This is my first fanfic so please tell me what you think and where you think I need to improve.

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Rainbow Dash came to a stone wall and looked up to see her tormenter standing on top, practically mocking her. This Mare Do Well character had been showing her up and humiliating her every which way she turned. What was worse is that everypony praised her and just completely ignored and forgotten the rainbow-maned pegasus. But what was even worse than that was that she did all that behind a mask. This mare couldn't have even showed her up with her face in open and Rainbow would be damned if she didn't find out who was causing her all this grief.

Rainbow chased the masked vigilante down a flight of stairs and back into the streets of Ponyville. She followed her around a corner only to be then distracted by a whistle. She looked behind her to see that Mare Do Well was standing right there only to quickly disappear out of sight again. This just infuriated Rainbow even more. She continued her chase until she came across a ladder that lead to a rooftop. Seeing how the chasing was getting her nowhere, Rainbow figured she would have a better chance if she could get a view from above. Rainbow flew up and sure enough saw an unsuspecting Mare Do Well walking by.

"I got you now!" Rainbow cheered.

The pegasus then leaped from her perch and tackled her target to the ground.

"Alright, Ms. Mysterious!", Rainbow began to taunt, "Mystery solved!" and with that she tore off her oppressor's mask to reveal...Pinkie Pie. Before Rainbow could fully comprehend the situation another Mare Do Well stepped out and revealed herself to be Twilight and soon after her Applejack done the same. Fluttershy and Rarity then stepped forth and confessed to being a part of this as well.

Even a good few seconds after the fact, Rainbow was still confused to the point she was literally speechless. Seeing how Rainbow clearly wasn't going to say anything, Twilight decided to speak up first.

"We're happy for you being a hero, Rainbow. But that doesn't mean you need to go around boasting..." And then she went on to make a speech about humility and friendship but Rainbow's mind wasn't taking any of it in. She was in a state of pure confusion. But then that confusion slowly began to turn into anger and as if her mood was manifesting, the clouds above began to turn black. Rainbow looked around to see Twilight still yammering on and the rest of her "friends" looking so smug and proud of what they've done. This only served to fuel Rainbow's anger even more and in her rage she came to one conclusion.

"You...lied to me." Rainbow finally said after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

This brought Twilight out of her rant long enough for her to ask "What?" in a naive tone.

"Y-you all lied to me." Rainbow repeated again. "You went behind my back and embarrassed me in front of the whole town!" the enraged mare continued in a much louder voice, tearing up all the while. Twilight was taken aback by all this. She just expected Rainbow to owe up to her mistakes and then they could go back to the way things were.

"W-we were just tired of your boasting." Twilight defended.

"If it was bothering you so much why didn't you just say something?" the broken pegasus retorted.

"We didn't think you would listen." Rarity admitted. This did anything but calm Rainbow down.

"You think I don't care what my friends have to say?" Rainbow snapped. Twilight was trying her best to think of ways to calm the clearly upset Rainbow Dash down before things got out of hoof.

"We just wanted to show how to be humble." Twilight offered.

"Then why the Mare Do Well schtick?", Rainbow demanded viciously, "Just so you could show me up without me knowing! And you certainly didn't seem to mind the idea of everypony holding a parade in your honour!".

At this point, Rainbow was in complete shambles. Her body shook violently as the tears streamed down her face. She tried to use her wings to hide them the best she could but it was still clear that she was crying due to the loud sobbing.

The only thing she could say in her current state was "Why would you do that to me?"

Everypony was unsure how to feel about this. They only wanted to stop her bragging but they ended up hurting her. To Applejack, that didn't matter right now. As far as she was concerned, there was a dear friend of hers standing there crying her eyes out. She stepped forward and tried to put a hoof around the hurt mare in an attempt to comfort her but to her surprise, Rainbow turned the other way and flew off as fast as she could. Her only parting words were;

"Just leave me alone!".

The other ponies stood there feeling confused and uncertain as well as a twinge of guilt. Twilight more than the rest of them since it was her idea. Fluttershy wasn't too far off from tears herself as she couldn't bare the idea that she may have hurt one of her best friends. Pinkie Pie, noticing this, hugged the yellow pegasus. Partly to comfort her and partly because Pinkie needed a hug herself. Rarity brought it on herself to break the awkward silence.

"M-maybe we just need to give her a little space for now. She'll be thanking us later." the white unicorn tried to reassure everypony. But in all honesty, Rarity wasn't even sure herself on what exactly Rainbow was meant to be thanking them for. Twilight was now too absorbed in her own guilt.

"We should have just talked to her." she eventually mumbled.

As if to mimic the pegasus who had just left with a broken spirit, the clouds released their own tears in the form of rain.

"We best be headin' back." Applejack suggested.

The group, now getting soaked, agreed and parted ways to get to their individual homes.

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Hope you've enjoyed what I've written so far and let me know if you think I should continue.

Thanks for the advice you've been giving me and I'm happy with the positive reception the first chaper got. Hopefully I can keep that up.

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Somewhere high above Equestria but not so high it reaches Cloudsdale, some rogue clouds were floating among themselves but among this particular group one of the them stood out. It appeared to be letting loose rain but not in the same fashion as the ones above Ponyville or even that of any other form of cloud. These rain drops came out one or two at a time and seeped through the same general spots.

That was because in reality there was a distraught mare sitting inside the cloud who felt as though she had been betrayed by all her friends. During her time there, Rainbow did come to the conclusion that she may have went a bit too far with her boasting but she still couldn't believe that the ponies who called themselves her friends would do that to her. Friends are meant to talk to each other if something's wrong. Friends don't go behind each other's backs. Friends don't humiliate one another just to prove a point. Worst of all, Rainbow felt like she had just exposed herself by letting them see her cry. All her insecurities that she tried desperately to put a cool shell over were now out in the open.

Just when Rainbow thought she was over it, memories came flooding back out which caused her to start crying all over again. Memories of what happened today and of when she was a small filly at flight camp when she barley had any friends. It was all the other foals with the amazing tricks and agility that got the attention and it wasn't until she performed the Sonic Rainboom that everypony began to appreciate her. That's why she kept up the need to impress ponies because she was scared that if she didn't they would forget about her and leave her alone again just like they did when her friends showed her up as Mare Do Well. Ironically it was that same need that might have caused her to lose said friends.

"B-but they didn't need to go and do...that!" The still-crying pony sobbed to no one in particular.

