Rain made continuous splashes upon the roof of the stadium’s audience seating. A dark afternoon that was caused by the large blanket of dark clouds that spat out their tears, which only seemed to disolve into the cloud racetrack.

A lone mare sat in the stadiums seating, not a sound heard or another soul seen. She wore a tattered Wonder Bolts costume, which looked to have taken a lot of damage, but was also just tattered from being old.  Her rainbow mane was of faded colors, lacking any joy that came from a normal rainbow; only sadness. She flapped her wings slowly; one of her wings had been injured a long time ago.

Though she was alone in the stadium, she still could hear the sounds of the roaring crowd calling out the names of the Wonder Bolts. Fleetfoot, Spitfire, Soarin’; all of the names were called out, but no name was called out more than the team’s star: Rainbow Dash.

All of the Wonder Bolts were awesome, flying in unison at top speeds, as stunning smoke trailed behind them. Rainbow Dash, however, always flew faster, with a beautiful rainbow trailing behind her as she reached her top speeds that created a Sonic Rainboom, which always made the crowd cheer wildly.

‘Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!’ They had called out. She appeared on posters, merchandise, advertisements. All the foals always wanted the new Rainbow Dash action figure or plushy doll. She could never take two steps without being praised for being the leader of the Wonder Bolts, the defeater of Discord and Nightmare Moon, and most importantly, the only one to have ever performed a Sonic Rainboom.

She had it all.

But as she sat in the now abandoned stadium, she wondered where it had all gone. When did her fame and fortune stop and only remain as memories? How did the thousands upon thousands of fans begin to forget about their hero?

She remembered it all starting the day she performed her first Sonic Rainboom...

***

“Are you ready to crash and burn, Rainbow Crash?” Hoops grinned, but Rainbow Dash only awaited Fluttershy to raise the flag. She raised the flag, and the racers shot off, knocking her off of the cloud she was standing on. Rainbow Dash flew fast, but Hoops was right behind her, and eventually caught up to her. He slammed his body into her, and sent her flying off course.

“Nice move, Rainbow Crash.” He laughed as he started to fly down to the next checkpoint.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash squealed as she began to fly down after him. She accelerated, flying faster and faster down to the next checkpoint, until finally her velocity broke the light spectrum, causing an explosion of light of all colors to emanate all around Equestria. After proving that a Sonic Rainboom is possible, she gained her Cutie-Mark, which began her legacy as the fastest flyer in all of Equestria.

Rainbow Dash dropped out of flight school then. She didn’t feel the need to be there any longer. No pony else thought she needed to be there either; the ones who saw the Sonic Rainboom, at least.

“You can’t drop out of flight school!” Her mother shouted over the phone.

“But mom,” Rainbow protested “I did a Sonic Rainboom!”

“I don’t care if Celestia herself told you that you didn’t need to be there. You’re staying in flight school, and that’s final!” The phone now only rang the continuous sound as Rainbow Dash hung up. She sighed. When her mother had made a decision, involving the Princess only meant she wasn’t ever going to change her mind about it.

Rainbow Dash stayed in flight school like her mother told her to. She had always been striving to be the best flyer in her class, but now that she really was, she felt no need to be there anymore. She now only sat in class listening to the teacher talk about the history of the Pegasus race. When they went out to practice flying, Rainbow Dash always completed the tasks with incredible ease. Always boring; always unnecessary.

Rainbow Dash dropped out. She didn’t tell her mother, and never planned to. She didn’t care if she never talked to her mother again. She had always been controlling her life, and ever since her father passed away, her mother had only gotten more controlling and abusive. She thought maybe the only reason her mother kept her there was so that she didn’t have to deal with her.

So be it then, she had thought. I’ll leave this life behind, and I’ll never go back.

***

The much older Rainbow Dash sighed, remembering her youth. Would it have been different if she had obeyed her mother? She didn’t know, but she knew it was better to leave that life behind then go home and be abused by her mother, and cry at her father’s picture every night.

She held herself tightly, feeling cold. It wasn’t coldness from the weather, but from inside her broken heart. A father that died for reasons her mother refused to tell her, and a mother who used to love her, but without the support of her father seemed to descend from her kindness and mental stability.

A tear fell down from her face; the sound of it splashing against the ground was hidden in the sound of the rain. Even though she lost one family she gained another, she thought.  Five other mares her age became her family. Before meeting her friends, however, she had been wandering for a long time by herself. She was a young filly with nowhere to go. In retrospect, she thought it might have been better to have stayed in flight school. She was too naïve as to where she would have gone after the fact that she left. She eventually settled in Ponyville, however.

