A story of loss and reunion for Hearth’s Warming. One stormy night, Rainbow is on weather watch and tackles a twister too strong for her, crashing miles from anywhere and unable to fly. She is presumed dead, but a grumpy old hermit helps her out.
A story of loss and reunion for Hearth’s Warming.
One stormy night, Rainbow is on weather watch and tries to tackle a twister that is too strong for her, crashing miles from anywhere and unable to fly. She is posted Missing In Action and her friends and family believe her to be dead, but a grumpy old hermit comes to her rescue.
The snow was falling hard outside and three pegasi stallions were huddled around a TV screen watching highlights of the previous season’s hoofball on DVD. Anypony would have to be mad to want to go out in these conditions after all. The cider was flowing freely and all three were having a good time relaxing in each other’s company. It’s not as if there was anything better to do, stuck out at the furthest reaches of Equestria.
The small complex they inhabited looked scientific, but had very little in the way of a link to the outside world, except for an ancient teleprinter, an archaic machine that rattled out messages character at a time, taking whole minutes to deliver a few simple words. The words that it had printed tonight were mostly obscenities from colleagues back in Cloudsdale, in turn having been sent in response to equally offensive language from the three stallions huddling in the isolated snowy outpost. The game of sending rude messages had begun to pale with the time it took, and so they had switched the machine off to focus on the much more important issue of hoofball, the nearest thing any of them held dear as a religion.
Hoops, Dumb-Bell and Score had always been keen sports fans; arguably not the brightest of ponies, but the three misfits had drifted together by chance early in life, each revelling in their own mediocrity, forces which when combined between them left even the lowest levels of under-achievement beyond their collective grasp. When younger they had also exhibited a tendency to gang up and bully other ponies, especially Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Time had not cured them of their unjustified self-belief, but it had also generously chosen to gift them with acute laziness as well.
Somehow, fate had seen fit to keep them together and that was how they were here now, watching hoofball when they should have been doing something important instead. A message was backed up at the teleprinter, unable to be received because this vital lifeline had been switched off. Every minute that passed was now going to cause Equestria deeper problems.
They had been released from their duties in the weather factory on Cloudsdale to operate this weather station as the original occupants had all been struck down by illness. The weather factory had been working at capacity creating snowflakes and the three friends had seemed almost to be wilfully setting them behind schedule, so their managers were delighted when the opportunity had arisen to have them out of their manes, especially whilst production was at critical levels.
Their job whilst at this outpost was to make regular assessments of the weather by taking readings from instruments and flying reconnaissance. They were also required when instructed to intercept unexpected storms that could disrupt the carefully engineered weather patterns within Equestria itself. Right now, they were doing none of these things, but instead getting drunk watching repeats of hoofball.
Outside, unnoticed, the sky grew darker and more ominous.
***
There had been a light snowfall during the afternoon in Ponyville; just enough to transform the town into a winter wonderland and allow the colts and fillies to make snowponies, but not enough to cause disruption. It had been perfectly judged, and a certain cyan mare was not being reticent about taking credit. She had supervised the other weather ponies as they took delivery of the consignment of snow from the weather factory and sprinkled it to just the right depth in just the right places.
Once this was done, she had spent the afternoon playing with the CMCs; engaging in snowball fights and crafting snowponies. She loved the time she spent with the fillies, especially Scootaloo, whom she regarded for all intents and purposes to be her little sister.
When she had said goodnight to them all, Rainbow had gone to check in with the other weather ponies and agreed to take on the night shift by herself and let them go have fun with their own families and loved ones, just like she had done earlier. After all, it was not as if any bad weather was scheduled until after Hearth’s Warming. They all checked to see if she was serious, and when she showed she was, they all slipped gratefully away to enjoy themselves. This gave Rainbow a great feeling of satisfaction and she snickered quietly, remembering all the fun she had enjoyed during the afternoon.
From her high vantage point, Rainbow could see the pretty lights festooned liberally around Ponyville all twinkling invitingly, tempting the ponies down below to share in the spirit of the season. She smiled. This was what Hearth’s Warming was all about and she was pleased to be making it happen, and of course, being recognised and appreciated for the larger than life role she played.
Her reverie was punctuated by an unexpected ruffle of her feathers from a breeze coming from behind her. She turned and suddenly saw the stars behind her had been obscured by an incoming storm. “What the …?” she exclaimed out loud “There isn’t a storm scheduled for weeks yet; we can’t have this – not on my watch!”
With annoyance fuelled by determination she set off to intercept the storm. The closer she flew, the less easy she felt about it; it was bigger than it looked. Procedures had been established following some serious injuries to warn weather ponies that they shouldn’t tackle a storm alone and indeed she would have much rather been supported by her colleagues, but she wasn’t going to lose face by going to round them up to help her, not after she had dismissed them to enjoy themselves. She was Rainbow Dash after all, and that was all Ponyville needed to know.
