Rainbow Dash yawned, the cool night air making her sleepy. She and her daughter Scootaloo had come to the outdoor concert to watch Lightning, one of Scootaloo’s friends, perform. The concert had wrapped up, and Rainbow decided to just relax while Scootaloo went and visited with her friend. Why not? It was a nice night.
Rainbow rolled over on the grass and looked up at the stars. Life was becoming so complicated. She realized the person she had been a year ago probably wouldn’t even recognize her. First she had rescued her mentoree Scootaloo from a neglectful mother and adopted her, adopting all the problems that came with a rushed family addition. Those problems in this case, included a strange relationship with Scootaloo’s reformed abusive father, something she would always be of two minds about. Purple Cloud really did treat the filly alright, and he had done everything necessary to reform, but no matter what, there was the hanging thought that he had hit Scoots those many years ago… Still, keeping the stallion in her daughter’s life kept her daughter happy, so, as long as no harm was coming, Rainbow let them see each other.
If that were the worst of it, Rainbow would have considered it all enough. But there was more. Several months ago Lighting Strike and Dusk showed up in town. They were two average foals, adoptees of a dragon, but that was something everyone got over time a long time. Lightning however had had unique abilities which had come from when she had been experiment on by an evil stallion named Gray. It had been believed he was dead- he wasn’t. He had stalked the little foals and raised hell in Ponyville seriously injuring Rainbow and many of her friends. After a few months of hard battles and many deaths, finally he had been killed.
Rainbow rubbed the scars on her wing where he had bitten her when they fought. She had healed, as had most of her friends… well Apple Jack still had to have a breathing apparatus, but it was compact and at least she was alive, and Twilight’s burns still covered half her body, but Rarity had found some cosmetic spells to make them all look healed anyway.
Rainbow rolled back over and sighed. Reminiscing used to be at least pleasant. She looked up and watched her daughter join the CMC in congratulating Lightning on a good performance.
She smiled, Lightning was living up to her name, yelling and jumping around at the speed of light. What she was saying was almost even audible as far away as Rainbow was, while she had no idea what the others were saying. Eventually Pinkie joined them- as if that mare could ever resist a group having fun like that.
Pinkie looked back at Rainbow, waving a hoof for her to join. Rainbow shrugged and got up as Pinkie froze in place looking at her. Pinkie then jumped in the air, gasping. She shouted at the top of her lungs “NEW PONY!” Realizing this meant someone was behind her, Rainbow looked.
A pink earth pony mare she had never seen before was standing behind her. Rainbow smiled looking at her. The new pony had a white mane and a braided white and violet tail. Pinkie moved to her so quickly to Rainbow she was a blur. “Hi! I’m Pinkie, you’re new, I know you’re new because I haven’t seen you before- I’ve seen everyone in Ponyville- we just got done with a concert, were you watching?- Lightning was performing- talented isn’t she- oh speaking of her here she comes- Lightn-“
The yellow and blue filly known as Lightning Strike shot between Pinkie and her current victim. “GET OUT OF HERE!” Electric bolts shot off Lightning’s small body and she almost barreled into the new pony, her eyes alive with fury. “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE! I HATE YOU! GO AWAY!”
“Um… hi Lightning…?” Pinkie said.
The new pony backed away from the enraged filly. She spoke up, “Lightning look I-“
A powerful bolt of electricity shot off Lightning’s body and into the air with a deafening roar, the earth around her rumbling as she screamed at the mare. “GET OUT!” A violet aura surrounded Lightning and she was yanked back.
“Lightning!” Twilight yelled at her, walking onto the scene. Lightning tried to go back but Twilight forced her to sit. “Young mare, what is going on?!”
Rainbow trotted over. Lightning was high strung, but she was usually a friendly character. She looked at the filly. Tears were streaming out of Lightning’s eyes and she continued to glare at the new mare.
The new mare swallowed and nervously walked over to Twilight. “I- actually she’s being pretty understandable right now. Maybe a tad unreasonable, but it’s hard to tell really.”
Dusk finally caught up to his sister and hugged her. Lightning started sobbing, just looking at the mare. Dusk hugged her harder, “It’s okay Lightning, she can’t hurt you now, she would have to go through Daddy and Vinyl… even me…” Speaking of Vinyl Scratch, the current caretaker of the Lightning and Dusk came trotting up herself.