She didn’t know anyone, but she didn’t care. She was happy that she was going to start a new life, and this was the place where it would take place. A new chapter in her life was opening, and she intended to make it the best, and the longest chapter; that’s exactly what she did.

She started going to school the next day after she arrived. She didn’t want to go to school necessarily, since the whole reason she had moved to Ponyville was to avoid flight school, and her mother nagging at her to stay. She went because she wanted to meet some new friends. Everypony greeted her immediately when she walked into the classroom with the greatest of kindness; especially Pinkie Pie.

“I didn’t know there was a new pony here!” Pinkie Pie bounced over to Dash, who was standing in the doorway, nervous. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?” She eagerly awaited Rainbow Dash’s answer, moving her face closer and closer to Rainbow’s with every moment.

“I’m…Rainbow Dash,” She nervously said. Rainbow usually wasn’t so quiet and tense, but being new to Ponyville, and the ground for that matter, she didn’t know what to expect. She soon figured out that everyone was kinder here than in Cloudsdale.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” The entire class cheeringly said in unison. Rainbow Dash smiled. Pinkie grabbed Rainbow’s hoof and led her over to a set of seats on the left-back side of the classroom.

“You can sit next to me!” Pinkie took her seat, and Rainbow Dash took the one next to her. “I’m sort of new to Ponyville myself,” She whispered as the teacher walked into the classroom, blissfully unaware of the new student. “I lived on a rock farm for the longest time until I got my Cutie-Mark. That was about a month ago when this giant rainbow flew across the sky!” She had progressively gotten louder as she spoke, and the teacher shot her down.

“Pinkie! Please, settle down,” He spoke. He then started to write things on the board. Pinkie waited for a moment before continuing, making sure to be extra quiet.

“Anyways, I’ll introduce you to everypony at lunch.”

***

One by one Pinkie introduced Rainbow to all of the ponies in their class; there were a lot of them. She didn’t really hang out with any of them, just Pinkie Pie. It wasn’t until the ‘Little Pony Competitions’ that she became more acquainted with some ponies that were as competitive as she was. All of the little ponies from around Ponyville came to compete. There were general rules of course, which mostly pertained to no flying or magic.

First competition was the hoof wresting competition. As the ponies took their seats across their opponents at the small tables, a crowd of parents, school officials, and just normal ponies came to being. They cheered on all of the little ponies, whom began to wrestle.

Rainbow Dash was up against a very tough looking, but also very kind colt.

“Good luck,” He smiled. Rainbow Dash smirked and nodded in agreement.

“Ready… Set…Go!” Their school teacher waved the flag, and the ponies began to wrestle. One by one Rainbow Dash could hear the bangs of hooves slam against the tables, but her and the colt were still at it.

“You know, you’re pretty tough,” The colt said as their hooves went back and forth.

“You are too,” They both started to chuckle. “I don’t think you can hold this for much longer.”

“Are you sure about that?” He stared at their wavering hooves; his brown hoof against her blue one, as they pushed as hard as they could.

“Hey, Klutzy!” A filly called out to the brown colt. “We all know you’re going to lose to that filly, so why don’t you just give up? Everyone’s waiting on you!” That last statement was true, as everyone had already finished and awaited the last two contestants. The colt’s eyes began to narrow, giving off a frown at the same time.

“My name isn’t Klutzy! It’s Rusty!” He began to push Rainbow Dash’s hoof a little harder, bringing her down slowly. Rainbow Dash tried to match his new found strength, trying to keep herself going. “Stop making fun of me!”

“Don’t let her get to you,” Rainbow Dash smiled at the colt who gazed back at her. He smiled as well. Rainbow Dash’s soft smile turned to a grin, as they both continued to push with what seemed to be unlimited stamina.

“Oh yeah?” The filly realized that he wasn’t going to let her get to him. She had to say something really cruel to make him lose his grip. “Only a Klutz would single-hoovedly kill his dad’s business. A little slip of the hoof can do a lot, just like you're going to do here.” With that, the colt’s arm lost strength, and Rainbow Dash slammed his hoof on the table. He didn’t even seem to notice, as he stared straight ahead of himself.

Realizing what had just happened, Rainbow Dash looked at the filly, whom was smiling at a job well done.

“Hey! That wasn’t cool, dude!”