Rainbow only had two real friends at flight camp. The first was Fluttershy but for obvious reasons Rainbow wasn't going back to her. Not that she blamed her specifically, she knew that Fluttershy didn't have it in her to come up with something so diabolical. But she still helped the others to hurt and humiliate her. That left her other friend who, admittedly, she was on bad terms with but maybe it was worth trying to rekindle that old friendship. Rainbow didn't want to be alone but she certainly didn't want to be with ponies who would treat her like they did.

When she finally calmed down, Rainbow then left the comfort of the cloud and made her way to Cloudsdale where her friend was. Once there, she stayed as low to the ground as possible since most of the other pegasai were hovering above and she didn't want to run the risk of running into somepony she knew. She came to a small house on the outskirts of town and knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again. Still no answer. Getting a tad aggravated, Rainbow knocked for a third time as hard as she could.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" the voice from inside informed.

The resident opened the door first with a face of annoyance but then it quickly shifted into a face of surprise.

"Dash?".

"Hey, Gilda".

The griffon's first notion was to say to something along the lines of "I knew you'd come crawling back." but judging by the pegasai's bloodshot eyes and damp cheeks she could tell her old friend had just gone through a personal hell so now probably wasn't the best time (maybe later).

"Um...you wanna come inside, dude?" Gilda awkwardly offered.

"Thanks." Rainbow accepted as she begrudgingly trotted inside and Gilda closed the door behind her.

For the first few minutes, there was just an uncomfortable silence. Both their eyes darted around the room while Gilda just tapped her claws and Rainbow shuffled her hooves.

"So. Oh, sorry. No, you go first. No, you." the two managed to both say in perfect synchrony. They let out a small chuckle at the awkwardness of the situation. Finally, Gilda managed to get a say in.

"Dash, I just wanna...apologise for what happened down in Ponyville. You're a cool mare so who am I to say who can't be your friends? If they're cool enough for you then that's cool enough for me." Gilda reconciled.

Rainbow let out a small smile. She knew Gilda was being sincere because she knew how hard it was for her to say something like that.

"Thanks, Gilda. But that doesn't matter anymore." Rainbow started.

"Glad to hear it." Gilda said relieved.

"'Cause they're not my friends anymore." Rainbow continued.

Gilda was genuinely surprised by this especially considering how hard Rainbow defended them. Things must have gotten bad between them.

"Did something happen?" Gilda asked.

"Don't worry about it." Rainbow answered. "Besides, I owe you an apology too.".

"For what?", Gilda questioned, "You were defending your friends. Nothing wrong with that.".

"Ex-friends." Rainbow corrected. "Anyway, I-I was sort of wondering if I could crash here for the night. Just that they know where I live and I don't need 'em coming up harassing me.". Rainbow requested with a hint of uncertainty. While Rainbow said that she didn't want her friends pestering her, Gilda knew what she really meant was that she didn't want to be alone and didn't want to admit it.

"Okay." Gilda replied, finding it impossible to say no to those big, hurt magneta eyes. "You can have my bed. I'll just sleep on the couch.".

"Oh no, you don't have to do that." Rainbow insisted.

"Nah, it's fine. I like my couch.", Gilda insisted back, "Besides, you look like you could use a good night's sleep.".

Rainbow gave in. "Okay. Mind if I use your bathroom?".

"Go right ahead." Gilda granted.

Rainbow stepped inside and headed over to the taps where there was a mirror hanging above. For the first time since the falling out Rainbow managed to get a good look at herself and at first she barley recognized herself. Her eyes were red and stinging and while she's never been one for grooming, even she couldn't deny how much of a mess her mane was. She hadn't looked like this since flight camp when she used to hide in the bathroom and cry at another failed attempt.

She turned on the taps and splashed her face with some cold water to help with the stinging eyes. She looked out the window to see it was getting pretty dark out. The hurt mare just wanted the day to end and get to bed as soon as possible. Rainbow entered the living room where Gilda was lying on the couch.

"Hey, Gilda? It okay with you if I just hit the hay?" Rainbow enquired.

"Sure. Bedroom's just to the right of the bathroom." Gilda informed.

Rainbow followed Gilda's instructions and entered the bedroom. The bed was already made and the blanket was a simple brown colour with a white edge. She lifted one corner and placed her self underneath. Getting to sleep was easier said than done as Rainbow did spend a few good minutes just tossing and turning. When she did finally get to sleep, it was anything but peaceful.

At flight camp, a small rainbow-maned pegasus had just fell from the sky and upon the unforgiving floor. She was only greeted with the sound of humiliating laughter and remarks such as "Rainbow Crash". She looked up to see there was nothing around her except darkness but the teasing still remained. She looked further up to see a hole piercing through the darkness. The young Rainbow could barley make out the sky and her new goal. She lifted herself off the ground and headed upwards. The hole grew closer and closer until she could actually feel the breeze from outside.

Fate had other ideas however as she felt something pull on her tail in an attempt to drag her back. She looked down to see a dark entity emerging from the ground that bared a strong resemblance to the Mare Do Well costume. Rainbow tried picking up her wings but that only made the creature pull even harder. Next, two more Mare Do Wells appeared next to her.

"What? Were you planning to achieve something?" the first one said in a voice similar to that of Twilight's.

"We can't have that now." The other one said, sounding like Pinkie.

The two Mare Do Wells flew up to the hole and on their way merged together to form a dark cloud which proceeded to cover up the hole. Rainbow attempted to scream out for help but no sounds came past her lips and with one last pull from the Mare Do Well below, she was pulled into the darkness.

Once underneath, she found herself in the street where she fell out with her friends. It was completely empty but there were still voices. More importantly, the voices of her friends.

"Look at her show boating. Like she has anything to show boat about!" Rarity's voice said.

"Just tryin' to cover up what a failure she is." Applejack's voice replied.

"That was all she did at flight camp. Trying desperately to get as much attention as possible." a rather mean version of Fluttershy's voice informed.

The tears that Rainbow had become all too familiar with today were starting to come back.

"S-shut up!" Rainbow tried to threaten. She started running but everywhere she turned she came to a dead end.

"Let's expose what a failure she is. Watch her crumble." Twilight's voice suggested.

"Yeah, let the whole town know what a waste of time she is." Pinkie's voice added.

Rainbow closed her eyes and put her hoofs over her eyes as the tears dripped from her face once more.

Finally, Rainbow woke up and flung herself upwards into a sitting position. She was starting to hyperventilate and could feel sweat running all over her. Once she realized it was just a nightmare she calmed down a bit.

"I'm a wreck." Rainbow thought to herself. Even though it was just a dream it only served to remind her of her past and already her eyes began to leak once more. Her time in the cloud wasn't the last time she cried that night.

