, the size of it could have rivaled the size of Cloudsdale itself. The little cloud stopped "crying" as the ponies on the surface began to run away in a scurry.

"Rainbow Dash!" The CMCs yelled. "It's the Super Mean-O Cloud!!!"

Dash looked up at the sheer size of the dark, puffy cumulus cloud before. "That's one big mean, daddy cloud!"

A laughter was heard as the cloud began to pour profusely onto Rainbow Dash. But this laughter sounded familiar, it was definitely an eerie laugh that she recognized from prior. But before she could gather herself, she was struck by a sharp lightning bolt, and then poured on by more rain, then lightning struck again.

The process continued over and over as she crashed into the ground below, as all ponies ran for cover from the intense storm at hand. And the pain of the rain felt similar to the tiny cloud before. But...not just from that cloud before, that pain. She felt it the way from...

Unbeknownst to herself, Rainbow was so caught up in the moment, she didn't realize that more and more of her body was drifting away into the sky. "Huh!? What's happening!?!" She called out leading to the same laugh in the sky. It was no use, Rainbow Dash couldn't stop what was happening; both in the sky and to herself. She cried out, calling for help for anyone who could hear. "Help! Princesses! Twilight! ANYPONY! HELLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!"

Rainbow Dash yelled and yelled, hoping that doing so could somehow stop or reverse what was happening to her. But it was no use, the effects of the continuing rainfall caused her body to continue to disintegrate and blow away into the wind...

***

"AHHHHH!!!"

Rainbow Dash jolted out of her hospital bed in a deep sweat, looking around franticly. She looked to her left where Twilight was resting peacefully next to the bed and surprisingly was not awoken by Rainbow's panic. She looked at her hooves to see there were still very much still there, which she followed with a sigh of relief. Dash realized the matter at hoof, which only made her slightly at ease.

"It was just a dream...I hope..." She said to herself softly to not wake Twilight. Though she came to obvious conclusion that she was only dreaming, she was curious as to why it felt so real? Also, Rainbow realized that Princess Luna was nowhere to be found in her dream. It was accustomed that "The Princess of the Night" would always help guide a pony's way when suffering from a dark, traumatic nightmare. However, Luna never appeared at any point. Rainbow wondered and also worried why that was, but ultimately she tried to forget about what transpired. It was becoming too much to deal with; all Rainbow could do was lay back in bed with her eyes open, wrapping herself up tightly in the blanket on her hospital bed. She had to just wait for morning to arise for falling asleep would only result in the same nightmare as before, or perhaps an even worse one. But whether nightmare or vision of the future, this was not something that would go away. She then remember the laugh, that vile, evilness she heard. It was the same from the entity they crossed paths with earlier in the day. The same which put Rainbow Dash in the location she lay in currently. Dash was perhaps destined to face the power of Raindoom again; she only hoped that her courage and strength would be enough when the time came.

***

Night became day again in Equestria. The Mane Six had agreed once Rainbow Dash was given a good bill of health to have another gathering at their new favorite pancake location, mainly to see how their friend was coping. Princess Twilight accompanied Rainbow through the halls of the Ponyville Hospital; the nurses instructed Dash to walk around for a test to see how she handled the recuperation. And so far, all signs appeared well.

"It's good to see you're feeling better Rainbow Dash." Twilight Sparkle chimed in on the much more positive look of her friend. It seemed though the effects from Raindoom's storm were indeed devastating, they were capable to being healed from over time. Rainbow's mane color looked almost fully restored and the pigment of her coat were basically back to normal. The only thing that still remained were the internal effects. Visually, Dash looked fine, but she mentioned before their walk that the aches and cramps from not moving for so long were bugging along, that and her energy wasn't back to her soaring high levels. She also chose to keep her traumatic nightmare to herself, she didn't see any reason to bring it up for the time being for Twilight was known to freak out about things they didn't understand, so Dash deemed it best to not add another stressful event. One thing they would both agree though that maybe a walk around to stretch out the muscles and not staying bed-ridden would help.

"I'll feel even better once I'm out of here." Dash followed, unfolding her wings to work out the twinges and sores she felt.

"Oh don't worry about that." Twilight commented quickly. "The doctors said that you'll probably be free to go by the end of the day. If only I knew what actually happened..." "

Rainbow Dash just smiled and placed a hoof over side of The Princess. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure out of something. Bet it'll all come together over a tasty breakfast."

Twilight was relieved that it seemed Rainbow Dash was in good spirits, and that she also had the confidence that Twilight would find a solution. The problem was Twilight being fairly sure what the solution already was, and she was looking at her. And Twilight without fear of being wrong, that same pony already knew as well.

