Crystal Empire... Oh, and Dashie's back {Mane 6}

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Rainbow Dash paced in the train car, biting her lip. What a great idea! Going to the Crystal Empire, with all of your friends! Or, it would be, if they knew you were back yet! Now they get to find out by running into you, instead of you getting to figure out the best way to tell them!

Rainbow huffed, sitting down. She was working herself up. Her being back wasn't important right now. What was important, was the Crystal Empire. So far, all she saw was snow. That was reassuring. She rolled her eyes at her own sarcastic thoughts.

At least she didn't have to explain herself to Fluttershy. She was probably the only pony who knew she was on this train. Hopefully Fluttershy could help her get this out of the way before they had to do any saving Equestria sort of stuff. Normally when they had a task from Celestia, it involved that sort of thing. Actually, Rainbow Dash was hoping it was that sort of thing.

She missed saving Equestria. Especially with her friends.

Rainbow Dash sighed, sitting back. She had a feeling this would be a long train ride.

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Applejack pushed open the door to this train car and stepped in, shivering! it was as cold as nose of a polar bear out there! She was glad she was just moving one car up. Yep, there was plenty 'a room in here! Why, there was just one other pony in here, looking out the window.

...A pony with a pair of blue wings and a rainbow-colored mane.

Quick as a whip, Applejack struck, yanking her lasso out of her hat and throwing it, dropping a neat loop of rope around the pegasus mare. Applejack did this without a sound, knowing how very fast the pony could move, unless taken off guard. Only when she felt she had secured Dash did she dare to speak. And she spoke very loud.

"RAINBOW DASH!" she shouted, storming over to the mare "WHAT IN THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD OF EQUESTRIA DO YA THINK YOU'VE BEEN DOIN?! DO YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST NOTION HOW WORRIED WE'VE BEEN ABOUT YA?! We... Oh, applesauce...!!" without another word, the down-to-earth pony pulled Rainbow Dash into a tight hug. She'd missed her brave and reckless friend. She was still furious, but she was so glad to see Rainbow Dash safe!

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Rainbow Dash cried out as the lasso tightened around her, and then her ears lowered, gritting her teeth, as Applejack grilled her. And then, she wrapped her in a hug... Bipolar, much? Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at herself. Her ears pinned back, as she slowly pulled back from Applejack. She nervously chuckled. "Uh, hehe... Hey AJ... How's it going?"

Her smile disappeared as she looked away. She was almost glaring at her reflection in the mirror. You don't even have anything to show for leaving 'em! "C'mon Dash, quit feeling so pathetic! You're the most awesome pegasus ever!" Well don't act full of yourself like normal! You just left for months! Being a jerk won't help! Dash groaned at her own thoughts.

"I guess I should probably explain myself."

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That eyeroll might have been from Dash, for Dash, but Applejack felt as though she'd just been kicked, thinking it was meant for her. Here she'd been worried sick about Rainbow Dash, and all she could do was roll her eyes and pull away as though Applejack were completely over-reacting.

No, it wasn't like being kicked. A kick would have hurt a lot less.

Silently, Applejack gathered her lasso again and stashed it in her hat. She'd been madder than an upside-down bee hive to have been so worried. She'd been happier than a pig in a puddle to see her friend again. It wasn't bipolarity. It was feeling two conflicting emotions at once, both for good reason. But now she only felt one. Applejack was sadder than ...than... well, she couldn't think of anything to be as sad as, but she was pretty darn sad. Lookit her, AJ thought to herself, She doesn't look happy to see me at all. Glarin' at the window like that, she looks like she wishes I were million miles away!

"I guess I should probably explain myself."

"Nah," Applejack replied coldly, putting her hat back on her head, "Y'all don't gotta explain nothin' ta me. Ah 'kin see you'd rather I weren't here. Sorry. I was... I was just glad t'see ya, that's all." The orange pony felt a flush of embarrassment. What kind of fool she musta been making of herself. She turned to leave.

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"What?" Dash cocked an eyebrow, stunned at what AJ said. What she said... What the heck did I say?! How does she get to change her moods all around and then look at me like that?! "How do you get to put words in my mouth?! I never said that! I mean, I know I was a jerk for leaving, but seriously, you don't get to be a jerk because of it!"

Dash sneered, backing up. "I mean, I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to face you guys, and I get this from you? You sure sound real glad I'm back! Geez, I'm glad I only told Fluttershy I was back! At least she didn't yell at me as soon as she saw me!" I'm away for months and this is how I'm greeted?! No, how've you been?! Did ya find what you were looking for?! How's the weather?!

Rainbow Dash stepped around Applejack, making sure to stare at her coldly the entire time. "Maybe I can find Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie, you know, ponies who'll be actually happy I'm back!"

