It had been four days since Rainbow Dash had made contact with her younger brother and yet she was still confused about the whole experience. How had he been able to hear and feel her? Was it possible that some ponies could interact with the dead? It must be for Rainbow couldn't think of any other reasons as to how Sunkick had been able to hear and feel her.

Rainbow looked back into the world of the living to see that many things were happening all at once. Sunkick, Thunder, and Caroline set off two days ago for Ponyville and would be arriving shortly. Rarity and Sweetie Belle finally returned to Ponyville and the Cutie Mark Crusaders began to meet in their clubhouse again. Twilight and Spike went to Canterlot and visited Princess Celestia. Twilight had looked through Ponyville's police records and had discovered that a series of ponies had mysteriously disappeared over the course of the previous year. She talked to the Princess about this and the Princess agreed to send a small group of investigators to Ponyville to look into the disappearances of Rainbow Dash and the others. Stormflower became more anxious about the whereabouts of her younger sister and found herself getting together with Joan more and more. Rainbow found herself spying on a couple of their meetings to see how things were going.

"If there's one good thing that comes out of all of this, it's the fact that my sister will probably get married sometime soon," Rainbow had said once to herself. Applejack began hanging out with the others again though she was still worried about Rainbow. Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, had grown incredibly paranoid and spent most of her time locked away in her room, talking to the Rainbow dummy.

"I'm not going to let them find you," she would say. "You're all mine and nopony else's."

Occasionally the second voice would return to scold Pinkie but she would force it back to wherever it came from. The only place that remained the same was the afterlife. Nothing changed there. The weather remained the same. The ponies remained the same. Everything just refused to change. Rainbow would spend a lot of time flying over the town, just trying to feel as happy as she did in life, but this bleak and simple afterlife wasn't enough to fulfill her desires.

Rainbow and Gilda were sitting on top of the hill, which they decided to call the Overlook, and were simply looking out over the town. Rainbow looked towards the edge of town and noticed the strange filly again. She was walking off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

"I'm going to get her to talk to me one day," said Rainbow.

"Good luck with that," Gilda smirked.

"Wonderful day isn't it?"

"I don't mind if you want to look back into the living world right now."

Rainbow nodded and closed her eyes. She opened them again to find herself standing at the Ponyville train station. Stormflower was standing on the platform and she was accompanied by Joan.

"So your family is coming?" Joan asked.

"Yeah. It'll be nice to see them again...if only we were meeting under better circumstances," Stormflower replied. Just then, a white unicorn appeared right next to Stormflower. She had a vibrant, blue mane and a pair of shaded glasses on. The unicorn turned towards Stormflower and smiled.

"I know you! You're Dash's sister," said the unicorn.

"That would be correct."

"Nice to meet ya! The name's Vinyl Scratch. I know Rainbow from around town."

"It seems everypony in this town knows my sister."

"Yeah! She's one cool pony. She even helped me out of a jam once."

"Really? What did she do?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell ya later."

"Uh...okay. So are you waiting for somepony too?"

"Yeah. My friend, Octavia. She's been working up in Canterlot for several months but she's finally coming back to town for a little bit. I'm really stoked to see her!"

"My brother and parents are coming to visit."

"More of Dash's relatives? Nice."

A train whistle echoed from the distance both Stormflower and Vinyl cocked their heads in anticipation. Rainbow laughed slightly at the sight of her big sis and old acquaintance. The train eventually arrived at the station and came to a stop with a long hiss. Ponies began filing off the train and Vinyl disappeared into the crowd to find Octavia. Stormflower began looking through the crowd for her family.

"Do you see them?" Joan asked.

"Not yet," said Stormflower. "Wait...there they are!"

Stormflower began waving her hooves frantically in the air. Three happy pegasi emerged from the crowd and approached Stormflower and Joan.

"Stormflower! It's so good to see you again," said Caroline as she gave her daughter a big hug. Stormflower then proceeded to hug her father and younger brother.

"Now who is this?" Thunder asked as his eyes fell on Joan.

"This is Joan Silver. We've been seeing each other for a little bit," Stormflower replied.

"So when's the wedding?" asked Sunkick.

"Oh shut up!"

