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Rainbow Unicorn: Friendship is Magic

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Chapter 16: Swift as a Raging River

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Since Pinkie Pie's little performance, most of the other ponies seemed to be in a better mood. It seemed that the exhaustion had passed and they all had a second wind. They were smiling some and talking. Some were still chuckling or giggling. Even Flowershy was talking to the others, and loud enough that she could actually be heard.

It was touching. So nice to see them bonding and getting closer.

Except... Rainbow Burst did not feel like she was really getting to know the others. She was getting to know them, and kind of enjoying spending the time with them. Still... Rainbow really did not feel like she was bonding with the other five. She still felt like... an outsider. Like she was simply watching some ponies become friends while she was just... there...

No reason to let the others know though, right?

Rainbow put on a smile, laughing with the others as they walked. She followed, pulling up the rear and keeping some distance from the others while they went. Her laughter was a little behind the others (hopefully none of them noticed).

The excitement of the group was cut short as they suddenly stopped, reaching the edge of a river. The water was rising and falling, creating massive waves. It was even enough to splash up over the edge of the riverbed and onto the grass.

"How are we going to get past this?" Flowershy asked, watching the roaring water.

"It does seem rather rough to swim across," Rarity agreed.

"Maybe we could fly the others across?" Twilight suggested. "Although we would have to make two trips each."

"Or maybe we can just ask him," Pinkie Pie said, pointing upriver. The others turned to look in the direction she was pointing.

Further up from where they were, the six of them saw a massive, purple, reptilian tail lashing up and down, causing the very waves that were blocking them. The tail belonged to a great sized serpent creature with arms and... an orange pompadour?

The river monster was throwing itself around, one arm across its forehead, as it wailed out in agony.

Rarity moved away from the others and headed toward the creature.

"Excuse me," she called out as she moved closer. "Excuse me, darling. Forgive the intrusion, but is something the matter?"

"Oh," the serpent gasped out and looked away, covering his face. "Don't look at me. It's too horrible."

"Oh, my," Flowershy gasped as she moved forward as well. "What happened?"

"Well..." the serpent said with a sniffle, "I was minding my own business, putting some finishing touches on my appearance for a date tonight. All of a sudden, this tacky little blue cloud whiffed by and..."

He moved down, showing his face to them.

"... took off half of my mustache."

As they six mares looked, they saw what he was talking about. On one side of his face was a thick, luxurious mustache that had been waxed and shaped into a proper handlebar with an upward curl on the end. On the other side was a short tuft with rough edges that look like the hair had been hacked off.

"Seriously," Applejack said, her ears flopping. "That's what all the fuss is about?"

"Applejack," Rarity scolded, glaring at the pony in question. "How could you be so insensitive? Why, look at those luxurious, luminous scales."

"I know," the serpent said, running a hand along it's body.

"That exquisite, expertly coiffed mane," Rarity continued.

"I know." He ran his palms along the pompadour.

"The fabulously fine manicure."

"I know, I know."

"This fellow takes great care and attention to his appearance to look as lovely and fabulous as possible."

"It's true," the river serpent cried out. "It's all true."

"And the whole effect," Rarity continued, "is horribly ruined with out that well waxed and sculpted mustache."

"I know," the serpent sobbed, throwing an arm across his forehead. "I'm hideous."

"Well," Rarity growled, "I for one simply cannot stand by and allow such a horrible crime against fashion and beauty occur."

"What-" Twilight started to ask.

Before any of the other ponies could figure out what was going on, Rarity took a step forward. Grabbing one of the scales in her mouth, she gave a yank, causing the serpent to yelp out in pain.

"Why did you do that?" the river serpent asked.

Instead of answering, Rarity adjusted her hold, gripping the scale in her mouth like a dagger. She tilted her head back, then made a quick, hard, slashing motion. The others gasped out and the serpent fainted as Rarity chopped off the hair of her own tail. She then moved closer to the serpent.

"Now, I need you to hold still and trust me."

The river serpent opened his eyes and looked at Rarity curiously. He watched as she took a step closer, still holding the scale in between her teeth. Once again, she makes a slashing motion with the scale, cutting off the other side of the mustache.

"Rainbow," She called out as she dropped the scale, "Pinkie, could one of you be a dear and help me?"

"Ooh, ooh," Pinkie called out, bouncing up and down. "Me, me. I'll do it." She froze, thinking. "Uh... what am I supposed to do?"

"It's rather simple darling," Rarity explained. With her guidance, Pinkie Pie used her magic to split the orange hairs that were from the remains of the mustache and the purple hairs from Rarity's tail into to equal piles each, mix the two colors, and then magically reattach them to the serpent's lip.

"There," Rarity said with a smile. "Now you look fashionably fabulous once again."

"It's wonderful," the serpent said as he stroked the new mustache. "Thank you, thank you."

"Oh, Rarity," Flowershy said, "you're beautiful tail."

