Just to clear a something up:

Rainbow Dash is the only pony of the mane six living in Ponyville. Everypony else is elsewhere in Equestria.

Chapter One

Rainbow Dash soared mightily above the earth below, racing against a speedy eagle that was slightly above her in distance from the ground. The sun shone brightly overhead with a strong luminescence that could blind anypony if they stared at it for too long. Despite the bright rays, the air was cool and enchanting.

Rainbow Dash whisked through the sky traveling faster than the wind. Her hooves were outstretched in front of her as her wings flapped up and down strongly at a steady rate. The eagle was only slightly in front of her. Oh, there's no way in Equestria that I'm gonna let you beat me! she encouragingly thought to herself, beating her wings a bit harder.

The eagle looked down to find Rainbow Dash passing the bird at an alarming rate. The eagle cawed as the two fliers came to a stop in front of the top of a tall hill, indicating that the race was over and Rainbow had won.

The cyan pegasus grinned brightly. She knew she was the fastest pony in all of Equestria! Nopony could top her speed, strength, or agility. However, with this honor came responsibility.

The sound of two fillies' laughter echoed through the air. Rainbow Dash turned to see the fillies playing around by the edge of the Everfree Forest. Something about the scenario seemed off. Rainbow squinted her eyes as she looked past the fillies, and saw two pairs of glowing yellow eyes that were fixed on the little ponies. Timber wolves.

"Hey! Look out!" Rainbow Dash yelled to the fillies.

At that very instant, the two timber wolves leaped out of their hiding place in the bushes and began to run towards the ponies. The fillies looked up and screamed. They quickly ran in the other direction towards Ponyville. Since they were young and had short legs, one of the ponies tripped and fell over, and a timber wolf sprung towards that filly.

Of course, Rainbow Dash was faster than the wolf. She quickly glided down in front of the filly, shielding her from the timber wolf. Rainbow Dash menacingly screamed in the wolf's face, followed by the wolf releasing a challenging howl. The wolf sprung towards Rainbow, claws unsheathed, but Rainbow quickly flew backwards to dodge the blow. Right as the wolf was about to pounce again, Rainbow Dash remembered watching the apple ponies buck apple trees one day. As the farmer ponies bucked, all their energy seemed to come from their thighs. The rest of their legs carried out the blow.

Right as the wolf sprung, Rainbow Dash raised her hindquarters and unleashed a mighty buck that sent the wolf flying back into the Everfree Forest.

Rainbow Dash's eyes flickered to the remaining wolf who stood frozen in fear. Rainbow huffed out a breath of hot air through her nostrils as she glared at the wolf. The wolf whimpered as it flinched back, then ran back into the forest after it's comrade. Rainbow watched after it for a few heartbeats, then turned around, her guard still up.

Rainbow quickly found herself surrounded by ponies thanking her and chanting her name. Rainbow Dash smiled modestly. She soon heard familiar whinnies and looked down at her right side to see the two fillies whose lives had been threatened by the timber wolves. Rainbow Dash sighed and softly smiled once more. "Thanks, guys. Really, it was nothing."

"Oh, but it was everything!" Bonbon had spoken up from the front of the crowd.

"Yeah, Rainbow Dash! Woohoo!" Derpy had cheered from the back.

Rainbow Dash caught herself blushing as she looked down at her hooves. "Aww, thanks. I'd never leave two fillies hangin'." Rainbow paused. "I should probably get going. I've got more flying to do." Without another word said, Rainbow Dash quickly darted straight up into the sky, whisking past clouds.

"Nice work, Rainbow Dash!" Derpy cheered one last time.

----------

Rainbow Dash chilled out on the porch of clouds on her house in the sky. The moon hung out brightly, the stars doing just the same. Few lights in pony homes down below were still on, indicating that most ponies were asleep. Rainbow's eyes were half closed lazily. As a small pass-time, she'd been blowing a tuft of her mane back and forth across her face. For some reason, she couldn't sleep tonight. Perhaps it had been all the adrenaline in rescuing the two fillies earlier that day. Maybe the excitement didn't totally leave her system. From her stack of apples by her side, she picked one up and popped it in her mouth.