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!” she chanted as she encircled the first storm cloud, spinning round it faster and faster until it had been captured. She set off for the next one, and the next, taking on a workload that would have challenged the entire contingent of weather ponies, but one she was handling by herself.
Suddenly she stopped and her pupils shrank as she beheld what lay behind the storm clouds that she had already neutralised; a twister! She was so far along with the task of clearing the sky by herself, that although this looked daunting, the thought of asking for help now hadn’t even crossed her mind; she would tackle it alone.
“Oh yeah!” she cried, speeding towards the twister and flying round it in the opposite direction to its rotation to slow it down. This was big, so she had to fly really fast and when that didn’t achieve the desired effect, get in closer. Just at the point her brain was starting to wake up to the possibility that her self-confidence may have overruled her common sense, she paused to consider the risk she was running, and at that very point when she momentarily lost focus on her task, an arm of spinning wind reached out and grabbed her, sucking her into the vortex.
Over and over she tumbled, helpless to fight against the rush of wind, incapable of determining which way was up and unable to stop tumbling. This was a nightmare! “Don’t let it end like this!” she prayed to whichever deity was listening.
She span and she tumbled like she was in a washing machine, getting dizzy and beginning to feel faint, but fighting to stay conscious and catch her breath, increasingly desperate to get out of this hell. Suddenly she felt herself falling and saw that she was in the eye of the twister, finally free of its grasp, but surrounded on all sides by a whirling wall of raw power that she could not hope to defeat.
Flapping her wings with all the power she could summon, she lifted herself straight up, looking to fly out of the top and away to safety, but her wing hurt. She cursed – the twister must have sprained her wing muscles, or worse. Wincing with each wingbeat she continued upwards, gritting her teeth against the pain as finally she emerged into the clear night, looking around for a friendly cloud upon which to alight and recover her composure. To her annoyance, the sky around her was bare except for the frightening spectacle of spinning cloud beneath her.
Although her wing was screaming at her, she had to keep going and looked for the nearest point at which she could escape its grasp and aimed for it. She glided as much as possible to try and rest her wing, but when she drifted so close to the twister that it started to suck her back down once again, she knew she had to fly, and fly for her life.
With every wingbeat feeling like it was driving a knife into her flight muscles, she finally cleared the perimeter of the storm and glided down as quickly as she could, trying to ascertain where she was, but nothing looked remotely familiar. She couldn’t keep going any longer and finally spied the first habitation she had seen all this time and aimed for it, but her wing muscles finally gave up before she got there and she plummeted the last few yards of her descent, ending up in a snowdrift; lost and bruised, but at least she was on the ground and out of the storm.
Rainbow Dash picked herself up slowly and painfully. That had not been a good landing and she looked around to see if anypony had watched her ungraceful arrival. Nopony was anywhere near, except possibly in that cottage a few hundred yards away. She stood and checked out the source of all the aches and pains that that were vying for her attention and gave a little groan. Definitely top of the list of hurts was her right wing which did not furl neatly to her body as the left one did; it wasn’t broken and would heal, but in the meantime it would hurt like hell and she wouldn’t be able to fly.
She set off for the cottage, one step, then another, then floomp! as she sank to the tops of her legs in a snowdrift, the shock of the fall jarring her sprained wing. She cursed and dragged herself out, doubting that this would be the last hidden trap she would fall into before she reached her goal.
The lights were on at the cottage and it held out the promise of warmth and company, two things she really liked the idea of round about now. Her short walk became the assault course she feared it might be and was very grateful when her hooves finally made repeated contact with a path that led up to the front door. As each successive hoofstep struck through less and less snow, she started to question who or what she may find here; perhaps Dr Caballeron or even The Smooze?
By the time she knocked at the door she was so past caring, but still felt a little flutter when she heard a bolt being slid back and watched the light spill out as the door cracked open inwards. “We don’t want no carol singers nor yodellers round here, just ‘cus its Hearth’s Warming; now sling yer hook!” came a coarse voice from inside before the door was slammed shut and an overhang of snow fell with a floomph! next to Rainbow.
She sat back on her haunches, utterly stunned and suddenly feeling very sad. She had put herself into danger to help the likes of him and really needed his help, but even a friendly word was too much to ask. Rainbow felt her eyes start to sting and a lump form in her throat and didn’t even try to hold back the torrent of emotion that deluged from her in loud sobs. She didn’t know where she was, but she was certainly miles away from home and she was injured and didn’t know where else to go.
Eventually, the door cracked open again, but she couldn’t bring herself to look around and face further rejection; the last time still stung her badly enough. “Come on young ‘un” came the voice, a little less harsh than last time “You’ll catch yer death out there.” Rainbow hung her head down to the ground and turned, walking in through the door without even looking up or acknowledging the stallion’s change of heart.