Her ears then perked up when she heard Gilda enter the room and the last thing she needed was to have her see her like this. As soon as she heard the door creak, Rainbow turned around so her head was facing the pillow. While she could no longer see her, she did hear an inward sigh come from Gilda.

"No point in hiding your face, Dash. I already heard you sobbing outside." Gilda said.

Rainbow didn't turn back around but she didn't bother holding back the tears either and instead let them free into the pillow. Gilda then proceeded to sit on the corner of the bed and, though hesitantly, ran her claw through Rainbow's mane in an attempt to comfort her. She also tried her hand at trying to provide some comforting words.

"Hey, c'mon now. Buck up." Gilda said in a soft, soothing voice. This did calm Rainbow down somewhat as the crying did soften but didn't stop all together.

"You wanna talk about it?" Gilda offered. Rainbow then sat up and Gilda put her right arm around her.

The pony took a deep breath before answering "Okay." and telling the lion-eagle hybrid what happened today. After she told her, Gilda couldn't believe it.

"Wow. And I thought I could be a jerk. What they did was just mean." she commented.

"M-maybe I deserved it. M-m-maybe I just don't deserve friends." Rainbow said before breaking off into uncontrollable crying once again.

Gilda then put both her arms around her and allowed her to cry into her shoulder.

"Shh. Don't say that. You're a great mare, Dash. Even if you are bit of a show-off. Doesn't excuse what they did." Gilda comforted. She could see that her friend was in serious need of cheering up.

"Tell you what,", Gilda began to offer, "I'm meeting up with some friends for a drink tomorrow. Why don't you come along? Forget about your worries.".

"You sure they won't mind?" Rainbow asked.

"Nah, it'll be cool." Gilda ensured.

"Guess it couldn't hurt." Rainbow admitted. She actually sort of looked forward to it since it could mean a chance to make new friends. This notion didn't stop from showing itself as a small smile crept it's way onto Rainbow's face.

"See? A smile. Haven't seen that on your face in a while." Gilda noticed.

Once their conversation ended, Gilda made her way back into the living room and let Rainbow get to sleep. Rainbow had an easier time doing so since she was in a better mood and was excited for tomorrow. She almost couldn't remember why she was upset in the first place. Almost.

Chapter 3 has been re-edited and reuploaded because I felt the original chapter was too short so I added an extra dream sequence.

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Twilight didn't wake up in the best of moods. Her mind was plagued by what happened yesterday and whether or not she took it too far. She didn't write her letter to the princess like she originally planned, what was she meant to say?

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I hurt one of my best friends in order to prove a point because it never occurred to me to just talk to her about what was wrong.

Your faithful student and all-round awful pony,

Twilight Sparkle".

Her plan for today was to find Rainbow and apologies for what she and the others did but a loud rumble from her stomach advised her to put that on hold and get some food first. She went downstairs to find Spike arranging some books.

"Morning, Spike." Twilight greeted in a groggy voice.

Spike turned around and looked as though a complete stranger walked into the house.

"Morning? It's the afternoon." Spike informed.

When Twilight's brain finally processed this information, she automatically began panicking.

"What? How long have I been asleep? What time is it?" Twilight asked one after the other.

"It's about five to one." Spike answered.

"Ah!", the unicorn screamed in frustration, "How could I sleep in for so long?".

"I'm guessing it was 'cause you were having bad dreams last night." Spike explained.

"How do you know that?" Twilight asked.

"'Cause you were constantly shouting 'I'm sorry, Rainbow' throughout the night!" Spike said in a rather irritated tone. Twilight figured that it must have kept him up as well.

"Sorry about that, Spike." Twilight apologised. She decided that since she already slept in so late that she shouldn't put off making amends with Rainbow any longer. She quickly grabbed a muffin from the cupboard and wolfed it down to keep her stomach quiet. Twilight then opened the front door only to find the rest of her friends standing there.

"Guys? What are you all doing here?" Twilight inquired.

"We need you to perform that spell that lets us walk on clouds again. We can't find Rainbow anywhere." Rarity answered.

"Rainbow's missing?" Twilight worried.

"We looked everywhere!", Pinkie Pie explained with her hair deflated per usual when something was upsetting her, "We looked at every cloud, in every alley, in every street, at Sugarcube Corner, behind Sugarcube Corner, on top of Sugarcube Corner, below Sugarcube Corner, we asked everypony in Ponyville and we asked their neighbours and their neighbour's neighbours and their neighbour's pet dog's kennel manufacturer's old college roommate!".

"We even had Fluttershy look into her house, she weren't there. But she can't have gone too far so she must be somewhere in Cloudsdale." Applejack explained further.

"I didn't mean to be rude and go into her house without her permission. It's just that we couldn't find her and Tank hadn't been fed so I had to take care of that." Fluttershy said in her usual shy manner. Knowing that Rainbow was missing, Twilight felt even worse.

"I'll get the balloon ready to take us up." Twilight stated. Once the balloon was ready for departure and Twilight performed the spell, the group set off for Cloudsdale. They continued their search through the city and yet there was still no sight of the rainbow-maned pegasus. They tries asking different ponies and even splitting up but that still didn't turn in any results. Twilight was walking through one of the main streets where she still wasn't able to find Rainbow.

Twilight's mind then began to consider all kinds of possibilities, none of them good ones. What if she got hurt? What is she got lost in the rainstorm last night? What if Rainbow never wanted to speak to them again and was simply avoiding them? Twilight didn't know if she could really blame her for doing so. Just when Twilight was about to give up hope, Pinkie Pie popped up from a flower pot (at this point, Twilight found out it easier not to question things like that).

"Twi! I know where Rainbow is! See, I asked this one pony who didn't know but he said this other guy might know but he didn't know either but he said that the girl who worked at the flowershop might know and..." Pinkie ranted before Twilight interrupted her.

"Pinkie! Where is she?" Twilight said with a slight tinge of irritation.

"Well, I eventually asked the carriage maker's aunt and she said that she saw a rainbow-maned pony go into a place called the Bronze Claw with a griffon." Pinkie finally said.

"Right. Let's get the others." Twilight instructed. After the group reformed, they decided on their next plan of action.

"Griffon, eh? That sounds like Gilda." Applejack deducted.

"I can't believe Rainbow would go back to her after what she did." Rarity commented.

"At least we have an idea of where we can find her now." Twilight noted.

Following the directions that Pinkie got from the carriage maker's aunt, the group found the Bronze Claw which was a rather humble looking pub. Just by luck, Rainbow was exiting with Gilda and two other griffons.