“It’s fine.” The colt outreached his hoof to her, giving a soft smile. Rainbow Dash shook it with hers. “Good game,” Rainbow Dash sighed.

“It just isn’t fair,” The colt nodded in agreement. “What she did wasn’t right.”

“It’s okay though. You probably would have won anyways,” Rainbow looked away for a moment, thinking.

“Take my place,” She decided. “It wasn’t a fair match. Even though I love winning...” She turned to him, “doing what’s right in friendship is more important.” The colt shook his head.

“You won fair and square. It’s my fault I lost focus, not yours,” The colt stood up, and slowly trotted away in defeat.

“Rusty, wait!” She called to him, but he disappeared into the crowd very suddenly, obviously trotting faster when he reached the crowd. Pinkie bounced up behind her.

“Wow! You did great Dashie!” She raised her hoof for a ‘hoof-five’, which Rainbow took rather slowly, barely patting her hoof against Pinkie’s. “Is… something wrong?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t answer. She wanted to chase after him, but thought that it would come to no avail. She didn’t know where he could have gone. She clutched her hooves. She turned to the other ponies that had won their matches, deciding that she was going to beat everyone. For Rusty.

She wanted to go against the filly that had made Rusty lose his focus, but instead she was paired with Pinkie.

“Oh, this is going to be so fun!” Pinkie giggled as they both put their hooves together. Rainbow remained quiet.

“Ready…Set…Go!” Immediately, Rainbow slammed Pinkie’s hoof on the table. Pinkie opened her mouth in utter surprise, but soon returned to her happy state.

“Way to go, Dashie! I gotta admit I thought it would have gone a bit…longer. But that’s okay!”

Rainbow Dash watched the match between the filly from earlier and another filly, at which point the filly from earlier lost. Rainbow grunted. She wanted to face her and slap her down, but she was also glad that she was already down early on, as well.

Dash continued to slap down pony after pony, most without much contest. She told herself she was going to win this for Rusty, so she wasn’t prepared to lose. Eventually she did win, much to everypony's surprise. The last hoof she slapped down was probably the hardest and quickest.

“Rainbow Dash is the winner!” Rainbow Dash stood tall, as she looked up to the sky in pride.

This was for you, Rusty.

***

Fortunately, Rainbow Dash’s efforts weren’t unrewarded. She stood at the starting line of the next competition, which was a race around Ponyville. She was standing next to both Pinkie and Rusty. Rusty had come back after hearing that Rainbow Dash won, which made it all worthwhile for her.

“Ready… Set… Go!” They all shot off, running as fast as they could, all except Pinkie Pie, whom only bounced happily. Rainbow Dash and Rusty were neck and neck, outrunning the rest of the pack.

“You’re pretty quick,” Rainbow huffed as continued to run.

“You pretty quick too,” they started to laugh, seeing this pattern emerge where they would complement each other. Soon, the other competitors started to catch up with them, but they didn’t care all too much. They were still ahead of the pack, and they were together, which was what mattered most to Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, Rusty?” Rainbow got his attention. “Are you hungry?”

“Hungry?”

“Yeah! Because you’re about to eat my dust!”

"Oh, I don't think so!"

They both laughed as they picked up the pace. Even though they wanted to stay relatively close to each other during the race, they were both determined to be first.

Suddenly, as they approached the edge of the Everfree Forest, Rusty tripped over a small rock tumbling onto the ground.

“My leg!” He cried out, as Rainbow Dash looked behind her to see Rusty on the ground, grabbing his leg.

“Nice going, Klutzy!” a few fillies called out as they passed him.

“Rusty!” Rainbow stopped in her tracks, the other racers all passing her. She ran back to Rusty, whom was holding back tears from the pain.

“No, no! You can still win,” Rusty waved his hoof for her to go. “I’ll be fine.”

“Can you get up?” She asked. He shook his head.

“It hurts too badly.” Rainbow Dash sighed, looking at the ground. “You can still win, just go!” Rainbow Dash looked into his eyes, and smiled.

“We’re going to finish together. I had planned to be first, of course, but I also planned for you to be close behind me. Come on, I’ll help you up, and I’ll help you walk to the finish line,” She started to help him up, and he leaned against her. They walked slowly at first, Rusty was limping.

***

“Where are Rainbow Dash and Rusty?” The teacher looked at his clipboard, which had checked off all the racers in accordance to when they crossed the finish line.

“We’re right here!” Rainbow called out. They walked slowly to the finish line, and everypony waited cautiously. When they crossed the finish line, the teacher announced the winner of the race to everypony.

