Friendship and Vengeance [Private: Rogue and Pinkie]

[Harvs]

The sun sat in the center of the sky, raining down its light upon the magical land of Equestria. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns bustled about their every day lives, be it in the royal city of Canterlot, the wondrous cloudy home of Cloudsdale, or the peaceful and serene Ponyville. The citizens of Ponyville went their own ways, selling their wares and visiting friends. A particular group of friends walked down the street with an unknown destination.

Rainbow Dash flew by the side of Twilight Sparkle as well as Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike. They talked to each other just as they did every other day. The group entered the town square where numerous ponies stood in their own groups chatting to each other. All except for one pony who seemed to be all by himself isolated far away from the other groups.

"So what do you guys wanna do today?" Rainbow Dash interjected. The chatter all around them was loud, but not too loud that they could not hear each other. Pinkie Pie looked at her flamboyant friend and suggested, "We could go to Sugar Cube Corner! I overheard Mr. and Mrs. Cake last night saying they just got a bunch of new flavors of cupcakes added to the menu! Her excitement glistened in the group. The colorful pegasus turned to Pinkie Pie and said "We just went to Sugar Cube Corner yesterday. Lets do something new." Pinkie Pie nodded and turned to Twilight. "What do you think Twilight? What do you wanna do?"

[TheRoguePrince]

Twilight looked right by the friends at the strange figure standing apart from the townsfolk. She didn't seem to hear anything they said until Spike yelled into her ear, startling her out of her momentary trance. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked, feeling rather embarrassed as she struggled to piece together what was happening among her friends. As usual, Pinkie was bouncing around practically ready to explode with energy, Rainbow seemed intent on drawing her attention, Rarity fretted over her new outfit, Applejack was looking at her with concern, and Fluttershy was standing behind the others, struggling not to have to make an interjection. It seemed that she had experienced quite a lapse, but who was that strange pony?

There was no other thought in her mind other than to follow her directive from Princess Celestia, she was to make friends, and this new pony looked as if he had none. That would simply not do, and besides, this was an excellent chance to learn something new about friendship to report for her weekly letter. Shirking the questioning looks, Twilight started off toward the loner, ready to provide whatever help she might to this pony in need. Her friends would just have to understand the importance of this gesture. They usually did...

[Harvs]

Twi? What're ya lookin' at? Applejack asked with a hint of worry in her voice. She waved a hoof in-front of her purple coated friend's face trying to get her attention. Rainbow glanced in the direction Twilight was staring so intently on and tried to single out what was drawing her attention. She gazed at a rich blue stallion, sitting by himself at a table at the Clover Patch restaurant. A half eaten sandwich and a glass of water laid out on the table, but he didn't seem too intent on eating, let along socializing.

Rainbow turned back to Twilight and asked "So why don't you go over and say hello?" She folded her wings away and landed on the ground with a slight *thud* and nudged her head in the direction of the stallion. The others soon got the message that Twilight was looking at another pony. Particularly, the only one who was completely alone in the entire square. Applejack gave a slight smile. "Go on Twilight. We'll be right here when ya get back."

[TheRoguePrince]

Twilight walked toward the place where the sad looking pegasus was sitting, thinking of how she would start up a conversation with this obviously down trodden character. Spike just sat on her back, seemingly oblivious to her concern, as he usually was. She strode up to the pony and noted that he seemed to be somewhat older than her or any of her friends. He seemed to hold one of his wings slightly askew, perhaps a sign of an only injury long healed and overcome. All of these were clues to his identity, but Twilight didn't know to much about Pegasus folk in general other than her time with Rainbow and Fluttershy, who were by no means the norm of their race, so she decided to get back at Rainbow for all her tricks, and used her magic to drag Rainbow over to see the stallion with her.

Twilight and her now inverted friend arrived at the table where the lonely pony was sitting, yet he didn't even raise his head to see who was there. In hope of starting a conversation, Twilight cleared her throat and said, Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and my friend here and I wanted to be the first to welcome you to Ponyville. Since you're obviously new to these parts and don't have anyone to show you around, we were wondering if you would allow us to instead?" Twilight let Rainbow drop to the ground, but before she even landed she was already righted and standing, all thanks to her incredible speed and reflexes. But there was something odd about her reaction to seeing this pony though, she seemed like she somehow... knew him.

[Harvs]

The blue stallion didn't even bat an eye as he was approached by the two ponies. He caught a glimpse of them as the came closer to him. One of them was a purple unicorn. And the other was a light blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. He looked back down at his half eaten food and sighed in dread. He knew he was going to have to interact with the encroaching company. He rolled his eyes as the unicorn back a formal introduction of herself and her friend.

Instead of making eye contact, the pegasus just reached down to his drink and began sipping through the straw. He said nothing, hoping that the two would leave him be. But after a few minutes, it was becoming increasingly evident that they were not going to leave. He sighed again and stood up. He looked the unicorn in the eyes and said "Ms... Twilight, was it? I have no intention of getting to know any of you Ponyville folks." He sat back down and took a bite of his grass sandwich, turning away from the company.