“Looks like that wing needs a splint” he said, “What are yuh doin’ round these parts anyway?” “I’m a weather pony” she replied meekly, all the fight drained out of her. “Hah! A weather pony with a busted wing, eh?” he continued “What do you do, round up the clouds when they’re on the ground?” She was so done with this conversation, she just couldn’t be bothered to answer. Either he was going to help, or she would be thrown out again. After all she had been through, she suddenly didn’t care.
“C’mon, let’s see if I’ve got an old belt.” She stood near the door of what was a sparsely furnished front room with a log fire roaring ahead of her. The smell of wood smoke caught her nostrils and the heat started to melt the snow from her legs and her underbelly, creating little puddles on the floor. As the heat started to permeate into her aching body she gave an involuntary shudder and a cascade of water droplets fell to join the puddles on the floor. Somehow, she found she couldn’t stop shaking as the shock began to catch up to her.
The stallion came back bearing a thick leather belt, not a nice shiny one used for fashion, but a rough old thing that had probably been used for something agricultural and messy. He ran it round her an gently lifted the right wing up into the correct position. Rainbow winced at the pain and cried out involuntarily; she had not intended to show any weakness to this stranger and chastised herself inwardly. “There, there young’un” he said with a much greater tenderness in his voice than before and gently tied the wing in place “Good news is, it don’t look broke, but yuh ain’t goin’ to be flyin’ for some while.”
Rainbow chanced moving her head up slightly and saw an old buckskin coloured earth pony stallion with off white mane and tail, a colour scheme that stood out by its soberness rather than the explosion of colours you generally saw when there was a crowd of ponies together. “Well what you waitin for?” he asked, “Get over here by the fire and warm yerself up while I get you a blanket.”
She did as she was told and walked few hoofsteps forward, feeling the tightness of the belt holding her wing in place and stopped close to the fire, relishing the extra heat warming her body. A look around betrayed very little in the way of personal memorabilia except for an old photograph in a frame on the mantlepiece. She looked closely, a chord of vague recognition striking dimly somewhere inside her, at the sight of a pale coat and pink mane, but she wasn’t sufficiently alert to start trying to identify the pony.
Her host returned bearing a warm dry blanket, but stopped when he saw her looking at the picture. “You ain’t got no right to start nosin’ around my private belongings!” he bellowed. Rainbow recoiled in shock, the picture had been on display on the mantlepiece where he had told her to stand; this was hardly nosing around, as he had put it. “Don’t go thinkin’ that you can take liberties with me just because I let you in, yuh hear?”
This old timer was a grouch and no mistake, but she decided not to bite back; it was his home after all, and he had invited her in. Her uncharacteristic lack of a sassy rejoinder owed less to any particular sense of respect she felt, but more that she was so done with it all. He snatched the picture from the mantlepiece and thrust it in a bureau, slamming it shut for good measure and stared accusingly at her.
Rainbow wasn’t going to say anything, but vaguely recognised her mouth opening by itself just as her vision went black and she fell down where she stood.
***
The storm and twister drove in towards Ponyville, rending a swath of devastation in its path. All too late the ponies became aware that their Hearth’s Warming celebrations were going to have to wait while they rushed for whatever cover they could find, dragging the young and the elderly alike from their beds with no time to spare.
All available weather ponies fell in from whichever parties they had been at and took to the air, some of them still wearing the fancy dress costumes they had gone out in, while others were sobering up quickly from varying levels of intoxication. Under normal circumstances none of this would have been allowed, but now everypony was acutely aware that these few ponies were all that stood between Ponyville and the oncoming storm.
They formed up on the twister, all flying in wide circles against the direction of its rotation, just as Rainbow Dash had attempted, but this time there were more of them. It still took tremendous courage to fly against such a force of nature, partly because it could be carrying sharp and even heavy objects within the vortex but also the intensity of the wind could knock a pegasus from the sky.
Lap by lap, they moved in a little closer, braving the hidden dangers of this towering leviathan until slowly they could feel it begin to subside and sink. They kept flying in tighter and tighter circles, more ponies coming to join in as time went on until eventually it sputtered its last and collapsed just short of the school, dumping its remaining water on the playground.
With no time for complacency they then set about rounding up the remaining storm clouds and clearing the skies, a process that still took a good half hour, such had been the scale of the storm. Finally, the winds died down and all ponies in the air and on the ground were able to look around and see no more traces of the meteorological mayhem that had gate-crashed their parties and threatened to destroy the evening for Ponyville.
The weather ponies formed up for a victory roll in the crisp moonlight to the applause of all the ponies below, but something was wrong and they all knew it; at any opportunity for grandstanding, Rainbow Dash was always at the front, but where was she? All those scheduled to be on duty that night knew that she had dismissed them and all were equally aware that she would never shirk her duties if a storm was coming in. The aerobatics were half hearted and hurriedly completed as the weather ponies formed up away from the grateful crowds, not wanting to be delayed by basking in their well-earned adulation but instead to look for Rainbow.
