I know that this isn't really a fighting part of the Fighting is Magic arc, but I think that what happened last time deserves a resolution.
One week had passed since Dark Cobalt had made an appearance, and the aftermath was catastrophic.
Twilight had gotten depressed and had missed a weekly friendship report because she couldn't think of anything happy to write about.
Pinkie's mane and tail had completely deflated due to unhappiness, and she couldn't put on a funny act even if she tried.
Rarity couldn't find the spirit to make her dresses anymore.
Applejack had no enthusiasm to do farmwork anymore.
Fluttershy didn't seem to be able to calm down her animals anymore due to internal turmoil.
Cobalt had become an essential part of all their lives, but the mare who was the most torn inside was Rainbow Dash.
She'd become dangerously thin from not eating, and her ribs were easily seen. Her eyes were constantly red tinted, and her pelt had lost its usual sheen. She'd almost gotten fired from her weather pony job due to an unusual decrease in performance quality. But what ate at her the most inside was the knowledge that she was the one who had caused all of it.
Yesterday she'd gone to Sweet Apple Acres and sat in a tree through an entire blizzard. She would've killed herself if Fluttershy hadn't found her and healed her. Now she had a cold and was sitting in Fluttershy's cottage, sipping hot cocoa.
"I'm really sorry that you're so sad." Fluttershy said softly. "If there's anything I can do to help, I'll gladly–"
"Help me find him."
"Uh, forgive me, but don't you never want to see him again?"
"No. I was irrational and I hate myself for it. If I could ever undo anything, it would be that." She buried her face in her hooves and burst into tears. "I'm such a jerk!"
"U-uh, I'll help you." Fluttershy said quickly. "And wherever he is, I swear we'll find him.
WHEREVER HE IS
Cobalt stomached a bitter leaf from a plant. He'd been wandering in the Everfree Forest since he'd been rejected by Rainbow. He kind of enjoyed it, since unless he sat still, his thoughts were entirely set on survival. It helped keep his mind off everything else.
But when he wasn't moving, he kept replaying in his mind what had happened a week ago. How could he have prevented this?
A few times he'd considered going with his heart and back to Ponyville to try to make up with Rainbow, but then his mind shot that down.
He was depressed, and that made his mind force him to keep going to forget, but how can you cope knowing that the one pony you care for the most thinks you're a monster?
All he could do was keep going and keep hope that things would return to normal.
ONE REVAMPED TITLE SEQUENCE LATER
"Soo, let me get this straight. You completely turned him away for saving our lives while turning dark in the process, but now you want to go find him." Twilight asked.
The six and Spike had gathered in the library to hear out Rainbow's plan.
"Pretty much exactly that." Rainbow said, sneezing. Her stomach rumbled, causing her to blush. "But maybe we should get some food first."
WITH COBALT
Cobalt pushed his way through some thick underbrush, the cottage of Zecora coming into view. She always had good advice, he decided, he'd go and see her.
WITH THE MANE SIX
"So, me with Rarity, Applejack with Pinkie, and you with Fluttershy?" Twilight clarified.
"Yep." Rainbow confirmed. A burning determination to find Cobalt, whatever the cost, surfaced inside of her. "We will find him."
WITH COBALT
"So, y'see, they sort of made me leave because they think I'm a monster." Cobalt told Zecora.
"And was it that which made your leave take, or was it that Rainbow Dash made your heart break?" Zecora asked wisely.
Cobalt bit his lower lip to keep from crying. "Yes!" He choked out over his restrained tears.
"And what is it that you must do to get her to forgive you?"
"I've gotta go find her and apologize. It's my best chance." He gazed downward in depression. "It's my only chance."
WITH FLUTTERSHY AND RAINBOW DASH
"I'm the worst friend ever!" Rainbow wailed despondently as she and Fluttershy walked through the forest. "If he ever even looks at me again I'll be lucky."
"I'm sure he's not that mad." Fluttershy reassured her, flinching at the call of a bird of prey. "In fact, I'll bet he's looking for you right now."
WITH COBALT
"Rainbow?" Cobalt called, wandering through the streets of Ponyville. He'd not trusted the townsfolk enough to let them know he was back, so he'd borrowed one of Zecora's cloaks and worn it into town. "Rainbow Dash?"
"Hey, do you know where exactly Rainbow Dash is?" he asked a random unicorn stallion.
"Last I'd heard she went to find Cobalt Spikes." The stallion replied. "I don't know why she'd want to find him after he looked like he was going to murder everypony."
"Well maybe he just got really angry at that metal monster," Cobalt snapped. "Maybe he just wanted to protect his friends! MAYBE he just wanted to save his crush's life!"
"What?" the stallion asked.
"Um, nothing." Cobalt ran off, again hating his wings' lack of mobility trapped under the cloak. Note to self: never wear clothes.
WITH FLUTTERSHY AND RAINBOW DASH
"Great. We've searched every known inch of this forest and he's still not anywhere." Rainbow muttered. "Just great."
"Well, maybe he went back to town." Fluttershy suggested.
"Forget this." Rainbow snapped. "I can search all over Equestria in five minutes. Go back to town 'cause I'm gone." She took off and burst a star shaped hole in the tree line, which cut her in many places, but she didn't care. Blood began to well up on her forehead cut when she zipped along the streets of Manehattan, and it trickled into her vision as she squinted through the deserts in Saddle Arabia.
