"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight called out as she, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, and even Amber stood on the ground below her empty house. "Rainbow Dash, we're sorry for how we acted the other day, please come outside." There was no response. They all exchanged looks of worry, as well as Amber. "Fluttershy, can you please fly up there and get her to come outside?"

"Um, okay, I'll try my best..." she said nervously as she lifted off the ground and began flying up towards the house.

She landed on the doorstep and knocked on the door, not noticing the note which Rainbow Dash had left for them. "Rainbow Dash?" she asked pleadingly. "Are you going to come outside? It's been three days. We're sorry for being so angry to you the other day, but you shouldn't have hurt her... Please, just come outside."

Upon once again hearing no response, Fluttershy lowered her head in failure. But it was from doing so that she came to notice the small piece of paper underneath the door. She slowly picked it up and began reading it.

Twilight continued looking up to the sky, awaiting Fluttershy's return. Rather than seeing her come back with Rainbow Dash, they heard a short yelp, before seeing Fluttershy return alone.

When she landed, her friends looked at Fluttershy worriedly. She was almost in tears.

"Fluttershy? What's the matter?" Applejack asked, comforting her.

"I- I-" she stuttered as she began to cry. "I found this..." She held up the note.

"What's that?" Twilight said, taking it. She looked down at it and read it aloud.

To whom it may concern,

If you're reading this note, then it means you've probably come looking for me. I'm sorry, but it's too late. I've already left Ponyville and I'm never coming back.

Everypony makes mistakes in life, but I fear that the consequences of my actions are too much for me to handle. Everypony in town hates me, even my best friends. Not only that, but my potential Wonderbolts career is hanging by a thread, but that doesn't really mean very much to me anymore...

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anypony, but these things happen sometimes. I've never hated myself more, so I've decided to take the coward's way out and run away.
I'm moving on with my life, I suggest you all do the same.

I'm sorry, to all of you.
Goodbye.

Sincerely,
Rainbow Dash

P.S Please don't try to come after me.

"She's... gone?" Rarity asked sadly. "But, why would she leave? Was she really that upset?"

"Of course she was." Twilight said, looking over the note another time and passing it to Spike. "We overreacted. We should have been more supportive of her."

"What do you mean? She assaulted Amber, why should we have been supportive?"

Twilight looked around at all of them, they were all wondering where she was going with this. "Because, it wasn't completely her fault... It was partly ours as well..." She sighed, and looked over to Amber. "As I was told, Amber was supposed to be the new weatherpony, but actually proved to be able to do it better than Rainbow Dash. She also got into the Wonderbolts Academy, and of course, she was better at that too."

"Yeah, but w-" Applejack began.

"And then," Twilight continued, cutting her off. "I forgot that Rainbow Dash and I had plans for the day, so I agreed to go to Sugarcube Corner with Amber. Her job and Wonderbolt status didn't mean too much to her when compared to her friends, so when she thought Amber was 'stealing' us from her, her anger and jealousy had gotten the best of her, and then simply... lost control."

"Oh," Amber began, frowning. "I didn't mean to make her jealous, I just wanted to impress her..."

"Ah know, it ain't your fault." Applejack said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back over to Twilight. "So, what do we do now?"

"Nothing."

"What?!" her friends all said in unison.

"Twilight," Rarity said. "Rainbow Dash has run away over a silly misunderstanding, and you want us to just sit here and do nothing?"

"I don't know!" Twilight exclaimed. "She told us not to go after her, I don't know what to do. But we should obey her wishes."

"But she thinks we hate her! I don't want her to live the rest of her life in guilt and sorrow."

"But it would be nearly impossible, no one knows where she went." Twilight said. "She could be anywhere in Equestria by now."

Rarity sighed, and walked over to Fluttershy, who was still weeping. "Look at this face, Twilight." she said, comforting her. Fluttershy looked up at Twilight, her face covered in tears. "Take a look, and tell me you're not going to do something for Rainbow Dash."

"Rarity, I-" Twilight said unsurely. Fluttershy's eyes were very emotional, Rarity was making a very good case. "What if we can't find her? What happens then?"

"We can't leave her out there."

"Fine..." Twilight said, sighing. "We'll give her a month. If we don't hear from her by then, then we'll go looking for her."

"You look terrible, you know that right?" Trixie said as she sat beside Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, I know..." she sighed. "I haven't slept in a few days. I haven't had anywhere to sleep."

"But what's a pony like you doing on the streets of Manehattan? Why aren't you in Ponyville with your friends?"

