Chapter 20(%cooler): Sonic. Rain. Bloom?
"Soooo, you're a thief right?" Rainbowdash asked James as they made their way North.
"Not just any thief, I was the ruthless leader of the Everfree Raiders! I had the longest record of remaining on the Cantorlot Guard's Most Wanted List the longest! In fact, I'd still be there if it weren't for Flash." James answered.
"Hmph, you must hate him for that." Rainbow stated.
"You know, I did at first. Now I realize what I was, and what I can become. If it weren't for his blind luck I'd still be in the Forest... I'd have simply kept going until I either died or got caught... Now because of him I can be something greater... It's strange... How having something you loved taken from you can end up make you stronger. Happier you know?"
"I think your right. I was once offered a chance at joining a flight team called the Shadowbolts but my friends needed me... If I hadn't had them... I can only imagine what it would be like now." Rainbow thought aloud.
"Oh, I'll spell it out for you. It would have resulted in eternal night followed by eternal chaos followed by eternal misery once Sombra took over the Empire... Oh yeah and Cantorlot would have become a loveless wasteland."
"Imagine what the world would be like if it weren't for your friends... We'd still be locked in the Changeling Prison!"
"Ha Ha! I guess you're right!" They entered a canyon. "Alright this is the checkpoint. Time to disguise ourselves. Who were you supposed to be again?"
"Over Compensatia I think. Who are you?"
"I wrote it down somewhere..." James rooted around his bag until he found a piece of paper. "Ah, I am Bill. Wait... Bill!? What am I supposed to be? A disgruntled tax collector?"
"I guess you went from one thief to another," Rainbow guffawed, "Only this time, you're on the other side of the law!"
"Oh ha ha! You know, you could actually change your name to Over Compensatia and it would be totally believable!" James shot back.
Rainbow laughed hysterically, "Oh ho ho that was a good one! Now come on let's get all done up. My mane will be pink and my coat green... well... I guess I had to compensate for something... and you will be... cyan... wait a second... I'm cyan!"
"Not anymore! You're green!" James laughed.
"Fine..." They began disguising each other. Over's cutiemark became a really cool chariot and Bills became a knapsack full of gold. "This... Isn't right... my hair is so... Boring! One color sucks!"
"Yeah, yeah... Cyan is just such an obtrusive color! How am I supposed to sneak around like this!?"
"Hey............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Cyan..............................is......................................................................................at least 23.46589% cooler than GREEN!" Rainbowdash declared. "And so it shall be, now and forever."
"So what you're saying is... I'm cooler right now?" Bill grinned evilly.
"Oh, shut up." Over angrily huffed.
***
They approached the fort at dawn the next day, it looked quite intimidating. Black spires loomed above a steely portcullis. Four guards stood at rigid attention, not a muscle moving. They approached the gates and, as one, the guards moved forward and surrounded them spears held high pointed inwards. They spoke up as one, "State your business." It was strangely harmonic.
"I am here to serve," Bill bowed, "An enemy of Celestia is an ally of mine. I offer my blade in the fight to liberate Equestria from the tyrant sisters."
Over stood tall, "I wish to prove myself to my family and my peers. I am no coward. May my spear be yours."
They spoke once again in sync, "The test must be passed. Follow Thibbles to the Commandant's chamber, where the test shall be administered." One turned upon his heels and briskly marched through the portcullis as it rose. Both Over and Bill rushed through as it slammed close behind him.
"This way and hurry, he does not wish to be kept waiting. He is expecting you." Thibbles informed them in a monotone voice as he briskly sped through a maze of halls. Over and Bill glanced at each other in disbelief, How could he possibly already be expecting them? They've been here for little over a minute! Their guide, Thibbles, stopped immediately in front of a heavy wooden door. Without turning he informed them, "Through this door." Then immediately sped back from whence he came.
They looked at each other for reassurance. Then nodded at each other for good luck and entered together. The room was dark and lit with only a single candle in the center of the room. It was a study of some sort, book shelves lined the walls and an obscenely old Purple Unicorn sat in a high back chair. He sat there staring at them as they entered. He clutched his cane as he began to speak... "So, you are here at last, James. You know cyan really doesn't fit you."
James drew his dagger and leapt towards the old stallion who drew forth a blade from his cane and parried the thrust. "How do you know who I am!?"
Screw it, their cover is blown, Rainbow shut the door and spoke coldly, "Better answer him old man." She readied her spear for a charge.