While all other ponies went back to their parties, the search for Rainbow stepped up a notch, other pegasi being drawn in to help in the search for Ponyville’s favourite Wonderbolt. Although they were all tired, Rainbow was known as being the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty and all knew that she would have kept going to rescue any one of them, and so kept searching well into the night.
With each unsuccessful search, they pushed a little further until little by little, hope faded and they returned to face the very unpalatable prospect that she was lost; missing in action; the phrase sending unpleasant shudders through every one of them.
By morning’s light, the pegasi who had taken charge of the search went to report to Ivory Scroll that they feared the worst. Visibly taken aback, the Mayor’s voice cracked as she asked how certain they were. She did not like the answer and looked away to shed a few tears before turning back to take charge. The Mayor dismissed the pegasi to continue the search and took the longest walk of her life, just down the road to the Castle of Friendship to see a very special lilac pony and give her some news she desperately didn’t want to bear.
Rainbow faded away from a dream she was having and lay still for a moment while her aches and pains checked in. The sheer level of pain told her that her dream was over and this was either reality or a nightmare. She prayed it was a nightmare and that she could wake up from that too, but it was not to be.
“Well good morning young ’un” greeted the old stallion “Gave me quite a fright last evening, yes you did.” Rainbow tried to raise her head but a whole load of new bruises seemed to persuade her to the contrary. “You ain’t in no state to do nuthin’, ‘cept get better. S’pose I’d better look after yuh – at least till the snow melts.” She groaned. “No, I ain’t so keen neither, but I can’t jus’ throw you out, now can I?”
Her host was at the very least mercurial, but he was the only hope she had so she would have to play by his rules, whatever they were. He had at least dressed her injuries to an adequate standard and provided breakfast, so in spite of his peculiar ways and quick temper, he was a good pony. Probably. Deep down, anyway.
***
The Royal Guard had been drafted in from Canterlot to help in the search for Rainbow Dash; pegasi by day and Bat Ponies by night, but no matter how wide they cast their net, they found nothing.
Once it had been discovered that the storm had passed over the weather station manned by three novice weather ponies from the Cloudsdale weather factory, concerns were raised for their safety too. Attempts were made to rouse them by teleprinter, but no messages were acknowledged and so fears grew. In response, a contingent of Royal Guards under the command of no lesser figure than a Captain was despatched on an urgent rescue mission.
Having undertaken the long journey, he felt the energy return to his tired wings and braced himself for the horrors that awaited him. It was worse than he had thought; the three pegasi were still watching hoofball repeats and the teleprinter was switched off. He switched the dormant system back into life and was shocked to see a stream of unrepeatable abuse cascade from its memory, before eventually a message bearing a time and date stamp from days ago was printed out. The message read in part “STORM BUILDING FROM SOUTH WEST. INTERCEPT AND NEUTRALISE”
He stood in front of the three pegasi and unplugged the TV to a chorus of groans. “Which one of you geniuses switched off the teleprinter?” he asked. “He called us geniuses.” “Yeah, but he was looking at me …” “The system was full of obscenities” he commented disapprovingly, cutting through their mindless banter “You do realise that it Is a lifeline not just for you but the whole of Equestria and operating it is a big responsibility?” They stared at each other. Not another pony without a sense of humour ranting at them, they winced; it was always the same, nopony ever appreciated them.
“You had been tasked to protect a number of towns in Equestria by intercepting a storm before it got too big to handle” he said, throwing the printed message at them “And because you didn’t do your jobs a brave weather pony has gone missing.” “Yeah, but at least the storm’s gone now – right? “So, we don’t need to get up anyway.” “Result!”
“Useless is too kind a word for you” he said with thinly veiled disgust before turning to leave. “Hey - turn the TV back on will you?” He just happened to tread on the remote control and then twist his hoof repeatedly, grinding it into the floor until it lay in dozens of tiny fractured pieces. He continued staring them down as he shook his hoof to dislodge any remaining debris. “Sorry” he said with suppressed rage “Accident.”
They all whined, but none dared challenge him directly. He stormed out leaving the three pegasi to make polite conversation with each other until they were rescued. Somepony else would have to deal with those miscreants; he was simply too angry and could not trust himself to deal with them personally without getting on the end of disciplinary action or even a jail sentence.
***
A sombre Princess Twilight Sparkle summoned an extraordinary meeting at the Castle of Friendship comprising the three other Princesses, Ivory Scroll, the remaining members of the Mane Six, Starlight Glimmer, Spitfire, Discord and Rainbow Dash’s parents. The atmosphere was glum. Everypony knew why they were there, but nopony wanted the honour of chairing the discussion.
“Mrs Whistles, Mr Hothoof, Princesses and esteemed guests” began Twilight “It is my duty to call you all together to report progress in the search for Rainbow Dash.” She looked round the table and saw nothing but deep sadness in everypony’s eyes. She really didn’t want to do this, but she knew that she owed it to her friend to continue, and so she would to the best of her ability, but inside she felt a strange hollowness she had never known before.