***

The Mane Six met once again at The Poniful Pancake, only this time it wasn't the same endless excitement that their previous trips had been. For the others, it was the first time seeing Rainbow again since the night before, and visually they were happy to see her color was nearly back to normal. One thing they all could notice though was Dash's...pace per say. When a pony is as lightning fast as Rainbow Dash, it was easily noticeable when she looked a touch slower. The girls all took their places at the table, sitting in the same spots they did previous. The same waiter pony they greeted them the day prior, joined to say hello once more to take their requested meals.

"Hello all, and welcome back Princess." She announced, using his magic to hover out a pad and pen to take the girl's upcoming orders. "I hope you are all hungry. All ready to order?"

"Well, I guess it'll be the usuals." Princess Twilight said, getting a seal of approval from the other mares at the table. The waiter pony nodded in delight.

"Alright; so three orders of five, two orders of six, and the "Holy Equestria..." But he was then interrupted, the rainbow mare next to him wanted to make a correction to the assumed order.

"Actually, I'll just take three please." Dash told him, getting a sharp gasp of shock from the other mares...except for Pinkie Pie who was in the middle drinking her beverage given to her earlier, but once she finished it, she gave a gasp as well...much later than everypony else.

"Oh, of course. I'll have them all out in a jiffy." The waiter responded, with a speck of disappointment. But returned to the kitchen to begin the preparation. There was a look of concern on the other Mane Five as Dash had somewhat of a glum look, slouched down in here chair just twiddling her fork back and forth, and not making any eye contact with the others.

"Not much of an appetite Dash?" Applejack asked her.

"Not really..." Dash looked over. "I just feel...weak." Upon saying that, Rainbow dropped her chin down on the table causing the others to look towards one another to think of something to say.

"You do still look a little pale in the face. Literally mind you..." Rarity voiced her concern, putting a hoof over Rainbow's forehead to check if she had a fever or any other kind of illness like a mother for her foal would do. Though there wasn't anything amiss, she seemed fine in haymins terms. Twilight had even had conversations with the nurses and other doctors in the hospital while Rainbow was still resting before they left. None of them could find anything wrong physically...but they weren't blind, they could visually see the problems that were, it was simply nothing that could be explained by simple medicine. Fortunately, Rainbow seemed to fine visually to the naked eye, though it was clear she had not recovered fully. Even once their meals had arrived, the group couldn't help but wince slightly as Dash struggled to get down the much less amount of food she had be accustomed to eating. It was to the point where it looked the rainbow mare was forcing herself to get food down, even if she couldn't bare to eat another bite. She needed the energy though, it was the only way to get her strength back.

After a while they had all finished their meals. All the girls the pancakes they had ordered, even Rainbow did although the faces she made looked like she was chewing concrete or mud. Not much was said during breakfast, much different than usual get togethers. It was like no one knew what to bring up that wouldn't go eventually to what was on all their minds...What would they do once this spell The Princesses cast faded? Once Raindoom returned, they needed to be ready...but could any of them do anything? After what seemed a moon and a half of silence, Rainbow finally said something...

"Twilight, about what the princesses said..." Twilight came over to her friend as she continued. "About me being the only one who can do anything to save Equestria. We've never done anything without each other? What do I do?"

Twilight gathered her thoughts as the others looked on. "I'm not sure Rainbow. All I do know is that the Princesses' magic had no effect on that thing. And if what they said is true, by the time he returns, there may be little I can do with my magic either. Without our magic, I'm not sure what we can do to help."

A quiet sigh came before Dash, it was a brutally honest answer. It made Dash wonder if Applejack just telekinetically gave the magic of her element to make Twilight tell the truth so bluntly. In a way though, Rainbow was happy to hear that answer. She didn't want to hear a sugar-coated fake speech. After what happened the day before, she knew all them together wouldn't be easy; to be told that it would on her own would have been...well total horse feathers frankly.

"Oh cheer up Rainbow Dash! Everything's gonna be just fine. There's nothing an old, old, old, old cloud can do that you can't take." Cheered Pinkie as she grasped Rainbow with a hug that would make a bear proud. Too much so however, as it made Rainbow Dash wail in pain. Her weakened state made the patented Pinkie Squeeze a bit too much to handle. It put the realization back in the fold as Dash rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh...sorry..." Pinkie apologized.

"I can't lie, it is hard seeing you like this Dashie." Rarity said with a dash of concern, making Rainbow slouch.

"Seeing me like this is nothing, try feeling like this."

"Could any of you ponies use a drink of water?" Came a voice from the waitress pony behind them.

"I think she could..." Pinkie Pie said kindly, offering to her glum friend. But the gesture came sudden to Rainbow, who then had the images of the nightmares she occurred flash before her. She freaked accordingly.