By the time she had searched every city, town, and gathering in Equestria, her entire face was sticky with the stuff, and she had to wash herself in the lake.
Not caring about her appearance much, she walked into town dripping wet with her colorful hair streaked with lake mud, her eyes puffy from crying.
A cloaked figure bumped into her and she scowled. "Watch it!"
She looked so ragged and terrible that the stallion under the cloak didn't even recognize her and walked by despondently.
LATER
"Rainbow! You look terrible!" Twilight exclaimed as Rainbow Dash stumbled into the library at nine at night. "How did you get so cut up and filthy?"
"Flew through some sharp sticks, washed off the blood in a lake, got sort of muddy." She muttered, her voice a little stuffier than normal due to her cold.
"That's it. You're going to the doctor." Twilight ordered.
"What? No. I don't want to."
"If you don't come willingly I will come to your house in the middle of the night with rope and a burlap sack and–"
"Fine!"
AT THE HOSPITAL
"My, you've really gotten yourself hurt, haven't you, miss Dash." The doctor who was attending Rainbow commented. "How did you get like this?"
Rainbow had gotten cleaned up before the visit and now she looked like her normal self except for her rapidly closing wounds.
"She's depressed because Cobalt left." Twilight answered for her.
"Ah, your coltfriend ran away?" the doctor asked.
"Shut up!" Rainbow snapped, not liking this conversation at all. "I don't need any medical attention, okay?"
"You haven't broken anything, but those cuts could become infected if you don't bandage them." The doctor continued as if Rainbow hadn't even spoken. "I have a lot, and if you will sit still for just a moment I can apply a few."
"I will hold you down with my magic if you don't sit still." Twilght warned before Rainbow had a chance to respond.
Rainbow forced down her turmoil of strong emotions and made herself to sit down on her haunches and fold her wings. "I really hate you right now, Twilight Sparkle." She growled as the doctor pressed a bandage onto her back.
Twilight frowned. "Can you do anything to help her, doctor?"
The doctor understood that Twilight didn't mean physical pain, but rather the suffering Rainbow Dash was undergoing in her soul. "I'm sorry, but nopony can heal a wound that centers in the heart."
LATER IN THE HALL OF DEPRESSION
Cobalt took a deep as he stepped into the library and pulled down his hood. He was still depressed, but he figured the easiest way to find his friend was to wait until she returned. He thought he was ready to make himself known.
"Spike?" he called.
"Who is it? It's like three in the morning." Spike grumbled from upstairs.
"It's your old friend the pizza man!" Cobalt said sarcastically. "Who d'ya think?"
"Cobalt?" Spike sounded disbelieving.
"Gee, I don't know."
Rapid footsteps could be heard from upstairs as Spike dashed across the hall and down the stairs. "Dude! I thought you'd be gone forever!"
"Well, I'm back." Cobalt stated. For better or worse. He added in his mind.
"Aw man! The girls have been looking for you for the past day!"
"Wait. Rainbow even bothered to try to find me?" Cobalt sounded mystified. "I thought she hated me."
"She thought she did, but then she completely regretted it and has been risking her life trying to find you for the past day. She's with Twilight at the hospital right now."
"The hospital?!" Cobalt gasped. "Things must be really bad!" he threw off the cloak and took off.
AT THE HOSPITAL
"Dash!" Cobalt shouted, running into the hospital. "I need to see Rainbow Dash now." He demanded of the receptionist. The receptionist was so taken aback at his sudden request that she didn't even question it, just yelled back into the halls, "I've got a request to visit miss Dash!"
After about a painstakingly long minute of waiting, a nurse pony led him back to a room marked A-35.
He slowly opened the door and carefully stepped in. Rainbow was sitting on a hospital bed and the pillow was wet with fresh tears. Her head was hanging low and all the joy she normally seemed to have had drained out of her eyes. She'd been freshly bandaged, and was looking much cleaner than before, but that couldn't hide the depression that so clearly emanated from her in waves like a dark cloud.
"What is it?" she asked, not looking up. Her voice sounded much frailer than it usually did, like glass about to break.
"I'm here." Cobalt said, which was the only thing he could come up with at the moment. He was completely astonished at the change of mood in his spectra companion. "I'm back."
Rainbow almost didn't dare look up, afraid that she would be hallucinating and be deemed utterly insane. Eventually her heart persuaded her enough to raise her eyes. "C-Cobalt?"
Cobalt, despite the situation, couldn't resist the urge and said, "The one and only!"
Rainbow Dash's eyes began to sparkle again, and she reared up, giving her friend a huge hug. "Dude! I thought you'd never want to see me again!"
"Why wouldn't I? I–" he cut himself off before he could finish with love you.
"I never ever want you to leave me again." Rainbow nuzzled his cheek affectionately and he in turn buried his face in her mane.
"I never will."
And that's it for this special episode. Sorry about it being so short, but you try to get ideas in trimester finals week. The return to normal will be briefly explained in the next chapter, Swarm of the Century, and I will have to push the 5000 views special back to after the debut of All the Elements for Disaster: X Files.
Also, to whichever guest reader thought it nice to say I sucked in his or her review of My Little Sonic Equestria Girls Meet Mobian Boy: Get a freaking account and PM me exactly what I suck for so I may try to change it.
As always, review, follow, favorite, or do whatever the heck you want to. You have the free will to do so.