//------------------------------// // Return // Story: Treason // by Trevosta //------------------------------// Return Several months had passed since Spectrum officially returned. Life had assumed a new tempo. Rainbow, now an official member of the Wonderbolts' 51st squadron, spent her time, outside of official training, helping Thunderclaw at his new dance studio; which was bizarre in and of itself. Blue Angel and Red Arrow were still working on adjusting to life in their new town. They had been accepted wholeheartedly by the entire population of Ponyville. Many new friends were made, Blue Angel had picked up a part-time job at the local spa. She introduced massage techniques that she had taught herself early in her military career, to aid with overworked wings. Red Arrow had started a fireworks company, making the finest pyrotechnics in all of Equestria. His company took off like a rocket, and soon he was hiring ponies of all types to do different parts of the manufacturing process. He had even started a new plant just outside of Las Pegasus. Big Macintosh had broken one of his legs, when a dead tree branch fell on him. Luckily, Spectrum was able to take his place. With the extra labour that Specs had brought in earlier in the season, they were far enough ahead of schedule that he was able to take afternoons to practice with his new team. Twilight Sparkle had spent a month with the princess, helping her to aid the ponies and their families that her secrets had hurt. Using permission of the same families and the princess, Twilight wrote and published a book, called, Celestia's Secrets. It immediately became a best seller. Celestia was now reading the book about herself and the pain that she caused. She realized that some of it was a lie, these weren't all of her secrets. She had one more secret, that could change the way that the government functioned if anypony found out. It could ruin her reputation, more so than these secrets had. If anypony found out, there might even be an uprising. Thankfully for her, there was no way that anypony could find anything out about it for a long time... Right? It would be many years before she had to face the consequences, wouldn't it? It had been so long since she had hidden this information, that she couldn't remember her plans for it. She put the book down and scoured old records, she read through her diary that she had kept since she became ruler, but nothing said anything. Oh, well, she was fairly confident that she wouldn't need to deal with that for a long time. ------------------------------------ Rarity had finished her design for Applejack's wedding dress. It was a work of pure magnificence. She had designed several dresses, and had Applejack pick her favorite. The design that she had picked, fitted Applejack's personality perfectly. The wedding was going to be outdoors, in the fall, at Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity had originally been horrified at the thought of an outdoor wedding at a farm, but she realized that it would be in the fall at an apple orchard. The leaves would be beautiful, the apples would be perfectly ripe, creating a contrast of colors as well as a gorgeous smell, and the air would be just cool enough to warrant wearing something, but not something too restricting, and thus could be stylish. There was also nothing better than fresh Apple Family Cider, such as could be found that time of year. Applejack was supposed to come to the boutique today to see the finished product of her wedding dress, and Rarity couldn't wait. Rarity kept adjusting the dress on the mannequin, making sure that it fit just perfectly. She was too focused on the dress to hear the bell ring, signifying somepony entering. "Wow..." Rarity turned to see Applejack standing in the doorway, with her mouth agape. "Rarity... It's perfect..." Rarity could see her friend's eyes glistening. "Oh, darling, it was an honor to do this for you." Rarity smiled. "It is just wonderful, seeing you so happy with Spectrum." She sighed, "and after all that you have been through for him, making this dress for you was the least that I could do." Applejack, understanding how Rarity usually is, argued, "Rarity, Ah can't let ya jus' give this ta me. It ain't right." "But, Applejack, we're friends." Rarity counter-argued, "I would simply love to see you wear it on your wedding day." "Ah understand." Applejack explained, "But as yer friend, ah refuse ta let ya lose bits on this dress." After much disagreement that escalated into a screaming match, another pony entered the store, unnoticed by the bickering mares. "Hey. Hey. HEY!" the new arrival shouted, attempting to get the attention of the two yelling ponies. It worked. "Would you two quiet down? You're getting noise complaints." Rainbow Dash said, standing just inside the door. "What's this about anyway?" "Rarity, here, is tryin' ta jus' give me mah dress, and Ah'm not about ta let 'er." "I am trying to give you a gift, Applejack, why won't you let me?" "QUIET!!!" Rainbow shouted, attempting to bring order back to the conversation. "How did I become the problem solver? Alright, how about you two strike a deal? Maybe not full price, but enough to make Applejack feel like she payed." Rainbow suggested. "Good idea, Rainbow." Applejack agreed before working out a price with Rarity, Rainbow Dash stayed to keep it from reverting back to screaming. After a price was agreed upon, Rarity asked a question that had been burning at the back of her mind for a while now. "So, Rainbow, when will I be seeing you in here for your dress?" "I dunno- wait... What?" She retaliated. "Yeah, has T.C. Popped the question yet?" Applejack said with a sly smile. Rainbow was feeling rather nervous, "Do you two know something I don't know?" she asked, her heart beating faster, as the anxiousness grew. Rarity just shook her head while applejack answered, "No, we don't know anything, jus' curious if y'all had talked 'bout it yet." Rainbow's heartbeat returned to normal, she was relieved and slightly