The smell of sweat was heavy in the air. Three days since the papers fell, sealing the land in a aird heat that threatened to break the minds of the weaker ponies. What little water was left was being rationed heavily. Celestia’s warm spring days were cut short half the week, preserving what little ambient water was still in the air.

        Rainbow Dash was recruited by Celestia herself to try and gather as much water from the vile Everfree clouds as possible. Polluted with taint and sickness, a single Everfree cloud might fill a single mug, water a single plant for a day, and it took nearly an hour to get that much.

        But what else could she do? Could she convince an entire city of ponies, feeling they have been wronged in the most grievous of ways, could she convince Celestia to hand over an Innocent stallion, who inadvertently stumbled into a sacred place? No, she knew what was needed of her, and would do it for her town, for her friends, for her life in Ponyville.

        She flew with the few Pegasai that were left in town, working to corral the aggressive black clouds and compressing them over the dangerous Everfree. Her hooves were sore from her constant pushing, wings exhausted from the constant work. But she couldn’t stop, Applejack was counting on her, Ponyville was counting on her.

        She flew a gnarled cloud down to the ground and pulverized it. A meek squirt of fresh water seeped out, nearly falling to the ground before Dash could collect it. Again, her hooves were slammed down against the sickly cloud. Another strike, another squirt. And so it when for half an hour. But with a bottle full of water, and another Everfree cloud condensed into the pure bile that was left, she flew away.

        She flew past the irrational crowds that tried to follow her, past the screams and hollers of scared ponies below. The town was going mad once again, the once calm and happy ponies below turning scared and irrational. They cast blame on whatever they could, simply trying to understand what was happening, and why.

        The papers that littered the gutters were doubled since the first day. The simple cries for justice and retribution grew more and more sinister.

        We will outlast you.

        Death to Sharp Quill, water for Sharp Quill.

        This only read as, blood for water, to Rainbow Dash. But she couldn’t refute the damage done. Both sides of this conflict were stubborn, and justified in their own light. Celestia couldn’t give up one of her subjects to a raving crowd, calling for death. And the pegasai couldn’t back down from their supposed, and somewhat justified, moral high ground. Sharp Quill had broken the law, but his actions weren’t deserving of death. And non of this was worth it.

        As Rainbow Dash flew down to Sweet Apple Acres she could only think of how damaging this was. Cloudsdale was going to burn by the end of this, but they were going to take down lives, generations of work on the agricultural areas of Equestria. Cloudsdale could rebuild, Ponyville could rebuild, but Sweet Apple Acres, Appleloosa, Dodge Junction, none of them could survive once the trees lay barren and lifeless.

        Rainbow Dash cleared her head, rushing down to meet Applejack as she tried desperately to find any seeds they missed, trying to save them for after the crisis. “Applejack, here!” Rainbow Dash tossed her bottle, the water cloudy but safe.

        Applejack nearly dropped the glass flask. “Whoa there!” She managed to cradle it, falling forward and planting her front knees into the ground. “Rainbow Dash, damn it, ya can’t be doin’ that!” Applejack snapped, her words biting deep.

        Rainbow Dash took a step back, her face burning as her friend got upright. “Hey, I’m out there busting my flank for you, I--”

        Applejack shook her head, drawing her hat over her eyes. “I know...I’m sorry, with all that’s been going on, I just...things are different now, ya gotta be careful, at least for now.”

        Rainbow Dash relaxed her stance, the burning in her cheeks moving up towards her muzzle. “I uh...yeah. Things are kinda tense, right?” She asked with a half hearted laugh, trying to break the tension.

        Applejack matched her nervousness as she walked over to the only green tree in the orchard. She slowly poured the glassful of water around the roots, trying to keep it even as she did. But the glass quickly ran out, leaving the tree clinging to life as the water seeped into the ground. Applejack took a deep breath and turned to her winged companion. “Rainbow Dash...I got a favor….”

        “Anything!” Rainbow Dash snapped, flaring her wings out and striking a pose.

        “Don’t come ‘round here for a while--”

        Rainbow Dash lost herself for a moment. Applejack’s words hit like a freight train. Her best friend, one of her oldest friends, had just told her to stay away.