Vinyl had become Lightning’s rather official mentor a while ago, but over time she had basically become the mother of both children in all but name. She checked back and forth between her foals and the new mare. Seeing Lightning in that state, she visibly had to hold herself back from attacking anyone who would dare hurt her “mentoree” like that.
Rainbow watched, keeping her distance, but yearning to know what was wrong too. Twilight walked around the foal. “Lightning, really, what’s wrong?” the alicorn asked.
Lightning swallowed as Twilight’s magic faded around her. “That’s Melony Foals, my old den mother, the mare who took care of me at the orphanage before Gray adopted me.”
“So she’s you’re old mother… kinda?” asked Twilight.
“My mom left me in the trash, moms are- I hate moms!” Scootaloo had just walked up on that line and glared at Lightning. She then stood between Rainbow and Lightning.
Rainbow tapped her daughter on the shoulder. “She doesn’t mean it, something’s wrong. Come sit with me for a bit squirt okay?” Scootaloo obeyed, Apple Bloom and Sweetie soon joining her.
Twilight nodded. “Okay, I can see you’ve got some issues with mothers, and I would advise Vinyl and your father to talk to you about that,” Twilight looked over at Vinyl on that note, who nodded back. “But this is something else. What’s going on?”
Lightning’s eyes focused a glare on the new pony that would have had Rainbow covering her face with her wings… about what it looked like the new mare wanted to do. “Her name is Melony Foals,” Lightning said. “She’s a bad pony. She kept other ponies at the orphanage from talking to me.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as all that-“ Twilight started.
“You do not know!” Dusk shouted. “She never hugged or held Lightning ever. I think I was her only friend.”
“Okay…” Twilight’s face started to look concerned.
“She’s the one who gave us to Gray.”
“She could have made a mistake…” Twilight noted.
“Easy to make mistakes when you’re that eager to get rid of someone!” Lightning accused.
“Actually she was not um, eager, to have Lightning adopted,” Dusk said. Twilight nodded, starting to relax. “When adopt… ers? Adopters? That’s the word right? Anyway, um… when they came by, she would put my friend- sister, in a closet and lock the door so no one would see her.”
Dusk and Lightning weren’t always siblings, Rainbow remembered- ‘what?!’ her mind shrieked. Twilight glared at Melony, Rainbow quickly following suit.
“Is she or is she not telling the truth?” Twilight quickly said, holding up a hoof as Rainbow got up, feeling like tackling Melony to the ground and knocking her teeth out.
“She… she’s being honest.” Melony said backing away. “What I did was wrong. I- she was different… back then she could move things with her mind… I realize now she was never that powerful and it wouldn’t matter even if she was but… I kept her from everyone… only Dusk was persistent enough to get past me… it was a horrible way to treat a person.” Everyone except Dusk started to glare at the mare, he was too busy hugging his sister. “I just came because I heard about her. I wanted to make sure she was alright. I’m really sorry for what I did…”
Twilight looked over at Rainbow. “Rainbow, go get a guard.” Rainbow spit at the ground in front of Melony.
“Gladly.” The cyan pegasus said.
Rainbow Dash took off into the air and quickly sighted a military officer. Seeing as Twilight was a princess, her palace guards were generally Ponyville’s law enforcement.
She quickly filled the stallion in and he and a partner walked briskly over to the scene. Rainbow landed again near the scene, next to her daughter and her friends.
Lightning pushed her brother away, Dusk sitting down a few feet away. The two guards flanked Melony on both sides. “I won’t fight you, can I just speak to her for a bit?” Melony asked.
“I say that’s up to her,” Twilight replied.
Lightning sighed. “Go ahead.”
Melony got on the ground and looked the foal in the eyes. “Look, kid… I can never say how sorry I am. What I did was awful. I came here to make things right. I can’t do that if they arrest me. Look I still run the orphanage and you wouldn’t want those kids to be left alone would you?” Lightning looked at the ground. “Of course not,” she held the filly’s chin and looked into her eyes again. “Listen, I want to be your friend. It’s up to you though. Look just don’t press charges okay? Give me a chance.”
Rainbow watched, seething at what she was seeing. If Melony was really sorry, why would she be trying to get out of punishment by guilt tripping a child? She was furious, but felt obligated to wait for Lightning’s response.