“Applejack is the winner!” The teacher raised the hoof of an orange filly with a brown hat, which was large for her size.

“Ye’haw!” She stood on her hind legs for a second in a victory cry and came back down.

“Wait! Where’s Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I didn’t see her pass us…”

“Pinkie got disqualified for… passing through town,” The orange filly told them as the crowd began to laugh.

“Well, I couldn’t finish the race! I was hungry!” Pinkie bounced through the crowd with a cupcake on her back. She stopped in front of them, and then began to eat the cupcake very loudly.

“Hey, what ya’ll did for yer friend was really nice,” The orange filly told Rainbow Dash.

“Thanks.”

“My name’s Applejack,” She put out her hoof, as Rainbow took it in hers and shook it.

“I’m Rainbow Dash.”

***

“Well, it seems Rusty has a broken ankle,” The doctor told Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash as he examined the tattered colt. “He’ll need to stay off of it for a little while. I suggest he spends the rest of the day in bed.”

“Yes, doctor,” The four of them rang. The three fillies helped the colt out. He could walk on his own, planting his front hooves on the ground and jumping with his one hind leg, but it was quicker if he leaned on another pony.

***

“It’s time for the Pie Eating Competition!” The crowd cheered as they watched the fillies and colts take their places in front of the large table with a great abundance pies. “We couldn’t have had this be possible without the help of the Cakes and the Apple Family,” The teacher expressed his gratitude, standing on a stage behind the fillies and colts, with the donators standing beside him.

“We did what now?” Granny Smith rocked in her chair next to the teacher. Applejack giggled.

“First one to eat fifteen pies is the winner! Or whoever is able to eat the most pies in thirty minutes! Ready…Set…”

“Good luck, RD,” Applejack winked at Rainbow Dash whom was standing next to her.

“You too," They both smiled at each other, awaiting the final-

“Go!” They began to dig into the pies. Rainbow Dash raced against Applejack primarily, who was shoving pies down her throat like nopony’s business.

“We have a winner!” It was over within only a few minutes. Rainbow Dash had only managed to eat three pies. “Pinkie Pie is the winner!”

    Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other in surprise, looking over to where Pinkie was sitting. They saw her trying to eat more pies, but being held back by the Cakes.

“Just… One… More… Pie!”

***

Rainbow Dash laid on a cloud as the sky was turning to twilight. It had been a good day overall. She met two new friends, and she won a competition. She wondered though; was what that filly said about Rusty true? Did he really destroy his dad’s business? 'A little slip of the hoof'? Why would that destroy his dad’s business? Surely it wasn’t true. But the words had hurt him enough to make him lose focus on what he was doing, and run away for a while.

“Hey, Rainbow?” Her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a small farm-filly. “What are ya’ doin’ all up there by yerself?”

“Oh! Hi, Applejack!” Rainbow Dash turned from looking at the sun down to her friend on a ground. “This is my house; I was just about to turn in for the night,” She smiled widely, but Applejack gave her a confused gaze.

“You live on a little ol’ cloud? With no roof over yer head at night?” Rainbow Dash hesitated to answer the question.

“…Yeah?”

“How long have ya’ been livin’ like this?”

“I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash turned to lie on her back, resting her head on her hooves. “Ever since I arrived in Ponyville a few weeks ago.”

“What about when it rains? Or when it’s cold outside?” Rainbow Dash didn’t answer, but Applejack already knew. “Where’s yer family? Where’s yer home?”

“This is my home!” She snapped at Applejack, turning from her comfy position to glare at Applejack. “And I don’t need a family!” Applejack shook her head.

“Everypony needs a family,” They were both quiet for a few moments. “…Ah’ll be your family!”

“Don’t family’s need like… you know… a dad and a mom?” Applejack shook her head and chuckled.

“Well that’s all very nice, but a family is a bunch of ponies who care about each other! And Ah care about you, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, shaking her head. “That’s so sappy!”

“It’s true, though,” They both laughed.

“I can’t argue with that.”

“How about ya’ come and stay with us at Sweet Apple Acres for a bit?”

Rainbow Dash thought about it for a few moments. She knew it was going to rain tonight, as she had overheard the weather ponies talking about it earlier that day.

“For one night,”

“Two nights!” Applejack wasn’t prepared to take no for an answer on this compromise, and she knew it. “It’s going to rain tomorra’ as well, so ya’ better stay two.”

“Fine,” Dash flew down to Applejack, putting a hoof around her. “Two nights is fine.”

