Rainbow After The Storm
by milesprower06

Chapter 8
Redemption and Revenge

PONYVILLE
TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO

Rainbow awoke in her new, in-progress cloud home above Ponyville, brought from her dreams by a knocking at her door. Clearing away the haze of sleep, Rainbow got up and headed for the front door, remembering that Cloud Chaser had left on a week's vacation yesterday, and had asked her to take care of the mail while he was gone. So in short, everything that would normally go to him, for a week, Derpy now brought to her.

“Morning, Rainbow Dash!”
“Hey there, Derpy, what do you have for me?”

“Just some stuff that normally goes to Mr. Cloud Chaser. You're awful lucky the Apple family is making that Zap Apple Jam this week. Guess that's why Cloud Chaser went on vacation, too. Well, here ya go,” she said, giving Rainbow a small pile of envelopes from her mailbag. One in particular was a bit larger than any envelope the forecasts came in. Upon checking the address, Rainbow confirmed that this had come from the weather factory.

“What do we have here?” Rainbow asked as Derpy flew off to continue her deliveries.

Deciding to not leave something from the Weather Factory unopened for a week while her boss was on vacation, she tore open the top, and pulled out the single sheet of paper within.

Her eyes widened as she studied the flier. It said:

MISSING
Rainbow Dash

Was last seen in Cloudsdale six months ago. Please contact Cloudsdale Weather Factory Floor Supervisor Stormcloud with any information regarding whereabouts.

There was a full color photo of her in Cloudsdale on the center of the flier. Silently, Rainbow slipped the flier back into the envelope, and returned to her room to slip it under her bed without a word.

CLOUSDALE WEATHER FACTORY
YEAR AND A HALF LATER

“I-I'm sorry, sir. I don't recall ever getting any kind of flier with the forecasts.” Cloud Chaser stammered. Upon revealing his replacement to his new boss, the conversation had taken a considerable turn. It turned out that Stormcloud was Rainbow's father.

“I made sure to send out fliers with every forecast that July. How did you not get it?”
“July...” Cloud Chaser said, putting a hoof to his chin. “I went on vacation that year. I put Rainbow in charge of my weather-related mail for that week. I'm can only guess she opened it and kept it hidden. Sir, if I had known...”

“Two years...” Stormcloud muttered, sitting down at his desk. “Two years without a peep from anypony about her. I had given up. I didn't even know if she was alive. And then bam...she's been down in Ponyville all along.”

Cloud Chaser looked as if this was somehow his fault.

“Don't worry about it, son. There was no way for you to know. At the very least, I now know she's okay.” Stormcloud reassured his new employee.

“Are you gonna go see her, sir?”

Stormcloud remained silent for a few moments, honestly pondering the question.

“I'm not sure yet.”

The answer initially surprised Cloud Chaser. But he recalled that Rainbow never really talked about her life before coming to Ponyville, and if she hid the flier away, that was a clear sign that she didn't want to be found. But that was a year and a half ago. Perhaps she just forgot about the flier. Or, as he was guessing Stormcloud was afraid of, Rainbow was still angry over whatever had happened, even after all this time. Cloud Chaser had the mind to not press further, as it was none of his business. Stormcloud knew where Rainbow was, knew she was okay, and that was that.

PONYVILLE OUTSKIRTS
YEAR AND A HALF LATER

The five friends raced out of the Everfree Forest back into Ponyville, where cleanup efforts were starting up in the black of night. Power was minimal, but the townsfolk had set up lanterns and torches where they could in order to provide as much lighting as possible.

“We need the Elements of Harmony. If anything can break through that barrier, the Elements can.” Twilight encouraged, and the group made for the library. True to Twilight's damage report, the tree had suffered minimal damage in the quake. Entering the library, the inside was a slightly different story, with books having fallen off the shelves all over the place. It was a few minutes of everypony searching before Rainbow finally found the Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. Flipping it open, there they were; the five Element Necklaces and the Tiara of Magic. The gems of all of them glimmered brightly, save for one; the sapphire on the Necklace of Laughter was faded and dull, reaffirming that Pinkamena had something to do with this. They left the library at a full gallop, heading for Sugarcube Corner once again. The building was still unoccupied, the Cakes still helping other ponies around town. They entered the bakery and immediately went around the back to the basement door. They cautiously retraced their steps to the supernatural flaming barrier between them and the storage room at the end. Together, the five of them concentrated, and their necklaces started to glow. They shot out beams of light at the barrier, and to everypony's surprise, it didn't seem to do any good.