Rainbow was well and truly happy as of now. She was glad that she made up with Gilda, she almost forgot how much fun she could be when she wasn't being a jerk to people. Her two other friends were pretty cool too; Gale and Sky. Gale had grey feathers and yellow eyes while Sky had icy blue feathers and grey eyes. The two argued about everything and were constantly at each other's throats but a couple of drinks of cider later and they were the best of buddies, up on stage and singing karaoke.

But that happiness didn't last long outside the pub as she noticed her once-friends standing outside.

"Oh no. Please don't see me. Please don't see me. Please don't see me."

Rainbow chanted in her head.

"Rainbow!" Twilight called out.

"Dang it!"

Rainbow thought. It was days like this she cursed having such a noticeable mane. She could already see the five of them coming up to her so she didn't really have a chance to get away. Gilda noticed this and sent Gale and Sky on their way telling them that this was "personal business". The griffon knew that Rainbow was capable of taking care of herself so she stood a few feet behind her and decided to step in only when necessary.

Rainbow turned to face them and already she felt a touch of anger reawaken from yesterday.

"What do you want?" Rainbow asked coldly.

"Rainbow, we're sorry for yesterday. What we did wasn't right and we should have known we could have talked to you." Twilight apologised. This didn't seem to affect Rainbow however as she just continued to glare at the group with unforgiving eyes.

"So?" she eventually replied.

"So?", Twilight repeated in a confused manner, "Rainbow, we're sorry.".

"And you think that's gonna be enough? That you were just gonna apologise and I'd come back and then you could write your letter to the princess. You hurt me and there's no way I'm coming back after why you did." Rainbow proclaimed.

"Don't be like that, Rainbow. We're sorry. What more do you want from us?" Applejack said somewhat frustrated. Detecting the affliction in Applejack's voice, Gilda stepped in.

"Look, she said she's not coming back so why don't you go back the way you came?" Gilda ordered.

"And then you go back to her!", Applejack continued, "Don't you remember what she done?".

"Yeah, I do. What I don't remember her doing is humiliating me in front of the whole town just 'cause I got bit of a swelled head. Now I wonder who could've done that?" Rainbow replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You didn't trust her to listen so you lost her trust. Simple as that." Gilda added.

"No one asked you! Ain't none of your business!" Applejack snapped at Gilda.

"And it wasn't your business to go behind my back!" Rainbow defended.

"What happened to being the Element of Loyalty?" the increasingly-frustrated apple farmer asked. Rainbow didn't answer straight away. Instead, she turned around and before walking off with Gilda replied;

"I'm loyal to my friends. I don't know who you are.".

Nopony could believe they heard that. Once Applejack got over the initial shock, she simply let out a growl of frustration and anger.

"Fine! Be that way!" she yelled before running back to the balloon. Rarity tried calling after Rainbow.

"Please, reconsider what you're saying." Rarity pleaded somewhat meekly. She was given no response from the pegasus. Twilight merely let out a sigh.

"Let's go." she said.

"B-but what about Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.

"She's made her decision. We can't force her to come back." the unicorn replied. Seeing no point in arguing, the other simply followed after Twilight and Applejack to the balloon.

Meanwhile, Rainbow was walking with Gilda in the other direction with her head down low. This didn't escape Gilda's attention.

"You okay, dude?" she asked.

"Yeah. I think I'm just gonna go back home. Think I forgot to feed Tank." Rainbow answered with a melachonic tone.

"Okay. See ya tomorrow?" Gilda asked as she was just about to fly off.

"Yeah. I'll do that." Rainbow answered in the same tone again and with that Gilda was off.

Back in the balloon, things weren't much better. Nopony said anything and were just left to their own thoughts. Twilight noticed how Applejack looked especially dishearten with her head hanging over the basket and eyelids heavy. When they reached Ponyville, the group went their separate ways with Twilight going back to the library. She tried to clear her head with some studying but that did nothing for her. Her mind kept wandering back to Rainbow and how Applejack looked after today. She put her book away and decided to see how the cowpony was holding up.

She made her way to Sweet Apple Acres to find Applejack bucking some apple trees. Nothing unusual with that, but it was the excessive force that Applejack was applying that caught Twilight's attention. She looked as if those trees had killed Winona. Clearly, something was bothering her.

"Hello, Applejack." Twilight piped out. This managed to bring Applejack out of her mental state long enough for her to acknowledge her.

"Oh. Howdy, Twi. What can I do you for?" Applejack asked as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"Applejack? Is something wrong?" Twilight inquired.

"Wrong? Why would something be wrong? Nope. Nothing's wrong at all." Applejack said with that face she usually made when she attempted to lie.

"Look, Applejack. I understand if you don't want to talk about Rainbow but it might help to get your feelings out in the open." Twilight suggested.

"What feelings? It's not like what happened got to me. Not like I feel awful for doing what I did to her. Or when she said we weren't her friends no more. Or the fact I might not see her again. Or the fact that she ha-ha-ha-hates me!" Applejack said with that last sentence ending with her bursting into tears. Twilight stepped forward and put a hoof around the crying mare.

"Shh. She doesn't hate you. She's just very emotional right now. We all are." Twilight soothed. Applejack could only sob into the librarian's shoulder in response.

"B-b-but what if she ain't? What if she really does hate us?" Applejack continued to sob.

"I promise you that's not going to happen.", Twilight reassured, "Now why don't we get you inside? It's way past your working hours. I'll make you some cocoa.". Applejack merely nodded as the two made their way back to the Apple house. After some arrangements were made, Twilight agreed to spend the night in the guest room. Twilight settled down into the bed and let sleep overcome her.

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself in an empty building with seemingly endless halls, open doors and pictures on the wall that looked as though they were drawn by a particularly young foal implying that this was a school of some sort.

"Not this again." Twilight thought to herself. Though she told herself not to, she couldn't stop her body from moving forward. She kept walking, the sound of her hooves echoing throughout the empty building until those echoes were accompanied by another sound. The unicorn could just make out a faint whimpering coming from one of the rooms. She journeyed further as the sound got louder and louder and Twilight eventually managed to find the source of it. She peered her head into a dark room. She couldn't make out any faces but she could see sihouettes of three ponies prodding a smaller pony and making unkind remarks.

"You're nothing but a failure!" one remarked.

"Such a waste of time!" another remarked.

"What ever gave you the idea you were worth anything?" the last one said. Even though she knew what was coming up from the previous night, Twilight still stepped in.

