Little Uncertainties
Hi!
Long time no chapter, huh? Boy can a job get bigger than it needs to some time. My full-time job is settling down again. Yay! So I can breathe a little and get this story completed. Hope you like the chapter.
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 5
The crowd in Ponyville that had been watching Rainbow Dash perform her more daring tricks had at first been awestruck by the Pegasus mare, but then the show took a turn towards the weird and the crowd began to hoot in laughter. Rainbow Dash's friends were staring in horror as the rainbow-maned mare spun wildly in midair. What was going on here? It looked almost as if the cyan Pegasus had lost control of her own wings.
Rainbow Dash gagged as she found herself stopping her spinning.
"Thank Celestia," the rainbow-maned mare croaked out as she tried to shake the dizziness out of her head.
Rainbow Dash suddenly found herself shooting straight up into the sky so high that Ponyville looked like a tiny speck. Without so much as a warning, the young mare's wings snapped shut and she felt herself toppling head over hooves to the ground below. No matter how hard she tried to unfurl her wings to stop her fall, her wings wouldn't respond.
"Oh, no!" Rainbow Dash thought as she saw the ground getting closer, "Why is this happening?"
The jeering crowd started to gasp and scream when they realized that the filly was really falling to her death. Many Pegasus stallions and mares alike opened their wings to see if they could help, but all present knew it would be a useless effort. Nopony was going to be able to reach Rainbow Dash in time.
"Twilight, catch Rainbow with ya magic," Applejack urgently ordered as her eyes stayed glued to her friend's falling form.
"I can't catch her," Twilight cried in horror, "She's falling too fast."
"NO! Dashie!" Pinkie Pie screamed before gasping in surprise with everypony else when a giant thunderclap boomed in the sky.
The crowd of ponies' mouths all dropped open when two contrails, shooting lightning, streaked through the sky and flew at sonic speed towards the falling mare. It was Soarin' and Spitfire. The two Wonderbolts zoomed below their falling life mate. Together the two Pegasi caught Rainbow Dash between them and beat their wings violently to slow the filly's momentum. Soarin' and Spitfire were able to land roughly in the middle of Ponyville with a shaken Rainbow Dash. The young mare sank down to the ground once she felt firm earth beneath her hooves.
"Baby! Are you okay?" Soarin' demanded as he threw himself beside his youngest life mate.
Rainbow Dash nodded numbly before burying her face in the stallion's neck. Spitfire shook in anxiety over what had just occurred. The golden Pegasus dropped down beside the rainbow-maned mare and pulled her into a tight hug.
"What in the world, Little One?" Spitfire breathed out into her youngest life mate's mane, "What happened? How did you fall?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head without speaking. Her friends pushed through the gathered crowd to get to the cyan Pegasus' side.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity gasped out as she and the others surrounded the Triad, "Darling, what happened?"
"I don't know," Rainbow Dash said in confusion as she looked up at her friends, "I was in the middle of doing the new trick that I learned and then my wings just took off on their own. I felt like a puppet on a string."
"New trick?" Soarin' growled as Spitfire's face turned stern, "What new trick?"
Rainbow Dash froze at her life mate's tone. The young mare knew that she was in trouble now. The cyan Pegasus had promised both Soarin' and Spitfire that she would not attempt any Wonderbolt stunts without her two life mates being there in case something went wrong.
"Um…uh…" Rainbow Dash stuttered out.
"You were doing the new tricks that Soarin' and I taught you, weren't you?" Spitfire demanded as she assisted her life mates in standing back up.
"Yes, but…" Rainbow Dash began before Spitfire interrupted her.
"You promised, Rainbow Dash," Spitfire snapped angrily, "You swore to Soarin' and I that you wouldn't do those tricks without us near. You could have been killed!"
"I didn't fall because of doing those tricks," Rainbow Dash countered as she began to get defensive, "Something else made me fall."
"Baby, how could you?" Soarin' moaned as he shook his head sadly, "Spitfire and I trusted you to listen to us. You are so grounded. No flying for you until you can be trusted again."
"I'm trying to tell you that something made me fall," Rainbow Dash argued as she got angry.
"We know why you fell, Rainbow Crash," a familiar voice shouted from the back of the crowd.
Hoops shoved through the surrounding ponies with his two friends following behind him. The three had come to Ponyville to see Rainbow Dash practice since they had heard about the great show that their arch nemesis had put on the day before.
"It's just like all the rumors said…" Hoops crowed triumphantly as most of the ponies in the crowd shook their heads in agreement, "…you don't really have much of any kind of talent so you get by on your life mates' reputation. You couldn't handle doing those tricks and now you are making up lies because you think everypony will buy them."
Rainbow Dash drew herself up and glared angrily at Hoops, Dumb-Bell, and Score while Soarin' and Spitfire exchanged confused glances with one another.
"Shut up," the rainbow-maned pony ground out, "I can fly circles around any pony here. I am telling everypony that something weird just happened to me. I couldn't control my wings."
"A likely story," Jet Flight yelled out from the crowd, "Just admit that you screwed up already. We all watched what happened."
"Stop this right now," Spitfire called out in her captain's voice as all present turned to look at the golden Pegasus, "Soarin' and I may not know exactly what rumors you all are talking about, but it sounds like nothing nice. Rainbow Dash's skills are very impressive and she has been on The Wonderbolts' list of potential Wonderbolt candidates even before the three of us ever bonded."
"Back off," Soarin' ordered as he stared down the three stooge-stallions, "There is nothing more to see here. Go about your business. Shoo!"