"What? No!" She yelled out, the abrupt answer traumatized the waitress pony who then dropped the tray she was carrying, sending the glass of water into the air. "AHHHH!!!"

Dash saw the glass of liquid hovering towards her and she jumped straight onto the table they stood by, knocking over all the utensils placed on it. Even knocking a pitcher of syrup right into Rarity's face, who cried in shame accordingly as her face was now drenching in a sticky substance. Everyone turned to the pony standing on the table, most with an angry look at first, but it quickly changed when they realized what happened. Dash was frozen in fear, breathing heavy and panting, sweat pouring down her brow. She looked as if she had seen a ghost pony. Everypony was quiet until Pinkie broke the silence.

"Yeah, that glass of water did look a little scary..." Pinkie followed up. Snapping all the ponies back into confusion. Twilight trotted over to the mare on the wooden piece of furniture, still locked in fear, while Rarity tried to wipe the mess from her face while weeping at the same time.

"Rainbow Dash...what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked the mortified mare. Dash tried to form any kind of sentence, but could only tremble and stutter noises; she pointed to the floor where the glass lay with her hoof, it shaking like an apple dangling from a tree. The group was confused, but Dash was trying so hard to talk, so they gave her the chance to try to speak. And after long...

"I...I...thought...be like...the rain..."

The other Mane Six members could hear the finals words spoken..."the rain". After Rainbow began to calm down a bit more, she began to tell them about the continuing nightmares she dealt with. Each one worse than the next. The mere sight of a drop of water just flashed those dreams back into her head.

"Dash I'm sorry..." Twilight apologized. "Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?"

Dash hopped off the table she sat on, trying to mareuver around her friends and the spill on the floor, still taking no chances. "Right..." She starting in a slow sarcastic voice. "Because telling anypony that Equestria's only hope to stop a millennia old weather monster is freaked out over a few drops of water is TOTALLY gonna go over well."

The comment hit hard. The group knew they wouldn't feel that way, though they also knew they couldn't all speak for the rest of Equestria. The ponies in Ponyville had shown occasions of total freakout moments. Rainbow Dash then proceeded to leave to head back to Ponyville Hospital. "Can't wait to get a total clean bill of health from those doctors...because obviously nothing's wrong with me...I'll catch ya later."

With that, Dash was gone, leaving the others to ponder over her thoughts and feelings. This wasn't a side of Rainbow Dash they were used to seeing. Then again, this wasn't a situation they were used to being here. Nopony was really entirely sure what the right course of action was, or what to do to help achieve a right course of action.

"I've never seen her like this. We just have to re-motivate her to help get her confidence back." Rarity announced to the other ponies. All well and good, but...

"But how do we even help her?" Fluttershy cried out. "We still don't even know what caused this..."

Twilight rubbed her hoof under her chin, and an idea soon followed.

"Let's just do we know best. I'm sure something will help Rainbow Dash. What's the worse that could happen?" But upon saying those words...

"NOOOO!!!!"

Came a scream from Pinkie Pie, who ran out of the restaurant as fast as possible, but quickly returned with a giant dusty book in hooves.

"You broke the golden rule..." Pinkie hollered, slamming the book onto the table in front of them, smashing the table in the process. She then flipped open the book and shoved Princess Twilight's face into it to make her read it. "Rule number Five-Hundred Twelve, in gold letters: Never say the following lines: "What's the worse that could happen?", "It can't get any worse...", or "At least it's not [insert bad thing here]"."

The ponies were confused, but the look on Pinkie Pie was serious, knowing they would understand very soon. Suddenly the head waiter pony looked at the scene and looked none too happy.

"Sooo...who's going to pay for the table?" He asked.

Pinkie Pie and Twilight stood in the forefront, with the others behind them. Pinkie then looked sideways at the Princess of Friendship, and pushed her forward, which Twilight gave an annoyed look in the process. What are friends for one would guess...

***

As expected, and to her own chagrin, Rainbow Dash upon returning to Ponyville Hospital had been given a clean bill of health and was free to go. According to scans, rescans, and re-rescans; Rainbow Dash was back to her one-hundred and twenty percent self. You couldn't convince the patient herself though. In her head, Dash was still all over the place. She had made a complete fool of herself in her mind at the diner earlier in the day. Physically, she still didn't trust the aches and pains she had. Despite being told her wings were good to go and she could fly to her content, something just told her otherwise. So to what would be the shock to many ponies, Rainbow Dash remained grounded.

She slowly walked down a path of the backskirts of Ponyville, head down, her confidence even lower than her dangling head. She came across a standing puddle of water, no doubt still from the previous day's magic rainstorm. The look of the rippling water on the ground made her stop in her tracks bug eyed staring down; but after a few seconds, she grunted and shook her head violently and stomping the ground with a hoof.

