Pretty Little Ponies

by sister_mike

4: Rainbow Dash

4: Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash stepped into her house and took a huge sigh of relief. Finally, she was at home, alone and in peace. Her home was situated just outside of Ponyville, and was designed to look like one of the homes that floated in Cloudsdale, where she grew up. The house was tall and made of clouds. It had three levels, impressive columns and rainbow waterfalls cascading around the exterior.

She idly floated up the stairs and flew into her bedroom, landing on the bed with a soft thud. She took another deep breath and sighed, as she stared up at the ceiling. She then turned over and lazily picked up the latest copy of Daring-Doo and began to flip through the pages.

The meeting with her "friends" had been awkward. They had sat around Pinkie Pie's living room and had tea and cupcakes. Most of the time they sat there in a tense silence, other times somepony would bring up Golden Pearl. What else could they talk about? Their friendship had been slowly deteriorating since their golden earth pony friend had disappeared. And Equestria hadn't needed the Elements of Harmony in a long time, so there was no need to maintain their friendship.

When they had parted at Pinkie's door, Twilight had suggested that they should try to get together more often, try to rebuild their friendship.

"For Goldie's sake," Twilight had said. Rainbow Dash had sighed and rolled her eyes, and seemingly reluctantly agreed. But in reality, parts of her were aching for her old friends. Yes, there had been times in the past when they had annoyed her to no end. But they had still been friends.

But Rainbow Dash wasn't sure how efficiently she was going to follow through with this whole "rebuilding friendship" thing. For starters, Rarity had bailed on them right after the funeral, so their new vow to get together wasn't really official. And Rainbow Dash had new friends now, friends that were more like her. Friends that understood parts of her that Goldie had understood, but the others wouldn't. Did she really need those other five weighing her down?

She sighed and tossed the book back onto the pile. She wasn't as in the mood for reading as she had thought. She then reached for her phone and flipped it open. She scrolled down her list of contacts and then clicked on the one she had abbreviated as "LD."

Hey LD. Want 2 cum over & hang?

She hit send, the message swirling into the electric air of excess magic that hazed across Equestria, and lay back as she waited for a reply. Rainbow Dash didn't personally use her phone that much—not as much, as say, Rarity or Golden Pearl had—but she liked to keep it at home for when she felt lazy, and could just send an instant message instead of flying over to find someone.

Her phone beeped and Lightning Dust's reply sat in her inbox.

On my way. C u soon!

She tossed her phone to the side and sat up. She and Lightning Dust had met a few months ago at the Wonderbolt Academy. Lightning was just as fast and brash as Rainbow Dash. It was almost as though they were long lost sisters. Surprisingly, Rainbow Dash was the more level headed out of the two. Lightning had almost been kicked out of the academy because of irresponsible behaviour, but Rainbow Dash had managed to convince the academy officials to keep Lightning and put her on probation. Her probation ended soon and she'd be a regular student again.

For the first month of training at the academy, cadets stayed on site. But once their first month was over, they only returned every two weeks for a week of training, and then were sent home with specific exercises and a log. In a few more months time, they'd have a huge test to see who would go onto the next level of training. Rainbow Dash had finished her most recent log in the first day she was home.

Rainbow Dash stood and looked around the room. It was a big room, decorated in different hues of blue. A big fireplace sat on one side, and her bed was on a raised level of three steps. Different ribbons and trophies lined the walls.

She walked over to her closet and pushed the doors opened. Unbeknownst to her old friends, Rainbow Dash had a huge walk-in closet, one that would for sure make Rarity envious. Inside though, was mostly junk. Junk that Rainbow Dash found hard to let go of. And junk that she didn't want anypony else to see.

She stepped inside and pulled on a light. The bulb above her illuminated and she looked around her. Various scarves and goggles, a few hats, lay around. Boxes full of childhood trophies and ribbons were stuffed in one corner. The back of the closet doors were covered in photographs. Pictures of Rainbow Dash and her old friends. Some of the pictures dated back to when Rainbow Dash was a filly. Fluttershy was the only one in those pictures with her.

Not quite sure what had pulled her into looking in her closet, Rainbow Dash glanced around a bit more. She then turned to leave when something shiny caught her eye. She picked it up and an odd knot formed in her throat. It was a gold watch. The second hand ticked away, proving that it was still in working order. When she looked into the box that it had come from, other various shiny trinkets lay inside. Three or four more watches. A fancy pair of goggles. An anklet that she had never worn.

As though the watch burned her, Rainbow Dash quickly threw it back into the box. She then began to push the box further into the closet, hidden behind the clothes she never wore, but something behind the box prevented it from going back any further. Rainbow Dash held her breath, and stepped away. She knew what was behind the box. A lumpy sack that clinked slightly when she poked it.

She quickly repositioned the box so it hid the sack, turned off the light and slammed the closet doors closed. She closed her eyes. Visions of a terrible—yet thrilling—day rushed back at her. A black mask, a few other ponies in matching ones, the sack over her shoulder. Terrified ponies inside a Canterlot bank. Sirens wailing.

It wasn't the first time that Rainbow Dash had taken something that wasn't hers. The other shiny trinkets proved that. But the lumpy sack was the first time she had done it without Golden Pearl. It was a bigger score and a bigger thrill. And thankfully, it was a secret that her gorgeous earth pony friend had never known about. And one she would never know about, because it happened after she disappeared.

When Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, she jumped back and shrieked. Lightning Dust laughed, her face inches from Rainbow's.

"Your door was unlocked, Dash," Lightning Dust said. She waggled her hoof in front of her and winked, "Not very safe."

Rainbow Dash straightened, and then shrugged. Her voice was cool and calm, "I knew you were coming over."

"Why so jumpy then?" Lightning asked.

"My friend's funeral was today. I told you about that, right?" Rainbow Dash said. A flicker of concern crossed Lightning's face.

"That's right. I'm so sorry. You ok?" Lightning asked. Rainbow Dash shrugged again.

"We were friends a long time ago," she replied, though really, a year ago wasn't that long. Not long enough, anyways.

"Come on. I already texted Gilda, and she's meeting us in Cloudsdale," Lightning said. She turned and began to walk out of the room. "I know you said you wanted to hang here, but I think you need to get out. Get your mind off of things."

Rainbow Dash glanced at the closet and then back at her friend.

"You're right," she said, as she began to follow the green pegasus, "I definitely need to get things off of my mind."

Author's Note:

Ok, have officially introduced cellphones to ponies. I'm going to try and limit my use with the phones though.

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[sister_mike]

[Cynderfall]