“Equestria to Twilight! Ya in there?” Rainbow demanded with a frown forming on her face. Twilight, who had been unresponsive for several minutes, blinked and shook her head at the sudden attention before reaching a forehoof up to her temple. Her head gave a slight throb, and there were small tendrils licking on the edges of her vision, but they were presently receding and she was otherwise fine. She slowly looked up and saw Rainbow Dash looking back at her from the open door of Fluttershy’s home with her frown gradually shifting into a look of concern. “Did you just have another flash?” she asked worriedly.
Twilight shook her head dismissively before smiling weakly at her prismatic friend. “No, no I don’t think so. Just uh, zoned out for a minute is all…” she said before letting the hoof on her temple fall back to the carpeted floor with a soft, dull thump.
Rainbow squinted at Twilight but nodded uncertainly. She didn’t pursue the topic, though, instead shifting around to nod at Fluttershy, who stood waiting just outside. She then turned back to Twilight. “Okay, if you’re sure. Anyways, you heard what I said, right?”
Twilight smiled sheepishly and looked away with a small blush forming on her cheeks. “Uh… no, I don’t think I did. Sorry?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with an amused smirk briefly tugging at the corners of her mouth before shrugging casually. “Eh. Okay, let’s try again. Fluttershy and I are going to head outside for a little bit. I’ve been working on my flying and kinda want to show off a bit. No offense or anything, but you can't fly and don’t really have much to tell me when I lift off.”
“Oh, alright. I wouldn’t mind sitting in on your, ahem, ‘performance’ if you don’t mind.” Twilight said with a spark of scholarly interest coming into her eyes. ‘I mean, like you said, I don’t know a whole lot about flying, but I imagine Fluttershy can point a few things out while you’re in the air and I’m always happy to learn new things.”
Rainbow grinned her signature grin and sauntered over to play punch Twilight in the shoulder. “Well, come on, then,” she said before shooting back outside, creating a gust as she passed. Twilight stretched out her sore muscles a bit before standing and making her way for the door. She could hear Rainbow’s voice calling out from the air outside. “I’ve got a spot in mind! Follow me!”
Twilight exited the house and fell into stride next to Fluttershy, who was currently cantering to keep Rainbow in her line of sight. The cocky filly was currently assembling a series of rings made of molded clouds from nearby strays, assembling a course for her to go through. By the time Twilight and Fluttershy arrived, Dash was already doing some stretches where they would be watching from.
“Took you fillies long enough!” She called as they drew near, her grin never leaving her face. Twilight huffed.
“Oh no, so silly of us to move at the speed of normal ponies. My deepest apologies.” She remarked sarcastically before smirking and waiting for Rainbow’s retort.
“Normal is boring, Twilight. I thought you knew that, seeing as you know everything.” came the retort, prompting Twilight to roll her eyes. Fluttershy simply giggled in response to the banter between the two.
“Well, I’m sure you’ve gotten even better at flying since I saw you last, Rainbow.” Fluttershy said with her smile widening in anticipation. “I’m so excited.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, noting how Fluttershy’s voice was quiet as can be and she looked about as energetic as normal, hidden behind her long pink mane. “You call that excited?”
Twilight looked over Fluttershy with a critical eye before smirking again. “Well, she does seem to be standing a bit taller than normal. Her wings are open, a sign of excitement among Pegasi as far as I know, and just look at the shimmer in her eyes! Yeah, she’s excited.”
Fluttershy blushed and side-stepped away from Twilight slightly from the surprise inspection.
Rainbow puffed up her cheeks. “Living up to your nickname, I see.” she said bluntly.
Twilight rolled her eyes and laughed out loud. “Oh shush and get to your routine.”
Rainbow smirked and nodded. “Heh. Alright. Hold onto something, this is gonna be awesome!” she proudly declared while finishing up her stretches and kneeling down for her opening leap. Twilight withheld her witty response and let her friend do her thing. A few seconds of silence passed before Rainbow shot Twilight a look. “What? No snappy comebacks? Lame.”