Rarity looked back at the rough edge stump where her tail had been. She gave it a small shake as she realized what she had just done.

"Well..." Rarity said as she looked at her friend with a sad smile, "... it will grow back eventually."

"Wouldn't the mustache have grown back too?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look," Twilight called out to the others. "The water's calmed down, and it looks shallow enough to cross here."

She hopped off the edge of the shore into the river, and immediately disappeared beneath the surface.

Twilight Comet surfaced from the water, gasping and coughing. She continued to rise further up out of the water, as the river serpent lifted her up.

"Allow me," the serpent announced, shifting his body so that he created multiple arches across the water, allowing the ponies to hop from one to the other without getting into the water. Being on one of them already, Twilight was the first across. She was quickly followed by Pinkie Pie, Flowershy and Rarity.

Applejack started to move toward the river and start across, when she noticed that Rainbow Burst was still standing on the shore, looking down river. Applejack turned and headed back to the unicorn.

"What are you waiting for? C'mon, Rainbow."

"Actually," Rainbow said slowly, running a hoof against the ground, "I was thinking that I might stay here."

"What?"

"Well I don't think I could make it back to Ponyville on my own," Rainbow admitted. "If I stay here, pretty sure I'll be safe with the serpent to keep me company."

"Are you seriously telling me," Applejack growled as she moved closer, pressing eye to eye, "that you're backing out."

Rainbow stayed where she was, still pressed faced to face Applejack, but refused to meet her eyes.

"Not like it's a big deal or anything," Rainbow mumbled. "You five are doing fine without me."

"Alright," Applejack snapped. She poked a hoof into Rainbow's chest. "You've been acting mighty peculiar since Twilight saved you from that cliff. What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on," Rainbow snapped back, shoving Applejack away from her. "And how would you know if I was acting 'peculiar' anyways? We just met yesterday before stupidly getting involved in this insane, dangerous, stupid, hopeless mission to try and stop an insane alicorn from casting all of Equestria into eternal night!"

Applejack's eyes went wide before narrowing again, a smirk developing on her mouth.

"That's it, ain't it." She pointed a hoof at Rainbow. "You're scared."

"Really?" Rainbow asked, staring at the pegasus. "That's what you get out of that whole statement?"

"It's true though, right?"

"I... you... we... uuuuugh..."

Rainbow Burst smacked a hoof to her face as she let out a groan.

"Fine!" she yelled. "Yes. You got me. I'm scared. This entire thing is dangerous, stupid and... and..."

She sagged.

"And I really don't think I can do this."

"...Rainbow," Applejack said in a soft voice. "Do you think you're the only one who's scared?" She motioned toward the others. "Don't you think we're all scared?

"I know Flowershy is." She let out a small chuckle. "That girl can get scared by her own shadow. And me..."

She shifted, chewing on her lip a moment.

"I really don't want to be here," she finally admitted. "With all that's goin' on, I would rather be on the farm with my family then out here dealing with this place and such."

"Great," Rainbow said with a grin. "We can forget the whole thing and go home. Just tell the others that its cancelled and we can all head back to Ponyville."

"No," Applejack stated. "We may be scared, but this is still something that needs to be done. Let me ask you something important: what would Princess Celestia tell you?"

That struck a nerve. Rainbow Bursts shifted, chewing on her lip. Her mind started to go through her memories, picking out all the conversations with the princess that she could recall. She made her way through the pieces of advice that Celestia had given her, trying to figure out the ones that were best for this whole situation.

Most of the advice was not the type she would want to admit to in this situation. However, there was one that she could use to reinforce her own opinion.

"She would be proud of me for acknowledging my limitations and not trying something that was beyond my abilities."

Applejack said nothing. Instead she just stood there, staring at Rainbow Burst. It was that same disturbing and familiar look that Rainbow had seen so often from Princess Celestia. The look, combined with the fact that Applejack was saying nothing, slowly started to get at her.

"Okay!" Rainbow snapped. "Okay." She let out a sigh. "She would probably tell me that the right thing to do is the right thing to do, no matter how hard or scary it might be. Happy?"

"Considering the situation," Applejack replied, "no. Still, it's nice that you're being honest with me, and yourself. Besides," -- she placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder -- "you ain't going at this alone. You have your friends with ya."

"... yeah..." Rainbow said softly before nodding. "Yeah. You're right." She started walking toward the serpent's arches.

"Alright. Let's go." She gave a hop, jumping onto one.

Applejack gave a small smile, watching a moment as Rainbow made her way across the river. With a flap of her wings, she took off and started to fly across to join the others.

Author's Notes:

I don't know what's going on. I really did not intend to have unicorn Rainbow be so neurotic or uncertain. I did want her to have some doubt or uncertainty since it fits the character. Rainbow acts cocky, but it was demonstrated as in "Sonic Rainboom" that she does get nervous or scared and has some self-doubt.

Next Chapter: Left Hanging Estimated time remaining: 41 Minutes
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