Rainbow Dash was laying on a seemingly endless blanket of drifting gray clouds, staring at the countless stars in the sky. Her once lustrous blue coat was now faded and gray, her mane was a tangled mess of various colors. Although her appearance was the last thing on her mind as she laid there in a deep state of depression. She felt as if she had to hide herself from the world, that she was no longer welcome in any pony’s life. She peeked through a small hole she made in the clouds to see that she would soon be drifting over Sweet Apple Acres. She quickly patched the hole up and laid back down looking up at the now slightly brighter sky. The sun was beginning to rise.

She watched the stars vanish one by one behind the veil of sunlight. She stood up on the clouds, stretched her wings out, let out a long yawn, and kicked off into the air. She hovered there for a while examining her surroundings, in the distance just above the horizon she saw Cloudsdale, below her was Sweet Apple Acres, and on the western outskirts of Ponyville was the Ponyville Cemetery. The blanket of clouds she was on would pass above Cloudsdale so she wasn’t worried about any pony spotting her. So she let her self fall back on the the soft pile of clouds, then she let out a deep sigh.

Seeing the cemetery reminded her that today marked the third year since Pinkie Pie passed away. A familiar pain filled her stomach, she covered her eyes with her hooves. Little did her friends know, Rainbow Dash had been secretly watching them all this time, even though they had assumed she had ran far far away. Rainbow Dash watched them all fight, move away, and grow apart, she even watched Ponyville deteriorate, and she blamed her self for it all happening entirely. She thought about all the good times she used to share with her friends, she thought about her dreams of joining the Wonderbolts and how trivial and childish it all seemed now. She then started to think about the day it all began, the day that changed the world as she knew it. The day that changed her life.

“Come on Twilight, don’t be such a stick in the mud.” Rainbow Dash was hard at work trying to convince Twilight Sparkle to let Pinkie Pie ride in the air balloon so they could watch the construction the the final storm together.

“Fine, but I still think its too dangerous. Just promise me you’ll come back down if it gets too windy.” Twilight reluctantly agreed to allow her to go.

“Don’t worry, I mean come on, look who you’re talking to, there’s no way I’d let my best friend get hurt.”

Twilight knew Pinkie would be safe in Rainbow Dash’s care so she decided not to let her self worry too much. Plus Pinkie wasn’t being herself lately due the a fight she had with Rarity the day before, so she thought a day out having fun with Rainbow would do her some good.

“Alight lets go Pink, this is gonna be awesome! I heard the Wonderbolts are going to supervise the construction!”

Pinkie leaped happily straight into the balloon and fired it up. They took off towards the outskirts of Ponyville. There they saw the beginning construction of the storm.

“Isn’t it awesome, look at them go!” Rainbow couldn’t help but admire the speed and precision of the elite storm building crew. This storm was somewhat of a celebration in Cloudsdale, all the pegasi gathered to watch the most talented storm builders show off their skills. Even Rainbow Dash aspires to be on this crew eventually.

“Wow they sure are, something.” Pinkie said, trying to be as enthusiastic as possible. She was rather bored and was looking forward to spending time with Rainbow Dash more so than watching the construction of some boring old storm.

“Oh oh I know, want to play a game?”

“Not now Pinkie, look the best part is starting.”

Suddenly over a dozen pegasi pushed a circle of huge black storm clouds into the center of the mass. The entire mass of clouds began to rotate and blacken as more and more clouds were shoved into the center. It suddenly tripled in size and lightning reached out to the ground along with the fierce winds that exploded from the mass. Pinkie and Rainbow dash watched in awe as the huge storm continued to grow.

“Ha, looks like its right above Sweet Apple Acres, I sure hope Applejack doesn’t get wet!” Rainbow Dash jokingly said to Pinky, nudging her with her elbow.

“Well this was fun and all Rainbow, do you want to go do something else now?” Pinkie asked, hoping to salvage the day she had such high hopes for.

“Not yet Pinkie, look I think I see somepony coming.”

It was Spitfire of the Wonderbolts.

“I thought I recognized you Rainbow Dash, we could really use someone with skills like yours over there. Things are starting to get out of control if you haven’t noticed.”

Rainbow had noticed that the storm was growing at an unusually high rate. Delighted by the request from her idol, she agreed to help out.

“I’ve got to go help them Pink, its too dangerous for you though so you should hurry and go back now.”

“You’re leaving me?!” Thought Pinkie.

“We were supposed to have a fun day together, you’re always blowing me off to hang out with your cool friends.” Pinkie said, upset that her day didn’t go the way she had planned.

“I’m not ditching you to hang out, I need to help out with the storm.” Rainbow dash said, trying to convince herself it was true. She knew she didn’t really need to go help, but she didn’t want to pass up a chance to show off to the Wonderbolts. Without waiting for Pinkie to argue, she took off with Spitfire extremely quickly, heading straight towards the growing storm. Pinkie, feeling neglected and angry decided to follow.

“We’re supposed to be spending the day TOGETHER!” Pinkie shouted as she chased after Rainbow Dash in the slow balloon.

Rainbow soon arrived at the storm building site, there she met the crew of ponies responsible for making sure everything was going smoothly. They began to explain that there were new apprentices working at the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. Apparently they accidentally packed the storm clouds too densely and no one noticed before the construction. Now the storm was growing about three times larger than expected.

