Rainbow Dash was really nervous about going back to the Wonderbolts compound. After how Soarin had screwed up her routine and gave her that wretched nickname, she wasn't sure what he would do next. Indominus gave her plenty of comfort and support as they walked Scootaloo to school. He was looking forward to what Rainbow had to say after all the Wonderbolts saw Indominus's message. Before Rainbow left, Indominus made sure to give her assurance.
"If things get overwhelming and you need some support, just keep your ring close to you. It's a reminder that you and I are one, and that I'll always be with you."
"When did you become so poetic Indominus," Rainbow asked while hugging him.
"Since the night when we danced at the Gala, my Dashie."
Rainbow promised herself that she would find a way to repay her husband for all his kind and thoughtful compliments as she took off. Before Scootaloo went inside the schoolhouse, she had to ask her hybrid father something important.
"Indominus, are you going to be ok with how the Wonderbolts are treating Rainbow Dash?" Indominus was confused by the bizarre question at first, but he remembered last night and how everypony had been so concerned for him. He nuzzled his surrogate daughter and whispered.
"I'll be fine Scootaloo, I'm just going to make sure that Rainbow will never get hurt again. If Soarin or any of them go too far, then I will take action. In the meantime, you just make sure that Rainbow doesn't let any of their bullying get to her."
"I promise daddy," said Scootaloo.
"That's my girl. Now you better get going, it's time for school. We'll be back later to pick you up."
"Promise me you'll be here this time?"
"I promise."
The dinosaurs said bye to Scootaloo as she walked into the building. Then the six of them gathered in the Everfree Forest for a meeting.
"Exactly what did you do inside that compound, Indominus," asked T-Rex.
"I simply left the Wonderbolts a message, as a warning to them should they try to hurt Rainbow or call her that nickname again."
"What kind of message," said Blue.
"I tore apart their locker room and destroyed most of the lockers, that's all." The raptors were shocked by how calm Indominus was.
"You did WHAT!?"
"You went and destroyed their property? Indominus, your actions are going to make them point the accusing hoof at Rainbow Dash. She'll take the blame for your vengeance," said Delta.
"You didn't see what I had to witness, Delta. Soarin was making everything miserable for her. He made her crash into lockers, took the wedding ring and kept taunting her with it. They even engraved the nickname onto a jacket and let serve as a reminder of a blunder that wasn't even her fault. How could I just sit there and do nothing!? I LOVE RAINBOW TOO MUCH TO WATCH HER SUFFER!!"
The dinosaurs went silent, everything Rainbow had told them last night was exactly what Indominus had seen for himself. He had watched the Wonderbolts bully Rainbow Dash and had been unable to defend her. His rage and vengeance were more than justified now.
"So it is true, the Wonderbolts really are nothing but a bunch of bullies," said Tyrannosaurus.
"I wouldn't do anything reckless without good reason, brother. Now I have to hear from Rainbow on what the Wonderbolts think of my handiwork. I even did a little number on the jacket they gave to Rainbow, by carving the symbol out and putting her real name on it."
"What sort of material did you use," asked Charlie.
"I used by own skin, by camouflaging a small portion of my scales, cutting them out and using my power to place it on the jacket."
"Wow, that's some serious dedication, Indominus, said Echo. "But if you're not going to go after the Wonderbolts now, what are you going to do in the meantime?"
Indominus was about to tell them, but he remembered that he wouldn't tell anypony about her past. He had to be as discreet as possible without making his family suspicious.
"There is another matter that I have to take care of, by myself."
"You're not planning on using the Immortal Phoenix on some undeserving soul, are you brother," said T-Rex aggressively. Indominus looked his brother square in the eyes and spoke with complete certainty.
"I would NEVER disregard what Smaug told us last night. I know now that I can't use this power freely anymore, and I don't plan on using it. As long as my anger doesn't take over, I'm the one in control. But you are right to be concerned, I hurt you guys last night and I'm still feeling the guilt of what I almost did. I'm truly sorry for attacking you all like that."