Before Twilight could even open her mouth to begin uttering a response, Rainbow launched into the air, creating a small gust of wind from the point of lift-off. For a moment, Twilight and Fluttershy lost sight of Dash before catching a glimpse of her over head. She had begun her routine and, true to her word, it was amazing. Twilight actively found her mouth hanging open. True, Dash could pull off some truly stellar moves in Canterlot, but here she had a home-field advantage of sorts.
Cloudsdale was her home, after all.
Suddenly, though, after several minutes of flying and performing astonishing tricks, Rainbow Dash let out a startled yelp when one of her wings clipped the ring she was passing through. Almost instantly she lost all control, spiraling downwards in a chaotic, haphazard free-fall. Fluttershy let out an ear-piercing shriek before darting forward, galloping in an effort to reach where Rainbow Dash was falling. Twilight, too, broke into hot pursuit. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized what was about to happen. There was a sizable gap in the clouds and Rainbow was falling right for it.
Twilight looked up towards her friend with her heart pounding in her chest. Considering the speed Dash had been going at before impact and the fact she hadn’t recovered yet, Twilight could only guess that Rainbow’s wing was hurt too much to use for flight. Twilight came to a stop at the edge of the gap and watched on in a panic. Rainbow’s panicked screams reached her ears once more.
With a grunt of effort, Twilight’s horn sprang to life. A second later, she caught Rainbow Dash in the firm grasp of emotionally charged telekinesis, gradually bringing her high-speed fall to a full stop just at the edge of the clouds. Inside the field of magic, Rainbow was screaming still, though now her voice carried a distinctly different tone.
With a gasp of realization, Twilight swiftly pulled Rainbow Dash back towards her and Fluttershy, gently set her down on the clouds a few feet away, then let go. The aura faded from both her horn and her friend, who was still letting out cries that showed no sign of abating. Fluttershy moved to try and go to Dash, but Twilight quickly put a hoof on her front to stop her. “Wait, Fluttershy…” she said simply before looking back at Rainbow.
“What?! Why? I need to make sure she’s alright!” Fluttershy grunted in protest, pushing against Twilight’s hoof, but the unicorn held firm.
“Give her a moment, please! Handling her with magic is not something I would ever do unless I had absolutely no other choice. It…” Twilight sighed and eased up on her hold on Fluttershy. “It brings back memories of… when she lost her parents. She’s liable to lash out at us if we get too close. Give her a second to calm down, okay?”
Fluttershy wilted significantly but nodded, looking past Twilight to Rainbow Dash, whose wails had steadily died down to quiet whimpers. After a few more moments, Twilight let go of Fluttershy and they both ran to Rainbow’s side. “Rainbow? Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked softly, gingerly reaching out and touching a hoof to Rainbow’s shoulder.
Rainbow flinched harshly under the physical contact before slowly moving to sit up. “Ooow… I… yeah, I th-think so…” any further words she would have spoken were abruptly cut off when she let out a pained yelp, reaching a forehoof over to her right wing. “Ack! Oh, ow that hurts!”
Twilight gave a quick glance and grimaced. “Ooh, yeah that looks bad… Okay,” she looked to Fluttershy. “Come on, help me stand her up. You have a first aid kit?”
“It’s not that bad, you guys. I’ll be- GAH!” Rainbow yelped in pain again when she tried to stand, the muscles along her side and shoulder sending another spike of pain down her wing.
“You hush,” Twilight scolded harshly before looking to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, I need you to go back to your house and talk to your parents. They can get a doctor a lot faster than either of us could.”
Not bothering to ask, Fluttershy nodded and broke into a gallop for her house. Twilight watched her go for a second before moving to Rainbow’s left side. “Okay, up we go.” she said gently while helping Rainbow up.
Rainbow grimaced but otherwise said nothing. Twilight gave her a reassuring smile before gradually guiding her back towards Fluttershy’s house. The silence Twilight was hoping for was shattered before it even started when a couple of voices started laughing. The voices of colts, condescending and mocking. Just the tone of the laugh was enough to make her coat bristle in irritation.
“Oh, no… not them.” Rainbow groaned out, letting her head drop, then wincing as the movement pulled the wrong muscles.
