On a cool and relaxing Summer night, Rainbow Dash was flying over the White-tail woods at blinding speeds. And she was enjoying every minute of it possible, with a smile of amazement plastered onto her face. If one thing was certain, Rainbow Dash loved to fly, more so than the Wonderbolts. She loved the sense of thrill and wonder of just getting off the ground and soaring as high as she can into the blue skies and getting lost in all of it's beauty for hours. She loved having the wind in her Prismatic Mane when going really fast. And she most definitely loved accomplishing her signature Sonic Rainboom, which was a ring made out of Rainbows that would spread outwards until stopping at a certain distance. And the best part of it all, on nights such as this one, she could fly as much as she wanted without any issues, weather duty and managing, and most certainly, any constant complaints from either the townsfolk of Ponyville, or Mayor Mare to be precise, the only one who always looking for something to constantly bitch and complain about.

Five minutes later, and Rainbow Dash was ready to get back to her cloud home and see how Tank was doing before going to sleep. But before she could dash on home (no pun intended), she heard the faint sounds of someone crying. "What the? Where is that noise coming from and who is it from?" Rainbow asked in her head, curious to find out who's crying and why. The cyan Pegasus listened closely to the sound with her ears, and found out that it wasn't far off from her location. She was then terrified when she saw where the sound was, for she saw a beautiful lake before her. "Oh no. Whoever is crying must be near the Lake! That can't be good. I have to stop whoever he/she is before it's too late!" With a new goal in mind, along with great amounts of determination and concern to motivate it, Rainbow Dash rocketed towards the lake with great speed, but not fast enough to cause a Sonic Rainboom, praying that she wasn't too late.

Rainbow Dash finally arrived at the lake, taking only two minutes to get there. She landed immediately in order to save whatever strength was in her wings she had left and trotted carefully to where the crying was now. To the Athletic Mare's horror, she was now looking at the one and only Empress Mi Amore Cadenza, Twilight's sister-in-law, and the current ruler of the Crystal Empire, who was currently all alone. And she was a mess, from the heavily unkempt mane and tail, to her rib cage showing, clearly indicating that she hadn't eaten anything in days. But how was that possible? Cadence and Shining Armor both said that she was Pregnant, so that meant she would have to have a Huge appetite in order to keep her unborn child strong and healthy, along with morning sickness.

But what did this all mean? Did she lose the baby shortly after the pre-baby shower? Did Shining Armor leave her, or had he died from some kind of ambush while on their way back to their beloved kingdom? No, the latter option would be possible because Reason 1: He made an oath to always love and tolerate Cadence while trying to protect her from all sorts of evil such as the Changelings or King Sombra, who'd died after his return. And Reason 2: If he were dead from being ambushed, then it would be reported and everyone who knew him greatly would mourn over his death. The only real option was that maybe, just maybe, the Baby was a miscarriage and Cadence didn't want Shining Armor to know, so she must've teleported here to do just that. Though to Rainbow, if Cadence did teleport here, that meant she would've tried to drown herself if she was near this lake in the first place. That though was enough to have tears start coming out of the cyan Pegasus' magenta-colored eyes. So she decided to approach the sobbing Alicorn, giving away her position. Though she would've figured out that Cadence knew her position because of her Love senses.

"Hey. Are you alright Ca...Cadence?" Rainbow spoke with an uncharacteristic soft tone, choking back when mentioning the Alicorn's name.

Cadence suddenly perked her head up, "Who's there?" she said, trying to hold back any remaining tears she still had.

"Cadence, it's me. Rainbow Dash." She replied worryingly.

"Well, how do I know it's really you, the Rainbow Dash who performed the Legendary Sonic Rainboom at my wedding and not some Backstabbing Asshole Traitor? Huh. How do I?" She snapped at Rainbow's direction, suddenly seething in anger and suspicion.

This was the same anger and suspicion Rainbow Dash had when she accused Twilight of being a spy on the same day Nightmare Moon was defeated shortly after her return, and when Princess Luna was reformed. Now she remembered that certain event, and it was scaring her, because she was now on the receiving end of the accusations. More tears were coming out of her eyes and starting to stream down her face, but she wiped them off, knowing that she had to try to stay strong. Not just for her own sake, but also Cadence's sake as well.