The raptors increased their size and joined Tyrannosaurus in giving Indominus a family hug. They knew he wouldn't forget that fight so easily, Indominus still had so much regret and guilt on his heart.
"We know, brother." said Rexy.
"We just don't want to see you get hurt anymore than you already have," said Blue.
"Nor do we want you to die. You're the big brother we've never had," said Delta.
"Or the father that Scootaloo has never had," said Echo.
"We don't want you to leave us Indominus. Everypony will miss you and Rainbow will be heartbroken," said Charlie.
"Thanks you guys, and I swear on my life that I will avoid using the Immortal Phoenix until I can find a way to overcome my anger."
The dinosaurs separated from their family hug, glad that Indominus wasn't blinded by hatred and anger. They split off to go on their own hunts, but Indominus took flight out of the forest, and headed for a new location. While he wasn't going after the Wonderbolts, he had other bullies to hunt down. He was on a flight to Cloudsdale, to find the bullies of Rainbow's past and kill all of them.
When Rainbow arrived at the compound, she made her way inside and headed towards the locker room. She was expecting to get another earful from her teammates, but was surprised to find none of them up yet. When she got to the entrance to the locker room, Rainbow froze to the spot in horror at the gruesome display. At that moment, the other Wonderbolts could be heard getting closer.
"What's the deal Crash, is there somethi-" Fleetfoot didn't even finish her sentence once she and the other Wonderbolts got a look at their locker room.
Most of the lockers had been smashed, destroyed or torn to pieces. Their belongings were scattered all over the floor and most of the uniforms were in torn shreds.
"What happened in here, this room was completely normal last night," said Spitfire.
"Why don't you ask the only pony that was in here last night, and possibly had a rage fit," said Soarin.
The Wonderbolts instantly glared at Rainbow Dash, who had no idea how she could be responsible.
"I didn't do any of this, I just cleaned up the compound and left last night. This room was untouched when I left."
"Was it Crash, or were you just too sore and furious from not being able to handle your nickname?"
Rainbow was appalled by Spitfire's response, even she thought that Rainbow had trashed the place. It was just like when Rainbow had been accused of sending her away to take her spot in their Canterlot show. Then Surprise called them over to a marked locker.
"Uh Spitfire, I don't think this was Crash's doing. Unless she somehow grew claws overnight?"
"What do you mean by 'claws?'"
Spitfire got her answer when she caught sight of her locker. It bore the marks of Indominus's claws and they ran right down the entire length of the locker. Soarin called her over to his locker once he saw the damage done to it, and his bore the exact same marks as Spitfire's.
"This doesn't make any sense. Whoever did this had to be a Wonderbolt, nopony else knows where our compound is located. Unless it wasn't a pony. But what kind of creature could sneak into our locker room and cause this kind of destruction?"
As Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts' confusion continued to build, they caught sight of two things that made their blood run cold. One was a pair of footprints that were right in front of the far wall of the locker room. The other was the threatening message that had blood flowing down each letter and into the footprints.
"Dear Wonderbolts,
Consider the damage done to your locker room a warning. You have provoked me by hurting Rainbow Dash.
Should any of you hurt my girl, or call her that filthy nickname again, I will be back.
Only next time, I will take the full force of my rage upon you. When I'm done, your compound will be dyed red
and your skeletons will line the runway forever. Showing what happens to those who hurt my Rainbow.
Signed,
The King With No Master"
The Wonderbolts were frozen over in terror, whatever had done this had seen everything they had done from yesterday. Some kind of animal had been spying on them, had snuck into their compound and had laid waste to their locker room, completely undetected. Such a feat had never been heard of, and that unnerved the Wonderbolts even more. Spitfire had been rendered speechless by the warning, if an animal filled a message with its own blood, it was a real danger. Soarin had an idea of who it might be, but he didn't know about the numerous spells that Indominus had received.
"What kind of creature is capable of this," asked Fleetfoot.
"How did it even know what we were doing yesterday?"
"What are we going to do if this monster decides to attack us during our routine?"