Twilight glanced up and saw a couple of pegasus colts flying down to greet them, their attention more on Rainbow Dash than Twilight. One was a bright orange color with a brown mane and tail with three basket balls for a cutie mark. The other was a dark brown colt with an almost white mane and tail with a dumbbell for a cutie mark.
The orange one spoke first. “Wow! First day back home and already living up to your name, eh Rainbow Crash?!” he asked with a taunting sneer. Rainbow tensed up against Twilight.
“Shut up, Hoops. Nopony asked you.” she seethed out between clenched teeth.
“Well, no, nopony asked.” The other colt started with his own smirk growing. “But hey! Who says they have to?”
Rainbow looked up at them furiously, but Twilight gave her a soft nudge to get her attention. When Dash was looking at her, Twilight shook her head. “Sit down.” Twilight urged gently before setting Dash onto her backside and stepping in front of her.
“Oh? Who's this? A unicorn? Up here?” Hoops asked in genuine shock. “Wow. I wasn’t expecting to see that today.”
“Do you even know who you’re talking to?” Twilight began in an almost casual voice, though the very slight, venomous undertone to her words was not unnoticed by the colts before her.
“Uh… no?” the other colt shrugged.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she then turned and gestured at Rainbow Dash. “And who is that?”
Hoops snorted. “Well, duh. That’s Rainbow Dash. We call her Rainbow Crash though. I think you can tell why.”
Twilight nodded slowly before making a show of thinking something over. “Okay, let’s see here… that’s two counts of a derogatory insult on Rainbow’s name, one count of refusing to bow in her presence...”
“What the hay are you blabbering on about?” Hoops asked with a frown crossing his face. Twilight shot him a glare.
“...One count of interrupting her friend…”
The brown colt was starting to look a bit worried when Twilight’s gaze looked between both of them. He turned to Hoops. “Uh, maybe-”
“Oh! And how could I forget?” Twilight let a predatory look come over her face. “Two counts of disrespecting her status by not using her title.”
Hoops recoiled slightly. “Title?”
Twilight exaggeratedly rolled her eyes before taking a step towards the two colts. “Oh, come on. Have you two had your heads in gutters for the last two years? Didn’t you ever hear about Princess Celestia’s daughter?”
“Well, yeah, of course we did. What does that-” The brown colt started before Twilight lunged so she was directly in his face, a scowl on her own.
“Do you remember the name of said daughter? Hm?”
Hoops blinked, scratching his head and thinking back. “Uh… no, not really.”
Twilight let a threatening grin cross her face. “Well, then, allow me to introduce Princess Rainbow Dash, adopted daughter of Princess Celestia and, might I add, the pony you insulted as soon as you showed up?”
The color drained from Hoops’ face. “Wh… what?” he looked at Twilight disbelievingly. “You’re bluffing.”
Twilight scowled and strutted up to him, next. “Am I? Look me in the eye and say that again. I can add a count of attempted misdirection to the list.”
There were several long moments of tense silence before the smirk spread on Twilight’s face again. “Go away and never bug Rainbow Dash again and just maybe we can ignore the impressive list of charged you’ve accumulated, eh?” for a few seconds, sweat dribbled down the two colts necks before Twilight lost her smile to a scowl. “Shoo.”
Like magic, the two colts swiftly backed away and then broke into a retreating flight, leaving Twilight and Rainbow Dash on their own, the latter gawking at Twilight like she had grown two new heads. She then lost her wide-mouthed look of shock and broke into a fit of giggles. “Y’know none of those were actual crimes, right?” she asked between laughs.
Twilight smiled before helping Rainbow back up and guiding her along. “I know; but they clearly didn’t.”
Rainbow chuckled again. “Heh. I’ve never seen you lay down the law like that before.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Awful pun aside, you’re welcome.”
The two shared a short laugh before looking at Twilight curiously. “Though, I gotta ask, what made you go about it like that? I was half expecting you t just punt them away with a magic bomb-shell or something.”
Twilight shook her head before smiling at her friend. “You needed an ego boost, I thought. Using your status to spook off those bullies seemed like a good way to go about it.”
Rainbow laughed again before speaking in a softer tone. “Well, thanks Twilight. One royal privilege I’m glad to have more than others is that I got you for a friend.”