Lightning laid down, looking sick to her stomach. Confusion was written on her face, as she stared at the ground for a few moments. She looked back at her brother who was hoofing the ground and snorting, glaring at Melony. Lightning turned quickly from him and glared at Melony. She then shouted, “NO!”
Melony got up but Lightning flew up and into her face. “I hate you, I hate what you did, how do I know you won’t do it again, to another pony?” She looked at the guards, “Lock her up, let her rot for all I care!”
“Who taught you to be like this?” asked Melony back. “You use to be much nicer than this. I said I was sorry and you attack me? When someone says they’re sorry you accept, especially if it’s this sincere, you may not get me out of my punishment but you shouldn’t return an extended hoof with hate-“
Vinyl stepped between them, a paper floating beside her. Rainbow was about to step in herself, but she stopped herself, this was much more Vinyl’s job than hers. ‘I’ve heard enough,’ Vinyl wrote with her magic. ‘You have no right to talk to her like that. If you were so sorry, trying to use an eight year old to get out of your punishment is a wonderful way to show it. “Sorry” is a verb, not a state of being. She owes you nothing but contempt.’ She stamped the ground. ‘Pretty obvious why you’re really here. Lightning is part of my act and so ponies know her. So what you did could get around right? You don’t regret what you did, this is just damage control.'
“That’s so cynical. You’re the one teaching her-“
‘And proud of it! You wanna talk cynical, Mrs I lock up foals if they’re weird? After all that crap, you adopted her out when she was seven and just now, more than a year later, you seek her out to apologize? Anything worth noting you’ve done to fix yourself?’
“I’m not broken, I don’t need to be fixed.”
Vinyl gritted her teeth. ‘You locked an orphan child in a closet to keep her from being adopted and gave her and her best friend to a monster… guards, get her out of here before I “fix” her myself.’
The guards looked at Twilight, who nodded her head. They pulled the mare away.
As the mare was taken away the other members of the CMC moved towards Lightning, who had landed and was burying her face in her forelegs. Dusk was sitting next to her already. Scootaloo was almost to her when Vinyl shook her head. She looked at Rainbow and wrote, ‘I’m sure your daughter and her friends just want to help, but Lightning needs her family right now.’ She twisted her face, looking at the children, then back to Rainbow. ‘Can I ask a favor?’
“Shoot,” Rainbow quickly said.
‘I’m not really her family, but her dad can’t just come to Ponyville, that would cause a panic. I’ll watch the kids if you need, but can you get Lightning and her brother home? Maybe stick around until their dad shows up? I kinda doubt Lightning feels like flying home with her brother alone right now and flying isn’t a talent of mine.’
Rainbow nodded, scooping up Dusk and putting him on her back. “Can you fly alongside me kid?” she asked Lightning. The filly slowly nodded. Rainbow slowly took off, not so much for Dusk’s benefit, but because Lightning probably wasn’t in a mood to race.
(***)
The two pegasi flew slow at first, every so often Lightning blasting forward, even assisted by her powers when frustration overtook her. However each time Rainbow was able to calmly catch up to her. Rainbow was getting used to this “being the adult” thing. Another point she knew her past self would never have gotten.
The group landed inside the mouth of a large cave, the cave of the dragon Torkuda, better known to Lightning and her brother as “daddy”.
Rainbow had actually been in this cave a few times and she was starting to understand its layout. Dead ahead was Torkuda’s horde, to the left of that, was a large secondary area where Lightning and Dusk had their own room. There was even a cleft above Torkuda’s horde where the children sometimes slept when they were scared (Torkuda couldn’t sleep near them, he would crush them, but they could sleep over him).
Beyond the horde was a series of tunnels and secondary caves, but those generally didn’t interest Rainbow herself- sure interested the two siblings and the rest of the CMC though. A few times when she had been there to talk with Torkuda (share things as parents, argue about who was faster- that sort of thing-adult stuff-) the kids had spent hours exploring and playing in the tunnels.
The two siblings walked into their home, Rainbow following them. She watched as Dusk nudged his sister a few times and smiled at her. Dusk was a sweet heart; Rainbow was pretty sure that even her past self would have gotten a little emotional watching him be so caring about his sister.
