Rainbow Dash...I’m sorry.

        Mommy’s gone?

        No, mommy’s not gone. She’s in the clouds, she’s in the rain, she’s always with you, always watching over you.

        Rainbow Dash snapped awake in Rarity’s guest room. Her house had been taken on the twelfth day, and drained for the water it was made of. Rainbow Dash shook her limbs, shaking her head and trying to banish the feeling of dirt and dried sweat that clung to her coat.

        Two weeks without rain. Celestia and the Council of Cloudsdale were in heated talks discussing an end to this hardship. Cloudsdale had demanded vast sums of bits and the execution of the explorer Sharp Quill. Celestia was stonewalling it, transporting water from Canterlot to the most needy places.

        Unfortunately, Ponyville wasn’t covered. Appleloosa, Dodge and Manehattan were covered under the emergency act. Despite the massive need for agricultural water, Ponyville had enough in reserve to keep everypony in town alive, and even with the orchards gone, the town could grow back, where Appleloosa and Dodge were too reliant on agriculture and Manehattan had no reserves after a contamination from the sea seeped into the reserves.

        Rainbow Dash still worked to grind water out of the few remaining clouds in the Everfree. And the sooner she got started, the better.

        She hurried out of Rarity’s guest room, walking down and finding Rarity weeping in her kitchen. She ran over, skidding along the tile. “Rarity, what happened!?”

        Rarity’s normal overenthusiastic sobs were cut, somber, and heavy. “Oh...Rainbow Dash...hello.” Rarity did her best to stop herself. “It’s nothing...I promise.”

        “Don’t lie to me, Rarity, what, happened?”

        Rainbow Dash went deaf as Rarity spoke. Her words skipped her ears and bored straight into her brain. Her wings flared out as her blood pressure spiked. Her vision went red, her mind regressed into an animal state.

        “No!” She screamed, “No, no, no!” She ran out of Rarity’s kitchen, nearly breaking the door and bolting towards the center of town.

        As she flew, a familiar face, or rather lack there of, joined her in her flight. “Rainbow Dash, how good to see you again.”

        Rainbow Dash stared forward, ignoring the sand pony. “Shut up, just shut up!”

        “Hmm, that’s not nice. I’m only here to talk.”

        Rainbow Dash’s eyes stung as she hurried towards the center of town. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

        “Fly as fast as you like. Blood flows faster, and soon enough the land will be drenched in it.” The sand pony croaked, his voice like gravel in a sifter. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ve never seen a plant that can grow in blood, so it won’t resolve a thing.”

        “Shut up!” Rainbow Dash screamed, her mind going blank as she slipped through the sound barrier, causing a Sonic Rainboom as she zoomed to the center of town.

        The sand pony faded away, disintegrating as the Rainboom knocked him away. “You can’t run forever Rainbow Dash, some day you’ll have to make a choice.”

        Rainbow Dash could feel his words seeping in after her as she landed. Her zoom down and sharp landing left cracks on the path, startling a crowd of ponies. They quickly turned on her, yelling the now normal slurs and throwing things at her.

        She pushed past them all and towards the hospital doors. Two strange guards in blue armor stood in front of the doors. “Halt no--” The guards stopped as they looked Rainbow Dash over. They stepped aside. The crowd roaring behind her as she ran inside.

        She ignored it all and hurried towards the rooms of the hospital. She ran through the building, searching every room, finding dehydration and heat stroke victims left and right. It wasn’t until she reached the last room, guarded by two more pegasai guards, that she found her.

        Rainbow Dash pushed past the guards and towards Scootaloo, her face one of utter sorrow as she played with the patterned cloth of her hospital gown.

        “Scootaloo, what happened!?” Rainbow Dash yelled, stumbling over to her bed and putting her hooves over the railing. “Scootaloo, look at me, what happened?!”

        The sound of shuffling paper caught her off guard. “Her wing’s broken in three places, minor cuts and bruises, and her flight is going to be stunted for another three years.” A loud tap sounded from a pegasus in a lab coat. “Are you her guardian?”

        Rainbow Dash got onto her hooves and trotted over. “No, but I--”

        “Then why are you--”

        “Yes, yes, I’m her guardian, now what happened!? Who did this!?” Rainbow asked, gripping the doctors coat and shaking her.