He laughed, "I think the more accurate question would be, how do you not recognize me? Alas, for I cannot tell you. Now this though, without my aid, you shall fail to reclaim the Element or defeat the Freezers. Even with my word of approval you will be discovered in only a few days. There is something you must know of the Elements. They are damaged... They are leaking influence. The ponies here are intensely loyal, no matter what you try, without me you will not even be able to find the vault without arousing incredible suspicion! Now if you don't mind. Drop, your, dagger." James found him oddly familiar... he trusted him for some strange reason. He dropped his dagger. The older gent replaced his sword into his cane. "Well, that was the hard part wasn't it? Now we haven't much time. I'm gonna create a distraction, wear these badges and follow this map it'll take you to the vault. Oh, and I put the keys to the vault under a conspicuous welcome mat right next to it. Now hurry! Oh and be careful above the la..."
"Wait... what's your distraction gonna be?" Rainbowdash interrupted.
"Let's see, we have me, the Commandant, an old frail stallion, in a room with only one entrance, with highly flammable dry books and single candle, in a fort filled with insanely loyal ponies... Accidents happen, they'll have to save me. Now go!"
Rainbowdash and James glanced at each other once again in disbelief. They spun about and sprinted into the hallway map held by Rainbow with her wings so she could lead the way. A magical alarm went off and doors burst open. Screams of "Fire!" and "Check the Commandant!" could be heard all over. They reached a metal vault, which was guarded by four heavily armored Freezers. Upon seeing the two run at them they readied themselves. Until they saw the badges, they called out to them. "The fire is truly bad enough to warrant movement of the Element?"
Bill quickly explained in a condescending tone, "Of course! Why else would we be here! Now you are needed to fight the fires! Go!" The freezers ran off as Over unlocked the vault. And jumped inside.
"I found it!" She called out as smoke began to flow into the vault chamber. "We have to dash!" They sprinted down the hallways and corridors until they reached a courtyard, "We can get out now!" Rainbow flew up and out.
"Ponyfeathers! You forgot me!" He yelled at her as he scrambled up to the roof. He looked east to west, north to south but she was already gone. "Greeeeeeat...." He heard a large exposion from above and saw a great green circle spread across the sky, slowly it turned into a rainbow as a green streak flew towards Bill. "What in the Name of Sweet Celestia is that!?" It quickly changed in color and he was struck by it. He looked at what was holding him as he was swept off his feet at hyper sonic speeds. "Rainbow!?"
"It's a sonic, Rain, BOOM!" She gleefully yelled back at him as they skyrocketed south. After about three minutes her wings ceased moving. "Oh, wow I'm tired." James looked down as they fell. They were only few feet from the ground but their forward momentum kept them up for a few more seconds before they crashed into a lake. They skipped across the surface several times before James finally stopped floating only a few feet from the shore.
James, upon regaining his senses, made his way to shore. He looked around for Rainbow but didn't see her, or the Element. He began to look franticly until he saw an odd stump... It looked rather fresh... He saw a crater behind it. "Oh no..." Of course he'd stop before she did! What with him being heavier and less aerodynamic! "Dash! Dash!" He galloped over towards the crater and he heard a moan. She sat there completely still, she had a gash across her forehead and he left side was really scratched up... but her wings... they were severely broken in several places and her spear had pierced her right back leg. "Rainbow..." He shivered. He looked at his soaked self and the snow around him. "I'll be right back." He first checked her bag, the Element was undamaged and her fire starting kits were undamaged. He ran out into the forest and returned with enough firewood to last them through the night. Strange, there was a lot of fresh wood scattered about...
***
Rainbowdash opened her eyes and immediately felt woozy, she hurt all over. She tried to get up and screamed in pain. She felt back for her wings and immediately regretted it once she touched one. They were in splints. She heard a pony galloping up to her, "Rainbow! Your awake! Finally." He sighed in relief. "I thought you had slipped into a coma and we don't have the supplies to keep you alive out here."
"Two questions, how long was I out and what happened?"
"Two days and one night." James stopped her before she could interrupt him. "As to the what happened, you did something called the Sonic Rainboom and pulled us from the roof of the keep then only a few minutes later fell asleep mid air. I landed in a lake, you landed through a tree."
Rainbow looked around them, they were on a barren mesa, "What lake? What tree?"
"You always look up, maybe looking down will help." James gestured at what she was sitting on.
She looked down and saw that she was laying on a litter made of wooden straps and bushes. "Oh, wait... did you drag me all this way!? How far from the lake are we?"
"Only a few miles, after the first day passed I was worried you wouldn't wake up so I was trying to get back to Equestria so you could get medical attention. Now, if you don't mind, I have a question. Why. In. The. Name. Of. Celestia. Did. You. Just. Stop. Flying!?"
"I don't know! Did you see anything unusual about me?"
"Well let's see! You were trailing a rainbow, glowing gold, and traveling..."
"Wait!" Rainbow interrupted him, "I... I don't glow gold when I do the Rainboom... Somepony cast a spell on me!"
"Well, that makes sense... you did create a giant rainbow over a Freezer Fortress..."
"Maybe it was that old stallion?"