"We can't let this message intimidate us," said Spitfire. "We'll just have to be more alert from now on and keep an eye out for any signs of this 'King With No Master.' For now, we'll have to replace the lockers and get new uniforms made. In the meantime, we'll salvage what we can and continue practicing the routine."
Spitfire may have been trying to sound confident, but inside she was struggling with her own fear. Judging by the footprints that were near the message, it was an animal she had never encountered before. It looked similar to a dragon, but was far too different to belong to a big dragon. Plus, none of them ever went near the Wonderbolts compound, or knew where it was for that matter. For a new kind of animal to be this stealthy, destructive and intelligent, it was enough to get under the captain of the Wonderbolt's skin. Now she felt like her entire team would be watched and stalked by a monster.
The Wonderbolts spent most of the morning cleaning up the devastation that had been done to their locker room. The new uniforms were made quickly, but the lockers would take a day to replace, including all their belongings. The blood was cleaned up easily, but the message and footprints had been carved into the very wall and floor. They would have to bring in a crew to patch up the damage after their performance was over, until then, it would be the first thing they saw every day. Before the Wonderbolts went out to practice, Soarin pulled Rainbow aside.
"I know you had something to do with this, Crash. You sent that monster of yours to come here and wreck our place."
"I can't make Indominus do anything Soarin, and how do you even know it was him?"
"I know because what kind of monster trashes everything in the locker room, but leaves yours untouched? I don't know how he did it, but I'll figure it out somehow, and you'll be in for it."
Before Soarin left, Rainbow had one final comeback.
"You can try Soarin, but if you go too far then Indominus will have to put you in your place again. Only next time, he'll put you in the dirt with Black Death, the dragon death machine that we killed as a family."
All Soarin could do to hide his shock and anger, was to walk out of the building. Rainbow was getting ready to begin practicing herself, when she noticed something that had been covered up by the blood. She took a closer look at the message and saw that the symbol on her jacket had been smashed into the wall. A great feeling of anxiety began building in Rainbow, if the symbol was there, then what happened to her jacket. When she opened her locker and saw her jacket with its new symbol, her eyes started overflowing with tears of pure happiness.
Her suspicions were confirmed once she saw the scales shining in the light with her cutie mark camouflaged on them. Indominus had been in the locker room, he had destroyed the lockers and left the threatening message for the Wonderbolts. As Rainbow thought about everything else that had happened yesterday, it all made perfect sense. Indominus had been the one attacking the Wonderbolts during the routine, he had been defending Rainbow in plain sight, and defied the Wonderbolts with his destruction. He had done all of it, just for the sake of protecting Rainbow Dash and keeping her safe.
Rainbow held the jacket against her face as more tears began flowing out.
"Why can't more ponies be like you, Indominus," Rainbow said tearfully. "Nopony has ever done anything like this for me. You are more of a gentlecolt than I thought and deserve."
She dried her tears and admired the new design that her hybrid husband had put on her jacket. But she couldn't admire it for too long, or Spitfire would get mad. She laid the jacket back down in her locker, and put on her uniform. As Rainbow was getting ready to head out, she took a minute to look at her wedding ring. It was a reminder of everything Indominus had done for her, now it was a symbol of his complete devotion to her as a lover and husband. Rainbow was about to put it away when she thought about what Spitfire had said in regards to her ring.
"Try to avoid wearing the ring during practice. Wouldn't want you to lose it. Hey lighten up Crash, this is how things are done around here."
Rainbow made a bold decision and decided she would wear the ring during practice. However, she made sure to coat it with her power, so that it could withstand the high speeds and wouldn't get damaged if Soarin tried anythin again.
"You've done so much for me Indominus, so now I'll show my devotion to you. I hope you'll be watching me again, so I can show my devotion to you," Rainbow said to herself as she headed out of the compound.
With the Arkenstone reminding her of Indominus's unshakable love and devoted heart and giving her new confidence, Rainbow Dash was ready for whatever the Wonderbolts had in store. She was going to show them what a newbie guided by a dinosaur's love was capable of.