"Well, it's a long story to say the least. But, I don't really want to say what happened..."

"Why?"

"Because I'm exhausted, that's why."

"Oh, okay..."

Rainbow Dash groaned as she leaned back against the hay bale. She rubbed her hooves over her eyes and slumped back.

"You look awful..." Trixie said again.

"Heh, I know." Rainbow Dash said, not opening her eyes. "I'm so thirsty..."

"Well do you want to come to my place? I can help you."

Rainbow Dash looked up at her unsurely. "What happened to you?" she asked. "You seem... different."

"It's been a while since we last met, a lot of things have happened to me."

"What kind of things?"

Trixie hesitated for a moment, before she spoke. "Uh, n- nevermind that..." she said, before changing the subject. "So, are you gonna come to my apartment? It's only a couple of blocks away."

"Only if you don't mind..."

Rainbow Dash watched as Trixie unlocked the door to her apartment and walked inside. She followed her in.

She looked around the rather small-ish living room. It had a connecting kitchen, and a couple of other doors opposite it. "Hm, it's nice." she complimented. "It's very... cozy..."

"Yeah, it's not much," Trixie said, walking into the kitchen. "But it is home, so I can't really complain. Please, make yourself at home." She looked around the kitchen a bit. "So, what can I get you?"

"Water, just water thanks." she said, taking a seat on her couch.

"You sure? I think I've got some apple cider in here somewhere..." she said, rummaging around the kitchen.

"Oh, no thanks. I'd rather not have cider right now..."

"Oh well, suit yourself." Trixie said, shrugging.

Trixie returned from the kitchen a few moments later with a large glass of water. She gave it to Rainbow Dash, and she quickly drank the whole thing, before setting it down on the coffee table in front of her.

"Thanks." Rainbow Dash said, leaning back and closing her eyes. "No one's done anything nice for me since I left."

"Well I'm glad I could help." Trixie said, sitting down beside her. "Do you feel better?"

"Yeah, I do thanks."

"So, are you going tell me what you're doing out here on your own?"

"Yeah, I might as well tell you. It started just over a week ago, I was about to leave my house..."

So Rainbow Dash began telling Trixie her story. She told her what had happened, and what she did to Amber that made her decide to leave.

"Oh..." Trixie said once she had finished. "You punched her..."

"Yeah, I did. And I'd never felt worse in my life. So that's why I left." Rainbow Dash stood up. "Uh, Trixie? You don't mind if I take a shower, would you?"

"No, of course not. Go ahead." Trixie said. "You can stay the night if you want."

"Oh, no thank you. I don't want to intrude..."

"No, please. I want you to. Because I'm, uh... a bit lonely."

"Lonely?"

"Yeah, really lonely. I... don't have any friends..." she said woefully, frowning.

"No friends?"

"Yeah, it's true... I don't know why, but no one likes me."

"I like you." Rainbow Dash said with a compassionate smile. "And right now, I don't have any friends either..."

"Well, uh... do you want to be my friend?"

"Is there anything else you need?" Trixie said as Rainbow Dash lay down on her bed that Trixie had made up for her, which was really just the lounge with a pillow and blanket. "Are you sure you don't want the bed? I can sleep on the lounge instead."

"No, I'm fine here, thanks. You've done more than enough already." Rainbow Dash said as she got comfy. "Why is that, anyway? Last time we met, you would have never done this for me. I mean, you were nicer than when we had first met, but I still would have never expected you to do this."

"I told you, I'm lonely. But now I have a friend, and I want to make her feel welcome."

"Oh, okay.... Well, thank you, I really appreciate it." She lay down onto the pillow and closed her eyes. "Well, goodnight Trixie."

"Mm... Goodnight, Rainbow Dash..."

Applejack placed three ripe, red apples onto the top of her cart, and swept up the bits that the customer had left. He placed the apples into his saddlebag and walked away with a smile.

As he left, Applejack pulled a sign out of the back which read "Back in 5 Minutes" and placed it on the counter, and headed off to Twilight's library.

"Hey Twilight. Any word from Rainbow Dash yet?" she asked, walking inside.

Twilight looked over from the book she was reading to Applejack. "Uh, no... Not yet..."

"Oh, where's that filly gotten to? She's been gone for ages."

"It's not 'ages', it's been two weeks. Give her time."

"Time? We've given her time, but she's still not here. Can't we go lookin' for her? Ah don't want her out there on her own, she needs us."