"Maybe... It could have been a trap! How could we be such foals! Why did we trust him?"
"Didn't he say something about the element leaking influence? Maybe it made us more loyal to him?"
"He wanted us to take it, knowing you could do the Sonic Rain Bloom,"
"Rainboom."
"Whatever, long story short, he knew you'd do that to escape so her could paralyze you mid air, he had probably hoped to kill or incapacitate us. After all, we can't use the Elements without the bearers. Can you move? We need to get out of here before we are found, they are bound to notice that we aren't in the crater very soon, if they haven't already."
"I... I can try." Rainbowdash slowly rose her upper body. "Okay... woo... that's halfway..." She rolled over and got her hind legs under her. The right hind leg couldn't hold any weight. She stood and limped slowly forward. "I... I can walk a bit." She looked at her wings, they were expertly wrapped but the pain that radiated from them told her much. "How bad are my wings?"
"Rainbow, I'm an Earth Pony. As far as I know, you'll be flying in a week. Or maybe never again. Do the heal like legs? Or faster? Slower?"
"Same, or maybe a bit faster."
"If I saw the same injury on a leg I'd say a couple months, but know that I learned how to do this in the Everfree Raiders and we never had any medicine or healing magic. Maybe when we get back to Equestria we can find a doctor who can help."
"Couple of months!? Might as well be a couple of years..."
"Hey, I'll never get to fly again so count your blessings. Seriously... I never complain about not being able to walk for a week in front of a cripple, please never complain about not being able to fly in front of me."
"What do you mean again?"
"Well, you see. There's this guy Discord. He temporarily gave Auto and his retinue wings. I gotta say, flying may be the most freeing thing I've ever done."
"I understand completely! Flying is the number one most awesome thing ever!"
"You failed to see the point..."
"No I saw it, I just don't care. I'm in a lot of pain right now so STEP OFF and let me complain about what I want to complain about!"
***
They walked agonizingly slow for an hour, Rainbow using a stick and James as support when necessary, before they had to stop when Rainbow's wounds reopened. "Alright Dash, you sit on the litter, we still have to go a ways but you can't walk any farther."
"I can still walk!"
"Not with that leg you can't!"
"But I can't let you just drag me through hostile territory!"
"We haven't a choice..."
"We do. You have to leave me."
"Oh, ha ha. I aint leaving you behind Dash."
"Just give me two days supplies and sprint for the border! Come back with help!"
"Even if I made it to the border, help might not be there and it could take me as long as a week to get to the nearest fort! If the forts are even still standing!"
"It isn't your decision. Is it?"
"I... can't leave you here."
"It's my choice."
"I won't be fast enough!" James snapped. "I wasn't before and I won't be now!"
"Before?"
"When Flash got taken by Shakarok, I was in the cave only a few feet away. If I hadn't grabbed my sword, and instead grabbed just my dagger I'd have gotten out sooner and maybe... just maybe he'd have less abandonment issues... I wasn't fast enough and he paid for it. I cannot, will not allow you to pay for that as well. Besides, I could use the exercise." He Forced her to sit on the litter and began dragging it up the hill. Rainbow saw the pain his story had caused him and fell silent.
They got to the top of a hill and James fell to the ground panting. "We... We... still need to go... farther tonight..." James huffed.
"We can't." Rainbow sighed then looked around... slowly a plan formulated in her head. "Actually we might be able to..." She spotted a low flying cloud. "Can you carry me a short ways?"
"Where to?" James asked.
"See the cloud that's floating right under the tree?"
"Yea. What about it?"
"Toss me onto it. It'll be more comfy for me and easier for you if I sit on that."
James thought for a moment, "Rainbow... I thought you were supposed to be the dumb one who was obsessed with sports! This is genius!"
"Hey! What gave you the idea that I was dumb!?"
"I put it together, you see, every group has a few idiots and I ruled out Pinkie because she's really smart under the crazy. I then thought... "Gee, who has the dumbest element?" I figured honesty was pretty dumb, but, well, after being in the Raiders for so long... I found my loyalist Raiders were idiots... So I assumed you were the same, you know? Unquestioning of anything around you? Never doubting the words of your friends... I figured the only Loyalty was blind loyalty... That kind of thing."
"I once had to learn to not judge the book by the cover, quite literally! I was actually judging all book reading as being an egg head thing... I think I may of been what you're talking about before Twilight came along, but not anymore."
"Sorry, I guess I was trying to control everything again, now... I'm gonna toss you. It might hurt... like a lot. You ready?"
"Ready!"
He threw her and she landed squarely on the cloud. She hissed but the forth coming, "I'm okay!" Stopped James from being too worried. He tossed her a rope and once again began their trek towards Equestria.
***
"Rainbow... Wake up..." James whispered at the edge of panic.
