Chapter Sixteen – Rainbow Dash

Dash was glad to be out from underground. Pegasi were not meant to be kept beneath the dirt. Her place was the sky, flying. That was exactly where she intended to be.

Sure, Dash felt a little guilty about leaving her friends behind, but after she heard the prophecy she knew it was about Frostburn. There was no point in discussing it. She needed to find him, immediately.

Dash bounded out of the doors of the Starswirled the Bearded section, looking left and right for the library's exit.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called from the stairwell. Rainbow chose the right path and ran down it. She had hoped for more of a head start than this. Dashing through the labyrinthine library, Rainbow heard her friend's hooves clopping right behind her.

She snorted and ran harder. She needed to be outside to take off and fly. It was too narrow in the hallway. Her friends galloping grew louder as they came closer.

They'll understand. She thought. After I've found him. The door was just ahead, propped open ever so slightly. Moonlight peaked in, letting Dash know this was the exit. Her friends where directly behind her, shouting.

"Rainbow, what are you doing?"

"Stop!"

"Get back 'ere!"

She threw herself at the door, wings extended. The door gave way and she was out. Before her body could take off, however; a mysterious force stopped her mid-air.

Still trying to fly off, Rainbow Dash turned her head to see what was stopping her. Applejack had grabbed her tail.

"Let go!" The cyan pegasus yelled.

"Ah ain't. Not till you calm down!" The orange farmer said through her teeth. Dash flapped her wings harder in a last chance to get away. AJ held firm, leading to Dash's inevitable defeat. She stopped flapping her wings, landing on the ground in silence. For a while nopony spoke. Dash avoided eye contact.

"Dash…" Twilight said breaking the awkward silence. "What were you thinking?" The cyan pegasus looked at her friend, all of her friends, and sighed.

"I have to find him." She whispered.

Fluttershy was the first to give her sympathy. "We all want to find Frostburn." She said. "But we'll do it together."

"I know." Dash responded.

"Sugar cube, you don't hafta do these things on yer own." AJ said.

"We are here for you." Said Pinkie Pie.

"I know, I know!" Dash yelled. "But I couldn't wait for you guys! You were all focusing on that stupid prophecy junk, that you forgot that Frostburn, our friend, is still out there somewhere."

Rarity took a step closer to Rainbow Dash. The normally rough and tumble pegasus felt like she was on the verge of tears. "It hurts." She whispered to where only Rarity could here. "It hurts when he's not here."

The white unicorn put her hoof on Dash's shoulder. "I know." She said.

"Look, Rainbow." Twilight said. "I know you want to find Frostburn, but we don't even know where to start searching. He could be anywhere in Equestria by now. Blindly looking for him will do nopony any good." Dash nodded, afraid if she spoke that only sobs would come out.

"We should probably get some rest." Applejack said. "It's late enough as it is."

Rarity lay awake in the dual bedroom she was sharing with Fluttershy for the night. It was awfully nice of the Princess to accommodate them with rooms before they left to search for Frostburn in the morning all things considered. But the hospitality of the Princess was not Rarity's main reason for still being awake.

Dash's outburst had rattled her. The poor pegasus practically declared feelings for Frostburn in front of all their friends. Now Rarity was starting to doubt herself because of it.

Dash clearly liked Frostburn, anypony with eyes could see it. But Rarity was still attracted to him as well. What should she do? On one hoof, she could back off and help Dash, her friend, with her emotional turmoil and simply suffer in silence herself. On the other hoof, Rarity didn't want to give up on a possible relationship with Frostburn. He was something different. Special. A jewel unlike any Rarity had seen before.

But she couldn't do that to Rainbow Dash. Their friendship could really suffer from this, which Rarity hoped to avoid at all cost. When, if at all, they found Frostburn she would have to ask him what he felt. She just wasn't sure she would like the answer.

"Umm, Rarity?" Fluttershy said from the other side of the room. The white unicorn was surprised to hear her voice, assuming her pegasus friend had drifted off hours ago.

"Yes Fluttershy, what is it?" She asked.

"I was just thinking about that prophecy. It said so many horrible things that I… I…"

"Yes, it was dreadful." Rarity said. "But don't you worry. Well figure this out. We always do, don't we?" Fluttershy nodded.

"You like him, don't you?" the yellow pegasus asked suddenly.

"What? Darling, don't be ridiculous. I could never… I just… uh…" Rarity's shocked and uneasy demeanor no doubt confirmed and answer for Fluttershy.

"It's okay Rarity, I won't tell anypony." Fluttershy said. "Not even Rainbow…"

Dash was way too anxious to sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about her emotional outburst earlier. What was I thinking? She thought. If there had been any hope of concealing her feelings about Frostburn they were gone now. All her friends must think she was in love with him or something. The truth was that Dash wasn't sure. She stunk at dealing with deep down emotional gunk. But now that it was happening to her…

"Hey Dashie…" Pinkie Pie said from her bed across the room. The pink mare had been so quiet lately, that Dash had forgotten they were sharing a room, which was weird.

"What Pinkie?" she asked.

"Does this mean that you really were staring at Frostburn's hooves?" The party pony asked. Dash almost did not recognize that Pinkie was referring to their conversation from the Everfree Forest. That sure felt like a lifetime ago.

"No… I just… Dang it Pinkie I don't know what it all means." The cyan pegasus responded.

"It's okay. I was only asking because you made such a big scene about it before and…"

"I know what happened, Pinkie." Dash said loudly. "Can we just drop it?"

"Fine." The pink mare said. "I didn't think you would freak out so much about Frostburn's hooves." Rainbow Dash was stunned that that was what Pinkie really thought everything was about.

"It's not just his hooves Pinkie. I can't stop thinking about him." Rainbow conceded.

"Ohh." Pinkie said. "And here I thought you just liked hooves. You were really just in love with him. That makes loads more sense."

"I am not in love with Frostburn." Dash growled.

"Well you're in something with Frostburn." Pinkie said. "Not even Rarity was as concerned about him as you were."

"Drop it Pinkie Pie! Just forget I said anything." Rainbow snapped. She rolled over to the other side of her bed, signifying the end of their conversation.

But not Rainbow Dash's internal struggles.

I know.

Rarity's words rang in her ears. What did she know? How it felt when Frostburn wasn't around? That couldn't be it. Rainbow was hurting deep down in her chest. When Frostburn left, he took with him Dash's security. She had lost her edge after their fight, but with him around things just felt like they wouldn't go wrong.

Ironic given the facts. But it didn't stop Rainbow Dash from knowing in her gut it was true.

How could Rarity possibly know what that was like? She knew that the unicorn seamstress thought he was handsome. Rarity had practically said it to his face. But could she feel an attraction to him, the way Rainbow did?

Life was just getting too complicated. Dash rolled over again, trying to avoid those thoughts, yet thinking of them all the same. Sleep did not come fast enough, but Dash was just grateful it came at all. Next Chapter: Guilty as Charged Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 59 Minutes