[TheRoguePrince]

Twilight looked over at Rainbow with surprise, she hadn't heard of a person being this rude in Ponyville since she herself had first come here to make preparations for the ceremony. She honestly had no idea what to say, and began to turn around, but Rainbow didn't seem to be moving anywhere, her attention seemed to be glued to the figure before her, and Twilight could only wonder what could possible be so interesting about such a rude person. She sighed and walked back toward her friends, at least they would provide good company, and a distraction from her new dilemma. She couldn't just give up, but how was she going to find a way to make friends with this stranger?

Her illusion of a world where everyone was nice had suddenly been burst once again, as she was sure she had done when she came, come to think of it, she had been a lot like him when she arrived, but something told he that he would have none of that line of thinking, so she just kept walking, and rejoined the little group he friends had made over to one side of the street, but Rainbow still hadn't moved, and Twilight still couldn't fathom why.

[Harvs]

Rainbow watched as her friend left the stallion for the comfort of her friends. They looked hopeful as she returned to them, but when she joined them, their smiles suddenly faded. Fluttershy looked concerned for what her friend had just done. Applejack stared at the stallion. She wanted to know what had happened, but she would save the question for later.

Rainbow Dash turned back toward the stallion and said, "Hey. What gives man? You can't just talk to ponies like that!" She exclaimed loudly. The stallion stood once again, his white and light blue mane lifted revealing his face. "I don't need you to tell me what I can and can't do." Rainbow hovered a few feet off the ground and glared at him. "You need somepony!" She replied angrily. The stallion unsheathed his wings and hovered up to her level. "I don't think I asked for your opinion you little foal!" Rainbow didn't back down. She glared into his eyes and he stared back. Suddenly, something clicked in Rainbow's head. She landed and tilted her head a notch, looking a bit thoughtful.

"What are you doing now?" The stallion asked, still obviously irritated. Rainbow looked back at her friends, then back at the pony and asked "Who are you?"

The stallion just looked around. His anger melted away into sorrow. "My name..." He stopped mid-sentence. Taking a deep breath, he looked down and back up. "My name is Stormy Charge."

Rainbow Dash gasped... then fainted.

[TheRoguePrince]

Twilight stared in shock, unable to bring herself to move at what she had just witnessed. Never in her life had she seen Rainbow faint like that in the middle of an argument, and all because of something he had said. Yes, she had seen it in her eyes, a sudden recognition, like a memory from long ago connecting to her foremost thoughts. She had known the stallion, and there was only one reason why Rainbow would react like that. That Pegasus was famous at one point, and Rainbow had just proven it.

Rarity and Spike ran towards the unconcious form of Rainbow, who fortunately seemed to be recovering quickly. Rarity was trying to douse Rainbow with some water she was magicking from a nearby well while Spike seemed interested only in what Rarity was doing. The dragon was going to have to learn that he had no subtlety whatsoever. Everyone in the village knew his secret... Anyway, enough of that, it was time to find out what Rainbow knew, and to finally figure out what she could do for the stranger.

[Harvs]

Stormy Charge landed and looked at the pegasus in shock. He had never seen a pony actually faint, let alone in front of him. All of the other groups of ponies stared at the two. Silence blew through the air. Stormy let out a small chuckle and then bent down and whispered "Com'on, everyone is staring. Get up." The other groups of ponies started mumbling about themselves. Stormy looked up with a nervous expression. "She's fine everypony! Don't worry about her, just uh... just the heat.

The beautiful ivory unicorn Rarity and her purple admirer approached with growing concern. Applejack and Pinkie Pie follow close behind and knelt before their unconscious friend. Applejack started slapping Rainbow's face lightly. "Rainbow! Wake up! What's wrong!" Pinkie Pie approached the stallion and asked, "What did you do?"

The stallion backed up and stuttered. "I didn't do anything! I swear she just fainted!"

[TheRoguePrince]

"Its true Pinkie, Rainbow fainted on her own, but I know why." Twilight said, looking at the Pegasus in front of her with interest as to what his reaction would be, "there is only one reason why Rainbow would do that, and its because you are, or were, famous at some point, and the only famous people Rainbow follows are the Wonderbolts." Twilight declared with some delight at her findings. Clearly this stallion had been one of Rainbow's idols, among the best of her race, despite the fact that he seemed a bit off. Something about him said that something really bad had happened to him, and she was determined to fix it...

Rarity was aghast, an actual famous pony in her presence. It really didn't matter who he was, someone KNEW him, and that meant that he could be an avenue to her advancement in the fashion career! Of course ,that manner of thinking would have to wait until he was properly adjusted to life here, and that he didn't mind of course. It wouldn't do for the element of kindness to suddenly be so greedy. She would simply have to wait and see.