"Leave her alone!" Twilight yelled as she rushed to the small pony's side. At that moment, the lights came on to reveal the three figures to be three other Twilights, all with sinister grins and heartless eyes. The real Twilight then looked down to see the pony they were picking on was a filly Rainbow. The three Twilights evaporated into clouds of black smoke as the real one tried to put a hoof around the small Rainbow only to have her push it away.

"Go away!" the crying filly screamed.

"I'm not like them. I'm not going to hurt you." Twilight tried to reassure.

"Then why did you do all those mean things to me yesterday? Why didn't you just talk to me?" Rainbow argued.

"I know I should have and I'm sorry." Twilight repeated for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"You're just like everyone else! Everytime I do something ponies will like me for somepony has to take it away!" the foal continued to cry out.

"You don't have to impress anypony. You just have to be yourself." Twilight insisted.

"Yes I do! Or everypony will leave me alone! Just like they did when you took the attention away from me!" the cyan pegasus sobbed.

"Rainbow..." Was all Twilight could say before the filly also evaporated into smoke and the walls of the building came tumbling down. Twilight looked up to see that the sky was blazing red and in the distance a large black cloud with demonic eyes was approaching, engulfing everything in it's past. She looked around to see her other friends lying on the ground writhing in pain. They were attempting to use the Elements of Harmony to ward off the cloud but they refused to work. Twilight then looked to her right to see a fully-grown Rainbow standing on a cliff with her own element but was refusing to help.

"Rainbow! Please you need to help us!" Twilight begged but her pleads fell on deaf ears. She simply trotted out of sight.

"Rainbow! Please! I'm sorry!" Twilight screamed, tears streaming down her face, before she looked behind her to briefly see the cloud engulfed her.

Twilight shot up in her bed with a "Rainbow! I'm sorry!". Twilight was breathing heavily and sweating until she calmed down to realize that she was in Apple house. Obviously her scream didn't go unheard as Applejack entered the room.

"You okay, sugarcube?" Applejack inquired.

"Nothing, Applejack. Just a bad dream. Sorry if I woke you." Twilight answered.

"You too, huh?", the farmer replied, "Don't worry 'bout it. Just holler if you need anything.".

"Okay, Applejack. Good night." Twilight said before Applejack left the room again. Similar to last night, Twilight didn't fall back to sleep easily.

I apologise for this chapter being so late but I came down with a cold and a bad chest cough and coughing and spluttering everywhere isn't the best way to write a story. Again, sorry for the delay and I also apologise for this chapter being so short but I didn't want to put off putting up a new chapter for any longer.

---

Rainbow was soaring through the skies at an incredible pace. The wind flowing through her mane was exhilarating. The cheers from the crowd below motivated her to persevere. She was flying with the Wonderbolts along with her heroes Spitfire and Soarin. The show was coming to an end and to cap it off Rainbow performed her legendary Sonic Rainboom and everypony went wild. Rainbow gently landed on the ground and looked up to see everypony coming towards wanting her autograph and what not. Then she heard a voice from behind or rather five voices.

"Rainbow, come back." Twilight begged.

"We're so very sorry." Fluttershy pleaded.

"We should have just talked to you." Rarity admitted.

"We had no right doing what we were doing." Applejack insisted.

"We promise we won't do it again! Pinkie promise! A super special Pinkie promise with sprinkles and a cherry on top!" Pinkie pledged.

Rainbow didn't take any notice of this. They hurt her too much for her to forget what they did and no amount of apologising was going to change that. She looked ahead to see Spitfire calling her over and as Rainbow complied her old friends vanished into clouds of smoke. Rainbow followed the fellow Wonderbolt into a room with an army of fans in tow. But as she entered, all she could see was darkness and as she looked around she saw everypony disappearing in a similar fashion to her friends one by one.

"No. No. Not again!" Rainbow cried out but by time the words exited her mouth everypony was gone. She then remembered the door but that too was gone. Rainbow looked down at her hooves to see them being consumed by the darkness and before she could even think of screaming it had already engulfed her.

"Ah!" Rainbow yelled as she shot up in her bed. Another nightmare. All Rainbow could do at this point was simply sigh. She got up and saw Tank already awake in his box. She trotted over and picked him up.

"You won't leave me, right?" Rainbow cooed as she hugged the tortoise almost a little too tightly. She set him back down and went in to the bathroom to get washed and ready for meeting Gilda and her friends again at the Bronze Claw today. Soon she was over there with the three griffons.

"No way! Stallion Wars Episode I: The Phantom Mare was way worse!" Gale argued.

"No, Stallion Wars Episode II: Attack of the Colts was worse!" Sky argued back. The two were suprisingly really into their books and were arguing about the infamous Stallion Wars prequel trilogy, written by the same author as the Daring Do books. Dash could never understand the appeal and thought reading was just for eggheads like Twilight but she was too polite to say so in front of her new two friends.

"Hey, Dash!", Sky called out, "Which do you say is worse?". Rainbow hadn't really taken notice of the conversation and had just sort of stayed quiet all day.

"Um...the first one?" Rainbow replied, hoping it would prove a satisfactory answer.

"Told ya!" Gale said to Sky before sticking her tongue out in victory. However, Gilda had noticed Rainbow's low head and empty stares.

"Something up, dude?" Gilda asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just gonna get a refill of cider." Rainbow informed but moving from the table to the bar to get another drink. The dream was from last night was still bothering her. Even though she Rainbow was so wrapped in thought that she bumped into another griffon and caused her to spill her drink.

"Oh, sorry, I-" Rainbow started to apologise before realising what a behemoth she had walked into. "Huge" would have been an understatement. The griffon Rainbow walked into must have been twice the size of any other griffon Rainbow had seen at least. She had black feathers, blood red eyes and a flesh pink scar stretching across her right eye. She simply stared down at Rainbow and the pegasus could actually feel herself begin to buckle, something she didn't know she was capable of. Then the griffon looked around the pub and as her gaze swept over everyone they kept their heads down and tried not to make eye contact.

"Who let this pony in here?" she bellowed. No one dared answer.

"Guess I'm gonna have to take the trash out myself." the beast mused as she picked up Rainbow in a similar manner you would a cat.

"Put her down, Storm!" Gilda finally stepped in with Gale and Sky not too far behind her.

"Make me." Storm simply replied. In response, Gilda tackled her causing her to drop Rainbow and sending the two griffons flying out the pub doors. Gilda retained steadiness only to have Storm knock her back down to the ground with one swipe of her claw. Rainbow had witnessed this and felt a burning anger within her. How dare someone hurt one of her friends. Rainbow flared out her wings and tackled Storm and knocked her into the side of a nearby building.