“I should like to thank Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for having released so many Royal Guards and Bat Ponies respectively to conduct the search.” Both Princesses acknowledged their contributions with the slightest perfunctory bow, but neither smiled in recognition. “And further thanks to Princess Luna for having searched so extensively throughout the Dream Realm.” Her acknowledgement this time was little more than an extended blink with a barely perceptible nod.
“Equestria has never seen a bigger and more committed search for any missing pony, but we are now three days on from the storm and there is still no trace of her. Given the ground we have covered, I fear we are going to have to start facing some unpleasant possibilities; probably that she lies under a snowdrift.” At this, Bow Hothoof broke down with a loud sob and buried his muzzle with his forehooves, crying loudly onto the table. The sight wrenched the hearts of everypony present, even the usually random Discord found no avenue to exploit his own unique brand of humour, for there was none to be had. Windy Whistles did her best to console her husband, but soon succumbed herself with the realisation that she would never be able to hold her daughter alive again.
Twilight desperately wanted to stop and prayed that her voice would hold together; she couldn’t let the meeting fall apart before she had finished what she needed to say, or they would just have to hold another one later on and go through the whole process again.
“We may know for certain when the snow thaws, but even then there is no guarantee that she will ever be found.” Everypony knew what that meant; her freshly revealed body would make a tempting meal for any wandering carnivore, of which there were plenty, especially around the Everfree.
“I’m sorry to say that it looks like we may never see Rainbow Dash again, and although we can continue the search, it is probably best to start making plans for how we are all going to move on without her.” Now, even Twilight couldn’t hold back her tears and although she tried her very best, she couldn’t manage any longer and had to sit down, head hung low, no longer able to meet anypony’s gaze. She wiped her eyes and didn’t care any more who knew she couldn’t keep going.
“Twilight is right” spoke Celestia gently “This has been a difficult time for all of us, but there will have to come a time when we stop the search. The ponies conducting the search are all tired and we don’t want to see any further accidents; also everypony involved has their own families, and they all deserve to spend some time with them too.” She did not mean to sound heartless, but she was right. The search had been going on without a break round the clock, but there was only so far Rainbow could have got, and all the ground had been covered many times over.
“I understand that calling off the search means that we do not expect to see Rainbow Dash ever again, but we will remember her as she was, and she will continue to live in our hearts forever.” Celestia paused, this wasn’t easy for her either, even with the number of eulogies she had delivered to worthy ponies passed.
“If we all recognise that she is not coming back to us, then I propose we hold a State Funeral to honour her for the example she has set through the life she has led.” There were now no dry eyes around the table and even Celestia was fighting to keep her composure. She could see that nopony else was in a position to do any better, so she forced herself to continue.
“Windy and Bow, you are welcome to spend this period of togetherness in the Court of Canterlot where we would be delighted to receive you as honoured guests. But, much as it pains me, I propose we call off the search and set a date for the formal event a fortnight from now.”
“Thank you Celestia” spoke up Discord, his dulcet tones resonating with uncharacteristic formality, sensing the difficult position she was in “Your kind words and those from Princess Twilight Sparkle have served to show what Rainbow Dash has meant to us and will continue to mean to us all. I propose we adjourn and action Celestia’s bidding.” “Seconded” croaked Cadence through a veil of bitter tears. Then, with their sad business done, the gathering broke up to go their different ways.
***
Soon after the search was called off, life returned to normal around Equestria. A new weather pony was appointed to protect Ponyville and there was a change in the Wonderbolts line-up, but many ponies were left feeling bereft, none more so than Scootaloo who had lost her surrogate sister, her mentor and her idol.
Spitfire and Fluttershy as the two ponies Rainbow trusted with spare front door keys, joined forces to meet up at her eerily quiet Cloudominium. Although the two pegasi had nothing in common; the timid animal lover and the brash display flyer, they were both Rainbow’s most trusted friends and entered her home with hushed reverence, each reliving different facets of their friend’s personality through what they saw. They had been granted the morning to sort out the place, which as usual was in urgent need of being tidied up, prior to the arrival of her parents.
Far from being the sad and maudlin exercise they had expected, they both found items during their tidying that reminded them of personal anecdotes and shared them with each other, laughing at some of the things they had each done with Rainbow and celebrating her many and varied exploits. Before long, the morning had flown by and the house was ready for inspection, Fluttershy taking the opportunity to ensure that some long-hidden pictures of Rainbow’s parents were on prominent display. “Nice touch, Shy” said Spitfire respectfully, noticing the animal lover’s careful attention to detail, “Nice touch.”
