Little Uncertainties

Hi,

Things are really going crazy on my side of the forest so thank you for being patient with me. A reviewer made a comment that I feel that I need to address. He/She feels that Soarin' and Spitfire treat Rainbow Dash as more of a daughter than a life mate. To a point that is the truth and something that I purposely wrote into my stories. I know that I have previously said that Soarin' and Spitfire are helping our Rainbow Dash mature and grow. The two older ponies love her as a life mate, but have stepped up into a kind of parental role as well.

I wrote the Triad as a kind of wolf pack. Spitfire is the Alpha that leads the pack and Soarin' is a Beta that keeps things smoothly working. Rainbow Dash is a growing Alpha that is being taught how to be her own pony. In the story I am writing now we will see her begin to hold her own and move into a much more mature mare within the Triad while still keeping her RD qualities.

I thank all readers/reviewers for your time and effort in reading/reviewing my series. It is always a pleasure to hear from all of you. I should be able to pop out a lot more chapters in the coming weeks. Peace and happiness to you all.

Yours truly,

rainbow-leaves

Please do not post my work on other sites. Plagiarizing is wrong.

I do not own any rights to any characters. Ever. Damn.

Chapter 3

A couple of days later Rainbow Dash bid goodbye to her two life mates as they took off towards Cloudsdale for another practice for The Wonderbolts' show that evening. The rainbow-maned mare waved until Soarin' and Spitfire were out of sight before taking off towards Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was meeting her friends at Sweet Apple Acres for a picnic brunch. The cyan Pegasus passed several Pegasi on her way and it wasn't too long before Rainbow Dash realized that she was getting strange looks. What was this all about? Was there food on her face or something like that?

"Is something the matter, Chocolate Blueberry?" Rainbow Dash inquired of the light blue and brown-maned mare who was staring her down.

"Oh! N..no." Chocolate Blueberry stammered nervously as she averted her eyes, "No. Nothing."

"Okay," the cyan Pegasus said as she passed the hovering mare, "See you later for weather duty."

Rainbow Dash continued and passed two more Pegasi that were giving her either curious or hostile looks. The rainbow-maned Pegasus was starting to get paranoid. She hated being stared at if she wasn't actually trying to get stared at.

"What?" Rainbow Dash demanded of a purple, Pegasus stallion who was giving her a particularly hostile look, "You're Silver Script, right? What's your problem?"

"Who says I've got a problem?" Silver Script challenged staring the cyan Pegasus down.

"You're the one that's acting all hostile," Rainbow Dash challenged back as she hovered in front of the stallion, "You and I hardly talk. What's eating your hooves?"
"Maybe I just don't like the way you do things," Silver Script dryly quipped as he examined a front hoof.

"What things?" Rainbow Dash asked in bewilderment.

Silver Script looked at the young mare in contempt before blowing his forelock out of his eyes and taking off. The rainbow-maned mare looked after him in puzzlement before shrugging her shoulder and heading back towards Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash noticed her friends in a clearing in the middle of one of Applejack's tree fields and lightly touched down. Her five, pony friends and one baby dragon looked up at her arrival.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash," Spike called in what sounded like a forced, cheerful voice to the cyan Pegasus.

"Hi, Spike. Hello, everypony," Rainbow Dash chirped as she trotted over, "I've been getting the strangest looks from ponies and had the weirdest conversation with Silver Script on the way here. I think a lot of ponies have been drinking crazy water today."

The rainbow-maned mare's friends all exchanged glances with one another. Rainbow Dash was immediately suspicious.

"What's up?" the cyan Pegasus demanded as her gaze hardened, "What is going on here? Spill."

"Well…" Fluttershy began looking uncomfortable, "…there has been a lot of rumors going around Ponyville and Cloudsdale. Not that we believe any of the rumors. We don't. Please don't think that any of us believe any of the rumors."

"What rumors?" Rainbow Dash asked in an annoyed voice since the shy pony wasn't getting to the point fast enough in her opinion.