Rainbow sighed as she leaned back, her neck burying into the wall of clouds. Her gaze dropped down to the ground as she spotted a gray pegasus with a light blonde mane pasting a poster to the wall of the town hall. As the pegasus backed away, Rainbow tried to make out noticeable features on the poster. She could see blue... yellow...

Sudden interest sparked in the young flier's heart. She quietly flew down from her home and into Ponyville and then softly trotted towards the alluring poster. As the paper became clearer, Rainbow's heart began to race. Could it truly be what she thought it was?

Yes! It was! It was a Wonderbolts poster with the captions reading "Auditions for Wonderbolts: All throughout the second week of May!".

Rainbow Dash let out a high fan-girl squeal of excitement. Yes! Finally, I'll be able to showcase my stuff to the Wonderbolts! I've been waiting for this my entire life! Rainbow Dash thought as she jumped in place excitedly.

"Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash!" A familiar voice came from behind.

Rainbow stopped jumping and turned around to come face-to-face with a wall-eyed pegasus. "Oh, hey, Derpy. I didn't hear you comin'. What's up?"

Derpy hesitated, then looked up at the sky. "Uh, the moon. And stars. And the sky. And clouds. Hey, is that Princess Celestia? Oh, wait, no. That's the moon."

"No, Derpy," Rainbow raised a hoof. "What I mean is: what brings you here?"

Derpy laughed to herself. "Oh yeah! Remember how you saved the ponies earlier today?"

Dash nodded. "Yes, Derpy. I remember."

"Does that makes you, like, a superhero or something?"

Rianbow hesitated before responding. "Well, yeah, I guess."

Derpy smiled. "Cool!" she said, then sniffed the air. "Hey, do you smell that? Like a.. an... uh... smokey smell?" she asked.

Rainbow sniffed the air. "I smell it, too," she agreed, then looked around. She couldn't see any fires, but where was that smell coming from? Dash flew up past the roof of the town hall to see smoke coming from the heart of the Everfree Forest. "What is that?" she quietly murmured.

Derpy caught up to Rainbow in the air. "Ooh! I think it's like a campfire or something."

"Right," Dash said. She then took a moment to think. "I'm gonna go check things out." Rainbow began to fly forward when two hooves grabbed her waist.

"No! That's the Everfree Forest, Rainbow Dash. It's really dangerous and dark in there- and scary, too! Whatever is in there should be left alone."

Rainbow slid Derpy's hooves off of her body. "C'mon, Derpy. It's nothing a hero can't handle."

Derpy's eyes were fixed on nothing. "Uhh... I guess so... but how long will that take? I saw you getting all excited about the Wonderbolts auditions down there," Derpy gestured towards the poster below. "You'll miss it if you're off in the forest."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Please, Derpy. That thing is a long way away from now. I'll just fly into the forest, check things out, then be back in a jiffy. No worries, right?"

Derpy hesitated. "Uh, right, I guess."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Right. So, I'll be back soon. See ya later, Derpy!" she said, then flew towards the smoke coming from the Everfree Forest.

----------

Rainbow Dash examined the hoof prints made into the dirt of the forest floor. "Well, it's obvious there were ponies here," Rainbow scoffed. She looked up to see the glow of the campfire glowing brightly, and the hoofprints trailed right to the glow. Rainbow cocked her head to the side and began to follow the trail.

After about a half hour of walking, Rainbow Dash heard a sound. She looked to her left to see a row of ponies locked in place by ropes tied to a log. Out of the five ponies roped down, a mint green one in the center lifted her head.

Lyra? The name echoed throughout her head. Lyra had been missing for months, now. What was she doing here? Rainbow Dash widened her eyes and leaned her head in curiously.

Lyra's eyes opened wider as well, and her neck quickly craned towards the direction of the campfire, then she looked back at Rainbow, her mouth dropped open. She began make quiet, yet large, head motions that were directed towards the direction which Rainbow had come from. Lyra wanted Rainbow Dash to run now.

Rainbow Dash ignored the warnings and stepped closer to the strapped down pony. The rope that bound Lyra to the log wasn't very long, and one end and was tied around her muzzle. Lyra began jerking her head back, indicating that she couldn't get free.

Crack.

Rainbow Dash snapped her head up in the direction of the campfire. She stared at it's luminescent glow, then began to stalk towards it. Lyra dropped her mouth open wider.

