Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood at the doorstep of the red faded bricks that barely held together, staring at the withered door, chips of peeling green paint knocking off in the cold breeze. Rainbow was surprised at how little the town of Trotsdale had changed. Apart from a few inches of snow covering the rooftops and roads, the buildings still seemed as warn, gray and lifeless as they had been in her memories.
"Yah sure yah wanna do this hon'?" Applejack asked nervously.
Rainbow Dash answered her by knocking on the wood.
"Come in!" An elder female voice called out from inside.
Rainbow Dash pushed open the door and walked inside, Applejack hesitated for a moment before following.
"Rainbow Dash, is that you?" the voice called out again. The pony pulled herself off of her seat and wobbled over. "It is you!" she let out a rattling laugh and pulled the Pegasus in close for a hug.
Applejack was lost, "Uh, Pardon, but how do you two know each other?" she asked.
"I was Rainbow Dash's house mother!" she said cheerfully.
"Rainbow… Ah knew yah never met yer parents, but yah never told me yah came from a place like… this" Applejack said, gesturing at the falling apart building around them. Rainbow Dash nodded quietly.
The housemother chuckled, "There was quite the ruckus when Rainbow Dash disappeared. She's the reason we had to put up a fence roof in the backyard."
"Wait… yah ran away as well?" Applejack found hundreds of questions suddenly bouncing up into her head. She gawked at Rainbow, who just smiled and nodded again.
"So," The housemother removed her grasp from Rainbow, "I'm guessing you didn't come here just to say hello to your old caretaker."
"Well no act-"
The housemother interrupted her, "That reminds me, a few days after you vanished, a pony came looking for a filly by your description Rainbow…" she waddled over slowly to a dresser and unlocked it with a key from the lace that dangled from her neck. "She made me promise to give you this if you ever came back." She withdrew a shining golden medallion from the drawer and handed it to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow read the engraving aloud, "'Starflash'" she pressed at the tiny button and the latch popped open, only to find it empty, "Who… who did you say gave this to you?"
The housemother shrugged, "She never did say her name. Anyway, that really isn't important right now, so what really brings you here Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head, she had almost completely forgotten about the task at hoof, "Well we…" she grinned and grabbed at Applejack resting her hoof around her neck, "We're here to adopt!"
The housemother said nothing back. She smiled and directed them into the room that Rainbow Dash remembered spending most of her time in as a filly when it was too cold to go outside. Amongst the dozens of laughing earth ponies that filled the room, a single filly caught her eye immediately.
In the corner of the room, completely by herself, was a quietly sitting dusky gray Pegasus, her obsidian mane waving like black fire. It hadn't been her physical features, nor that she was a Pegasus that had called out to Rainbow Dash. It had been her eyes that captured her attention. They emitted emotions that Rainbow had been all too familiar with her during her own childhood.
The filly's sapphire eyes sparkled with loneliness and abandonment. They seemed hopeless and fearful that they would never know real friendship, nor love. They were the same eyes that Rainbow Dash had worn for the better part of her life, plaguing her with every passing day.
Rainbow Dash walked through the mass of laughing and running ponies straight toward the lonely filly and knelt down next to her, "Hi, my name's Rainbow Dash, what's yours?" she asked extending a hoof at the pony.
The filly looked around to see if it was in fact her that was being asked the question, "Um…" she whimpered quietly, "My name… my name is Raven Flame…" she whispered, staring frightened at the hoof that was held out to her.
Rainbow Dash smiled, "It's nice to meet you Raven Flame, would you like to come home with me and my marefriend, Applejack back to our farm?"
Raven's eyes lit up, "A… farm… what's it like there?" she asked softly.
Rainbow Dash nodded, "It's beautiful there and there will be plenty of room for you to run and the skies are so warm, they are perfect for flying!"
Raven Flame grinned at the enticing idea of large open spaces and warm air. What was most important to her though, was that she was being offered a home and a family. "Yes!" she squeaked excitedly, leaping onto Rainbow Dash and clinging to her neck.
The tender filly's grasp let loose a few droplets of joyful tears from Rainbow's eyes as her heart fluttered joyously. She walked towards Applejack with an uncontainable grin spread across her face, the younger Pegasus still attached to her neck. "I found her Applejack, and she's perfect."