With everything in order, the two unlikely friends filed out of the front door and stood as a guard of honour for two very important guests. Bow and Windy arrived to be impressed by the presentation of the house and discussed what they should do with their daughter’s belongings. Spitfire suggested a museum in honour of her legendary flying abilities, so all could remember her at her best, an idea that was received with great pride.
Rainbow Dash was starting to feel stronger with each passing day. Her wing still hurt like crazy, but there was no doubting the swift action of binding it to her body was taking a lot of the weight off the wing muscles. The old stallion was as irascible as ever, but for all of his rough exterior had shown great care in her treatment. He fed her regularly and moaned incessantly about the imposition of his house guest. At first, she had felt cowed by him but after a while she came to accept it is just being his way, a stallion who had been on his own for too long. Still, the brief glimpse of the picture on the mantelpiece intrigued her; she wanted to ask, but it was one subject that was clearly off limits.
“Look, you’ve been very kind and all” she began “But can I contact my friends please; they’ll be worried where I am.” He giggled wheezily, catching his breath “Now, how exactly do yuh intend on doin’ that young’un? Yuh can’t walk nowhere ‘cus of the snowdrifts and I’ve got a better chance of flying than you have right now; so yer stuck.”
“What about other callers, you know, like the mail pony or neighbours?” “What callers? I seem to get on pretty fine by myself thank you. And there ain’t no neighbours till yuh get to Rockville; ‘cept for gophers and racoons and such like. Nope, yer stuck, good and proper till the snow dies back a bit. I’ll be lookin' to move yuh on when that happens anyhow. Get my peace back again.”
Frustrating as it was, Rainbow would just have to accept that as his final answer. She looked out the window; there was no sign of a let up for a while yet. “My name’s Rainbow Dash; I never caught your name” she prompted, trying to make conversation. “That’s ‘cus I never gave it you” he replied.
***
As days rolled by, Canterlot began preparing for the funeral. Usually, pegasi funerals were closed affairs for pegasi only, so a special ceremony had to be devised that allowed the pegasi to share some of their most closely guarded traditions within the framework of a high-profile State funeral. As a proud warrior race, the traditional pegasus ceremony involved cremating the body of the deceased on a pyre where everypony could see and pay their respects. This was difficult on two counts; firstly, the spectacle could be too gruesome for those not brought up within pegasi traditions and secondly there was no body to display on the pyre.
In the end, the organisers decided on a full-sized gold coffin containing some of the most personal mementoes of her life that would be borne through Canterlot and placed on a pyre for ritual cremation. As the pyre was to be lit, the Wonderbolts would perform a specially choreographed display as a mark of their respect, guiding her spirit into the sky from where her soul could make safe passage to its final resting place beyond the clouds.
All those who knew and loved Rainbow the most were still having a hard time coming to terms with her loss, but all accepted that she had been lost to them doing something very brave, if not a little foolhardy, for the sole purpose of protecting Ponyville. Ultimately, there could be no finer epitaph for the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty; sacrificing herself for the good of others, whether they had been pegasi, unicorns or earth ponies.
***
Celestia issued a Royal Decree for weather ponies to cut back on the traditional winter weather while preparations were put in place for the final farewell to the greatest pegasus in living memory, and in response, the sun shone through a calm winter sky. This still wasn’t enough to lift the mood of sadness that pervaded what was supposed to be a celebration of Rainbow’s life, and all knew that the feeling of depression could not begin to be lifted until they had all finally said their last goodbyes.
The uncharacteristic change in the weather was also noticed by two ponies in a cottage out the back of beyond. “Well young ‘un, looks like I won’t have to put up with all yer whinin’ too much longer” the old stallion grouched “Snow’s meltin’ back like its Winter Wrap Up already. Can’t say I’ve ever seen it quite like this. It’s got to be because of you I reckon, somepony’s answered my prayers and decided to let me get you out of my mane.” He had no idea how close to the truth he was.
Rainbow didn’t take any offence at his words; she had grown used to him as a companion, one who had found his need for tact disappeared through lack of companionship. She actually felt quite sorry for him, because he had shown himself to be a very kind and decent pony, and wanted more than ever to find out about the mare in the picture and help him remake their friendship, however deep that may have been.
After a few more days of unseasonal warmth, the old stallion took a look outside and declared that they should be able to make it to Rockville, and the train station that would take her back to where she had come from. She looked straight at him as he made this announcement and saw a few tears start to well up in his eyes at the prospect of her departing, but covered it with his customary rudeness.
Thanks to his kindness, she had regained her strength and her bruising had gone down, all that remained wrong being her inability to fly. She was keen to get back to her friends, but also wanted to take him with her on the journey, so they could talk a little more and maybe introduce him to some other company. With this in mind, she decided to make out she was weaker than she was, just to make sure he stayed with her.
