Flying, the ultimate freedom for a Pegasus.

For Rainbow Dash, it was as natural as a fish swimming in the sea. She was a good flyer, fast and agile, but most of all, a daring one. Every time she did a daring stunt high above ground, she felt more alive than ever before. It was art in motion, pure and simple.

Everyday was a thrill, today however was going to be more down to earth. Rainbow was going to meet up with her other friends, not to do anything special, but to just hang out, have a picnic and enjoy the amazing weather. It was not a tradition per say, but it was an activity they all enjoyed.

Like always she soared through the sky, doing flips and sharp turns, showing off to the world below. It didn't take her long to reach her destination, already she could see her friends near Sugarcube Corner where they were supposed to meet. She did one more loop, and landed near her friends, striking a pose.

"Do not fear, the Rainbow is here!" She greeted, then thought the greeting over, and decided that was not going to be her new catchphrase. Pinkie however loved it.

She laughed loudly, "that was great, Rainbow Dash. Next time, try and drop down with a black cape and cowl and say, "I'm Batmare."

Rainbow just smirked and shook her head, "funny, Pinkie, but no. I think I could use something cool to say before I touch down."

"Why in the world would you need something like that?" Asked Applejack.

The cyan Pegasus rolled her eyes, but then gave her an encouraging smile. "Because," she started, like if explaining something to a foal. It was only meant as a joke of course. "It makes me look about 21% cooler."

"That number seems oddly specific?" Twilight chimed in. "How did you come up with that?"

"Oh Twilight," Rainbow said, patting her unicorn friend on the back. "That's why you're never going to be cool."

Applejack snorted, then said, "you're so full of it Rainbow."

They all shared a good laugh, but then Rainbow noticed they were missing two ponies. "Where's Rarity and Fluttershy?"

"They said they would meet us at the hill, Fluttershy had a little animal emergency, and Rarity needs to wait for a customer." Pinkie explained, bouncing around with a picnic basket on her back. Somehow all of it's contents were not scattered around everywhere.

"We better go, no reason to stand around waiting all day." Twilight started to move, and the others were just about to follow when a voice called.

"Rainbow Dash?"

They all stopped, and looked behind them. "Nurse Redheart?" Rainbow said, giving a quick flap with her wings and moved towards the earth pony mare. "What's up? If it's about those medical bills, I told you they will be fully paid next week."

The white coated mare shook her head, her blue eyes seeming tired, her pink mane slightly ruffled, like if she had attempted to put her mane up while only half awake. "Rainbow, I was in Canterlot yesterday to visit a mental hospital. Uhm.. While I was there, I.."

She hesitated, seeming to have an internal battle with herself. Rainbow just tilted her head to the right, not understanding why she would tell her that, but she was clearly disturbed, so Rainbow gave her time to gather her thoughts.

"Listen, I don't know if I should even tell you this, but does the name Swift Bolt mean anything to you?" Rainbow felt her heart sink, she did know that name, very well in fact. It must have shown in her eyes, because Redheart continued. "He asked me to find you, begged me to in fact.."

It took a moment for Rainbow to find her voice. "Uhm, yeah I know him, but we haven't spoken in years.. Why did he ask you to find me?"

Redheart shrugged, "I don't know.. He seemed desperate, he begged me to tell you to visit him."

"Visit? Why?"

"I don't know, the staff removed him before I could ask him anything." Redheart glanced at the ponies behind Rainbow, not wanting the others to hear she spoke in a low tone of voice. "I don't know if I should have told you this, he just seemed so scared, and desperate.. I just couldn't get it out of my head.."

Rainbow nodded absently, her mind racing with all sorts of thoughts. Then, looking at Redheart she gave her a little smile of appreciation. "Thank you for telling me, you said it was Canterlot Mental Hospital?"

"Yeah, well, the old one, it is more of an asylum these days.. Gave me the creeps, but the standards are as they should be." Redheart shrugged again, then sighed. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, I probably shouldn't have told you that."

"No, thank you, Redheart.." With nothing else said, Redheart simply nodded and left in silence, leaving Rainbow Dash with her thoughts, and memories.

Her friends watched her, they hadn't heard what they were saying, but they could see their conversation had affected their cyan colored friend. Nopony dared to move yet, it was like a deep instinct told them that they should give her a few moments to gather her thoughts.

Rainbow was shaken, she knew Swift Bolt from years before, before she ever met Twilight or became an Element. She knew of his case, hell's bells, everypony back in Cloudsdale knew about that case. She remembered how shocked she was when she first heard the story, but she hadn't believed it at the time. Rainbow knew him as a real goofball with a big smile, they had pretty much grown up together. Why was he asking to see her? Why now? Her mind raced with thoughts and memories, all filled with many different feelings. It wasn't until Twilight spoke to her that she remembered her friends were right behind her.

"Rainbow Dash, are you okay?"

Was she okay? Rainbow wanted to say yes, but she didn't want to lie to her friends. Turning to them, she tried to find the best words to describe what she was feeling, but none came to mind. Was she sad? Angry? Glad? Confused, certainly, but there was so much going through on in her mind. Her friends sensed her distress, and it was Twilight once again that took the initiative.

"Come Rainbow, we can relax and talk in the library.. If you want to."

Having no other plan really, she just nodded, but her gaze was off, like if she was looking at something far away. She just followed Twilight, escorted closely by Applejack while Pinkie Pie ran off to inform the others. On the way, Rainbow had time to go over everything, bringing back memories she had long buried deep within her mind. A feeling of shame bubbled up within her, she wasn't sure if she should feel ashamed, but she did.