***

“Wakey, Wakey!” Rainbow Dash flew in front of Rusty’s window. She looked at the sleeping Rusty, knocking on the glass.

“One more minute, mom,” he turned in his bed. Rainbow Dash knocked on it again.

“Come out and play!” She said, throwing her arms in the air enthusiastically. She had gotten the best night sleep she had had in a month, since she was now staying with Applejack and had a bed to lay in. She was full of energy and wanted to play. But then she remembered his broken ankle.  “Well… we can sit down and play a game of checkers...or something.” He yawned, pulling a string next to his bed on his nightstand that opened the window. Rainbow Dash took the invitation inside his room.

“Hey, Rusty. I gotta ask you something.” She waited for him to wake up a bit more before she continued.

“Yeah? What is it, Rainbow?” She hesitated to ask the question, seeing as the subject had caused him to be so upset before. But she had to know. She needed to know what the problem was, and if she could do something to fix it, or if she could empathize. She took in a deep breath.

“What happened to your dad’s business?” They both were quiet for a few moments before Rusty shook his head.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He rolled himself out of bed, making sure not to land on his broken ankle, and hit the floor.

“Hm. You get out of bed just like I do!” She giggled, flying over the bed to him, and helping him up. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“So… You said something about checkers?”

“Yeah?”

“I like chess better.”

***

“Rainbow Dash has been getting mighty friendly with Rusty lately.”

“It’s only been a day,” Pinkie pointed out, “And they’re just playing chess.” Applejack hadn't expected Pinkie to get what she meant, and was prepared to elaborate. Now the problem was convincing her of that.

“Just look at the way she looks at him,” Applejack pointed to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie squinted her eyes at the two ponies playing on the grass in the park. She looked at Dash as she looked at Rusty while Rusty was making a move with his knight, and that knight was advancing towards her pawn at which point that pawn was pretty scared.

“That pawn looks scared,” Pinkie said.

“No, no. Look at her eyes, Pinkie, her eyes!” Applejack instructed. Pinkie obeyed, and looked at Rainbow Dash as Rusty was still making his move. Rainbow’s eyes were fixed on him lovingly. “Do ya’ see what I mean?”

“She’s just in love. What’s the big deal?” Pinkie seemed confused. Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't come up with an answer.

“So, Rusty,” Rainbow Dash started to speak as she moved her pawn, attempting small talk. “How long have you been playing chess?”

“A long time now. My dad taught me how to play,” He knocked out one of her pawns with his knight. “We used to play all the time.”

“Why did you two stop playing?” Rainbow Dash had no choice at this point but to start moving her king around.

“He got busy doing other things.”

“Like what kind of things?”

“Being dead, mostly,” He spoke as he moved his knight again, his face keeping the same, calm expression.

“Oh… I’m sorry I asked,” Rusty shook his head.

“He died when I was younger. I know you weren’t going to let the question go about my dad and his business, so better to tell you now. He died when I was very small, and for the record, I did destroy my dad’s business. By the way, check.” Rainbow Dash moved her king.

“How did you do that?”

“It’s a long story,” He simply said, “How about another time?” Rainbow nodded silently. “What about you? Where’s your parents?”

“We-Well…” Rainbow Dash stuttered.

“It’s okay; you don’t have to tell me.”

“No, no, it’s okay. My dad died when I was little too, and I left home just a few months ago for flight school, but I never returned home. I came here instead. My mom hasn’t been very nice to me, so I didn’t want to go home.” Rainbow thought about where to move her king, but she had to face the fact that she was in check mate. “Looks like you win.”

“Yeah, I guess I did…” They both were quiet for a few moments, but began to laugh.

“I’ll beat you this time,” Rainbow set up her pieces, and so did Rusty.

“So you don’t have any family here in Ponyville?”

“Well… I have kind of a family,” she looked past Rusty to see Applejack and Pinkie sitting on the park bench, watching and listening to them. Rusty looked back at them as well, and smiled at them. “My family is always watching over me,” She stressed the word ‘watching’ to hint to them to stop spying on her and Rusty. Applejack and Pinkie looked around the park, whistling and acting like they were oblivious to them. Rainbow started to laugh, and the other three soon followed.

“Rainbow!” Rainbow heard a familiar voice calling to her. A voice that seemed cold and emotionless other than a hint of anger. “Rainbow Danger Dash!”

“Mom?” Rainbow looked in surprise to see her mother only a few yards away, staring her down with pure rage.

To Be Continued