Storm stood back up and prepared to strike Rainbow until Gilda got in the way. Storm then looked up to see other people from the pub were standing with the two including Gale and Sky. Being smart enough to realise she was outnumbered, Storm stood back and got ready to fly off but she didn't leave without the last word.

"I'm gonna get you back for this, pony. You hear? You're gonna regret this.".

After everything calmed down, Gilda sent Gale and Sky on their way and walked Rainbow home.

"So who was that?" Rainbow asked.

"That was Storm." Gilda answered.

"What's her problem?" Seemed like an extreme reaction for spilling a drink." Rainbow asked further.

"Don't worry about. It's not you. She just hates all ponies. She doesn't go to that pub often but when she does they usually try to hide any ponies. My guess is that they didn't notice you were there when she walked in." Gilda explained.

"But why?" Rainbow inquired.

"I knew her as a chick and she was picked on a lot by a couple of pegasai. One day, her mother took her down to Ponyville to play in the park but while she was busy talking to one of her friends, one of the pegasai was there with some other ponies and wouldn't leave her alone. One of 'em pushed her down a hill and she cut herself on some bramble on the bottom and that's how she got that scar. Afterwards, she went nuts on 'em and started beating 'em up. When her mother finally noticed she took her away and she just sort of stayed indoors most of the time. No one dared talk to her afterwards and I wouldn't see her outside of school as often." Gilda told.

"That's awful." Rainbow sympathised. Though it still didn't excuse what she did.

"Well, we're here." Gilda said as they approached Rainbow's front door. "Sure you don't need me to stick around?" she offered.

"Nah, I'll be fine." Rainbow insisted. With that, they said their goodbyes and Gilda was on her way. Rainbow spent the remainder of the day playing with Tank a bit and practising some aerial tricks. Before she knew it it was approaching night time and Luna's moon was high in the sky. Rainbow tucked Tank into her box before retiring for the day herself and fell asleep fairly quick, unaware of the trouble ahead.

It was late at night and the Bronze Claw was just about to close up. All the remaining customers had been sent on their way and the new owner, a male griffon with maroon feathers and brown eyes named Leo, was doing some last minute cleaning before heading upstairs where his living quarters were. Then he heard the doors swing open but since the place was so dimly lit he couldn't make out who had entered, just that they were quite a large size.

"We're closing up now. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Leo explained. Then the figure stepped forward from the shadows revealing herself to be Storm.

"You!", Leo exclaimed, "Listen, I don't want any trouble. Just leave now-" the words got stuck in his throat as Storm effortlessly picked him up from the ground by his neck.

"You remember that pegasus from earlier? The one with the rainbow mane?" Storm asked as she eased her grip just enough so Leo could speak.

"Yeah?" Leo confirmed.

"You wouldn't happen to know where she's from would you?" Storm inquired.

"What if I do? I can't reveal information like that." Leo replied only to have Storm slam him against the unforgiving wooden wall.

"You're new so I'll be nice and explain how things work. If you value having working wings, you'll tell me exactly what I want to know." Storm informed.

"And what's going to stop me from calling the police as soon as you leave here?" Leo tried to threat though failing somewhat as the fear was evident in his voice.

Storm let out a small chuckle, amused at his attempts to be intimidating.

"They're already looking for me. Not the first time I had to break a few limbs and they're certainly no closer to finding me." Storm explained.

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you anything." Leo insisted. Storm simply sighed.

"If that's the way things have to be." she said.

"You mean you're letting me go?" Leo asked eagerly.

"I didn't say that." Storm said as she carried him outside the pub and threw him on the ground. She then quickly went back inside and came back out with a barrel of alcohol and tore a hole in the top with her claw as if it was paper. She poured the barrel's contents around the pub and pulled a box of matches that she was hiding underneath her wing. Leo finally caught on.

"Y-you can't! I inherited this pub after my uncle died! It's not just a pub, it's family!" Leo begged as Storm lit a match.

"You know what you gotta do then. I'm going to count to ten and you're going to tell me what I want to know.", Storm instructed, "One...two...three...nine.".

"Wait! I heard her friends talking about a Ponyville! That must be where she's from!" Leo explained with tears in his eyes. Storm simply smiled as she then blew out the match and threw it in some unknown direction.

"See? Was that so hard?" Storm remarked as she spread her mighty wings and took off leaving the male griffon in a petrified state and he simply sat there with his claws around his knees shaking slightly.

The next day, Applejack was bucking apple trees as she was prone to do. Twilight was now back the library and the two got back to their normal schedules. Suddenly, her ears picked up on the sound of wheels moving along the dirt path. Applejack tore her attention away from her work to see one of Applebloom's friends approaching her.

"Howdy, Scootaloo. Sorry, Applebloom can't play. She's too busy with her chores." the older mare explained.

"Actually, I was wondering where Rainbow was." the small filly replied. Applejack felt a small bead of sweat travel down her neck.

"Rainbow?" Applejack repeated.

"I haven't seen her in days. Not since Mare Do Well arrived to town." Scootaloo said with a tone of worry. Applejack knew she would have to tell the truth, she was the Element of Honesty after all, so after letting out a sigh Applejack began explaining.

"Sugarcube, Mare Do Well ain't real. It was just a schtick me and the others put on to teach Rainbow a lesson but we went the wrong way 'bout it. Rainbow didn't take to it too kindly and got upset with us as she had every right to be." Applejack finished with tears forming but she blinked them away, she couldn't let this impressionable foal see her break down. Then she looked down to see that Scootaloo wasn't too far off from tears herself.

"But I set up a Mare Do Well fanclub! Rainbow must hate me now!" Scootaloo cried as she covered her eyes with her hooves. Applejack did the only thing she could think to do and put her hoof around the crying filly in an attempt to comfort her.

"No, she don't hate you. She's just very emotional with us right now." Applejack echoed Twilight's words. Just as Scootaloo was calming down, Applejack heard someone else coming down the dirt path. It was Rarity but she seemed to be far more in a panic as she rushed towards the apple farmer.

"Applejack...griffon...town...vandalising...huge!" Rarity said in between breathes, clearly into too much of a panic to speak coherently.

"Calm down, Rarity. What's going on?" Applejack asked.

"There's a griffon in town who is vandalising everything. She keeps asking to see somepony who we think might be Rainbow." Rarity explained after finally calming down.

"Gilda?" Applejack assumed.

"No. Not Gilda. This griffon is bigger. Much, much bigger." Rarity said as though she still hadn't gotten over the shock of it. After sending Scootaloo home, Applejack and Rarity went back to town to find trash cans knocked over, benches on their sides, the top of the fountain ripped off letting the water flow uncontrollably, even trees and building had endured great damage.