Instead, the Necklace of Laughter thrummed with energy, and with Rainbow holding it, it created a bubble of glowing pink energy around her and Applejack, and pushed them through the barrier. Once on the other side, the bubble popped, and there they stood, together, facing the door to the storage room.

“We're okay, guys!” Rainbow shouted back through the barrier to their friends, unsure if they heard her. Nodding at Applejack, they approached the door, and slowly pushed it open.

What they saw, surprised them.

There, in the center of the room, facing the back wall, was Pinkie. They weren't sure which one. Her mane was flat and deflated, she was facing away from them, in a sitting position, sobbing.

“Pinkie...?” Rainbow risked calling out to her friend.

Pinkie didn't respond, or even acknowledge their presence for that matter. The soft, glowing white aura around her strongly suggest that this was another spirit.

“Pinkie...it's me. It's Rainb-”

“Don't. Please don't come any closer. I don't even want to look at you...to see what that monster did to you...I'm...I'm so sorry, Dashie...” Pinkie said through her sobs, her shoulders heaving.

Ignoring the advice, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash advanced on either side of her. Rainbow approached to her right, and saw, held in her two front hooves, a blood-stained cyan feather.

“You didn't do this to me, Pinkie. I read the Journal. Remember? You didn't know what to do when she started taking victims.”

“What?!” Applejack asked, shocked. Rainbow turned to AJ, on the other side of Pinkie, as the workhorse leered at Pinkie accusingly.

“You knew what she was doing? While you still had control??”

“AJ, this isn't the time for thi-” Rainbow tried to defend her former friend.

“You could have turned yourself in! You could've put a stop to this before more ponies died!” Applejack cast the blame over the sobbing pony in the middle of the room.

“Applejack!”

“She's right, Rainbow. I was just so scared. I didn't know what was wrong. This is my fault. I could have ended this all before it began. That day...that day before my surprise birthday party...I don't know why I felt the way I felt. I don't know why I thought you had all suddenly abandoned me. I just...just took Spike at his word. I should've known he would say anything for that bowl of gems, not to mention the way I was questioning him...this IS all my fault, Rainbow. I've accepted the entire blame for not taking action when I could. And...” Pinkie took a deep breath, her shoulders heaving as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. “And you don't know what it means to me...to know you're taking care of Gummy. But right now, we have to stop her. She's trying to gain enough power to have a complete physical resurrection in this world.”

“What do we do, Pinkie?” AJ asked.

“The journal. Destroy it.” Pinkie demanded.

“What???” Rainbow asked, shocked. “Pinkie, that journal is the only thing that proves your innocence.” Rainbow protested.

“And it's also the only thing keeping Pinkamena alive, Rainbow. I just told you, I'm not innocent in this. Not even close. If anything, all that journal proves is how much of a coward I was. You've forgiven me for what I've done. That's good enough for me. Let the rest of Ponyville hate me, if it brings them closure for the loved ones she took from them. You have to destroy it. Burn it. Burn it so there's nothing but ashes left!”

At that, the room shuddered.

“Sorry, but I can't let you stop my parties before I've even started them again!” came an all too familiar voice. Back at the door, the menacing figure of Pinkamena materialized, and she stared at them all with icy blue eyes. She held a knife in her left hoof. “It seems that keeping you trapped down here did no good. They found you anyway, and now they know how to defeat me.” Pinkamena mocked, in a worried tone.

Pinkie stood. Shaken, scared, heartbroken, but ready to do whatever she could to defend her two friends.

“I certainly hope you're not planning on laughing at me in hopes I disappear, Saddie Pie. It's not gonna be that easy. And as for you...” Pinkamena said, leering at Rainbow, pointing the tip of the knife in her direction.

“You and I have unfinished baking to take care of.”

CLOUDSDALE
ONE YEAR EARLIER

Stormcloud walked with purpose down the neighborhood streets of east Cloudsdale. After getting Cloud Chaser settled in to his new area, he had taken the rest of the day to think. And now, as the sun was setting behind the horizon, he had decided that he was tired of being alone. He couldn't come to a decision by himself. He had created this mess, but there was still somepony else who deserved to know, and maybe they'd help him come to his decision, to help him know if these fears were at all founded. Coming up to a two story dwelling in the middle of the neighborhood, he strolled up the front walk, and rang the doorbell.

Moments later, the door opened, and there stood his wife, Firefly. Whom he had not seen in a year. She seemed surprised to see him.

“She's alive, Firefly. And I know where she is.”