"Dash?" Night Rain said, looking into one of the windows of Rainbow Dash's house. "Dash, you in there?"

It had been one month since Rainbow Dash returned alone from looking for Pinkie Pie with Twilight and Fluttershy, and she hadn't said anything about what had happened while she was gone. She wouldn't even say anything to anypony, not even Night Rain. All she did as soon as she got back was fly straight to her cloud house, and lock herself inside.

"Dash you gotta come out, everypony's worried about you." Night Rain was also very worried about her friend, but with how Rainbow acted since her return to Ponyville, who wasn't? "If you won't come out, then I'm coming in."

With that, Night Rain went to the front door, and went to open it. She tried the handle, and was surprised that it turned when she put her hoof on it. Entering the house, Night Rain was greeted by a dark hallway and smashed furniture.

"Dash?" she called into the darkness.

As if in response, the door at the very end of the hallway slowly creaked open, and out stepped Rainbow Dash. Her fur was dirty and her mane was a mess, her eyes were hollow and it looked as if she hadn't slept for weeks.

"Dash, you don't look so good, are you alright?" Night Rain asked, a worried and confused look on her face.

Rainbow Dash just stumbled over to Night Rain, and almost tripped a couple of times on the broken pieces of furniture, but once she got to Night Rain, she grabbed her in a tight hug and started crying into her shoulder. Night Rain was surprised by this, but comforted her broken friend. She was clearly in bad shape and needed someone to help her, and that's exactly what Night Rain intended to do.

"It's ok Dash," Night Rain whispered into Rainbow's ear, "it's ok, I'm here, let it out."

And let it out she did, Rainbow and Night Rain sat there, holding each other for a good two hours before Night Rain finally got Rainbow Dash to her feet.

"Feeling better?" Night Rain asked, still worried.

"A little..." Rainbow Dash replied sheepishly.

"Think you can come with me to get some lunch?"

"Yeah, just give me a sec, I need to get cleaned up."

"That's the Dash I know."

As Rainbow Dash went to her washroom to clean her coat and mane, Night Rain looked for a piece of furniture that wasn't smashed to sit on while she waited. After a few seconds, she found a chair that was in pretty good shape, which she sat in patiently while Rainbow cleaned herself up. Half an hour later, Rainbow Dash came out of the washroom, looking better than she had in weeks. Her coat was no longer dirty and her mane was brushed. Night Rain was happy to see her friend looking the way she had remembered.

"Ready to go?" Night Rain asked, getting up from the chair.

"Yep, let's get going." Rainbow replied, Tank hovering next to her.

With that, they went to the sandwich shop downtown, avoiding the library, which Spike was now living in alone, and Sugarcube Corner, which had been taken over by some relatives of the Cakes, so as to avoid any memories that might lead Rainbow back into the deep depression she had been in for the past month. once they arrived, the shopkeeper was surprised to see Rainbow after her month in solitary confinement, but was happy to see her. In fact, everypony that Night Rain and Rainbow Dash had encountered on their way to the shop had said something like; "It's good to see you Rainbow", or "I hope you're feeling better", and Rainbow was grateful for the compliments and whatnot the townsfolk had to offer.

While they were eating, Rainbow spoke up.

"Night Rain." she began.

"Yeah?"

"I need to finish this."

"Finish what?"

"The thing that I've been hiding from for the last month."

"What do you mean?"

"The alicorns that killed Pinkie, AJ, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity, I need to kill them, or at least their leader."

"What? Rainbow, no. I am not going to let you go into that forest again, at least not alone."

"And who said I was going alone? You're coming with me, and maybe Blade Cutter, I'm going to ask Spitfire if she will help too. I don't know who else though..."

"Maybe Vinyl?"

"The DJ?"

"I dunno... just a thought. She MAY be able to help us, what with her being the only unicorn I know I can trust."

"You don't trust anypony else?"

"You know me, I don't trust anyone unless they prove that I can."

"And how exactly did Vinyl prove that you can trust her?"

"Remember the incident a couple years back?"

"With the party that went out of control?"

"Yep."

"What about it?"

"Well after that mess got sorted out, I kinda got lost. Apparently she had too, and I was way too tired to think about flying, so she helped me get myself together and had a couple of her friends get me home. From then on I started to hang out with her more and we became pretty good friends."

"Sounds like you..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing. So, is there anyone else you know who might be able to help us?"

"I dunno..."

"Well, I want at least one other pony, but let's see about those we've already thought of before we figure out who the last spot goes to."