Out of the corner of Rainbow’s eye she caught a glimpse of something pink. It was the balloon, only it was blowing sideways in the strong wind. Horror struck Rainbow as she looked down and saw Pinkie falling near the ground. She instantly darted towards her leaving a thick rainbow in trail. She felt her pulse rising rapidly, knowing there was no way she’d make it in time. She closed her eyes and tears began fall off her cheeks and mix with the heavy rain that was now falling. The storm crew gave up on controlling the storm and flew away for shelter. Suddenly there was a sonic rainboom filling the sky with a brilliant rainbow that soon disappeared into the storm. She didn’t seem to notice as she flew towards Pinkie who was now only a few meters from the ground.

Rainbow Dash felt a piercing pain fill her chest as she watched Pinkie Pie hit the ground. Her wings began to feel limp and heavy, her arms, which were recently stretched out in front of her, were now dangling in the air as she began to slow down. Although she had slowed down quite a bit, she came crashing down, creating a large cloud of dirt as she rolled across the ground. She laid there for a minute until her blurred vision focused. She then stood up, dirty, and cover in a mess of cuts and scrapes. She felt a sharp pain in her left leg as she tried to walk, it was broken. She began to limp towards the dirt covered pink pony. She leaned over Pinkie’s still body.

“Pinkie, are you okay? Can you get up?” Rainbow talked loudly due to the noise of the storm.

Pinkie was silent for a few seconds, then she opened one eye and looked up at Rainbow Dash.

“Oh hey there Dashy, are you ready to spend more time together?” Pinkie said with a weak voice.

“Can.. can you help me get up? I can’t move.” Pinkie coughed up dirt mixed with blood.

Rainbow Dash stood there, speechless.

“I... I, I don’t know what to do.” Rainbow Dash said with tears running down her face. She knew she wouldn’t be able to lift or carry Pinkie back in her current state.

“What do you mean Dashy? I know, want to help me bake some delicious treats for everypony?” Pinkie asked, not realizing where she was or what was happening. Her eyes began to drift off and she started to fall asleep.

“No! Pinkie you can’t go, please don’t go!” Rainbow yelled at her in a state of panic. Her voice began to break. “I’m so sorry Pinkie, I shouldn’t have left you. Please don’t leave me.” Rainbow pushed her face into Pinkie’s wet and dirty mane as she cried and tried to catch her breath.

Pinkie began to speak with her eyes closed, “You didn’t leave me, you’re right here.” Pinkie seemed as if she was trying to smile.

“I’m glad you’re here, I like when we’re together.” Pinkie said with a hint of glee in her quiet broken voice.

Rainbow Dash hugged onto Pinkie even tighter.

“I like it too Pinkie, and I promise I’ll never leave you alone again.” Rainbow cried, desperately holding onto Pinkie Pie.

“Thanks Dashy, I promise too.” Pinkie said slowly, as she drifted off into sleep.

A few minutes passed with Rainbow Dash holding Pinkie Pie tightly in her arms. The strong wind and cold rain was causing Rainbow to shiver uncontrollably. However, Pinkie was completely still.

“Some pony will find us after the storm, just hold on until then okay?” Rainbow was holding on to Pinkie’s body in an attempt to keep her warm. She waited for a response, but Pinkie didn’t say anything.

“Are you okay? Say something please. I need to hear that you’re okay Pinkie.” No response came from Pinkie’s lifeless body.

Rainbow stood up and looked at Pinkie’s face, it was peaceful despite the ferocious storm raging on around them. Rainbow Dash began to breathe heavily again as she started to realize what had happened. The weight of it all came crashing down and she felt that she alone was to blame for this tragedy.

“Pinkie you can’t leave me! You promised!” Rainbow yelled at her hoping to wake her up, but she knew inside that it wasn’t possible.

She heard a yell coming from the direction of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash couldn't make out who they were or what they were saying. She looked back down at Pinkie Pie, breathing rapidly. She nuzzled Pinkie’s soft face with her nose for a few minutes while she cried. Then she took a few steps back and leaped into the air with her back hooves. She flew straight into the black storm clouds not looking back. Lightning flashed all around her but she didn’t feel any emotion other than mourning for the loss of her best friend. She closed her eyes and pushed forward as fast as she could, she knew she couldn’t face the rest of her friends or anyone else after what had happened. So she kept on flying towards the center of the storm as fast as she could, leaving her tattered life behind her. A sonic rainboom exploded behind her, she kept pressing forward, now nearing the center of the massive storm. Just as she reached it, a second rainboom erupted around her in a massive explosion, this one exponentially larger. It sounded like a thousand lightning strikes at once and shook all of Equestria. Rainbow Dash stopped for a moment and looked back to see the enormous rainbow rapidly growing and tearing the clouds apart, effectively stopping the storm. She looked at Ponyville, once her home and a place of comfort, now somewhere she could never return. Rainbow Dash brushed the hair out of her face, breathing heavily, tears pouring, and her heart broken. She felt completely helpless and alone for the first time in her life.

Laying on her back she snapped out of her daydreaming and wiped the tears from her face. She peeked through the clouds again and saw Applejack packing up and preparing to head back home after a long day visiting Pinkie. She wanted so badly to go talk to her, but couldn’t work up the courage. She didn’t even know where to begin if she did go down to see her. She thought Applejack would be furious with her and blame her for everything, for the death of their beloved friend, for the rest of their friendships ending up in shambles, even for Ponyville slowly turning into the ghost town that it was becoming. It was easier to just stay hidden behind the clouds, alone for the rest of her life.