When they got to the library Spike helped Twilight make them all some tea, in the meantime both Rarity and Fluttershy joined them, led by Pinkie Pie. Rainbow still hadn't said anything, so the other filled them in on what had happened. Fluttershy sat beside Rainbow Dash, and it did seem to calm her a bit.

Now that everybody was gathered, and every pony had gotten their tea, Twilight sat down and looked to Rainbow. She was just holding the mug, letting the warm cup warm up her hooves, it felt good. Finally, thinking the silence had gone on for too long, Rainbow finally decided to speak.

"I don't think any of you will really understand, except for Fluttershy.." None of them had heard Rainbow so low before, it was like her very spirit had been sucked out of her. She didn't even look at them, just at her tea. "Nurse Redheart told me she'd been to some sort of hospital, and she came across an old friend of mine.. Swift Bolt."

The others looked confused, but Fluttershy did not. "Oh my... Swift Bolt..?" Fluttershy hadn't heard that name for years, she herself was not sure how to react to that news, but she leaned a little closer to Rainbow, a move she seemed grateful for as she leaned back.

"Pardon me," Applejack asked gently. "But who is this, Swift Bolt, fella?"

"Wait, I think I've heard that name before.." Twilight then mumbled, making Rainbow sigh.

"It wouldn't be strange if you had, you lived in Canterlot after all.." Rainbow didn't know where to start, there was so much to tell, and yet so very little. She groaned in frustration, but Fluttershy moved in and gave her half a hug, defusing Rainbow's frustration.

"I think it's better to start with the beginning.." She then suggested, and Rainbow nodded a little.

Taking a deep breath, gathering her thoughts, she looked at them. "Swift Bolt was my friend in Cloudsdale, we grew up on the same street, our parents knew each other, so we became close. His sister would often look after us when our parents needed a foalsitter, we were pretty much family.."

The others would have smiled at the cute memories, if not for the serious undertone that followed in whatever Rainbow was saying. "We played, we raced, a lot. We tried to find excuses not to do our homework, we fought, we napped.." She blushed a little at that memory, feeling like she had just shown off a picture of her in her diaper years. "Long story short, we were close.."

Giving Rainbow Dash a chance to recover herself, Fluttershy added. "I didn't get to meet Swift Bolt before Flight School, but he was very kind, very..." Fluttershy hummed as she tried to find the right word. "Coltish, kind of like Rainbow Dash, only, he was a colt."

That made Rainbow smile just a little, a tiny laugh escaping her lips, easing up the mood a little, and Rainbow was thankful for the mental breather before she continued. "He didn't drop out like me, or quit like Fluttershy, like me however, he knew exactly what he wanted to be. Even though we had talked about joining the Wonderbolts together, his plans changed. He wanted to be a Royal Guard."

She closed her eyes, letting the memories come back to her one by one, relaxing, seeing how the happy times were about to end. Taking a sip from her tea, she continued. "Last time I saw him he had just been accepted as a cadet. He was so proud, stood in his cadet uniform and showed it off with that big grin of his.." Once again, Rainbow had to close her eyes, not to focus her mind, but to keep back whatever tears that might threaten to escape.

"I was happy for him, and we promised to write to each other.. We did, for a time, but one day the letters just stopped.." She took a deep breath, feeling the tears build up, but she kept them all back. "Then one day, we heard he had..."

Her voice left her, and she looked away from her friends, not wanting them to see her struggles. Even Fluttershy was on the verge of tears, though she was not afraid of showing it. Twilight and the others listened, captivated in anticipation of what she was going to tell them. Twilight though, she couldn't shake the feeling she had heard the name before. If he was a Royal Guard Cadet, then there would have been a chance of her meeting him while she lived at the palace. Then suddenly it clicked, her eyes went wide and she looked at Rainbow with a worried and yet horrified look.

Rainbow noticed it, and sighed. "So you remember..? I don't know how or why, but one day we just heard Swift had killed two of his fellow cadets in a fit of madness.." The whole group gasped, shocked beyond belief.

"I remember that," said Twilight. "Princess Celestia was shocked, and I remember the whole palace felt so, cold, like all joy had left it.. She didn't tell me anything about the case however. Not that I blame her, it was horrible.."

"Yeah, it was." Rainbow agreed. "Us that knew him, we had a hard time accepting it."

"He was just so happy, and kind, it was a shock.." Fluttershy added, remembering well how much Rainbow had cried and yelled, though she did not tell the others about that.

"And that was that, I never saw Swift Bolt again, never heard from him. The only thing I did hear was what was written in the papers, which was not much." Rainbow took another sip of her tea, feeling low ,and mentally exhausted.

"So, this Swift Bolt," Rarity asked. "He's in some sort of hospital? Is he insane?"

"I don't know," replied Rainbow honestly. "All I know is that he apparently begged Nurse Redheart to tell me to visit him. She said he looked desperate, and scared.."

Her friends exchanged glances, all thinking the same. "So, are you going to visit him?"

Rainbow groaned and leaned back in her seat. "I don't know. I don't know if I want to, but part of me feels I should, and then another part wants me to forget him. We were friends, close friends, so maybe he could tell me what happened from his side.." She took another sip from her mug, sighed, and tried to sort out her many feelings. "I don't know if I could face him, ruining the happy memories I do have.. I don't want to see him like that, but he's my friend and.. And..."

She couldn't hold back anymore, she dropped the mug on the floor, putting her hooves to her face and started crying. The proud and cool Rainbow Dash was no more, in this very moment she felt just as confused and desperate as she did when she first heard about the killings. Part of her felt betrayed by him, while other parts insisted his innocence.

What was she supposed to do..?

Author's Notes:

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