"Applejack! Rarity!" Twilight called out as she ran towards the two.

"Twilight, what's going on? Where is everypony?" Applejack questioned.

"Everypony's inside and you need two need to be as well before that griffon sees you." Twilight instructed.

"No way, Twi. Not while some snake is tearing up my town." Applejack stated.

"Applejack, please. We should listen to Twilight and get inside." Rarity insisted.

"She's right, y'know." a voice from behind added. The three turned around to see Storm prowling around them.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll leave town now." Applejack ordered to which Storm replied with an amused chuckle.

"And who's going to make me? You? Yeah, good luck trying to tackle someone three times your size." Storm pointed out.

"I've fought bigger than you." Applejack responded.

"Then I shouldn't be a problem." Storm challenged, motioning her claw to tell Applejack to "bring it on". Applejack removed her stetson and threw it to Rarity, not wanting it to get damaged. She then proceeded to charge towards Storm only to be knocked right back down with one swipe of her claw. Before Applejack could regain steadiness, Storm planted her claw firmly on her throat to keep her down.

"Well, that didn't last too long." Storm commented

"Applejack!" Twilight cried out. Feeling an anger within her and the need to do something, Twilight's horn began to illuminate as she attempted to cast a levitation spell on Storm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not if you want your friend's neck in one piece." Storm said as she pressed down on Applejack's throat forcing a grunt of pain to emerge from the pony.

"What do you want from us?" Rarity pleaded.

"Just keep out of my way until I can find that rainbow-maned pegasus. Unless you would happen to know anything about her." Storm told.

"No, we don't know anypony like that. Why would we? Besides, even if we did why would we tell about Rainbow?" Twilight attempted to lie with "attempted" being the key word as she covered her mouth with her hooves while Rarity's own hoof was planted firmly to her forehead. Even Applejack rolled her eyes.

"So you do know her. Well, in that case, I can spare your town if you just tell me where she is." Storm said.

"Don't you tell her nothin'!" Applejack instructed.

"You'd better tell me, otherwise you can just say goodbye to your friend right now." Storm retorted.

Meanwhile, up above in Cloudsdale, Rainbow and Gilda were casually wandering through the town centre. Soon, they were walking around the edge of the city where some of the smaller shops were and they thought they'd see what was there. Gilda was talking away but Rainbow wasn't taking any of it in. She was thinking about that dream she had a couple of nights back.

"Dash...Dash...Dash!"

This broke Rainbow out of her trance for her to realise that Gilda was talking to her.

"Oh, sorry, Gilda. I just zoned out." Rainbow apologised.

"You've been zoning out a lot lately. Something up?" Gilda asked.

"Just been having some messed-up dreams is all." Rainbow confessed.

"Wanna talk about 'em?" Gilda offered.

"Well, they usually start with tons of ponies all wanting to be my friend but then my old friends are standing there. I ignore them and they disappear but then so does everypony else and I'm left alone." Rainbow told.

"You sure don't miss 'em?" Gilda enquired.

"What? No! Not after what they did to me." Rainbow insisted with a slight hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"C'mon, Dash. You can't to stay mad at someone forever. What if you hadn't forgiven me?" Gilda pressed.

"That's different." Rainbow retorted.

"Is it really?" Gilda replied. Rainbow simply let out a sigh of defeat and hung her down.

"Look, what they did wasn't cool but they weren't trying to be mean. They were just trying to help but went the wrong way about it. At least talk to them." Gilda continued.

"I guess.", Rainbow surrendered, "Will you go down with me?".

"Sure. Ponyville's just below here." Gilda said and with that they were on their way down. One thing Rainbow noticed was that as Ponyville came into view it seemed incredibly empty. The next thing she saw was Storm standing on top of Applejack with Twilight and Rarity standing there helpless. Despite everything Rainbow had said, she felt a burning anger alight when she saw Storm picking on her friends. Rainbow acted on instinct and despite Gilda's plea of "Don't! She'll kill you!", Rainbow rushed towards the ground and rammed into Storm's side knocking her off Applejack and into a brick wall. This only did so much though as soon Storm was standing back up.

"You're here. Good. Saved me the trouble of finding you." Storm remarked.

"You'll leave now if you know what's good for you." Rainbow threatened.

"Y'know, your friend said something very similar and now she's lying on the ground." Storm pointed out.

"Why are you even doing this? 'Cause I spilled your drink?" Rainbow asked angrily.

"I can't have people thinking I'm willing to let a pony walk over me." Storm explained. Rainbow looked behind her to see Applejack lying in pain.

"Twilight, Rarity. Get Applejack and get out of here." Rainbow ordered.

"But Rainbow-" Twilight tried to argue before Rainbow shot her a glare that suggested that wouldn't be such a good idea and instead she levitated Applejack onto her back and got out of there with Rarity.

"Y'know, it's probably a good thing you sent your friends off 'cause this is gonna get gruesome." Storm said as she got ready to pounce, Rainbow mimicking her pose.

"Not all of her friends." a voice from above commented. Before Storm could register where it had come from Gilda had swooped down and tackled the larger griffon to the ground. Storm simply kicked Gilda back off her where she landed next to Rainbow.

"Two against one. Hardly seems fair. For you that is." Storm humoured. Gilda tried to rush at her again but Storm knocked her into what remained of the fountain and rendered her unconscious. Rainbow tried to tackle her from the side but was met with similar results. Before the pegasus could get back up, Storm pinned her down by the throat like she done with Applejack.

"Now you're gonna see why ponies don't mess with me." Storm said before she heard a squeaking sound. Both her and Rainbow turned their heads to see a pink pony approaching with a rather colourful canon.

"Pinkie! Get out of here!" Rainbow cried as loudly as she could considering she was being throttled. Pinkie ignored her warning with an uncharacteristically serious look on her face.

"Now listen here.", Pinkie began to threaten Storm, "You're going to get off my friend and leave."

"How many ponies have said that to me today? What are you going to do about it?" Storm prompted.

"This." Pinkie simply stated as she fired off the cannon, knocking Storm off Rainbow and half way across town. When Storm regained steadiness, she felt a weight on her chest and pushed it off before finally being able to identify what had just been fired at her.

"Is this a giant jawbreaker? Who has giant jawbreakers?" Storm questioned out loud. Before she could question it further she felt something pecking away at the back of her head. She looked around to see a canary attacking her.