"Now don't get ya tail inna twist," Applejack gently advised, "Someponies have been sayin' things tha just ain't true an we all know it."

"Like what?" the rainbow-maned mare demanded.

The group looked at one another again and fell silent. Rainbow Dash was getting mad and she began to paw irritably at the ground. Finally, Pinkie Pie broke the silence in a giant, rush of words.

"Don't get angry, Dashie," the pink pony begged, "Someponies have been saying that you have only won flying competitions because of being the life mate of Soarin' and Spitfire, but we all know that you are like the best flyer ever and I mean ever; like in for-ever. I mean, you have been awesome from before you ever met Soarin' and Spitfire so the rumors are not true at all. Yes, your life mates judged The Best Young Flyer competition, but you totally won that on your own and you weren't even their bonded then and you totally don't get special treatment or anything. I don't know what silly-filly or dolt-colt would even think of saying such a thing. You are not a cheater. Well, except for a few times during the Iron Pony competition, but AJ really never did say to not use your wings. Plus, your sonic rainbooms were real and…"

"Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash interrupted with widened eyes, "Ponies actually said that my sonic rainbooms weren't real and that I was a cheater?"

"Calm down," Twilight advised as she cantered up beside her distraught friend, "Ponies talk nonsense all the time, Rainbow Dash. Don't worry about this. Why I remember a time when rumors spread around Canterlot that I was a teacher's pet to Princess Celestia."

"Twlight, you are a teacher's pet to Princess Celestia," Rainbow Dash sniped angrily before hanging her head when she saw that she had hurt the lavender Unicorn's feelings, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't take my anger out on you, but this is all so frustratingly irritating."

"That's okay," Twilight assured as she sent a smile towards her friend, "But ponies gossip all the time and it is only a matter of time before you, I, or anyone of us have silly rumors spread about something or other."

"That's right, Darling," Rarity offered, "Don't you remember how everypony gossiped about me after that disastrous fashion show when I altered my original designs of your Gala dresses? Some of what was said was just plain hurtful."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash agreed as she sank to her haunches, "I remember, but mmph…"

The cyan Pegasus couldn't finish her statement because Applejack had a hoof over her mouth. Rosy-hued eyes looked curiously at her golden-maned friend. Applejack face expressed a lot of conflicting emotions to Rainbow Dash.

"Stop," Applejack broke in, "Now listen here. Ah know what it's like ta have ponies talk nonsense about ya. Happened ta me and Big Macintosh when Ma and Pappy died. Hay! All of us here have had ponies make up lies about us. Don't ya worry about wha other ponies are sayin'. Ya know tha we all know tha truth and ya know tha all tha talk is just a bunch of horse apples, right?"

"Right," Rainbow Dash acknowledged with a firm nod as she allowed her anger to drain out of her body, "I'm not going to let some stupid gossip get me down. Let's enjoy our brunch."

Rainbow Dash's statement was met with a cheer and the seven friends settled down and enjoyed their time together. However, the rest of the day the cyan Pegasus was met with open hostility from a lot of ponies and was rather hurt when none of the weather mares wanted to team up with her for weather duty. Rainbow Dash remembered what her life mates and friends said and acted with as much dignity as she could muster to show that what ponies were saying was not hurting her. That evening the young mare bottled up her hurt feelings and tucked them far away in her mind so that her life mates wouldn't pick up on her troubles through their bond. Rainbow Dash wanted to deal with this on her own terms.

Days passed by slowly. The summer was the busiest season for The Wonderbolts. A bright, summer day was the perfect weather to see an aerial show. Rainbow Dash began seeing less and less of her two life mates. The rainbow-maned mare didn't mind so much since Soarin' and Spitfire made it a point to make the time the Triad had together something special. However, there was another reason that Rainbow Dash didn't mind that her two life mates weren't around. The rumors about her that were running through Equestria were getting worse and worse and she didn't want her two life mates to know what was going on.