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Applejack was now twice as hurt. She, a jerk? Fluttershy, in on the thing? "Well, what in tarnation am ah supposed ta think, with you rolling your eyes like that?!" She snapped back, "Y'all aren't happy ta see me, neither! Or at least, you don't look like it, glaring out the window like you were doin' just now! Is it because Ah yelled?! 'Course Ah'm gonna be upset! You were gone fer months! At least when ah ran away, ah wrote a letter home! Why couldn't you do that much? If it hadn't been for Braeburn... "

Turning her head away, Applejack stared hard out the window at the blizzard outside. Her eyes were stinging with something that felt suspiciously like tears. It wasn't supposed to go like this.

"An' ya told Fluttershy, but not the rest of us." Applejack's voice went flat. She wanted to say something hurtful too, something that would make Rainbow Dash feel as bad as she did right now. but she couldn't think of anything good. So she just said what was on her mind. "Ah thought we were friends. Ah thought you cared about me. Ah thought you'd be glad to see me, even if ah yelled at you."

"Ah guess ah thought wrong."

Applejack wanted to say that in a nasty way, but her voice quavered too much. It just sounded sad, defeated. "Fluttershy and Pinkie are a couple cars back, last ah checked. You should go see 'em. Pinkie's been worried too. She don't show it much, but ah can tell. We all missed you..." Applejack hesitated, then added, sadly, "...Not just Fluttershy."

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"Roll my-I was rolling my eyes at myself! And I was glaring at my reflection! You know, in honor of the Element of Honesty, you can honestly be really stupid sometimes! And what was I supposed to send to you guys?! Postcards?! I don't know what to say! "Haven't found it yet"? "Sorry it's taking so long"? "Going on two months"?! I don't know! And I still haven't apologized to Braeburn for leaving in the middle of the night!"

Rainbow Dash growled at herself, even smacking her forehead in aggravation. "And of course I told Fluttershy! She's the Element of Kindness! Plus we've been friends for the longest! I knew she'd be the easiest one to tell to begin with! I also told her not to tell you guys I was back so I could get the chance to tell you myself! And I haven't exactly been back that long! Plus, every time I managed to build up the courage to tell one of you guys, it's always, "Sorry, she's not here right now", or, "She went to run an errand"!"

Dash groaned and hopped back on a seat. "And this is going so great! Can't wait to see what happens when I try telling the next one..." She slowly dragged her hoof across her face, letting out a mangled mass of unintelligible sounds and garbles.

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Rainbow Dash was being utterly ridiculous and unreasonable! "'course Ah'm gonna read yer facial expressions! That's a part a talking to somepony! There ain't nothing stupid about that. What's stupid is making them at yerself, since ya can't see them anyway, unlike ponies talkin to you!" Applejack snapped. "An what gives you the right to make snotty remarks about my Element of Honesty? Aint you the element of loyalty- who ran away? Ah think you got plenty a problems with yer own element without startin in on mine." narrowing her eyes, Applejack glared at the pegasus.

"Not like ah got anything to worry about though- yer the biggest liar of us all. 'She isn't here right now' or 'She went to run an errand'... just who d'you think you'da spoken to who wouldn't have told us you stopped by? Granny Smith? Big Mac? Or maybe y'wanna suggest that it was Spike or the Cakes who forgot to mention such an important detail? An even if they did, which they didn't, ain't you the fastest flyer in Ponyville? You couldn't come lookin for us?"

"But maybe that makes sense, since yeah, you couldn't even be bothered to send postcards. Are ya so dense that you really don't understand that it didn't matter what you wrote, so long as you wrote? Ta let us know that you were alive an well, even if you weren't ready to come home? That's really why ya didn't come to see us, isn't it? Because you knew that was wrong, you knew you were wrong, and you couldn't face us. You could only face Fluttershy, because you knew she wouldn't tell you what a jerk you've been." The orange earth-pony tossed her head and marched to the front of the car. She'd had enough. She looked back over her shoulder as she pushed the door to the next train car open.

"I hope ya found whatever you were looking for on yer trip, because you sure as hay lost something precious at home." She called back.

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Rainbow Dash probably sat there for about two seconds, before she smacked herself in the forehead, groaning. She ran to the door, called after Applejack. "W-Wait! AJ!" Dash, well, dashed, down the hall, catching up to AJ. Her eyes fell to the floor, and she sighed. "You... You're right. Don't know how much it's worth, but... Sorry..." It probably wasn't worth much. Whatever...

"Listen, I didn't find what I was looking for. I just gave up because I couldn't take looking any longer. I didn't send postcards or anything because I didn't want to. I didn't want to even think about any of you. It took me going all the way to Manehattan to realize I just wanted to go home. Now, you can be mad at me, fine. I couldn't face you, I'm a coward, I'm an idiot, and so on. There. I'm going to try and make up for leaving. I'll try. You can be mad at me all you like, I'm still going to try. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to move on to somepony else. I'll try not to roll my eyes at myself, and apologize all I can."

Dash didn't honestly know why she was rambling like this. She didn't knowwhat to say to make anything better, so she just said everything she could. What else was there? Rainbow Dash moved past AJ, and slipped into the next train car.

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Pinkie...wasn't too sure on why she was here.


