Chapter One
Outside the window she saw trees moving slowly in the distance. The sky was a little cloudy, and the sun was lower than she imagined it would be; it reminded her that it was very early in the day, that could explain why she felt sleepy.
“What do you think about it?” She didn’t even hear her friend talking to her at first. She just kept contemplating the gorgeous view from the other side of the train window.
“Rainbow?” This time she managed to hear her name. After blinking two times she turned her head towards her friend.
“Uh? Oh, sorry, Fluttershy, got distracted for a moment there. What did you say?” The yellow mare raised her eyes from the book she was reading to meet Rainbow’s. “Actually, it was Twilight who was talking to you.” She said as she pointed a hoof at the alicorn sitted on the opposite row.
“I was just saying how weird Pinkie was acting yesterday. She seemed paranoid about something. Did you girls notice?” Fluttershy merely shrugged, and Rainbow Dash took a few seconds before answering.
“Well, Pinkie being weird is not something unusual.” Rainbow Dash answered nonchalantly. Fluttershy then closed her book and looked up at Twilight before answering.
“I haven’t even seen Pinkie in the past few days, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She stated while putting the book in her saddlebag.
“I went to Sugarcube Corner yesterday to buy a pie, and as I entered she stepped back away from me, with a worried look on her face. I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn’t know. She said she felt a shiver down her spine the moment she saw me and told me not to get close, then she said they were closed for the day and started asking all the ponies in there to leave. She was also fidgety, much more than usual.” The three friends looked at each other and said nothing for a moment.
“Sending customers away like that seems very strange, yeah.” Dash commented, frowning.
“When we go back to ponyville we should talk to her and see if everything is fine with her.” Fluttershy said plainly. The other two ponies nodded.
No one spoke for a while. Rainbow Dash turned towards the train window once more. Apparently, they were going up a mountain. The trees in the distance were less visible, unlike the clouds. Ponyville was not easily seen; it was very far away. At one of the opposite mountains, Rainbow Dash could see a city which she presumed was Canterlot.
She coughed a little before speaking. “Hey, so, like what is this city called again?” She looked at Twilight in the eyes.
“The place we are going to is not a city, it’s more like a village. It’s called Termina. And that’s pretty much all I know about it. That, and the fact that it’s near the top of this mountain. This village is so small it barely appears on my travel guide books.”
“What about you, Fluttershy, do you know anything about this place?” She asked, looking at her other friend.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been here before. I really don’t know anything about it.” Fluttershy replied in her usual quiet manner, before returning to her book.
“It’s a good thing it’s a small village though, this way we can easily find the friendship issue thing.” The cyan pegasus said as she put her forelegs behind her head, making herself more comfortable.
“Speaking of the friendship problem, don’t you two find strange the fact that we are three?” Rainbow looked at Twilight and Fluttershy, who looked at each other and shrugged.
“What’s the issue with us being three?” Twilight questioned.
“There’s no issue, it’s just, well, as you’ve probably have noticed, when we are called by the map it’s always two of us. This time, three of us were called. Maybe the friendship issue is harder to solve this time.”
“You can’t say for sure. I’m not sure if that’s how it works.” The alicorn shook her head. “The map calls the elements required to solve a friendship problem in a certain place. Maybe the three of us are required for something in this particular case, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be more difficult to solve necessarily. I do understand your logic though, there used to be a correlation that implied that only two elements are summoned at a time, but apparently that isn’t the case.”
“Does that mean that in the future someone might even be called to go solve a friendship problem alone?” Fluttershy asked.
“I think it could be possible. Like I said, we still don’t know much about how the map works, so there’s no point in making assumptions.” After Twilight stopped talking, she put a hoof under her chin, with thoughtful look on her face, while staring at nothing.
“When you put it that way, you’re probably right.” Rainbow Dash said before sighing and stretching her legs a little.
“Hey, Fluttershy, what book were you reading back there?”
“Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. When I asked Zecora to take care of my animals, I told her about this place we are going, Termina, and she asked me to bring her some plants which grow near this mountain. So I’ll need some time after we solve the friendship problem to get them, if you two don’t mind.” The yellow pegasus opened her saddlebag and retrieved a book from it, then, she proceeded to open it and show it to Rainbow Dash and Twilight.
“Corylus Biennis. The Corylus Biennis is an extremely rare, huge plant and can be found in some mountains and sometimes in caves. It blooms twice a year, for 1 month. It has huge, elliptic leaves, which are usually light orange. It also grows small flowers, which can be dark brown, purple, dark purple and orange. These plants grow in huge groups, but it's easy, even without experience, to control and maintain their growth. They can be used to create a poison. As a defense mechanism the Corylus Biennis relies mostly on its surroundings to survive. They rely on self pollination to reproduce. Once pollinated, they grow small, inedible fruits.” Twilight read out lout the text as Rainbow observed the image above it.
“Science truly is fascinating, wouldn’t you agree, Rainbow?” Twilight smirked, and then started reading the rest of the text to herself.
“This plant sounds kinda dangerous. If I didn’t know about it, I’d probably mistake it for food if I saw it. I mean, from the picture it looks tasty, to be honest.”
“It’s okay. I have a special bag just for this plant, so there’s no need to worry. This is the least I can do for Zecora.” Fluttershy then turned to Twilight and beamed. “Oh, and by the way, thanks for the book, Twilight.”
“It’s no big deal, Fluttershy. I-“
First she realized she heard a low buzzing sound. Then, she felt something liquid on her right foreleg. Her head hurt a lot, and she could not do anything but stay still for a few seconds.
After the sound had faded, she decided to open her eyes to understand what was going on. As she did, she noticed a purple blur and the white sky. Her vision became clearer in no time, and she saw her friend Twilight looking at her with tears on her eyes.
“Oh, Rainbow, you’re conscious! Please, stay still, I will try to cast a spell to make you feel less pain.” She quickly said as her horn lit up.
“Ugh.. what?” She moaned. She moved her head to the right to see what was the liquid on her foreleg. Her foreleg was completely twisted. She could even see some white of the broken bone among the blood and flesh. She also realized the extreme pain in her leg. My leg... MY LEG! Oh, Celestia what happened?
“Rainbow, please, stay still.” Twilight ordered. As Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, she noticed that her friend had a large gash on her flank, and was also bleeding from the head.
What the hell happened, why am I hurt? Why is Twilight hurt? And where’s Fluttershy? I need to remember. I need to remember. I need to remember. The pegasus closed her eyes to concentrate for a moment. She ignored the excruciating pain in her foreleg.
With her eyes closed, she could hear her heart pulsing. The adrenaline was kicking in. Her mind felt clearer than before. She could remember. She managed to remember what had happened before she had blacked out: the train had gone off the rails and fallen from the mountain.
Using all her strength, she managed to get up. “Dash, I told you to be still. I’m trying to heal you!” Those words didn’t matter to her. All that mattered was to find Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy...” She said weakly. “I have to find Fluttershy.” She moved her damaged leg, and felt an intense pain overwhelming her. She wanted to see her friend. She wanted, no, she needed to see her friend still alive. Despite all the pain, she flapped her wings and started getting off the ground.
“You idiot! You’re going to die of blood loss!” The alicorn shouted. Tears were streaming down her face. Yet, Rainbow persisted.
Rainbow hovered around until she saw a yellow shape in the distance, close to a river. She landed on her three good legs and walked towards the pony lying on the grass. She recognized the yellow coat and pink mane and tail. Fluttershy...
When Rainbow Dash was close enough to the pony, she saw that her friend’s head was twisted backwards.