"I can't believe this," Rainbow Dash groused to herself as she kicked clouds out of her way as she worked solo during her weather duties again, "I am the same pony I've always been. I have the same sleek body and the same flowing mane. I can fly circles around most Pegasi. I am awesome! So, why? Why is everypony turning on me so quickly. I only saved Equestria with my friends twice! My friends and I even have two, glass windows dedicated to us in Princess Celestia's castle. Ponies should treat me with more respect than this."

The cyan Pegasus settled down on the top of some clouds and stared gloomily out. A noise from beside her made the mare look up. A Pegasus had landed on the cloud. It was Derpy.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash," the grey mare greeted her friend.

"Hi," Rainbow Dash echoed.

"I…I tried to talk sense into my friends," Derpy sadly explained as she looked down, "I am so sorry and so embarrassed for their behavior. Cherry Blossom, Coffee Cake, Setting Sun, and Jet Flight have been friends of mine for a long time and they usually have better manners than this, but all four of them have been working with Dumb-Bell, Hoops, and Score in spreading these lies about you."

"I kind of figured," Rainbow Dash sighed out, "The three stooge-stallions have been trying to make my life miserable for a long time. I…I don't even know why. The four of us have always been like oil and water. We never mixed well together."

"But that doesn't mean that they have the right to spread such mean things about you. They are being cruel and unfair to you," Derpy complained making Rainbow Dash smile at having at least one other pony besides her other friends that believed in her, "I have always known that you are one of the best flyers in Equestria. I'm going to be your biggest fan when you are a Wonderbolt one day. Well…Scootaloo and I will be your biggest fans together, I suppose."

"Thanks, Derpy," the rainbow-maned Pegasus chortled, "I'm glad that you are one of my friends."

"So what are you going to do now?" Derpy asked, "How are you going to deal with all of this?"

"I would like to kick everyponies' flanks if I was being completely honest," Rainbow Dash confessed, "But I can't do something like that so I will just have to stay strong like Soarin' and Spitfire said. I have to just continue being me and let my flying skills speak for themselves."

The cyan Pegasus froze and then a smirk started on her face. Rainbow Dash grabbed Derpy in a hug and spun around excitedly.

"Speak for themselves!" Rainbow Dash crowed.

"What?" the grey mare asked as her golden eyes spun opposite of one another in her dizziness at having been spun, "What is going to speak for themselves?"

"My flying skills can speak for themselves. I'll start practicing my best moves where everypony can see me," Rainbow Dash gushed happily, "Then Equestria can see what an awesome Pegasus I really am! Nopony will say that I'm a cheater when they see what I can do. This is going to be great!"

Rainbow Dash took off so fast that the clouds disintegrated from the rainbow contrail. Derpy fell for a second before righting herself and taking off after her friend.

"Wait for me," the grey mare called after her friend.

Neither mares noticed the strange cloud that had been floating behind them. A set of eyes stared out from a small hole in the cloud.

"So that is Loyalty, hm?"

"Who is Loyalty?"

"The blue Pegasus. That was Rainbow Dash the Element of Loyalty."

"Oh! We should have said 'hello.'"

"No! Idiot. This was a fact-gathering mission."

"What was?"

"This was."

"What is this?"

"Our mission."

"What was our mission?"

"Idiot! Our mission was to find out the weaknesses of the Elements of Harmony."

"Oh."

"Now we know how to break the Element of Loyalty."

"We do?"

"Yes. This Rainbow Dash is having troubles with rumors. Her strength lies in her feelings of loyalty towards her friends and Equestria."
"So?"

"What do you mean 'so', Dummy? This means that we know how to shake her loyalty."

"Really? How?"

"You are a moron. If we can 'assist' these rumors to continue to spread then more and more ponies will turn on Rainbow Dash."

"And?"

"And that means that she will begin to doubt in herself and eventually lead her to turn her back on Equestria. Without one of the Elements of Harmony the rest are useless."

"Then what?"

"Then we might be able to figure out a way to free him."

"Really? That would be so great and then…"

"Shut up! I'm talking here."

"You, shut up!"

"Silence!"

"You still realize that you are talking to yourself, right?"

"Shut up!"

"Oh, geez."

To be continued…