A wiser pony might have turned and run, but Rainbow wanted to know what strange ponies were there. Rainbow soon found herself gazing at a circle of ponies around the campfire. They were all snoring soundly, fast asleep. Rainbow began circling around the circle, inspecting the ponies. She couldn't recognize any of them, but they looked sturdy in build.

Beside one of the ponies, there was a brown satchel. Rainbow dug her snout in it, snooping around. The terrible scent of rotten apples soon flooded through her nose, and she quickly tossed the bag aside in disgust.

Little did Rainbow know, the bag landed hard on a pony's head. "Oof! What the-" The pony glared at the satchel by her head. Lifting in up with her teeth, she threw it square in the pony beside her's face.

"Oo!" The injured pony exclaimed, raising his head. "Son of a-"

"Shh!" The female pony said, her eyes widened. She raised a hoof to silence the colt. "Look," she whispered, her gaze flickering past the colt.

The stallion turned his head around to see Rainbow Dash creeping along the ponies' belongings. The colt took a double take to make sure the creature was real.

"Man, look at that mare! She's beautiful!" The female silently exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash's snout crept up on a colt who was snoring soundly. She prodded the stallion with a hoof lightly, then heard the colt yawn.

The other colt and mare stood up and quickly grabbed a rope from the base of a nearby tree. The colt got to the rope first, and the mare glared after him for taking her rope. The colt began to come close to Rainbow.

Lyra urgently whinnied.

Rainbow began sniffing around the snoozing colt's face, examining the details of his facial structure. The colt giggled in his sleep upon feeling Rainbow's breath upon his neck. He lifted up his head, still asleep, and planted a big kiss upon Rainbow's lips.

"Elgh," the mare and colt said in unison, looking away, eyes squinted shut.

The second Rainbow Dash screamed, the colt woke up, and he joined in on the screaming. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes as she flapped her wings to lift off. Rainbow Dash crashed immediately into a looming tree branch. Her wings damaged, Rainbow Dash came tumbling to the ground. She quickly stood up and darted away into the Everfree Forest.

"C'mon, guys! Let's go!" Shouted one of the ponies. They all grabbed their lassos and began chasing the rainbow pegasus.

Rainbow Dash knew she couldn't lead the ponies back to Ponyville, so she'd just have to lead them on a chase. Though her wings were injured, Rainbow's agility skills couldn't be topped. There was no way those forest-ponies could get to her!

Rainbow ran for merely minutes, and she began to notice that nopony was in sight behind her. Rainbow sighed and slowed down to a trot. "Lost 'em," she said to herself. "Nopony can best Rainbow Dash!"

"Hurry up! COME ON!" An agitated voice hollered.

Rainbow's eyes widened. She turned around, and through the leaves of the bushes and trees, Rainbow could see the very faint outlines of ponies charging like bulls towards her.

"How did they find me?!" Rainbow said out loud, then began running again.

She could hear the sounds of hooves against the earth, thudding hard. Up ahead, Rainbow Dash could see a foggy cliff. There was a bridge, but it was broken. Rainbow knew she could make them jump! All she had to do was cross this little cliff...

Rainbow braced her legs, then leaped as hard as she could. Time seemed to slow down. I'm going to make it! she thought triumphantly. Suddenly, something hard tugged at her neck, and flung her back to the side of the cliff she had just jumped off of. Rainbow crashed hard against the earth, a ring around her neck stinging. She looked down, and around her neck was a tight rope. She traced the rope up to the mouth of a big, burly stallion. "Thought you got away, didn't you, pony?"  he said with a large grin on his face.

Rainbow gritted her teeth, her eyes in slits, and she lunged at the stallion. Right before she could shove her hooves down his throat, another got caught around her neck. She tumbled down to the ground, and as soon as she stood up, more and more ropes were tossed around her limbs. Outraged, she began thrashing and bucking her legs everywhere.

"She's going down!"

"Whoooooo!"

Rainbow could hear chants of victory surrounding her. As the ropes around her legs and neck tightened, Rainbow fell to the ground.

"We've won this! C'mon!"

They won? Rainbow Dash thought. So that means I lost.... Rainbow Dash sighed, defeat weighing down her spirit. She soon caught herself whispering something out loud that was barely audible.

"I hate losing."