        “-I can’t have ya comin’ over, the ponies are getting angry...and….” Applejack took her hat off, covering her eyes as she did. “I don’t want them thinkin’ I’m helpin ya.”

        “Helping me!? I’m helping you!” Rainbow Dash snapped, angry at her friends stupidity. “How the hay--”

        “Dash...please. Just find a place to leave the water, it’s easier this way.” Applejack croaked, turning away and walking towards her house. “I gotta check on Granny….”

        Rainbow Dash’s mind was blank. Her emotions were in a tizzy, and for the first time in her life, she felt as if her wings were a crutch, like she was different from everypony else in town. It stung.

        She kept her wings to her side and walked out of the orchard. She felt like dirt, and in some strange way, it felt like showing support by walking on the ground instead of flying. Other ponies didn’t seem to think so, shooting her dirty looks or mouthing obscenities. “Bird brain, feathered freak, aerial abomination.”

        These words felt different from normal insults. She was an athlete, she was used to hecklers, but these words carried a strange venom with them. It was far worse than any other insult, it hurt more than Rainbow Crash.

        Dash walked slowly through the angry crowd. Ponies that were once her friends, her neighbors, now spitting at her, treating her like trash. But what could she do?

        She took to her wings. A slurry of insults fired up at her immediately. “Scared, scared like a chicken! Fly away chicken.”

        “Go home bird, go home and die!”

        “Pegasai go home!” Rang out a single, violent time.

        “Pegasai go home!” Again, with more ponies joining in.

        “Pegasia go home, pegasai go home, pegasai go home!” They chanted, the crowd trying to keep pace as Rainbow Dash flew off. These were her friends, how could they turn on her like this.

        Was she the enemy, by the mere association of race or creed? But these were her friends, surely they would understand that she would stand by them till the end. Dash grew sympathetic to the pegasus who left for Cloudsdale or Canterlot.

        Before Dash could get back home, another rain of paper came fluttering down. Three days of paper rain, constantly demoralizing the locals and painting the pegasai, not only Cloudsdale, as the enemy.

        Days of food: Canterlot 365 Cloudsdale 243 Ponyville 78 Appleloosa 18 Dodge 28

        Days of water: Canterlot 400 Cloudsdale 999 Ponyville 19 Appleloosa 1 Dodge 7

        Demand the transfer of Sharp Quill, bring your water back, bring your food back.

        “Amazing how the heat makes people crazy.” A dry voice snapped Rainbow Dash back into reality. “Oh, I’m sorry, you were reading.”

        Rainbow Dash searched for the voice, finding it in the form of a solid tan pony with a scarf over his face. “Who the hay are you, huh!?” Dash got into an aggressive pose. “Spit it out!”

        The tan pony picked a note off the ground. “Hmm, Canterlot’s doing well...so is Cloudsdale. Seems like only the Earth pony towns are having trouble.” He crumpled the leaflet between his hooves. “A shame.” The tan pony walked next to Rainbow Dash, pulling his scarf off of his mouth. “The sun makes people crazy Rainbow Dash, the heat makes people insane, and drought makes them bitter, aggressive, and stupid.” The tan pony let out a rattly breath. “Awfully good timing don’t you think? Waiting until after the water collection, waiting until someone, desecrated, a pegasai landmark, waiting until winter was over...until all the water was sent to be distributed. It’s all so...convenient.”

        “What the buck are you saying!?”

        The tan pony nipped at her ear. “Stay hydrated.” With his message delivered, he fell apart, fading into the dust that clung to the road.

        Rainbow Dash was left stunned. She decided to hurry home and drink her days allowance. Her mind might soon join the slowly growing madness if she didn’t get a drink.

        Rainbow Dash hurried home, throwing her door open and settling into her usual routine. She took a hearty gulp of water as soon as possible. She moved to her window, watching as paper rained from the sky.

        She stared out over the slowly dying town below.

        “Please...let this be a dream, please let this be over.”

        She couldn’t stand it. She could fight against a villain, she could push back against adversity, but she could only sit and watch at the absence of the most basic of things.

        “Please, bring us rain.”

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