"Because if I were a Backstabbing Asshole Traitor, then you wouldn't be still alive at this minute. Plus, I'm a very loyal mare Cadence. I'd never leave my friends hanging when they need me the most, that also means you as well. I came here because I heard you crying and I saw that you were upset about something." The cyan Pegasus managed to answer, still trying to be strong for Cadence, who was now charging up her horn for what seemed to be an offensive spell.

"Show yourself then!" Cadence barked, using the Royal Canterlot Voice, "Show yourself and prove to me that you're the REAL Rainbow Dash! NOW!"

Rainbow Dash was now completely terrified, almost to the point where she could start running away and cry herself to sleep, kind of like Fluttershy in the old days. But no, she was determined to stay and help Twilight's sister-in-law, so she did what she was told and revealed herself to Cadence, who now had her bloodshot eyes fixed on her directly. The cyan Pegasus managed to choke out a sentence while trying to not sound the least bit scared.

"Here...Here I am Ca...Cadence. it's g...good old Ra...Rain...bow Dash. The fastest mare in all of E...Equestria, here to he-oof...," She stuttered nervously before suddenly being tackled by Cadence, who was now hugging her furiously and began apologizing to the Pegasus constantly.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so, SORRY! I'm sorry that I didn't believe you from the start. Please forgive me Ra...Rainbow Dash!" Cadence screamed, but Rainbow patted her on the back, trying to calm her down. All while having a sad smile on her face.

But in her mind, she said: "Why would she assume that I would betray her and try to kill her? I know that mood swings in Pregnancy can get scary, but not THIS Horrifying. Gee, thanks a lot Twilight, I guess those stupid books you gave all of us didn't prepare me for Pregnant Alicorn mood swings."

After some unknown amount of time, Rainbow was still hugging Cadence while the latter was still apologizing. Eventually, the pink Alicorn had released the cyan Pegasus, trying to keep a smile on her face for the mare. Then, said Pegasus broke the silence, "Cadence..." she paused, trying to regain her confidence, then she continued, "what...what are you doing out here by yourself instead of being at the Crystal Empire with your Husband?" Cadence then turned towards Rainbow with a look of hate plastered on her face, catching her off-guard.

"Shining Armor? You do not speak of him. He's the reason for all of this. This is all his fault. It's. All. His. FAULT!" She roared in her Royal Canterlot Voice once more, causing the mare in front of her to have her pupils shrink to the size of little ruby dots, before realizing her mistake and looking away, silently sobbing to herself yet again.

But Rainbow Dash recovered in just three seconds before trying to pat the Alicorn's shoulder, "Hey, Hey. Don't get yourself down like this Cadence. Besides, I don't think it's really your husband's fault for getting you Pregnant..." as she was talking, she didn't know that Cadence was trying to block out the noise, all while her face was starting to turn a bright, rage-filled red. Almost to the point of just going berserk and destroying the whole world in fact. But the cyan Pegasus still continued to talk, "...And no matter what, both you and Shining Armor will get through your Pregnancy together. Heck, you'll even have your own little baby that you can call..." now she had noticed that the Alicorn Empress of Love looked like she was ignoring her, and Rainbow stopped talking for a moment until she uttered one last word, "Cadence?"

Then, Cadence exploded, unleashing all of her rage in just one sentence, "I. Am. Not. PREGNANT!"

There was nothing but complete silence now, for Rainbow Dash was completely speechless. She didn't have any words to say at the moment, along with the rest of the forest, for now everything had just stopped dead. And the only noise that was being made was Cadence's breathing. Of how loud she was, she had to take several angry breaths through her teeth in order to stop trying to break her own voice, all before the cyan Pegasus, out of fear and not courage, softly spoke like her best friend Fluttershy.

"Wh...What?"

"I...I was never Pregnant to begin with Ra...Rainbow Dash. It was...It was all a lie," Cadence started wailing uncontrollably now, her tears forming little waterfalls.

"WHAT?" Rainbow responded, completely horrified by this sudden revelation, "WHY? Why would you do this?" She asked, almost ready to cry herself with tears starting to stream down her face.

"Shining Armor made me. He made me lie to you guys," Cadence answered.

