Going Astray (Orange Guardian 2)
With no passenger holding her back this time she could fly at near-rainboom speeds, passing the distance to the library in mere seconds.
Twilight’s home was far more comfortable to enter compared to the farm building. The huge hollowed out tree did not just feature a lot of books, but also a nice big balcony that Dash could land on.
Still a few yards off her target, she brought out her wings, stopping her movement instantly from top speed to no motion at all with just one strenuous sweep. A technique she had learned by studying the one and only Spitfire.
Red flashing lights appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by a siren, numbing sight and hearing at the same time. Rainbow’s hooves never touched the ground; she was kept in the air by a strong purple magical aura. Unable to move at all, but still able to breathe, the cyan pegasus silently cursed herself for forgetting about the security measurement that had been installed on Celestia’s insistence right after the changeling invasion.
No ordinary pony could escape Twilight’s power. There was no point to even try to struggle free. She only wished she had been caught in a more comfortable position, as her wings were still stretched back way too far, which was fine for a split-second, but not for a prolonged wait. They would be sore for weeks following this.
Twilight was awoken by a magical pinch triggered by the alarm. This was the seventh time this had happened, only counting this month. Mostly it was just birds, with the exception of one particularly scared squirrel. Surely this time wouldn’t be any different. She got up with a heavy sigh, making a mental note to remove the trap in the morning, giving in to her annoyed neighbours who seemingly didn’t like the bright lights. Even Fluttershy had complained to her after a group of birds had informed their pony friend about the events.
Unwilling and sleepy she sloped to the balcony door, ready to rescue the trapped animal. It wasn’t really its fault after all, was it? Watching out of the window, she brought up a hoof to massage her temples, fighting the instant migraine. The bird was far bigger than expected. Only Rainbow could be stupid enough to not only enter a building through a window at night, but also to forget an alarm system she had seen being installed herself. Twilight just wanted this to be over and go back to sleep as soon as possible. Rainbow had better have a very good explanation for this.
A purple aura opened the door and slammed it shut again after Twilight had passed through it.
“Rainbow, what do you want?” Her tone wasn’t something that could be described as pleasant.
Still fixated by a strong force, Rainbow tried to at least exhale loudly, but only managed to create a soft whizzing sound.
“Not talking to me, ehh? I know you are hiding something from me! Now talk!”
Dash tried again, this time managing to make a wet gurgling sound followed by something that might have been coughing if it hadn’t been for her restrained posture. Muscles tensed up, cramping, leaving her short of breath and creating whistling sounds from her respiratory system. Maybe Twilight would hear that. For a pony that smart she was pretty slow sometimes.
Without warning, the lights turned off. Not only on the balcony, but also for a second on the pegasus after her skull made acquaintance with the hard unloving floor.
A low “What’s wrong with you, Twilight?” was all she managed as a response through her spinning head. She could see the proverbial stars surrounding her in a bright yellow.
“You tell me?”
Rainbow slowly got up, swaying like a leaf in the wind on wobbly legs. Staring at her so called friend, she started:
“Look, Twilight. We got more important matters than you being mad at me for some reason. I will explain it in a second. Could you just grab a book about criminal law and one about family law and then teleport us to Applejack’s kitchen? I am not up to carrying you right now.”
She tried to open her wings, but closed them again with a small cry of pain. “See?”
But Twilight did not. She had already disappeared with a plop.
The cyan pegasus tilted her head back to look at the nightly sky, contemplating the dark grey mass of clouds in the sky. Those weird accumulations of water she could shape and move at will, like big white chess pieces. Sometimes she wished that ponies where slightly similar. Twilight would just be a rouge cloud from the Everfree she needed to push back or dissolve in order to save Ponyville from a drench. In real life the drench was ponies getting hurt. This time it was a very lovely orange ball of energy. Her friend was part of the plan, if she liked it or not, she needed to participate.
As far as she remembered, there were no more traps. At least not on this part of the building, so she went forward to the window, heavily tapping it with strong hooves.
“Twilight, I really need your ...”
The last words were never spoken. Rainbow’s world went black again for a second, followed by the sudden sensation of falling and a sudden impact. She was used to crashing, but normally this was caused by herself and didn’t turn up too unexpected. She groaned while she got up once again, keeping her eyes half closed in a grimace of pain.
At least she was at the destination she wished for. Twilight was here, as was Applejack in front of three steaming cups of coffee and the two requested books neatly teleported to the table, probably without even producing the tiniest thump.
“If you want kill me, please get it over with, Twi. Just stop with the torture.” Rainbow tried to stop her head from spinning as she spoke by bringing up a hoof to her head.
“Just tell me what’s up so I can sleep again,” Twilight hissed back.
“Look Twi; you were right. I have someone over at my home.” Another groan escaped Dash as she sat down at the table. “And yes, it’s a young, lovely mare... It’s Scootaloo. She...”
A magic slap quenched her words, leaving the room silent except for the shattering of the unicorn's chair that had been flipped back violently. Twilight’s expression had gone from annoyed to plain pissed, the way she looked directly before her mane bursts into flames. The only thing holding her back to scream was the sleeping inhabitants of the farm. Through gritted teeth she began to berate her friend:
“That’s low even for you, Rainbow. Isn’t she a little young for this? What do her parents say about it? I swear, if you woke me up to save your ass from jail for...” A somewhat vile tasting hoof ended her words, breaking its way into her mouth, somehow managing not to hit any teeth. She could feel Applejack’s breath on her cheek. Her friend’s voice was level but forceful.
“What in the hay? I will stop ya here, before ya say even more things yer going to regret. I know yer tired and upset about Rainbow lying to ya and hiding stuff from ya, but neither is reason for violence nor wild accusations. Ya have more than just hurt her feelings.” She gestured at the catatonic pegasus sitting on the table with wide spread eyes and low hanging ears whose head rested on the table because all muscle tension seemed to have left her. “I would have thrown you out by now if I didn’t think Rainbow needed ya for an important reason.”
She removed her hoof from Twilight’s mouth and went over to the sink to wash off the saliva, all the while never diverting her stare to the unicorn’s general direction that could have rivalled Fluttershy. Twilight neither dared to look up nor talk.
Now free of the slobber Applejack went over to Rainbow and embraced her friend, gently rubbing her back, as she continued. “As far as Ah‘m informed Scootaloo is an orphan and homeless. Rainbow took her in to kept her safe and find out what’s going on. It seems that she has been abused and other foals might be in danger. Ah for ma part would like to know what’s going on. So please shut up and listen. Yer beyond apologising anyway as far as Ah am concerned...”
Tears dropped to the ground, forming uniform wet spots on the carpet beside a pair of violet hooves. Twilight kept silent, suppressing the sobs as they threatened to wash over her, even though Rainbow took more than a minute to recover and produce a thick stack of slightly yellowed paper before she began to retell the story in a shaky voice, leaving out the embarrassing details.