"Shoo!" Storm swatted but instead several more canaries were pecking away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw yellow pegasus with a pink mane and three butterflies for a cutie mark.

"What are you looking at?" Storm demanded but the pony was unphased. Instead, she let out a whistle and Storm could her a thousand foot steps rushing towards her. She turned around to be greeted by the sight of a stampede of goats, cows, dogs, cats and several other animals sweeping her off the ground and to parts unknown.

Back in the town centre, Rainbow was tending to Gilda, urging her to get up. Then she turned her head to the sound of a stampede to see Storm struggling to get free but when Storm saw her target standing there, it motivated her to get free and she spread her wings to fly upwards and land in front of Rainbow.

"That's it! I'm done playing games!" Storm roared before she swatted Rainbow into the side of a building. As Rainbow hit the stone cold brick, she felt unconsciousness begin to overcome as she saw Storm approach her. Next she saw five sets of legs standing in front of her. She looked up to see her friends defending her. Before she could say anything, she passed out.

Storm stood there as the five ponies glared angrily at her.

"I have no problem with taking care of you five first. Just gonna make it more satisfying when I get to her." Storm said as she raised her claw ready to swipe but then she let out a yelp of pain and then suddenly passed out. The five looked for an explanation and found a tranquiliser dart had been fired at. They looked up to see two other griffons who, judging by their uniforms, were police officers and one was hold a blow gun.

Soon, a reinforced police carriage to carry Storm's sleeping body somewhere where can no longer cause anyone any harm. One of them stayed behind to help get Rainbow and Gilda over to a hospital. Once at the hospital, the five sat at Rainbow's side with Gilda's bed behind them, waiting for their friend to wake up. It was proving a long wait indeed.

Sorry I took so long with this one but this summer has proved to be a busy one.

---

Rainbow's eyes began to flutter open. As soon at the haze had cleared from her vision she immediately recognised where she was; hospital. In that same familiar room lying in that same familiar bed. After some amount of mental effort on her part, Rainbow remembered what had happened but before she could contemplate any further she was suddenly struck by something soft and pink.

"Oh, Rainbow! I'm so glad you're okay! We promise we won't do anything like that ever again! Never, never, never, never, never, never, never!" Pinkie shouted while annunciating each "never" with a wave of her still flat mane while crushing Rainbow like some kind of distraught viper.

"Careful, Pinkie. You're going to crush her." a voice called out. Rainbow and Pinkie turned their head to see the voice came from Twilight and behind her was the rest of their friends. Rainbow couldn't help but notice however that Applejack had a bandage wrapped around her stomach. When Rainbow was finally able to squirm free of Pinkie's grip, she looked down to see that she had a bandage in the same way. She realised that these would have come from the fight with Storm which reminded her about someone else who was in the fight.

"Where's Gilda?" Rainbow asked with a slight hint of panic in her voice.

"Over here." another voice called. Rainbow looked over to the doorway to see Gilda entering the room and she, like Applejack and herself, also had a bandage around her stomach.

"What happened to Storm?" Rainbow asked next.

"Y'mean that griffon who attacked the town? She was hauled off by the police. She won't be bothering us for a long time." Applejack answered. Rainbow looked notably for a while that was just an awkward silence until Gilda spoke up again.

"I should get going. You guys probably have some stuff to talk about.".

"But what about your bandages?" Rainbow asked concerned.

"The nurse says I should be fine if I just take it easy. Same goes for you." Gilda replied before exiting. The awkward silence returned once again as all the ponies just sort of fidgeted around, not really sure what to say next. Eventually, Twilight spoke up.

"Rainbow, I know that we've already said this before but we truly are sorry for what we did to you. It wasn't right to humiliate you like that and we should have at given you the benefit of a doubt and talked to you." Twilight apologised again as tears were threatening to overflow. Rainbow's head remained low not making any eye contact. After waiting for what seemed like forever for a response, Rainbow finally began to reply.

"I-it's okay. I forgive you." Rainbow said rather hoarsely.

"Y-you do?" Twilight stuttered. Everypony else was just as surprised as the librarian.

"I couldn't possibly stay mad at ponies who were willing to stand up for me like you did to Storm." Rainbow explained. All of sudden Rainbow was being rushed from all sides as all five ponies held onto her.

"Thank you, Rainbow. So you'll come back?" Twilight asked. No response. The five ponies looked at the pegasus to see her head down once more.

"I-I don't know. Ponyville must think I'm a joke now." Rainbow contemplated.

"That's not true. Ponyville still loves you." Twilight insisted.

"I doubt that considering how much of an idiot I made of myself." Rainbow replied. As if on queue, Nurse Redheart knocked on the door frame to get everypony's attention.

"Miss Dash, you have another visitor." she informed as a small orange pegasus entered the room. Scootaloo had what appeared to be in a card in her mouth and big, hurt eyes. Her face indicated that she had been doing a fair amount of crying. Everypony stepped aside as she approached Rainbow and gave her the card. Rainbow took the card in her hooves and observed it. It was clearly made by Scootaloo and along the top it read "I'm sorry" in crayon. Beneath that was a picture of Rainbow flying in front of the sun and below that was more writing that said "Please come home".

Now Rainbow had received gifts from Scootaloo before but for some reason this card had struck a chord with her. Just as she felt the tears begin to sting her eyes, Scootaloo had wrapped herself around her idol and had began to cry into her fur.

"I-I'm sorry, Rainbow! I didn't m-mean to abandon you l-like that! Please don't be mad!" Scootaloo probably would have gone on had she not completely broke down by that point. Scootaloo's eyes then widened as she felt Rainbow's hooves wrap around her in return.

"Shh. It's okay. I'm not mad." Rainbow hushed as she stroked Scootaloo's mane.

"Y-you're not?" Scootaloo sniffed in reply.

"No. I'm not. Just promise me something though." Rainbow asked.

"What?" Scootaloo asked in return.

"Promise you'll never leave me again." Rainbow said as she tightened the hug.

"If I do, will you come back?" Scootaloo inquired.

"Of course." Rainbow answered barley above a whisper.

"I promise." Scootaloo sniffed again, though this time out of happiness.

"You mean it, Rainbow?" Twilight asked just as happily as Scootaloo.

"Yeah, I'm coming back to Ponyville." and with that answer from Rainbow, everypony in the room resumed holding on to her.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I learned that while you shouldn't let fame go to your head, you shouldn't go behind your friend's back. Talking is one of the most important parts of friendship and everypony should be given a chance to listen.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle".

---

So that was my first fanfic. I hope you've enjoyed. Please give constructive critiscm for me for possible future stories.