Rainbow dashed awake and glanced around, worried about what had James in such a terrified mood. She looked down and saw that the cloud had floated higher since she fell asleep! "Oh no! When the sun came up it must have lightened the cloud!" It was tugging at the rope James had tied to a tree.
"We have to get you down! The branch won't last much longer and I can't hold it back myself!" James informed her, "So, how are we gonna do that?"
"How am I supposed to know!?" Rainbow yelled down at him.
"Having you up there was your idea in the first place!" James thought for a bit. "Maybe... I don't know... I could put something heavy up there?"
"No good, I'd have to hold it up and if it was heavy enough to make a difference we'd risk pulling me through the cloud."
"There must be something! Wait... Pegasi make a living busting clouds right?"
"Yeah... So?" Rainbow asked.
"Can you like... partially bust that cloud?"
"I can try... be ready to catch me!" Rainbow lifted up her hoof and brought it smashing down on the edge of the cloud. A section broke loose and she began to slowly descended. "Oh, I thought it would go a lot worse." About halfway through another chunk flew off and she accelerated... at an alarming rate. Another chunk flew of, and another, and another! Quickly the cloud broke apart and she came tumbling towards the earth. James caught her and the fell into a pile. "Ow..."
"Are you okay?" James helped her up. "Can you walk?"
"I think so... about how farther do you think we are?"
"In your condition... about a week."
"Then we'd best get to it then."
***
Rainbow crouched behind the boulder while she waited for James to return. They had made a canoe to pass a river and just when they were ready to launch a large commotion from hidden soldiers interrupted them.
James trotted back towards her and whispered. "I see a river, there is a boat on the other side with what seems to be Equestrian armed forces... but I see some Freezers on our shore... I thought I saw Pinkie and Shadow near the boat, but I can't be sure. It's now or never, we have to get to them, it will cut a few days out of our travel time and guarantee you and the Element's safe return. I can't promise that if you stay."
"Well then let's go!" Rainbow hurriedly got up and began pushing the canoe toward the water. When James remained seated she turned and asked, "Why are you sitting down? We need to hurry!"
"Rainbow," James began, "You have to understand that this is necessary..."
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked rhetorically, she knew what he'd say next.
"I can't go with you. The Freezers will spot you on the way over and so will the Equestrian armed forces, when you identify yourself one side will shoot! I need to stay here to draw the Freezer's attention."
"I can't let you do that!"
"Rainbow, if you don't take this opportunity than me dragging you over enemy territory will have been for naught, this is non-negotiable, just... don't make this sacrifice in vain."
Rainbow hated the idea of abandoning a friend like this, but she couldn't see any alternative! "Don't worry, I'll tell her about this and how you felt. You know of whom I speak." James blushed and began to lie, claiming not to know what she was talking about, she interrupted by saying, "I saw how you've looked at her on the way here. She'll know. Now have to go." She jumped in the canoe and began paddling, leaving James feeling confused.
He began calmly walking down the shore line, slowly dismantling the left over fire making kits, "Flash, you did teach me one thing..." He began sprinting as he yelled, "Come at me you Freezer sons of mules!" He leapt into the air and hefted the newly crafted firebomb into the face of the Freezer patrol pony that thought he was so well hidden.
***
Rainbow paddled as fast as she could. She quickly got out into the open water. The river, being only one hundred feet across, wouldn't have normally been a problem but with its small size she knew she'd have to identify herself quickly. A mere twenty feet from the shore she called out, "Hey! Equestrian Armed Forces! It's me! Rainbowdash a wielder of an element of harmony! Help me out!" She heard a small explosion behind her as James created his distraction. She held up a piece of lumber with one hoof and paddled with the other. After she had made it halfway across the river a few arrows thudded into her makeshift shield . They began to rain once she reached the three quarter point, at which point a spear with a rope tied to it pierced the front of her canoe and the Equestrian Armed Forces pulled her to safety.
"State once more your name and rank." A soldier commanded her as they pulled her onto the boat.
"Rainbowdash, wielder of the Element of Loyalty." She confirmed.
"We were sent to bring in Pinkie and Shadow, not you. They will confirm your identity." He guided her into the bowels of the ship.
Rainbow had hardly entered the room when a resounding call of, "DASHIE!" pierced the relative peace of the ship interior. Pinkie tackled her in a huge hug. "OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH! I thought I wouldn't see you in like, a month!" She saw Rainbow cringing. "What's wrong!? Are you not happy to see me?"
"It's not that, I got hurt."
Shadow trotted up, "Good to see you Rainbowdash, where is James?"
Rainbowdash sighed in disgrace, shame, and regret. "I had to leave him behind. The other side of the river is crawling with Freezers, he needed to make a distraction so I could make it here. I'm sorry, but he gave me no choice..."