Most of the crowd picked up on the stallion's anger and scattered. Rainbow Dash hung her head as her friends gathered around her.
"See?" Twilight exclaimed, "I knew something bad would happen from showing off like this."
"Leave me alone," Rainbow Dash breathed as she hid her face by allowing her mane to fall over her eyes.
"Ya shoulda listened to Twilight, Fluttershy, and I," Applejack began to lecture, "Ah knew this was a bad idea."
"I think that I am going to have to agree with them this time, Darling," Rarity cajoled as Pinkie Pie nodded her head sadly, "You could have been killed."
"Stop," Soarin' dictated as he put himself between his life mate and her friends, "This is something that the Triad needs to deal with right now. Please just go home."
"I don't need you talking for me," Rainbow Dash groused as she looked up at the gathered ponies and baby dragon to show that her eyes were filling with tears, "I am not a foal. None of you have any right to talk to me as if I was a child!"
"Calm down, Little One," Spitfire gently said as she came up beside her youngest life mate, "We were just all really worried about you."
"So that gives you the right to treat me like a baby?" Rainbow Dash snapped angrily as she backed away from her life mates and friends, "None of you have any right to order me around like I am some foal in nursery school."
"Well, obviously ya do," Applejack groused back at her irate friend, "Just look at wha happened. If your life mates hadn't of shown up then ya would be a mighty flat Rainbow."
"I knew something like this might happen," Twilight groaned, "Showing off always tends to lead to bad things. I just don't understand…"
"Shut up! I know how to fly. My cutie mark shows that flying is my talent and I had everything under control until whatever caused me to fall. And as for you…" Rainbow Dash growled as she turned on her two startled life mates, "How dare you talk about 'grounding' me. I am your life mate and not your daughter. I have every right to make decision for myself!"
Rainbow Dash turned and took off into the sky as fast as she could and was a speck in the sky in no time. Soarin' and Spitfire immediately took off after their life mate. The rest of the group looked uneasily at one another.
"I wasn't trying to upset her," Twilight began as she watched the three Pegasi disappear from sight, "I was just scared of losing a friend."
"We all were," Applejack agreed, "Ah still think tha Rainbow shoulda left well enough alone."
"Rainbow Dash can never leave anything alone," Fluttershy sighed out sadly as guilt pricked at her heart, "She stepped up to defend me when other ponies made fun of me as a little filly. Rainbow Dash has always had a strong sense of right and wrong in her. I…I should have supported her better when those stupid rumors started."
"Now everypony is just going to spread even worse rumors than before because of what happened," Pinkie Pie lamented.
The group all sighed sadly and looked at one another at a loss. What should they do now? How could they make all of this up to their friend?
"Well, something was absolutely controlling Rainbow Dash," Twilight stated as her natural leadership abilities kicked in, "Now that I think about it, it must have been magic by nature."
"I agree, Darling," Rarity offered, "Only a form of magic could have made a Pegasus lose control of his or her wings. Do you know of a spell that can do something like that, Twilight?"
"Yes I do," Twilight answered, "But that is a spell that can only be done at close range by a powerful magic-user."
"So tha means tha tha culprit had ta have been close by," Applejack declared with wide eyes, "Let's split up and search tha area. Maybe this 'magic-user' left us a clue."
The group all nodded at the Earth pony and took off to search. Meanwhile, Soarin' and Spitfire had chased their youngest life mate all the way back to their home.
"Baby, wait," Soarin' called after Rainbow Dash as he and Spitfire hurried after the younger mare, "Look, I know that you are upset, but…"
"You 'know' that I am upset?" Rainbow Dash interrupted as she spun to glare at her life mates in the living room, "You know what it feels like to be always be doubted by your colleagues, your friends, and your family? And then after nearly falling to my death to then be told that I was grounded? You are not my parents! I had a great Daddy and a great Mama and I love you two, but you can never replace them."
"We know that we aren't your parents and we are not trying to replace them" Spitfire cajoled as she tried to soothe her irate life mate, "You just scared the two of us to death when we saw you falling and then we hear that you broke your promise to us. Rainbow Dash, you swore to us that you wouldn't do those tricks without us there."
"I know," Rainbow Dash whispered as she looked down, "I…I was planning on doing just that one trick that you said I had nailed. I only wanted ponies to see what I could do."
"So you risk your life to show off for ponies without any kind of safeties set up?" Soarin' groaned in frustration, "Baby, we could have lost you today!"
"You and Spitfire go and do very dangerous stunts all the time. Hay! We nearly lost Spitfire because of a flying accident!" Rainbow Dash growled out as she stood her ground, "I have the right to make my own decisions and I want to be a Wonderbolt just like you two one day. I want to make the team and not have any ponies saying I made the team because of being a part of the Triad. I want everypony to trust in me."
"How can anypony trust in you when you can't even keep a promise to your two life mates?" Spitfire snapped out only to reel back at her own words and look of hurt on the younger mare's face.
Rainbow Dash gasped in horror before tearing off into her old bedroom. Soarin' galloped after the young mare and just caught a glimpse of the filly leaping out of the bedroom window. A golden form launched itself at the window.
"Come on," Spitfire called out as she took off after the mare.
Soarin' quickly caught up with his golden life mate. Her expression looked stricken.
"I didn't mean what I said," Spitfire puffed out as she followed the form of their youngest life mate.
"I know," Soarin' agreed, "None of this feels right to me. It feels almost as if something is…is…trying to build a wall between all of us and Rainbow Dash."
The two Pegasi grew silent and simply pondered this last thought as they tried to keep up with their youngest life mate.
To be continued...