disappointed that they didn't know if T.C. was going to ask her to marry him. "No, nothing like that has come up yet." she said before walking out the door. Maybe it should... ------------------------------------ Spectrum Dash and Red Arrow were working together. Specs was working out a flight routine, while Red Arrow was attempting to work his pyrotechnics into the same routine. "No, you and your sister would light your Roman Candles here." "How would we keep them from burning out?" "I could make them light like road flares." he offered, shrugging. They continued talking for a few minutes, when they heard a distant screech. The two pegasi looked at each other, nodded, and took off. The stallions flew in the direction that they had heard the screech coming from. They flew in a practiced search formation, scanning for the source of the sound. Then Red Arrow saw it, and signaled to his parter. There was a griffin laying, beaten and bleeding, in a bush. They swooped in, landing around the wounded bird. Red Arrow pulled back the bush, while Specs rolled the female griffin onto her back, careful not to do any further injury. Specs saw her face and he gasped. She cracked open her eyes and whispered one word. "...help..." ------------------------------------ Applejack had gotten back to the farm house, she had put the wedding dress away. It was finally feeling real, she was actually getting married. She felt light and carefree. She looked around to see if anypony was around to see her, and then she let out a giddy little squeal. She began to walk out to the field, but first she had to check in on her brother. "Hey, Mac." She said to her brother as he limped across the kitchen. "Ya doin alright?" He looked up from the oats that he was eating; not at her, but out the window. "Eeyup. Ah'm alright, but they ain't." he said, looking out the window. "Pardon?" Applejack asked, and Mac gestured out the window. There was her coltfriend, alongside Red Arrow, carrying a makeshift stretcher that had a wounded griffon on it. They set it down, and Specs pointed off in the direction of the barn, shouting something at Red Arrow, who then followed his directions. Applejack rushed outside, to find Spectrum staring at the griffon with the strangest expression she had ever seen. It was a mix of confusion, horror, and hatred. "Specs," She started, "What's wrong?" He didn't look up, he just continued staring at the poor bird. "She... She looks just like him..." Applejack then looked at the face of the griffon, "Wait, Gilda!?!" she screamed, as Red Arrow returned with the apple cart. "You know her?" Specs yelled, looking into his marefriend's eyes, with a look of determination. "How?" "We can talk about this on the way to the hospital!" Red Arrow shouted at them, "Now help me get her into the cart!" They loaded her up and began running to the hospital, with the cart harnessed to Spectrum. "Alright," Applejack started to explain, "She used to be your sister's best friend, but that ended when she came to town and was a jerk to everypony." "Red," Specs turned to his teammate, "go get my sister, meet us at the hospital, you should also tell her to bring T.C." with a quick nod and a flare of his wings, Red Arrow was in the sky. Specs glanced back at the unconscious griffon in his cart and thought, 'I need to ask a few questions.' ------------------------------------ Rainbow Dash was in her house reading the latest 'Daring Doo' novel, when there was a knock on the door. She folded a corner of the page and stood up, the knock came again. "Alright, I'm coming." She called, annoyed that this visitor was interrupting her story. When she opened the door, Red Arrow was standing there, exhausted. "Rainbow," he panted, "Get T.C. And come to the hospital." then he dove off her porch. Rainbow began to panic, why did he wand her to come to the hospital? Why did she need to bring T.C.? Ok, she didn't know what to think, but now she needed to get moving. ------------------------------------ The first thing Gilda noticed was the bed. It was soft, and it felt great. She tried to go back to sleep, but then she noticed something else. There was a very angry presence in the room. Normally she wouldn't notice or care, but this felt weird. It felt as though someone was trying to kill her by staring at her. She could feel the piercing stare looking right through her. Eventually it became too much to take, and she opened her eyes. She was in a hospital. She was getting IV fluids and she was bandaged very heavily, then she scanned the room for the angry individual. It didn't take long to find him. He was a pony, sitting to one side of her. He had a reverse prismatic mane, like the inverse of Rainbow Dash's. His Cutie Mark was also similar to Rainbow's but instead of the cloud being white, it was black, and there were three rainbow lightning bolts. But what caught her attention was his bright blue eyes, staring at her as though she had killed everyone that he loved, and now he was going to make her pay. She looked into his lethal gaze and was only able to muster one word. "What?" "What." he said blankly, "All you can think to say is, what." his voice was growing louder, "I ought to rip you to shreds!" he screamed in her face, while standing up. Gilda was starting to panic, she could see that the farm pony behind him wasn't going to be able to hold him much longer. Then her saving grace arrived in the form of a sky blue mare with a rainbow colored mane and tail, along with her griffon boyfriend. "We're here! We're here!" she announced sliding on the tile floor. "Now, why?" T.C. demanded. "Wait. Gilda?" "Why are you here, again?" Rainbow demanded. "and why are you injured?" "Before I answer any questions, you need to answer one of mine." they nodded their agreement. "Why does he want to kill me?" Rainbow looked at her brother who had a look of absolute malice on his face. She had no choice but to wonder why he had to find her, why couldn't it have been somepony else? "Uh, G. I would like you to meet my brother, Spectrum Dash."