Now Rainbow was beyond pissed. Shining Armor? Twilight's Big Brother? So that's why his wife said that all of this was his fault. But that only raises more questions like: "How could he do this to Cadence and Twilight? And Why?". But her thoughts were interrupted when the crying Alicorn continued.

"You know that I would never do anything to hurt you nor Twilight, but Shining said to me that it was the only way. I didn't believe him, but I knew if I refused, he would turn me over to the Guards saying that I was Queen Chrysalis in disguise," She said while still crying, thus earning more comfort from Rainbow Dash.

"I can't believe he would be able to do something so awful!" Rainbow yelled, "Why?"

"Because about a week ago, we found out he was...Infertile. He was so angry that he almost hit me with a whip."

*GASP!*

"And after we got back to the Empire, I tried to convince him that we should've adopted a little foal to call our own, but he didn't listen to me at all. I suddenly realized that the love for my dear Shining was never 'true love'. It was only fake. So three days ago, I called my personal guard, Flash Sentry, and told him everything. He was shocked at first, but he believed what I said. So he went to gather the other Guards while I dealt with Shining. I was so heartbroken that I became furious, so I took my anger out on Shining Armor. He planned to attack me first by charging me, but I casted a magic sword that clashed with him. The duel was long, but I won in the end by cutting off the traitor's horn, though not without getting injured in the process. And after Flash and the Crystal Guards took him away, I informed my Empire about Shining's treachery and decided to teleport to Canterlot. But since I wasn't in the best condition, I accidentally teleported here instead. And that's when you found me after several minutes, just sitting here and crying like a little foal that I am. I'M A TERRIBLE PONY RAINBOW DASH!" Cadence finished with one last wailing of despair, still hurt over what happened during the week.

Rainbow wiped her own tears and scooted over to the Young Empress, extending her right wing to comfort her and to give out a caring nuzzle on the neck, "Cadence, I know how painful it is to lose the one you love dearly. Even if it's temporary."

*GASP* "What Happened?"

"Well, it wasn't really like a breakup or a terrible accident, but it was when I discovered that my pet Tortoise, Tank, was going to hibernate for the Winter. I couldn't stand it, so I tried to stop Winter from coming to Ponyville, but it backfired. After Twilight, Fluttershy, and the others tried to help, I just lost it. I bawled my eyes out like a big baby and just cried non-stop. It was horrible, then I came to realize that Tank had to hibernate for the winter and I let him rest under a tree where he would stay warm. Though it wasn't permanent, and I know that Tank was my pet, but that doesn't mean it would hurt less. My point is Cadence, though I've not experienced the kind of heartbreak you've dealt with, I know how much it hurts. And all I can do for now is try to help you get back upon your hooves before getting back to the Crystal Empire."

"You...You will?" Cadence asked excitedly.

"I will" Rainbow answered, earning another hug from the Crystal Empress and returning the favor.

"Thank you Rainbow Dash, THANK YOU!" Cadence cried with her tears being those of Joy for once, and not sadness.

"Hey...um...uh..." the cyan Pegasus began.

"Yes...Rainbow Dash?"

"How about we go back to my Cloud Mansion and get to bed. It's pretty late out here, don't you agree?" she asked, looking up at the dark skies. The pink Alicorn nodded.

"Awesome! Can you fly?"

"Maybe, but I think I have enough energy to teleport both of us there. Can you describe it?"

"It's the only Cloud House that's very close to Ponyville. It has Rainbow Waterfalls, can't miss it."

"Ok, here I go. Though you may want to hold on to something."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

As Cadence and Rainbow Dash teleported out of the Whitetail woods, they soon arrived at the front door of Rainbow's Cloud Mansion, followed by the two mares going inside and closing the door immediately after they opened it.

"I'll give you the Grand Tour tomorrow Cadence. Right now, I gotta set up a blanket and a pillow if I-"

"Rainbow Dash?" Cadence said tiredly.

"Yeah. What is it?" Rainbow asked her royal guest.

"Can you stay with me? Or at least until the week is over?"

The cyan Pegasus thought about it for a few seconds, deciding to give the pink Alicorn some much needed company. "Of course."

"Yay!"

Cadence clapped her hooves together and followed Rainbow upstairs and into her bedroom, where Tank was sleeping on.

The two Mares got onto the Queen-sized bed and wished each other good-night, for things were about to begin tomorrow and on through the week.

To be Continued!