They set off on a path that peeped out here and there from under the melting snow, the landscape being a patchwork of snowy islands among a sea of grass and rocks. He had travelled this route for decades as his only lifeline to civilisation and knew the way hoofstep by hoofstep. Today however, he felt an unexpected heaviness as each step took him closer to the departure of his impromptu house guest. Whilst he revelled in his isolation, he had found something within the cyan mare that had reawakened his desire for company, albeit strictly on his own terms. In fact, if he were caught on an unguarded moment, he may have even said how much he had enjoyed having her around, and secretly how he didn’t really want to see her leave.
They got into Rockville without incident, camaraderie being exchanged more by eloquent silences than by words. “Look I’m really sorry” said Rainbow “But I didn’t have my purse on me when I crashed by your cottage. Could you loan me the train fare?” “Always on the scrounge; that’s you young ‘un” he grouched back, but she noticed that he pulled out his purse quickly enough. “That walk tired me out more than I thought” she lied “I don’t suppose you could see your way clear to coming with me?” “Yuh don’t stop, do you young ‘un?” he grumped “I didn’t save my money all these years just to blow it all on the likes of some careless weather pony.” In spite of his abrupt tone, he was as quick as a flash to go to the ticket office and buy two tickets for Ponyville.
The couple got a few odd glances on the journey, some ponies looking at her, then back to their newspapers, then back again. Even the old stallion started to become aware of something happening and it made him uncomfortable. “What is it with everypony today? Has it always been like this and I just forgot?” In response Rainbow leaned round to somepony who was showing an unusual amount of interest in her. “Hi” she greeted “Can I take a look at your paper when you’ve finished?” She was dumbly passed the paper by return and stared at the headline EQUESTRIA SAYS FINAL FAREWELL TO FALLEN HERO RAINBOW DASH. Her eyes grew wide in surprise and her mouth fell open. “Nice tribute cosplay” said the pony who had given her the newspaper “Best I’ve seen.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” she replied, “I am Rainbow Dash!” “You’ve even got the voice right too. Like wow! You must have studied her really hard to get that good.”
Rainbow’s ego swelled, only to be interrupted by her chaperone. “What’s this all about young ‘un?” he enquired, mystified. She turned back and showed him the paper. It bore her picture and a special edition pull out telling her life story. “That’s me!” she said proudly. “Says here your funeral’s today.” “What?” she exclaimed. “In Canterlot.” “Whoa! I’ve so got to get there to let them know I’m not dead!” “Typical” he moaned “Just when I think I’m getting’ rid of yuh, yuh spring yer funeral on me and expect me to pay for more tickets.” “Well, er, yes, actually” she said blushing red and rubbing the back of her neck with her forehoof.
Fortunately, the train continued through Ponyville and on to Canterlot, so they didn’t have to change trains, just pay a little extra for the privilege. It had been a fortnight since she had last set hoof in Ponyville and really wanted to check up on friends, but although the desire to get out was strong, she realised that they would all be at the funeral. Her funeral. It still sounded really odd, no matter how many times she rolled it round her tongue.
As they drew in to Canterlot station, they were amazed to see how many Rainbow Dashes there were; posters, memorabilia and cosplayers by the train load. Even the extravert mare was having difficulties processing this level of popularity; everywhere she turned, there being something to do with her. But then, it wasn’t every day you got to go to your own funeral.
She walked unnoticed among the crowds as just another cosplayer, thoroughly disguised in her conspicuousness. Everypony seemed to be wearing something that was unmistakably her. She looked around and caught sight of the enormous funeral pyre, situated to be in plain sight from the grand balcony of the Royal Castle. Well that made sense; all her friends and family would be in the castle, so that’s where she would have to go.
Still dragging the old stallion in her wake, the freshly enthused pegasus headed for the main entrance to the castle to find her way barred by two guards. “Aw, come on guys, it’s me Rainbow Dash” she pleaded. “Sorry Miss” said one of the guards “That’s a really good outfit, but you can’t be Rainbow Dash because she’s dead.” “Look guys, really, it’s me! Please let me in!” “Miss; that’s a fine job you’ve done, but it would be in very poor taste to upset her friends and family with your charade on today of all days. Now, please go away”
Dejectedly and with ears flat to her head, Rainbow turned away and saw Twilight come out onto the balcony. She waved her cyan forehooves and shouted to attract her attention. The Princess of Friendship turned and Rainbow saw her put a forehoof to her face as she appeared to cry. Nopony believed it was her. It was like she was worse than invisible; an apparition that was so like her, but wasn’t. She sat back on her haunches, not knowing what to do now.
Arriving at the castle was a light brown mare with spectacles and a two-tone grey mane. “Leave this to me Rainbow” said the old stallion, using her name for the first time as he moved over to intercept the Mayor. “Excuse me” he said “Ivory, isn’t it?” he enquired in a polite voice that Rainbow had not heard him use before. She stopped in her tracks and just stared at him. One of the guards pricked his ears up and called out: “Are you OK Ma’am? Is this stallion bothering you?” “Norm?” she asked tentatively. His voice caught in his throat and tears began to form in his eyes; he merely nodded. “Norm de Plume?” He nodded once more and tried to speak, but only a croak came out. “Ma’am, do you need help?” shouted the guard. “No … no thank you” she replied, “I’m quite alright.” The guard came off his aggressive looking posture, but kept a very close eye on events, ears staying pricked up and facing directly at the stranger.