"Applejack, stop worrying so much. I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is..."

"Ah'm sorry, but... Ah just want her to be okay..."

Twilight closed her book and walked over to AJ. "Come on, of course she is. It's Rainbow Dash, she's always okay. Trust me."

Applejack looked up at Twilight's reassuring smile, and slowly began to smile herself. "Thanks, Twilight. Of course she's fine, right? Nothin' could stop that mare..."

"Trixie, I'm home." Rainbow Dash called out as she walked into the apartment and placed her key on the bench. Almost two weeks she had been living with Trixie, and it was going pretty good so far. She did miss her friends back in Ponyville of course, she thought about them almost all the time, but things were different now; they weren't a part of her life anymore. She hadn't intended on staying there for more than a day or so, but one thing led to another, and then she began living there. It felt good for her to have somewhere to call home, even if she was still sleeping on the couch.

Things outside of the apartment were also picking up for her as well. She had a part-time job as a waitress. This job didn't exactly 'thrill' her, but if she was going to live with Trixie then she wanted to help pay off some rent, just to say thanks for taking her in when she needed it.

Through all this, Trixie was still her only friend. In fact, she was the only pony who she really talked to, aside from ponies at work.

Today, however, something was different, and not for the better. She noticed it as soon as she walked inside. What she saw was quite enigmatic, it was almost a bit scary. She would have never thought she would have found Trixie doing such a thing, but there she was, crying.

"Trixie?" she asked unsurely. "Trixie, what's wrong?"

"Oh, Rainbow Dash." she said, looking up and wiping her eyes. "I didn't think you got back until later."

"No, my shift always ends at five..."

Trixie looked over to the clock, which did in fact read quarter past five. "Huh, I must've lost track of time..."

"Trixie, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, I'm fine..."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, okay? Leave it."

"Uh, alright..."

Rainbow Dash slowly walked over and sat down beside Trixie on the lounge. It was very quiet, no one said anything. The little noise that could be heard was coming from the clock. It was very awkward.

"So..." Rainbow Dash said, attempting to break the silence. "How was your day?"

"Uh, good, good..." Trixie replied. "How about yours?"

"Yeah, work was... normal as always..."

They continued to sit, the awkwardness growing into a big shapeless mass between them.

Since her last attempt had actually made the situation more uncomfortable, Rainbow Dash decided to just end it. "Anyways, I'm gonna go have a shower..." she said as she stood up and walked into the hallway. She knew there was something wrong with Trixie that she wasn't being told, but she wasn't about to go snooping around to find out.

Rainbow Dash was happy. Very happy. In fact, her dreams were the only time she felt truly happy. Sure, she enjoyed Trixie's company, but it wasn't the same as being with her friends back in Ponyville. They were having a picnic, and it was a lovely day too.

But as happy as it made her feel, she didn't want to dream of home. She wanted to put her past behind her and move on with her life, wherever fate may lead her.

She snapped awake suddenly and looked around the room. It was dark, the room had a slight blue tint from the moonlight which shone through the window.

She sighed and leaned back onto her pillow. She looked at the clock, which said 10:30, she had only been asleep for an hour. She rubbed her hooves over her eyes and snuggled up with the blanket, even though it was a fairly warm night.

She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't for some reason. She wasn't sure why, something was distracting her. She leaned back up and sat on the couch, listening out. She listened for a moment, before she could hear a faint, or possibly feeble noise, coming from the hall.

She stood up and followed the noise, her curiosity becoming quite overwhelming, but stopped when she realised what it was. It was the quite unmistakable noise of Trixie crying, again.

She looked up to the door which she was standing outside, it was Trixie's bedroom. She wasn't sure if she was to just walk away and not say anything like a reasonable pony would, or go in and talk to Trixie like a friend should. She wasn't very sure, she was pretty terrible at moral support.

"Trixie?" she asked, knocking on the door. "Are you okay?"

"Go away!" she yelled from inside the room.

"Trixie? Do you want to talk about it?" She was fairly sure she wasn't doing very well.

"I SAID GO AWAY!!" she yelled angrily. Rainbow Dash heard something heavy thud against the door.

Without hesitation, Rainbow Dash flew back into the lounge room and dived back onto the couch. Obviously, she should have just left her alone. She was terrible at moral support.

Author's Notes:

Yes, Trixie. No one actually guessed it was her...
As for why she's crying and being nice and stuff, I'll get into that in the next chapter.

(Let me just say, that was certainly more words than I thought.)