Pinkie originally boarded the train in hopes of finding her best friend Rainbow Dash, who had been gone for an extremely long time in the town of Ponyville. While Pinkie could've easily dismissed it as nothing, it wasn't regular for such a noticeable pony to just go missing out of nowhere. After a while, Pinkie finally grew worried enough that she took matters into her own hands, got onto this very train, and...now she just paced around the train car, maintaining a calm look...astonishing considering this was Pinkie Pie.


You see, even she didn't know why she felt so solemn. Perhaps it was the thought of a missing friend? Perhaps the idea that she didn't know how Dash was, where she was, and even if DASH knew where she was...it was all too scary! For all Pinkie could've known, Dashie could've been lost...or hurt...or even worse!

It made Pinkie shiver at the thought...no, wait...that was a twitchy tail...


Was something big about to happen?

Turning around, she met the gaze with a pony trotting into the train car. She had magenta eyes, with a rainbow mane and blue-....

"Hold on a second..."

Then it clicked.

"RAINBOW DASH!"


With that and a trot of seemingly-impossible speed, Pinkie tackled Rainbow Dash with a huge hug.

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Rainbow Dash took one step through the doorway, long enough to let the door close behind her.

And before Dash even had a second to comprehend a single thought, a pink blur slammed into her. She was wrapped up in a gigantic hug, squeezing the life out of her. And, incidentally, she was squeezing the breath out as well. Dash squirmed around in Pinkie's vice grip, trying to find air to breathe. "P-Pi-Pink-kie! C-Can't, br-breathe!"

Rainbow managed to find a small pocket in Pinkie's death grip, which she eagerly took to take a deep breath of air. As much as she "enjoyed" struggling for air, she was actually really glad to see Pinkie again. Hopefully she could get this to turn out better than with AJ...

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Pinkie finally released her grip, and with enough time to perhaps allow a breath for both of the ponies, Pinkie immediately began her tangent...

"Oh my GOSH, Rainbow Dash! I'm so happy to see you! You were all gone and everything and I went to find you and you're HERE! You're here, you're here, you're here!"


Pinkie wasn't letting any of her excitement be held back. She was SO happy to see Dash was okay. Even if there WAS deeper questions to be asked at the moment, Pinkie just cared that her friend was safe.

"Another hug?!" Pinkie offered, holding her hooves up in a joking manner...but somehow, it seemed quite a lot more threatening than goofy...

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Rainbow Dash laughed a little at Pinkie. She even hugged Pinkie the second time, just because she missed her that much. That bubbly, bouncy, pink pony may seem annoying at times, but go without her for months... Heh... Dash pulled back from the second hug, smiling. "Heya Pinks. Long time no see. Uh... Sorry about disappearing like that... for months... without word from me..."

Dash bit her lip, stopping her eyes from rolling at herself. "A-Anyways, sorry for being gone. I'm sure you'll throw a heck of a party once we get back to Ponyville. How about after that I go pranking with you? Make up for lost time?" Pranking probably wouldn't make up for much, but Dash didn't really think of Pinkie as one to hold a grudge... AJ was a different story... Dash would have to work on getting her back...

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"Of course I will, silly-billy!" Pinkie gleefully remarked as she tussled Dash's mane with a hoof with a giggle, before quickly dashing at an impossibly-fast speed to her bench on the train and back to Rainbow, suddenly unfurling a large, pink blueprint...a "pink-print", if you would.

"There's going to be cider, TONS OF CIDER, and games, and TONS of cake-" Pinkie harped on and on for a good two minutes, naming every single little thing she could think of.

Believe it or not, Pinkie knew some ponies found her..."odd" or "annoying". However, the fact of the matter was, she KNEW nopony could hate her parties. She packed everything she could into each one, and put all her energy into it as well. Not a single party, in her mind, was ever a failure. Even if they WERE....well, she loved throwing them. Just because some ponies didn't like her job, it didn't mean she had to dislike it...thankfully, she never had to think about that boring, grown-up stuff yet, though...

"Where did you go, anyways? You were gone for months..." Pinkie, however, was just as capable of snapping-back to the reality at hand.

Many ponies mistook her for a pony that looked at reality through rose-tinted glasses...however, Pinkie knew reality far too well. She just always looked on its bright side. Just because things looked bad didn't mean they had to be bad...but in this case, she couldn't help be curious as to why her best friend was gone for so long...

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Rainbow Dash was happy to see Pinkie Pie again. Immediately, she was wrapped up in party plans and a weird pink blueprint, and she almost felt like she was home again. Y'know, except she was on a train in Celestia knows where. And then, as if it to remind her where they were, Pinkie drew her back to the root of the problem. Dash knew she had to address it, so, she swallowed some courage, and sat on a bench. "Well, there was a swamp, a cowpony, Las Pegasus, Manehattan, and a Wonderbolt... Y'know, the highlights. Heh... But, yeah, I traveled all over Equestria. And, I'm not sure what I was looking for, but, whatever it was, I don't need it. If it made me feel that bad, it wasn't worth finding! So, yeah, I'm here to stay. Definitely not going to do anything like that again unless I'm forced to." Rainbow Dash grinned, hugging Pinkie again. "Missed ya to pieces, Pinks. Sorry for everything."