“Ivory” he finally managed “I have somepony very special with me. You must meet her.” The Mayor looked past Norm and saw the cyan mare walking towards her. “Madam Mayor” she said “This guy has been my life saver – like literally. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to contact anypony, but I crash landed miles from anywhere, and your friend here saved me. I’m really sorry.” Ivory Scroll pulled them both close to her and cried tears of happiness as the guard looked on, as attentive as ever.
“Come with me” she said choking back her emotion “Both of you.” She said a few words to the guard and suddenly they were shown through into the castle, racing through the corridors and up the stairs until she emerged breathless into the ballroom that opened onto the balcony. The room was filled with all Rainbow’s closest friends and family, all turning in surprise to see why the usually so composed Mayor should crash with so little decorum into such a formal occasion. Then, from behind her walked Rainbow Dash.
First to rush forward was her father who gave a loud cheer and embraced her tightly, tears flowing down his muzzle. There were no dry eyes anywhere in the room as even Celestia and Discord shed tears of joy at the return of their friend. She endured an outpouring of affection, having to remind everypony present many times over that her wing really didn’t want to be squeezed right now as she was swamped in a barrage of hugs and kisses, all grateful to have back their friend and most importantly, their daughter.
Once the stream of individual reunions had taken place, Rainbow recounted what had happened with the storm, how she met Norm, how he had patched her up and how much she had come to like him. No matter how opposite they may have been, they would always be firm friends.
At the allotted hour, Celestia led the party out onto the balcony to address the crowd. “Ponies of Equestria, thank you for coming today to honour Rainbow Dash who went missing in the storm of two weeks ago. Today was going to be an opportunity to remember her as she had been; the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty, the Wonderbolt, the weather pony, the prankster and above all the friend, as we said goodbye to her. But this is not going to happen any more, for I am delighted to say that Rainbow Dash has been returned to us!”
Nopony knew what to make of this and gave a muted response, unsure of what was happening and then she walked out, Celestia ushering her to stand in front, her cyan blue colour highlighted to the crowd against the pure white of her own coat and outstretched wings.
The crowd erupted into cheers at the sight of her, the applause ringing for a good ten minutes as the thousands of ponies who had come to attend the funeral shouted themselves hoarse, clapping their hooves and stomping their approval.
As the adulation died down, she spoke: “Hey guys, it’s great to be back!” The crowd erupted again and Rainbow turned to face Celestia, who just smiled back at her. “Thanks for believing in me and for putting on such a great party! I hope you can all join in and we can have some fun together!” “Rainbow is right” said Celestia “We will make this into a celebration and share our joy that Rainbow Dash is back with us!”
The solemn mood under which the ceremony had been created and in which the crowd had arrived had been turned into a party at a single stroke, and all set about enjoying themselves with their star guest, happy that the iconic pegasus was back among them.
With the rapturous applause echoing all around them, Ivory and Norm shared a look that neither had seen in many a year. “So” he asked tentatively “Did you ever marry?” “No” she replied “Always far too busy with work. You have no idea how much organising it takes to make Ponyville run smoothly.” “No I don’t, but I hope you might tell me, say over dinner perhaps?” “I should like that very much. We have a lot to catch up on.”
Just then, Rainbow came back in and saw the two of them together. “Hey thanks – Norm, was it?” “That’s right young ‘un” he said “Norm de Plume; I used to be a writer. Ivory and I, well we used to have something special goin’.” “And you have brought us back together after all these years” said the Mayor “I am so grateful; I never knew where he had gone, but I do know we want to make up for lost time.”
“Tell me Madam Mayor” asked Rainbow “Did you used to have a pink mane?” “Why yes” replied Ivory “Back in the day. Why do you ask?” Rainbow looked at Norm, not wanting to be the one to betray the secret. “I just happened to have a picture of you out, you know, just for cleanin’, when young Rainbow came a callin’, that’s all” he said, blushing brightly. At this, the Mayor leaned forward and gave him a surprisingly bold kiss and Rainbow turned away to give them some privacy. There was clearly some history there, and she felt it appropriate that it could be allowed to rekindle without her interruption.
“So, Rainbow” chipped in Twilight bubbling with enthusiasm “Oh I do I hope you like what we’ve done! I read so many books and did a lot of research trying to get it right, but if we’ve got it wrong or could have done anything better, please tell me all about it! I’m so interested in pegasi traditions!”
“Oh Twi, you’re such an egghead!” giggled Rainbow as she held her friend tight once more “I couldn’t have better friends.”
