Chapter three

The gentle light from the sun tickled Rainbow's face as the sun rose among the pastel sky. When it reached her eyes, they groggily opened, and she saw that it was yet another day. Grumbling, she rolled out of bed, taking the blanket with her, and made her way to the adjoining bathroom. "GET UP TANK!" she called to her pet turtle who idly lay there in his terrarium. He didn't move a muscle. "OR ELSE…." Rainbow threatened stormily.

She was not a morning pony.

After a refreshing bath, Rainbow brushed her mane out and did some wing stretches while Tank watched her. Sometimes, Rainbow wondered what he thought of her. Every morning she stormed out of her bedroom, complaining about how much she wanted to sleep and other useless stuff. Sometimes, like today, she even took her anger out on Tank. Despite all this, he was still his same loyal self, and never was annoyed or angry with her. Maybe that was the point of pets…they love you even when nobody in Equestria does.

"Hey Tank," she said in the same voice she had used with Scootaloo last night. She wanted to apologize for all the bad mornings they'd had. "I'm really sorry I'm such a grouch in the morning. I just wanted to say… I just wanted to say… sorry 'cause you're always there for me and you never get mad at me or anything," she said quietly. Tank nuzzled her hoof (if it is possible for turtles to nuzzle). Rainbow smiled.

She picked him up out of his terrarium and carried him into the kitchen. There was a small mushroom table, set for only two. One seat had a huge box stacked on it, for Tank. The other was painted rainbow striped and was for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow plopped Tank down on the box, and she set to work making their morning breakfast. Even though Tank was a turtle he ate most of the food an average pony would. While she threw a bunch of berries in a blender, she thought back to her "talk"with Tank.

Why the hay were you talking to a turtle?!

I was APOLOGIZING!

I mean, seriously, Dashie you talk to turtles in your free time? What an egg-head.

I'm NOT an egg head! And Tank's the only one who loves me.

Loves you? Your friends love you!

You know..ugh! Like family and stuff. I mean friends awesome but….

Rainbow woke from her thoughts as strawberry banana smoothie sprayed all over her face. She obviously wasn't much of a cook.

Rainbow looked back at Tank.

"Ugh! Tank, let's just stick with cereal today, Ok?"

The turtle blinked. He let a small amount of yellow liquid and two brown pellets drop onto the box. Rainbow didn't care. She didn't EVER want to open that box anyway.

"I take that as a yes," Rainbow said as she flew up for the box of Pony Oats. In two bowls, she poured the cereal, and then added milk. Balancing the bowls on her wings, she slid one across the table to Tank. Since Rainbow didn't have unicorn magic to lift up a spoon, she just tilted the bowl back and took gulp after gulp of her cereal. After a while, she took a break and glanced up at Tank from across the table.

He was probably the closest Rainbow would ever get to being in a "relationship", and he was her pet.

Pretty pathetic Dashie.

Shut up!

Rainbow finished her cereal before she went crazy from talking to herself too much. She knew for a fact that there was a pony madhouse down the street from the Pasta House. It was a wonder Pinkie was never sent there….

"Bye, Tank!" Rainbow said as she headed out the door. With a kick of her hind legs, the door slammed behind her. Flying at record speed, Rainbow made it to the cloud clearing office in a matter of seconds. She flung open the door and rushed inside. Her boss Cloudy Skies was sitting at the desk up front. "Rainbow Dash," she said, like she had just eaten a cocroach.

"Heh. Heh. Heh. That's me," Rainbow stuttered. Rainbow and Cloudy Skies weren't exactly…uh, best friends. It wasn't exactly rainbow's fault that Scootaloo called her a bad word once. Or that she sat on a whoopee cushion accidentally. It just happened….sort of.

"Your assignment to day is," Cloudy Skies consulted with her notes. Probably trying to give me the worst job on the list, Rainbow thought.

Cloudy Skies cleared her throat. "Your assignment is clearing fog in Northern Ponyville. Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Don't use that tone with me young lady!" Cloudy said. Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Keep that up and I'll have you fired!"

That made Rainbow get her act together.

"Good. Now GO!" rainbow rushed out of the office, putting as much distance between her and the office as possible. Rainbow knew Cloudy wouldn't fire her, she came to work everyday and was the fastest cloud clearer in all of Equestria. She could even do fog pretty fast, too.

Rainbow burst ahead, even faster than before, wind cool against her cheeks. She smiled. She liked that feeling. Now that she was flying she didn't have to worry about Tank. Or Cloudy Skies. Or "relationships". Or even the Wonderbolts. Ok, fine, she was kind of hoping Spitfire and Soarin' would fly by and see her awesome skills, but other than that, her mind was pretty clear. Rainbow forced herself to go even faster, and she felt as though she was a bullet, which made her grin.

As she made a turn to avoid a cloud, she saw…..Derpy? Falling off a cloud? "Eh," Rainbow said. That was the norm around here.

Then, something made her look to the sign to the left . ALTITUDE: 4,000 FEET the sign read in Glow in the Dark paint. Uh-oh.

Before she could think, Rainbow was plummeting downward, two hooves in front, going at what seemed like faster than the speed of light. The wind rushed against her cheek, feeling not cool but harsh this time. She felt a force building up ahead of her, and saw Derpy flailing her arms through air. She wasn't going fast enough. Faster,she thought. Or Derpy gets smushed on the ground. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow pushed her self to go faster, and focused on what lay ahead of her. She hardly noticed the crowds of ponies watching in awe as she flew. One more burst of speed and she few far ahead of Derpy. Rainbow kept going straight forward, but looked up. Derpy had landed on her back and was slowly getting up, and beginning to take flight.

Before Rainbow Dash could say anything to her, there was a loud BOOM! Color erupted from all directions, radiating from Rainbow, and spewing far into the sky, painting a rainbow. And suddenly Rainbow landed face first on the cobblestone road, and all she saw was a blackness, like it was the end of forever.