The two siblings shoved each other and laughed. Rainbow looked on with saddened envy. She wanted them to see her so badly.

"Stormflower! Sunkick!" she called out. Nopony reacted. Then she noticed that Sunkick's ears twitched slightly. He had heard her at some degree. She knew that he did. Sunkick turned towards the spot where Rainbow was standing and focused his eyes.

"Well it's really nice to meet you, Joan Silver," said Caroline as she shook the stallion's hoof.

"Likewise," said Joan. Thunder then approached Joan, accidentally bumping into Sunkick and disrupting his concentration.

"I hope you're treating my daughter well," he said.

"Don't worry, sir. I'm treating your daughter very well."

"Good colt. Because if you do anything to hurt my daughter I'll have to break you."

Joan gulped and Stormflower rolled her eyes.

"So have you heard any news about Rainbow Dash?" Sunkick asked.

"No. Her friend, Twilight Sparkle, went up to Canterlot to look into it more," replied Stormflower.

"Look into it more? What does that mean?" asked Caroline.

"It means we may need to start a ponyhunt soon."

"Why don't we get out of this station? It's pretty crowded," Thunder suggested. The group agreed and they slowly wormed their way out of the station. Rainbow followed them.

They walked out of the station and Stormflower turned her head to see Vinyl hugging somepony.

"I'm guessing that's Octavia," said Stormflower as she pointed Joan over towards Vinyl. Joan looked at Vinyl and Octavia but his eyes quickly panned over to a gray pony standing next to them. It was a female earth pony with long white hair and sharp blue eyes.

"Holy shit," Joan breathed.

"What is it?"

"Just give me a minute!"

Stormflower watched as Joan ran over to greet the pony. The mare saw Joan and they instantly hugged each other.

"Now who's that?" asked Thunder.

"I have no idea," Stormflower replied. Joan walked back towards them. He was followed by Vinyl, Octavia, and the mysterious mare.

"Sorry I ran off like that," he said. "Stormflower, this is Irena."

"You mean Pinkie's older sister?!"

"The very same."

Irena stepped forward and shook Stormflower's hoof.

"This is...quite unexpected," she uttered.

"So what are you doing in Ponyville of all places?" Joan asked.

"I've been working with Octavia for a while now."

"Yeah. We met after one of my shows and we've been playing music together since," said Octavia. "She wanted to come along with me back to Ponyville in order to get a chance to see her sister."

"What are you doing here, Joan?"

"I was visiting Pinkie Pie too," Joan replied.

"So who's this?"

Stormflower blushed slightly.

"Her name's Stormflower. She's the older sister of a friend of Pinkie Pie's. We've been seeing each other for a little while," said Joan.

"Ah," Irena breathed. "Well it's really nice to meet you."

"Likewise," said Stormflower awkwardly.

"Come on, Irena! I want to show you and Octavia to your rooms!" said Vinyl.

"Okay! See all of you later," said Irena as she ran off after Vinyl and Octavia.

"This world just seems to get smaller and smaller every single day," Stormflower exclaimed.

"Too small for my taste," Joan chuckled. Rainbow smiled and the scene faded away.

"You look happy," said Gilda.

"Things are looking pretty good back in Equestria," said Rainbow.

"Has anypony figured out that you're dead yet?"

"No. They just think that I'm missing."

"When the truth comes out, that's when the shit hits the fan. All that happiness and serenity is going to go away like that."

Gilda snapped her claws and Rainbow lowered her head.

"I know Gilda. I'm not looking forward to the moment when they find out the truth," Rainbow breathed.

"Who knows? Maybe when they learn about your death they'll eventually trace it back to Pinkie Pie," said Gilda.

"The odds of that happening are very slim. But there's always a chance."

"And once that pink bitch is dead we'll probably finally reach that place beyond this damn dome."

"Possibly."

Rainbow looked back down towards the town and saw the mysterious filly walking back from Sweet Apple Acres. The filly looked up towards Rainbow and their gazes met for a few awkward seconds. The filly was the one to break the connection. She turned away from Rainbow and disappeared into a nearby building.

"Who are you?" Rainbow asked as she gave a loud sigh.