//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Tempest // by TimbukTurnip //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie. That was all she could remember. There was something important about that name. Was it her name? No, thinking of herself as Pinkie Pie didn’t feel right. In fact, the name filled her with… fear? Why would it make her feel fear? It wasn’t fear of the name either; it was fear for it. Why? She couldn’t remember; she just knew she had to do something important with that name. Something dangerous… but vital. It was also urgent. “Rainbow?” Rainbows? Why would she suddenly think about rainbows? This was no time to be thinking about a display of colours, she had something important she- wait. Rainbow? That was a name, another name, one that sounded familiar. Did Rainbow have some significance on what she had to do with Pinkie Pie? Did Pinkie Pie know Rainbow? Was she Rainbow? She was certainly confused if nothing else, and it was making her tired. Very tired in fact; maybe she should just go to sleep and think about it when she woke up. “Rainbow??” Hold on, that wasn’t one of her thoughts, that was a voice, a voice from nearby. It made her aware of her surroundings for the first time. Blearily, she noticed she was in a forest, laying on her right side, head against a tree. The treetops acted as a blanket that censored the ground from the majority of the sun’s rays, causing the area to be dimly lit. At least, she assumed it was the sun that was shining – she could not see through the treetops from her position and she had no idea what time it was. Considering the level of light, it could’ve just as easily been the moon that would be sitting above the forest. That didn’t matter to her right now though, as there was a voice that had originated behind her just a moment ago that could hopefully tell her… well, something useful, she hoped. Tiredness forgotten, she rolled over, experiencing an intense pain in her right forehoof and a sudden throbbing in her head as she did, causing her face to scrunch up in pain and her vision to blur. As the pain in her hoof slowly dissipated and the throbbing slowed a little, her eyes eventually came to focus on a pony in front of her. It had a light pink coat and an incredibly straight dark pink mane and tail. It looked wrong and depressing, as if the hair itself had given up on life and wanted to just sit in a corner and let the world go by until it and its owner died. She briefly wondered how a hair style could conjure up such a thought, before remembering the situation she found herself in; curiosity about hair style could wait. The pony itself was a slight contrast to its hair – it certainly didn’t look happy, but it wasn’t laying down and moping either. It looked worn out, breathing big breaths and covered in mud and scrapes, but it was standing looking alert, leaning forward, body tense, staring straight at her with wide blue eyes that exhibited fear and concern and appeared to be shining with… tears? That just raised even more questions. This whole thing was just getting more confusing and ridiculous by the second. She began to sort through the multitude of queries she had in her mind, intending to pick which one she wanted to voice first, but before she could open her mouth, the pink pony said something. It was pronounced in something between a shout and a high-pitched wail, but it was easy to understand. “Dashie!?” Dashie. From the utterance of that name, all of her memories raced past her eyes, and she remembered. She knew what she had to do. “Not now Pinkie Pie.” “Aww… come on… Dashie!” Pinkie was bouncing on a trampoline, head popping through the floor of the cloud Rainbow Dash was sat atop at a constant rate. Each time she broke through the cloud and appeared before Rainbow, she quickly voiced as many words in her sentence as she could before gravity caught up with her and pulled her back down to her trampoline to repeat this process. “Sorry Pinks, not right now,” Rainbow said apologetically yet with a slight tone of annoyance in her voice, “I have to practice my moves for the Wonderbolts! If I’m ever going to join them, I need to perfect my awesome stunts and keep them perfected; that means practice!” “But Dashie… I have a super-awesome-… terrific prank idea… that we have to… try out!” replied Pinkie as she reached the apex of her jumps. “It involves hot sauce!” she said, managing to hold a pout during her jumps. “Pinkie…” Rainbow did enjoy spending time pranking with the pink earth pony, and she was curious about this new prank, but she hadn’t practised her aerobatics for a while. She felt guilty turning her friend down, but her stunts were important; what if she bumped into the Wonderbolts and managed to mess up one of her tricks due to a lack of practise? Okay, randomly meeting the Wonderbolts in Ponyville was a bit unlikely, but she wasn’t ready to take the risk. She would be prepared. The twinge of guilt she felt when thinking about turning one of her best friends down – her happiest, most energetic and enthusiastic friend at that – didn’t disappear though. She was the element of loyalty after all. Maybe she could find a way to please both her friend and herself? Of course she could; she was Rainbow Dash! The quickest pony in Equestria! She could go pranking with Pinkie, then get her practise done swiftly afterwards. Moving to the side of the cloud while being continuously observed by Pinkie Pie with each *poof* of cloud, she allowed herself to fall off, landing on the trampoline and proceeding to jump in time with her favourite pink friend. The pink pony beamed at her. “Okay then Pinks; what’s this new prank?” Author's Note: Thought I might as well give writing something a go; feel like I've read enough stories to hop on the bandwagon. Any feedback is appreciated as it will help me know whether to continue attempting to write or give up due to being bad and not waste time; the same applies to any and all following chapters.