"What is wrong with you Rainbow Dash!? You freaked out over a glass of water! Now you're afraid of a little puddle! You're a Wonderbolt, you're a Weather Pony, you're the best flyer in all Equestria! You're not supposed to be afraid of anything! And you totally embarrassed myself in front of all your friends. Get it together! All of Equestria is counting on you, the Princesses said so themselves." She began to slowly walk, no particular place in mind. "...what pony would possibly have any faith in me now?!?"

***

Rainbow continued to slowly track through Ponyville, on occasion a random pony would take a glance at her, their future unsung hero in their mind it would seem. Which certainly didn't make Dash any better at the moment. It was all so silly to her though. Rainbow had saved Equestria before, she even had done heroic events by herself...but this just seemed, different to anything else.

While walking she caught a glance of the castle, Twilight's home, and the perfect place to look for clearance. Rainbow thought if anypony could help in anyway, Twilight could. Heck, knowing the princess so well, she probably had come up with a hundred solutions, and a hundred more ideas. So Dash headed to the castle, hoping to get the great revelation from her friend.

With a loud creak of the monstrous castle door, Dash entered. "Hello!? Twilight! I'm..."

She paused, glanced to all directions. All the more difficult given the size of Twilight's home, but all signs showed that the pony she was looking for wasn't around. "...talking to nopony apparently."

It was surprising to the rainbow mare that nopony was around. She would have been certain that Twilight and the rest of her friends would be here discussing what to do, which made it all the more confusing. Where was everypony?

Then Dash realized, of course. The library. Twilight would go there to gain any information of what to do, so she was certain the princess would be there. Upon opening the library door, she found a purple pony...but not the one Dash expected. It was Twilight's newest pupil, going over the books within.

"Starlight!" Dash called out. The pony called was in the middle of reading a book of spells she was busy practicing, but jumped suddenly at the sound of a pony she wasn't expecting.

"Rainbow Dash? What an...unexpected surprise." The grin she gave was unusual, eerily similar to the grins the ponies at her village once did long ago. It put Rainbow off a bit, but she collected herself.

"Right...look I'm looking for Twilight. Have you seen her?" Dash's question was responded at first with a chipmunk like chuckle, getting an eyebrow raise from company, and Starlight then responded at chipmunk like speed. "Uh, can't say I have. I haven't seen her all morning or all last night. What a shame, oh well; hope you find her, great seeing you Rainbow Dash! BYE!"

*PLOOP*

Starlight then as quickly as she finished talking disappeared from sight, leaving Rainbow Dash all by herself. A very similar feeling of the day. "That...was weird. Even for Starlight's standards."

Off in the distance, the voice of Spike could be heard, calling for Starlight Glimmer in the library, who soon entered wondering why he got no response back. He soon got his answer.

"Spike!?"

He screamed seeing the pegasus instead of the unicorn he called for. This certainly wasn't what Spike expected to find, nervously scratching the scales on the side of his face. "Oh Rainbow Dash! What an...unexpected surprise." Followed with a sheepish grin.

"Seems to be the "Quote of the Day". Have you seen Twilight...or anypony for that matter?" Dash asked the next one she saw, almost fearing she already knew what the answer would be.

After a pause and gander around, he crossed his feet and put his claws behind his back. "Uhh...maybe?"

Upon asking where Twilight or her friends were, Spike then gave the same answer as before. "Uhh...maybe?"

Dash soon accepted defeat, knowing wherever her friends were that she would have better success finding them herself than asking. Staying here and accomplishing this at this point would be like trying to fly with your wings tied. The sigh she gave was quite an annoyed one, she needed help from her friends and she started to get the feeling that they were avoiding her for some reason. With that she just walked past Spike and continued on her search. "Nevermind...forget you ever saw me..."

Dash was convinced that this idea was a bust. Wherever everypony was, it wasn't here. So she had to keep searching, but upon opening the castle doors again. One of the ponies she had expected to see in the castle, was at the bottom of the stairway. The pony of honesty, Applejack, who greeted the pegasus. "Rainbow Dash. Just the pony I was looking for."

"Oh...AJ. Where is everypony?" Came the response from Rainbow Dash, but Applejack didn't seem to what to answer the question given to her, for she had other matters.

"Oh nevermind that. Come with me back to the farm. I've got something to show ya." She said back, trotting up the stairs. Dash seemed to not be ready to leave so abruptly, but AJ wanted to just hurry matters along.

"Great!"

Without warning, Rainbow Dash was being shoved from behind by the earth pony in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. "Uhh...okay?" Was about all Dash could say about what was transpiring. For whatever, and by the looks whether she wanted to or not, her friend had already decided that this was the idea that would be done. But Rainbow Dash truly had no idea what she was ready to be in store for...