Rainbow watched them when they went into their room. Lightning screamed into her pillow from a few minutes. Finally Dusk talked her into coming down and playing a game of battle clouds with him.
Rainbow smiled watching them. Dusk easily beat Lightning at the game, him being far more of sit down a gamer than his hyper active sister. However as she started losing, Lightning started visibly forgetting her problems, concentrating hard on beating him.
Eventually Torkuda came home, his daughter flying to him crying her eyes out. The dragon couldn’t hug her, but he just let her hug him as he gently petted her mane with the back of his claw. Rainbow took a few moments to appreciate what she was seeing, but soon left, knowing this wasn’t really her business.
(***)
As the cyan pegasus flew away from the cave, she actually felt pretty good. It was a warm feeling, as if she just knew everything would be all right. Lightning had a horrible past, but she would be all right now.
It called her own daughter to her head. Neglected by her mother, abused by her father- but she was surrounded by friends too right? There was always hope in Rainbow Dash’s Equestria.
Rainbow was getting tired of all these warm fuzzies however, WAAAY not like her. She flapped her wings hard and fast until she blasted forward, the trees below her and the clouds around her tearing into a blur of colors.
She chuckled to herself as she went. Maybe someday she and Torkuda really would race. She would have to go easy though- at least if the kids were around, wouldn’t want to embarrass him too bad right?
Finally Rainbow came over the main square of Ponyville, made a dead stop in mid air and dive-bombed to the ground, slipping a loop just before she would have slammed into the ground. She gently touched down, shaking her wings with pride as she did. She did notice a few stallions having trouble getting their eyes of her.
“Not really on the market boys- all the same, you’ve got good taste.” She clicked her teeth at a few of them and moved on. She started moving about the town thinking, ‘Now, where’s the squirt? Vinyl probably took them all to her place after all this time. Guess-‘ but Rainbow paused.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a small poster on the side of a fence post. It had a picture of Lightning Strike on it. She was happy in the image, a shot taken of her on stage.
Rainbow read the poster out of curiosity. “If she can do it, so can you! Don’t let a little filly show you up stallions. If a mare in your life is abusive, kick her to the curb. Protect yourself and your loved ones!”
Rainbow looked the poster up and down, but saw no indication of who made it. ‘Oddly phrased… but I get the sentiment,’ she thought to herself. ‘A little opportunistic perhaps, but if anyone can appreciate giving victims a push to help themselves, it’s gotta be me.’ She shrugged and moved on, moving towards the home of Vinyl Scratch.
(***)
On the way home Rainbow with Scootaloo had seen a number of those strange fliers, for some reason targeting male victims and female abusers. She just didn’t understand why they would target the message… course to be fair, she had seen anti abuse posters before, and usually they were targeted at female victims. A little equal time was fine in her book.
All the same, after tucking in her daughter, and, of course, reading her a Daring Do chapter (gotta raise her right!) Rainbow slept without much of a care about that. She thought about what Lightning would probably have to face in the upcoming trial of Melony for child abuse, but she was kind of separated from that herself too.
Basically Rainbow slept pretty well- so when Twilight popped into her room looking like hell, Rainbow didn’t know of anything being wrong, so she felt justified in letting her friend absolutely have it.
“THE HECK?!!!” she shouted, jumping out of her bed in her own room. “TWILIGHT! Just because you CAN teleport into my room doesn’t mean you’re allowed.”
“Sorry I’m just… kinda peeved about something okay? I need you and the others to meet me in the castle-“
“A tip, don’t teleport into their rooms- heck do that to Rarity and we’ll probably see your back side in a sling.”
Twilight visibly cringed. “Sorry, look just come okay? We’ve got to deal with something- pronto.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you when you arrive. This is going to take a lot of explaining.” She sighed. “Looks it’s pretty bad okay? I don’t know what you’re all gonna think, but I’m gonna need you to listen okay?.. Try to understand when you do... what’s going on… seeing as I’m a princess it’s kinda on my shoulders and it’s… I don’t think you’ll understand I…I…” her eyes trailed off to the left.
“Twi, I’m your friend, of course I’ll understand.” Rainbow tried to reassure, her anger about the intrusion quickly fading in the light of that comment.
Twilight shook her head. “We’ll see… the meeting starts in thirty minutes. Let’s do this quick.”