        The doctor pulled free and brushed himself off. “Calm down. You’re gonna wanna be calm when you hear this.” The doctor took a deep breath. “She was beaten by her classmates, they focused on her wings, of course. Now, I--”

        “It was my fault okay!” Scootaloo snapped, nearly falling out of her bed. “I should have just walked away….”

        Rainbow Dash ran over. “Who, did, this?”

        “It wasn’t their fault. I should have just walk away….” Scootaloo stated, staring at her bedspread.

        “It was Apple Bloom.” A meagre voice eeked out from behind the room’s divider. The curtain slowly pulled open, revealing Sweetie Belle resting. Her horn was bandaged, her face bruised. “She started it...and...everypony else just started jumping in.”

        Rainbow Dash’s mouth went dry. Scootaloo continued to stare at her lap. “I should have just walked away.” Scootaloo started crying, her tears staining her bedspread. “She was mad about her orchard...mad about the treehouse...she kept blaming me...and I stood up to her.”

        Rainbow Dash was heartbroken. Her best friend’s sister had just crippled her little sister. She could feel tears streaking down her face as a loud pop from outside caught her attention. She ran out, bursting out of the hospital and into the middle of a pair of clashing mobs.

        Unicorns and a few remaining Pegasai were standing off with a huge mob of earth ponies.

        “You animals, you hurt an innocent filly!”

        “Innocent!? All you pegasai are guilty! You stole our water, you stole our work, you’re vermin!”

        “They didn’t do anything! You brutes just don’t understand. If they didn’t care, why wouldn’t they go to Cloudsdale!?”

        “Spies!” The earth pony crowd roared. “Spies and traitors, all of you!”

        “You need to leave...now.” A familiar voice made Rainbow Dash jump. “Leave, now.”

        Rainbow Dash turned slowly, meeting the scarred grey stallion eye to eye. Her voice went dry once again, her mind swimming as the stallion looked down on her. “But I--”

        “Miss, leave, now.” The scarred one boomed, making Rainbow Dash jump. She felt suddenly weak in the stallions aura.

        She wanted to stay. To try and keep the groups apart. She would take a kick, she would survive, she just wanted to try. But the scarred one’s words sunk deep, biting into her bones like no other.

        She lingered for a moment, trying to muster her usual courage to say something. But the stallions gaze, his stance, his words, something about him rendered her hapless.

        She tiptoed away as the crowd grew restless. She took to her wings as a stone was hurled through the air, igniting the crowd and causing a full scale riot to break out in front of the hospital. She flew onto a nearby hill where she could watch as ponies clashes.

        “Remember when I said blood would flow?” The sand pony muttered, drawing up out of the dust around her and forming into his usual tan body. “It’s gonna be a river.”

        Rainbow Dash stared down at the fighting crowd and watched as more and more ponies rushed to join in. The smell of fire filled the air as a spell missed the crowd and struck a home. The once proud building was set ablaze in seconds, billowing thick black smoke into the air and heating the land further.

        “Two days.” The sand pony stated. “And on the third day...on the third day everything will change.”

        Rainbow Dash stared as the town was slowly enveloped in violence. She scanned the horizon, locking onto the last green tree in the entire town. The tallest appletree at Sweet Apple Acres stood tall and proud. “No...things will be okay….” Rainbow Dash rubbed her lips with her foreleg. “Things are gonna be okay.”

        The sand pony let out a rough cough, dust flying from his mouth as he did. “True. But things will always get worse before they get better.”

        “No...things are gonna be okay...I know they are.”

        The sand pony let out a long huff. “Oh dear child. How innocent you are. To expose you to such brutality is a shame.” The sand pony walked next to Rainbow Dash, kissing her on the neck before falling to dust. “Be safe.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t notice his departure, too lost in the mayhem below. The town was ablaze as the sun started to fall. A horde of ponies was flying down from Canterlot, the citizens were ruining their own town, her life was being torn apart in front of her, and all she could do is watch.

        Fighting would be useless. Arguing would  get her killed. She could either leave, or stay strong as her city burned to the foundations.

        But the tree in the distance, the stoic green standing out over the growing smoke and fire gave her hope. And hope was all she needed to endure.

Next Chapter: Cloudsdale Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes