Late in the evening, following the infiltration of Clover Labs, Pinkie Pie sat in a rather uncomfortable steel fold-out chair with her boss lording her failure over her. It was a conference room normally reserved for boring meetings, like, super serious boring ones. No posters, no windows to the outside, not even a water cooler; just her, the table, chairs, and one supremely irate boss. Might as well be torture. A part of her brain decided it was a good time to remind her that this room was where she had planned to interrogate those rotten shadowrunners, but alas…
Her boss, a unicorn stallion whose chin had several chins of its own, leaned over the report she had put together all morning. Aside from his pale grey magic flipping through the pages, his labored breathing was the only other sound in the room.
As for Pinkie, it took every ounce of her selective self-control to keep from wringing her uniform hat. Oh no, oh no, Grape has that meanie weenie look on his face. He must have skipped his morning donuts.
“Officer Pie, let’s make sure there’s no confusion here.” The security director scowled so deeply at her his chins jiggled. The lighting seemed to cause the director’s glasses to shine in Pinkie’s eyes. “You caused extensive water damage to the central laboratory. You broke one of the geometric seals in doing so. You—”
“But Director Pommel, you said I could use them.”
Pommel lethargically moved his mirthless eyes from the pad to Pinkie Pie. “Use them, not destroy the whole damned enclosure and break open the portal to the water plane! I’ve half a mind to thank the damn thieves for closing it before they left! Do you realize just how much money you’ve cost us? Let alone that we’re going to lose our mandate with the artifact stolen?”
Pinkie Pie snorted rebelliously and crossed her forelegs. “Well, maybe if you had given me more than a broken securotron or at least a partner we wouldn’t be in this mess. I could have stopped them at the elevator if that robot actually worked! But nooo, Doctor Genome needs a new lab coat every week.”
Pommel got hot under his white collar, sweat already discoloring it. “Do you have any idea how much it costs to pay these damn researchers? Let alone their equipment replacements and to fund their projects? You’re lucky to even have the skeleton keys you oh so happen to give your pets!” Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to comment further, but Pommel slammed a hoof to silence her. “I should fire your ass, but you have bigger problems. The Princess herself has been informed about the break in.”
That had been expected, but it still brought a cold sweat to Pinkie’s brow. “Well - good!” she replied hauntingly. “She’ll see what a mess—”
“She’ll see how you bungled things,” Pommel bit back, and slammed a hoof on the table. “As I’m sure you’ve guessed, provided you can take your mind off cakes for two seconds, it was my report that got to her desk. I’ve already filled her in on everything that happened.” His scowl betrayed no joy if he was taking any. “I’ll let her decide what to do with you.”
A knock on the door heralded a pegasus sticking his head inside. “Director, the Princess’ transport is landing now.”
Pommel wheezed as he got off the table and started for the exit. “Good. I’ll be along.” He faced Pinkie before leaving, a handkerchief floated over and dabbed his sweaty brow. “You are to remain here, understand? I have no doubt the Princess would like to… debrief you personally.” Without waiting to see her reaction, Pommel departed.
With her boss gone, Pinkie’s bravado waned quickly. Not my fault that crummy ‘director’s’ whole under-the-radar plan didn’t work. Grape’s lucky I stopped that decker from frying any more of the network. A sudden need for fried food made her belly rumble. Maybe when I get out of here I’ll get some grub to forget about last night.
An hour droned by as Pinkie Pie sat in the glare of the single fluorescent light bulb. There were no windows either to distract her. Pinkie had her matrix goggles, but even she didn’t want to be caught with them on this time around. So she stewed in her own thoughts until, at random, she started imagining how to properly decorate the room for a party.
This place is B O R I N G. It needs a good partyover. Maybe some streamers along some lamps, hearths warming lights along the ceiling, ooo and a punch bowl with inferno sauce. Pinkie rested her head on a hoof, daydreaming about whatever random thought crossed her mind. A piñata? No, ponies around here are too uptight. Which is precisely why we’d need two piñatas! Dancing? It could work, but what genre? Should I get a band or just a DJ? Mmmm, maybe I should go for a bigger room instead.
Pinkie had completely forgotten about the hot water she was in until the door opened and in came not only her boss, but Princess Celestia and Regent Sunset Shimmer as well. Celestia exuded a terrible heat that was suddenly oppressive in such a tight room. Sunset Shimmer, in her tight fitting red dress, seemed completely unfazed by the heat. If one had to guess, she actually looked quite cool. The fiery colored unicorn sported a pair of smart glasses with a jaw conforming mic boom that reached to the very edge of her mouth. It was in that moment, in staring at the fierce scowl from Sunset and the frosty, impassive mask Celestia bore, that Pinkie experienced real fear. Pinkie kicked the chair out from under her so she could prostrate herself faster. “Princess Celestia. I’m honored!” Even Pinkie could tell that was the wrong thing to say in this situation, but she couldn’t take the words back now.
“Rise, Officer Diane Pie.” Celestia schooled her composure into a stalwart mask, betraying nothing. Yet Pinkie wondered if the previous scowl was for Pommel’s benefit. “From what I hear, we had a very costly break in. Given that the two of you,” Celestia used a wing to point at Pommel, “were familiar with the true value of what was stolen, I wanted to hear your account in person before I hoof this over to Investigations.”
Sunset Shimmer drifted around Celestia so she could pull one of the chairs out for the alicorn. Celestia remained standing for the moment.
Pinkie Pie was sweating bullets. “Ooofff course. I’m an open lopen book!” she offered with her head still pressed against the floor.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Celestia took Sunset’s offered seat, allowing the regent to finally claim one herself. Finally, Director Pommel wheezed as he sat down near Pinkie’s side of the table, rather than next to the Princess. “Take your seat, please.”
Pinkie hastily pulled a different chair out, rather than the original one she had, and sat down.
“Now, Miss Pie,” Celestia began as she brought up Pommel’s report on a datapad. “I want to start by saying I’m glad you are in good health. From what I hear, you were the only one who directly encountered the…” Celestia took a moment to look contemplative. “Shadowrunners, I believe they are called? And you seem none the worse for wear.”
“Yes,” Sunset Shimmer added with suspicious, slightly narrowed eyes. “The loss of the artifact is a horrendous blow, but your unscathed survival is suspect.”
That little issue hadn’t even crossed Pinkie’s mind and her sweating got worse. “I - I don’t know why they didn’t kill me. Probably the same reason they didn’t kill Fell Feather and Broken Tooth.”
“Who?” Celestia asked Pommel with an unreadable face. She saw Sunset was giving the director an annoyed, questioning look.
The greasy stallion made no show of embarrassment. “Feather and Tooth were two guards stationed at point fifty eight. They were found bound and gagged under some shrubbery.” He opted not to mention the third guard either. “Since they never saw their attackers, I only mentioned them in the footnotes.”
“In other words you were trying to save your own skin,” Celestia stated with a warning scowl. Pommel sucked in a troubled breath. “It has only been a month, Director. If I recall correctly, I warned you that part of the wall was a vulnerability.”
“It is indeed, Princess,” Sunset added with lingering distaste for the director. “But if I may be so bold, your highness, I would like to hear Miss Pie’s recount of the incident.”
Celestia hummed in agreement, her eyes zeroing in on the panicky mare. “Very well. Please, tell us what you can.”
“Yes, your majesty.” Pinkie wasn’t exactly one for calmness, so she still possessed an edge of terror in her voice. “I just want to apologize for losing the artifact, Princess. I promised to protect it and I failed miserably.”
“I will be the judge of that,” Celestia replied sharply, catching Pinkie off guard. “Let’s start from when you first noticed the intrusion.”
“Okay.” Pinkie rubbed both hooves against the side of her head, earning odd looks from Celestia and Sunset Shimmer, and an exasperated one from Pommel. “First thing yesterday morning, my Pinkie sense told me I would meet new friends that day, and I was super excited because I always love making new friends! But it was strange since I went all morning not meeting one new pony who wanted to be friends, which was really weird since my Pinkie sense is usually never wrong.”
Sunset held a hoof up for restraint. “I’m sorry, what’s a ‘Pinkie sense?’ I’m not overly familiar with shamanism.”
Pinkie nodded in understanding. “There is a lot to keep track of for sure. But my patron is Gelos. He doesn’t really do visions like normal spirits. He pokes and wiggles different parts of me. Not a lot of ponies understand his silly messages, but I do. That’s why I call it my Pinkie sense.”
A wry grin crossed Celestia’s muzzle upon hearing Gelos’ name. “How very interesting… Go on.”
“Oh yes, of course.” So anyway, by the time I had to go to work I was really mopey about not seeing any new friends. But then one of my guardian elementals — his name is Ashy Pants by the way — destroyed a camera. Ashy can be a goofy boy, but he only destroys things when he sees baddies, so that’s when I knew the shadowrunners got here.”
Sunset pursed her lips. “So you misread Gelos’ message.”
Pinkie gave a sheepish grin and giggled uncomfortably. “Yuppers. So anyway, I kinda wanted to know why they came. Were they just thieves or did they have some super-secret mission of evil? So I let them think I believed my Ashy Pants was being a bad boy. So I listened in on the PA mics scattered around the main lab trying to see if they were just there to steal whatever they could find, or if they came for the artifact in particular. But they had a decker with them, so I knew I had to confront them super quick. But I knew a decker might get her nose all over the cameras, so I outsmarted her by being sneaky sneak of my own and going through the vents.” Pinkie gave a self-congratulatory smile and nod. “And lo and behold, that’s exactly what they wanted.”
Sunset Shimmer tilted her head in abject shock. “What possessed you to allow them to breach all other security measures just to see what the runners’ objective was? Is it not your prerogative to stop intruders on sight?”
Pinkie wilted a little and tapped her hooves nervously. “Y-yes, but if I sounded the alarm, they would just run away and try again next time. Maybe even when I’m off duty. I wanted to try capturing them so we could maybe, possibly, kinda… question them for information on who was paying them?”
Pommel shifted noisily in his creaking chair. “I warned you to just follow the rules! As you can see, your highness, my security measures were more than adequate if my subordinate had just followed proper protocol!”
Celestia cast a withering glare at Pommel to silence him before adopting her more motherly, stern expression. “You both have a point. So tell me, Miss Pie. How exactly did you think you could capture… how many criminals did you say there were?”
“Uhh, four, your highness.” Pinkie shrank under the others’ hard stares. “I thought that I could use the caged elementals to take care of the shadowrunners if I locked them inside the lab with an earth wall. Now I know what you’re thinking!” Pinkie nearly shouted as soon as she saw a frightful worry cross the other mares’ faces. “There’s no way I was touching the toxic ones. It’s enough baaaaad mojo already just keeping them there.”
While both Celestia and Sunset visibly relaxed, it was Sunset who spoke up. “Glad to hear it. The disruption would have made any efforts to purify them all the more difficult. Please, continue.”
“Yes sireeno!” Pinkie saluted playfully before she could catch herself. She sweated a bit in embarrassment and jumped right into talking before she could freeze up. “My whole plan still could have worked if the securatron stationed in the entry port to the lab was actually functional. Plus, once I verified the runners were after the artifact, I went to call for backup while they were busy with the watery gits, but that no good decker took the comms down.”
Sunset leaned back in her chair, and used her magic to pull the report up close so she could read it. “That’s quite the initiative. Forgive me for being blunt, but that’s a rare trait for somepony of your… position. What did you do before being assigned to this facility?”
“Oh, I was a city detective for Ponyville for three years. But umm.” Pinkie averted her eyes, not wanting to continue. Yet this was the Regent, and she would want the truth. “A lot of the clues and leads Gelos sent my way were great evidence, and should have won like a gazillion cases, but most of the ones I got were thrown out in court. All because the judges had it out for me, the bunch of corrupt meanies.” Pinkie looked up at the Princess and spotted Sunset had stood up to whisper into the ageless mare’s ear. Pinkie wasn’t sure what to say, so she kept her mouth shut.
“I see.” Celestia lost her neutral mask for a grim one. “You are not the first to mention the degradation of that city’s judges. I think a formal investigation is long overdue. For the moment though, I’m curious to know how exactly you planned to subdue four shadowrunners by yourself.”
Pinkie felt a little vindication out of the whole situation, if only because of Celestia’s desire to bring those dastardly judges to heel. Ha, I’ll be watching the news for that cowpie for months. Bunch of rotten judges, oh I’m going to need a truck of popcorn for that one. “Weeell, I didn’t actually want to try fighting them all by myself. I figured since I was allowed to use the caged elementals for my job, I’d get the water elementals to help out. I already mentioned the toxics were off the party planner. Same with the fire buddies since they just go willy nilly burning all the evidence. Let me tell you, I’m never bringing any more of those hotty heads to a crime scene ever again!
“So anyway, I wanted to use the stonies, but they had two unicorns on their team, and that means they could just shove stone-muscle back and let the other two evildoers come after me. So I figured the slippery goopy elementals were the sure thing. Unicorns have a real hard time grabbing water, and the planes-water would keep the elementals healthy and they would sink back into the water to heal instead of going back to the elemental plane.”
Celestia had a pleased look on her face. “An excellent display of lateral thinking. In fact, I—” Celestia stopped when a personal alert pinged on her visor. “In fact, I have very little time to spare, I’m afraid. Coming here was not on today’s itinerary, and I have delayed other matters long enough.” Celestia got up and briefly fixed Pinkie Pie with a warm, regal smile. “I hope to see big things from you in the future.
“Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia called out, making the regent stand at attention. “Be sure Miss Pie is suitably rewarded for a pony of her talents.”
“A prudent decision, your highness.” Sunset gave a sour look towards Pommel. “What should I do with the management?”
Pommel tensed, yet couldn’t bring himself to speak out, and risk interrupting the Princess.
Celestia looked down her nose at the plump stallion. “I’ll leave him to you. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Without further ceremony, Celestia teleported away in a flash of solar fire that washed over everyone.
A ring of burning carpet was all that remained. Pinkie and Pommel instinctively shrunk back at the fiery display. With a slight frown, Sunset wasted no time in casually summoning a frost spell to put it out. She then returned her focus to the other two ponies with a humorous drone in her voice. “Director Pommel. While your incompetence enabled the theft to occur, your other security measures would have picked up the slack had Miss Pie alerted the compound upon detecting the intrusion. As such, I will not be taking your job.” The stallion sagged in his seat, and Pinkie started sweating again. Sunset had not betrayed much approval for Pinkie outside of seconding Celestia’s previous observations. “Instead I will be adding a formal reprimand to your record for failing to properly address the Princess’ concerns. You can blame Miss Pie all you wish, but in the end, it was your insufficient actions that contributed to this disaster. I will also be contracting a security expert to reevaluate the facility. You are to follow his or her directives to the letter. Am I absolutely clear?”
Pommel sent a withering glare at Pinkie Pie before nodding in submission. “Crystal, Regent.”
“Good. You are dismissed.” Sunset waved Pommel away, completely ignoring his existence to silently focus on Pinkie Pie.
Pommel had the wits to know any counter-argument would be foolhardy in the extreme based on Sunset’s stony, impassive expression. Shoving himself to his hooves he departed, leaving the two mares alone. He did, however, linger near the door to give Pinkie Pie a baleful glare.
Once the door clicked behind him, Pinkie Pie was trying to whistle in order to calm down, but was failing miserably in both. “So ahh, what happens with me?”
“A very good question.” Sunset waved a hoof as she often did on camera during a speech. “On one hoof, you disobeyed protocol and paved the way for the shadowrunners to escape with a priceless, irreplaceable artifact. One that falls to me to see that it is returned. On the other hoof, you’ve shown skills and initiative that is sorely going to waste. Or at least that is the image I’m seeing if your account on the incident is the truth.”
“I may be a cupcake short of a bender, but I wouldn’t lie to you,” Pinkie claimed with earnest nodding.
A brief wrinkling of Sunset’s brow was the only sign of her trying to make sense of Pinkie’s statement. “You had best be right. Right now I need something from you. Information, to be exact. Did you discover anything useful about the shadowrunners? I will need anything you can give me to pass along to my intelligence agents.”
“Oh, ahhhh… Lemme think, lemme think.” Pinkie rubbed behind both ears and tightly closed her eyes. “It was four mares: two unicorns, an earth pony, and some other tribe, I can’t be sure. They have got to be a long standing team or even personal friends, rather than four random hires for a single job. One of them called the decker ‘Diamond’ when I shot up her cyberdeck. Most baddy teams I’ve seen only get angry if you conked out a friend, not a one-run ally. That is double wobble clear they’re actual friends since they didn’t leave the decker behind when they fled, even taking her broken deck with them. Temporary shadow teams just about never take a fallen buddy with them.”
Sunset let a hint of disgust color her words. “They think it’s safer to run away , rather than risk sticking around to save somepony that doesn’t know them.”
Pinkie nodded in full agreement. “It’s a fact!”
“Diamond…” Sunset parroted to herself. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Her glasses returned nothing on the police database, yet when it came to shadowrunners, that was expected. “The name doesn’t sound familiar. Plus I think you might be jumping to conclusions a little. Taking the decker and other evidence could just mean they are competent and didn’t want to leave anything that could be traced back to them.”
Pinkie shook her head. “I don’t knooow. I can’t shake the feeling they were all super besties. At least as besties as meanie crooks can be,” she ended with a pout.
“It warrants attention at any rate then. What about that one pony you mentioned. Can you not identify her tribe?”
Pinkie rubbed her neck, looking up at the ceiling while she tried to recall. “I think she wanted me to believe she was an earth pony. But my right ear kept twitching when I was fighting her. And that means she’s being super ninja deceptive. Well, that and she was wearing a full body robe and was trying super hard to hide her face. Buuut thanks to the ear twitching, I stretched reeeeally hard to see under her hood and I saw a pair of fangs in her open mouth. So I’m guessing she has some body mods, tattoos, or scars that would make her ultra- easy to identify. But what I thought was giga weird, she fought like an adept, but could also use spells like a mage. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anypony being able to do that.”
Sunset narrowed her eyes at the last statement. “An adept using mage magic? That is very curious indeed. Beyond rare to be sure, but not impossible.” A scowl marred her face for a moment. “I think I’ve heard enough.” Sunset’s expression softened to be noticeably friendly. “I have a proposition for you.
“Due to a recent operation that did not end smoothly, there is an opening in the Crown Intelligence Agency Section Nine. The one I personally oversee. I’m willing to offer you an associate position as our newest investigator. Are you interested?”
Pinkie tilted her head and furrowed her brow in bewilderment. “You’re offering me a job? Nooot exactly what I thought a reward would look like it. I was thinking at least some cake, or doughnuts, or at least a can of whipped cream.”
A shadow of utter confusion passed Sunset’s face before she replaced it with reassured confidence. “The way I see it, Miss Pie, is you have three options. You can stay here at Clover, and end up getting fired by Pommel as soon as he feels safe to do so. You can quit and try your luck on the career market without a black mark on your job record, or… you can sign up with Section Nine and earn enough pay to get all the cake and doughnuts you can eat.” Sunset Shimmer betrayed a concerned side-frown.
“Well, I guess I could…” Pinkie looked up and rubbed the back of her left ear thoughtfully. “But only if I can bring in cakes and cookies into the office. I really, really, wanna open up a bakery one day, and I need the practice.”
Sunset was taken aback by the request, but ended up smiling warmly gratitude. “I think that would be a welcome idea.”
Pinkie Pie grinned madly. “Really? Then sure I’ll help out!”
“Glad to hear it.” Sunset’s magic entered a few commands into her glasses, and typed in a few quick messages. A second or so later, a stallion walked through the door.
At first, Pinkie thought he was a bat pony, what with his fangs, fluffy ears, cat eyes, and leathery wings. He was wearing a form fitting dark brown jumpsuit that blended in perfectly with his equally dark brown fur. His silvery mane stood in stark contrast. The last thing Pinkie noticed was the plethora of scars all over his face and a few on his wings. Golly wheeze, Gelos, this guy’s been through a blendy blender. I bet he has loads of scars under that suit.
“This is Special Combat Agent Flintlock,” Sunset introduced as she stood up. “He’s my most trusted confidant among the Nightborne.”
Flintlock gave Pinkie a crisp, curt nod of acknowledgement. “A pleasure, Miss…?”
A new friend!! Pinkie Pie rounded the table before Sunset or even Flintlock even noticed she had moved, and appeared next to Flintlock like an apparition. Her abnormally massive smile put them both on edge. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! It’s so good to meet a new friend! You’re at least twelve hours late, by the way. We need to throw a party! I’m thinking streamers with bat hooks for you and all your—”
“We are not bat ponies.” Flintlock said with what at first sounded like a simple statement. However, the undercurrent of hateful loathing forced Pinkie to back off a step, her smile vanishing. “Those in my tribe are called thestrals.”
“Now, now,” Sunset chastised him with a casual, friendly tone as she patted Flintlock on his back. “Try not to blame our new associate for her ignorance. It’s not like we’ve made thestrals common knowledge… yet.”
Flintlock’s jaw clenched, yet he managed to shrug off his ill mood. “Forgive me, Regent, Miss Pinkie Pie.”
With those magic words Pinkie Pie’s smile lit up like a solar flare. She shoved herself in between Sunset Shimmer and Flintlock, squeezing them both into a massive hug. “All is forgiven! We’re going to have parties and catch bad guys all the time, oh this is going to be so much fun!”
Sunset nearly growled at being manhandled so hard by Pinkie’s hug, and tried in vain to free herself. Yet Pinkie’s iron grip kept the regent rooted in the group hug. “I hope I didn’t just make a mistake.”
Flintlock was inches from punching the bubbly pink mare while shooting Sunset an immensely displeased scowl. “Trust me, you have.”
The Dash household was scattered about the living room and kitchen. The fading smell of noodles and soy beef tickled their noses. Winter Glen languished at the coffee table with his matrix goggles on. He was going through the myriad of stolen or forged SINs to change Celestia’s most recent payment into cyptocurrency so he could pay their debts. Celestia had been generous enough, but her money was traceable and nearly useless to the SINless unless they knew how to launder it. Fortunately, Winter did, but it was still not a quick process.
Rainbow Dash was laying down on the floor with Amber Lotus and Sparks draped on top of her. Each of them also had their matrix goggles on, but were inside a virtual classroom. A classroom of Rainbow’s design. Chalkboard? Please. Desks? Forget about it. Homework…? Eh, can’t really help that with homeschooling and all. Instead, Rainbow’s classroom was a giant cloud with a brilliant star-filled night sky. All of it framed the full moon that rested just above Rainbow’s head and faced the five-year-old twins.
Rainbow felt a warmth in her chest as the two little thestrals marveled at the night sky. Teaching them to walk, how to fly, and them beginning to read all made her give off a motherly glow. All of that stopped when she had to take Winter’s place as the family shadowrunner. These short moments gave her the chance to forget it all. No mafia, no loan sharks, no surviving on little more than soy food, and no SINlessness. For the longest time, Rainbow was happy to just bask in her children’s company as they admired the stars. There had always been something magical about the night sky to her, in a way the daylight never was. Ever since her first memory of the stars back on those distant suburbs of Cloudsdale, she had often stayed up late to enjoy the crisp night. It had often led her to nap constantly throughout the day.
Rainbow might have stayed with her children all night if she had not been looking at the stars herself. After several minutes of absent observation, her trained mind started to look for constellations and landmark stars, yet something seemed off about them.
Her brow furrowed as Rainbow started to actually pay attention to the constellations. What in the…? Why are the stars different around Mother Moon? Rainbow blinked a few times to bring up the menu, and scanned a few settings. That’s just weird. The stars are still set to match the real night sky. A simple and obvious solution made her dismiss the menu with a miserable sigh. I’ve been in Canterlot for too long. Can’t see the stars with all the light pollution, and now I’ve forgotten where they are. I need to get out of the city for a while, but how can I afford to?
Resolving to rectify that little issue later, Rainbow stood up and addressed Amber Lotus and Sparks. “Alright, you clowns,” she began like the crack of a whip, bringing the little ones to attention. “What was daddy teaching you last time?”
Amber Lotus was the first to rip her gaze from the stars. “We were learning - um - I think it was odd and even numbers.”
Sparks spun around on his seat to properly face his mother. “And he was showing us what bugs look like up close. The worms were really nasty and cool looking! Do think they taste good too? Ooh can we eat real bugs next time, pleeeease?!”
Amber gagged with enough flair to make Rarity proud. “Eeww, you want to eat worms?! Mommy, Sparks is being groooss.”
“Am not!” Sparks stomped his hooves. “They’re like noodles, right momma?”
Rainbow laughed warmly and scuffed up her son’s mane. “How about this. I’ll go find a worm next time I’m out shopping, and you can eat it then? Deal?”
“Awesome! Can you go tomorrow? I promise to be good!” His wings buzzed with so much excitement he lifted off the ground.
Rainbow blanched at the response. Oh crap, I thought he was just saying that to tease Amber. “Um, I’ll check to see if they are selling any, but worms are kinda rare.” She glanced at her daughter, who was pointing her hoof at her mouth and still making exaggerated gagging noises at her brother. Whew, at least one of my kids is normal. “But I better not hear of you digging some worms up, young stallion, because - ah - those worms will make you really sick. Actually, I’ll get your dad to do it. Mommy’s probably got to work tomorrow.” The thought of another assignment caused the statue of the scientist she saw from the technology park to ring out in her mind. Good job, brain, I needed a distraction. “By the way, has daddy taught you anything of our tribe’s history at all lately?”
Sparks looked around a bit before shaking his head. “Nuh uh.” Amber parroted her brother.
“Do you at least know who Shining Light is?” Rainbow asked with annoyance tinting her voice.
Amber Lotus noticed her mother’s darkening tone and turned to face her as well. “Umm… he’s the big stallion on TV?”
Rainbow could hardly blame children for ignorance of what should be common knowledge for them. “Well then, consider this a quick lesson that you should never ever forget so long as you live! Shining Light is the scientist who cracked the problem on why our tribe died off after the Second Awakening. He was also the scientist that personally watched over me. Without his work, we still wouldn’t exist. ” Rainbow fumed inwardly at the lack of any visual aids. I wish I had a picture of him, and I can’t draw him to save my snout. Thinking quickly, she leaned down so she was eye level with her kids. “Without him, you wouldn’t be here.”
“That’s neat,” Sparks replied with only blank, forced enthusiasm. Amber Lotus mirrored similar sentiments, earning a scowl from Rainbow. Comprehension was at an all time low.
“One sec.” She lifted up her goggles to stare daggers at the poor stallion still going over the bills. “Hey, Layabout, why haven’t you taught Thing One and Thing Two about Shining Light?”
Winter was actually glad to have an excuse to pause his work, even with an irate wife glowering at him. He removed his goggles and tiredly rubbed his eyes before giving her the haughtiest, humorless grin she had ever seen on anyone outside of the palace district. “My dear madam, the students are only in the equivalent of first grade. Anypony who’s anypony in the education district knows you at least wait until second grade to start history lessons. If you have any complaints, I suggest you direct them to the school board.”
Oh, I love this game. Rainbow said a few words to the children to make sure they knew mom was not mad at them, and she left them to admire the stars. All they ended up doing was bickering over which constellation Mother Moon thought was best. Rainbow abandoned her goggles and shimmied onto the couch beside her husband, giving him a scowl that threatened to crack in a prankster’s smirk. “Well, seeing how you are the only teacher, that would make you the board now wouldn’t it?”
Keeping up his professional aloof façade, Winter Glen made a show of putting his goggles back on. “I’ll have you know such proximity could be construed as harassment.”
“Then consider yourself harassed.” Rainbow Dash batted her eyelashes with a predatory, fang-filled grin. She flicked her tail in excitement, and her heart pumped harder.
Winter cracked an eye open to see what she was doing, and grinned at the display. He almost made the mistake of perking up for a kiss when internal alarm bells started ringing. It was too little, too late.
Rainbow Dash tackled Winter with a ferocious roar, causing the stallion to yelp out of surprise. Rainbow bit down on Winter’s neck, making sure to give anything vital plenty of distance. “Your blood is mine!”
“Not if I take yours first!” he challenged with a playful snarl. With Rainbow latched onto the base of his neck, he was able to pull around and bite her mane, catching just a hint of fur. More growls and false gasps of pain drew the attention of the children.
Most other kids their age might be fearful of their parents wrestling and biting, but of course, they were Rainbow’s children. So with high pitched war cries of their own, they joined in, biting away at their mom and poor father. The children were quite aggressive about it, nipping at their parents until a wing or tail swatted at them before diving in for more fun.
The thestral family rolled off the couch, but the sudden drop panicked the adults into kicking each other apart in order to keep the children from being crushed between them, the couch, and the close coffee table.
Rainbow Dash’s sudden maternal panic abated when all she heard was childish squeals and laughter. Sparks had ended up being flung onto the coffee table and was looking down at his mother who was on the carpet. “Again! Again!”
“We’ll do it again only if you two chi flow,” Rainbow offered with a proud smile. She pulled herself up, and helped Winter Glen do the same since his limp was keeping him down longer than she felt comfortable with. She pulled Amber off her father’s back and put her on the table next to her brother. “All ponies need to be able to defend themselves, and we thestrals are best with using chi. It’ll come naturally if you focus.”
“But why?” Sparks asked innocently enough.
Winter wrapped a wing around his wife and stood firm beside her, adding his fatherly weight to the command. “Because it’s how we - erm - how we were made by Mother Moon,” he lied roughly, but the children had no reason to disbelieve him.
“But why?” Amber parroted with her brother.
“Because we used science to make us that way,” Rainbow said with a bit of irritation. “Now why don’t you get to it before I forget to make pudding tonight.”
That was all the convincing the foals needed to scramble for the matrix goggles. Sparks started pestering his sister over who would get the closer of the two goggles, but that was an argument the parents were more than happy to leave the foals to. He placed his head protectively over Rainbow’s. The mare sighed contentedly and nuzzled his jaw and neck.
Winter’s touch and warmth against Rainbow felt more like summer than what his name suggested. In her mind’s eye, Rainbow remembered Winter in his prime, before their exile. The wing he hugged her with lacked the same restrained power it once did, but not in Rainbow’s memories. By pressing herself against him, she could feel his muscles were smaller now. Injury and raising the children in hiding had a way of eroding even the most resilient. And yet she could feel what strength he still possessed and fought to maintain. A lesser mare might have started to feel her love wane from such a loss. Rainbow had seen as much from a few jobs. Stupid mares never know what they’ve got until they throw their coltfriends away.
Winter frowned a bit after noticing how tense Rainbow had gotten all of a sudden. “Are you okay, hon?”
Remembering where she was, Rainbow pulled herself out from under her husband, but she couldn’t shake the hostility she felt after thinking about so many disloyal mares. “Yeah, yeah,” she ran a hoof through her mane, only for the hair to settle right back to where it was before. “Just thinking about idiot ponies.”
A teasing smirk crossed Winter’s face. “I hope I’m not on that list.”
Rainbow felt a derisive grin take form. “If you were, I’d let you know first thing.”
“See, that’s why I love you. You don’t play silly games like ‘guess the offense.’”
Rainbow tried her best to hide her good humor with a supremely arched eyebrow. “I hope that’s not the only reason.”
“I don’t have all night to list the reasons you are the love of my life,” Winter replied with a ‘cometh hither’ leer. “Come on, I’ll get the noodles cooking if you want to start the dessert.”
Dinner was about as Rainbow expected; soy noodles in a well-seasoned broth with chocolate pudding for later. Any hope that Winter had been able to surprise them with something healthier vanished the moment he took out the box of noodles. The family sat around the coffee table in moderate silence. The foals were slurping their noodles without a care about the mess they made. The table, their faces, and parts of the carpet were being constantly sprinkled in broth. Both of them had eyes for only one thing: mom’s specially made pudding.
The parents filled the air with safe, idle chatter or answered questions from the little ones. It was nearly time for dessert when Twilight Sparkle arrived from Fluttershy’s garage. The feathered mare was wearing one of Fluttershy’s spare jumpsuits which was covered in all sorts of oils, lubricants, and soot. Yet despite that, she had the happy smile of a job well done plastered on her muzzle. “You would not believe the backlog Angel has on her clients’ drone repairs.”
Fluttershy tried to enter the kitchen behind Twilight, but the unicorn was standing right in front of the already narrow door. She stretched her neck as far up as she could to look inside. “Excuse me, please.” Fluttershy said meekly with her ears wilted.
Twilight completely missed the request, but moved inside so she didn’t have to raise her voice to be heard in the living room. “Oh, I haven’t had that much fun in ages. The palace staff usually get their hooves on broken stuff before I get a chance to try repairing it. A car, bots, and that odd cyberdeck, oh how I wish I could do it all again.”
Finally able to stand beside Twilight without having to bump into her, Fluttershy gave an honest smile at the thestral family. “She was a lot of help. I’ll be able to make Synsteel’s deadline now.”
“See, Speedy? I knew the purple one would make a great addition.” Winter called out with a grateful smile and lightly jabbing his wife. He was usually the one who helped Fluttershy on two-pony repair jobs, yet he still had no skill with a wrench. He pointed a wing at the pot of noodles on the kitchen counter. “Why don’t you gals have some dinner? It’s not much, but it’s filling.”
Fluttershy nodded and whispered words of gratitude.
Twilight carefully walked over to the noodle pot and levitated some out, but otherwise stayed out of the way so Fluttershy could take her meal. The unicorn born with a silver spoon in her mouth sniffed the soy heavy strand of ‘food’ hovering before her. Yet she couldn’t help but cringe at the actual taste of it.
While Fluttershy and Winter were occupied with each other or the children, Rainbow Dash was the only one paying any attention to Twilight. She watched Twilight mirror all the same signs of disgust at low class food that Rainbow remembered the first time she had to eat such food. “It goes down easier if you hold your nose.”
With a nod in acknowledgement, Twilight did as instructed and managed to swallow the noodle without retching. An improvement at least.
Poor rich girl was at least smart enough to order extra to-go boxes from the Slayer Club, but leftovers don’t last forever. Remembering the Slayer Club also beckoned memories of the heist from Clover Labs and Twilight’s abysmal spellcasting ability outside of a dragon line. She leaned over to Winter and whispered to keep the foals from getting interested. “Hey, you mind if Twiggles takes Boomstick for a run? We can return it once we have the scratch to buy her a gun of her own.”
Rainbow had told Winter every detail of the run. He didn’t need to think long on it. “I was worried you were going to suggest that. If she does, I can’t really defend the house without it.”
Guilt stung Rainbow Dash when her eyes couldn’t stop from glancing down at the large shotgun scar on Winter’s throat. “Right, sorry. I figured the pay from the other night would have covered us, but that all went into getting Rarity a new datajack.”
Winter scratched his scarred neck without thinking. Embarrassed, he forced his hoof back down. “How about this. We see what sort of job the Princess has for us next, and we’ll see if you need Fluttershy or Twilight more.”
Twilight Sparkle’s ears perked at her real name being used, here where everyone felt safe. She smiled a bit at the show of trust. She only wished she could say as much.
“Sounds fair. I better get her familiar with it if she does end up coming. Your job is making sure the clowns save some pudding for me too.” Sharing a quick kiss with him, Rainbow took her empty plate with her to the kitchen. By then, the starving unicorn gave up on trying to deny her hunger and claimed a heap of noodles for herself. “Hey, Twiggles, meet me upstairs, alright?”
“Did I do something wrong?” Twilight asked, making a show of eating another bite of noodles, even if she still couldn’t hide her distaste for the food. A part of her was saddened that Rainbow had not demonstrated the gesture of trust her husband had. Fearing she may have insulted the mare’s cooking, Twilight was quick to add, “I - I’m sure your cooking is only being held back by these miserable ingredients.”
Rainbow blinked at the off-topic remark. “Suure, of course it is.” Rainbow rolled her eyes and made for the door. “We need to plan how you’re going to fight, and I don’t want to do this in front of the kids.”
“Oh. Of course. Sorry.” Giving a parting wave to Fluttershy and the foals, Twilight followed after the thestral mare. The plate of noodles floating after her.
Rainbow climbed up the curving exterior staircase to the third floor. This was perhaps her favorite part of the house. The expanse of Canterlot stretched out before her, a sea of glittering lights, the bright half-moon hanging above them all. The view wasn’t as good as it had been from the palace, but it was good enough for her current lot in the world. Upon hearing Twilight exit the kitchen, Rainbow Dash didn’t want to be seen reminiscing and marched onward to the upstairs.
The top floor was divided into three rooms, the receiving hallway, the bedroom and a single bathroom. The hallway had been repurposed into the master bedroom after the large take-off balcony had been incorporated into the new bedroom. The remodeling was haphazard at best, with the flooring still split between the carpeted hallway and the cloudcrete former balcony. The master bedroom opened straight into the bathroom and the kids’ room. The parents’ bed had a large headboard that had some heavy steel plates bolted on as a makeshift bullet screen if the house was ever invaded. Rainbow stepped around the bed and walked over to the chest of drawers to look for the weapon.
Twilight was not far behind. Since she had to sleep in the living room, this was her first time in the upper floor. The purple mare was a bit surprised by what she found. The bed was crisply clean, with the sheets made to military precision. The only clutter on the ground were children’s toys that had creeped out of their room. A small collection of robes hung on the far wall, and a mirror on the opposite side. Twilight’s attention was brought to the chest of drawers when she heard Rainbow growling to herself as she pulled each of the large, long ones open and rummaged around.
“Gah, he always does this. Where did he hide it this time?” Rainbow gave up on the drawers and started looking under the bed before moving on to the wooden wardrobe that kept all of the dresses and suits Rarity had made for them.
Seeing how Rainbow had neglected to tell Twilight anything was off limits, the unicorn drifted over to the chest of drawers once Rainbow had moved on. Twilight used the distraction to shovel as much food in her maw as possible, thus making it more palatable. There were several cheaply framed pictures on display, utterly crowding the top of the chest. Twilight smiled as each one showed the family enjoying each other’s company, while others were pictures of the kids acting utterly silly. The perfect blackmail for the day when the little ones started bringing over colt or fillyfriends.
Twilight glanced over at Rainbow who was carefully pushing the dresses aside looking for the weapon, then went back to looking at the pictures. In between the tangle of family pictures, towards the back, Twilight spied the edge of a sky blue ear, rather than the dark hue of blue that Rainbow had now.
Using her magic to carefully extract the picture, Twilight discovered the picture was of a much younger Rainbow Dash and Winter Glen. Only that they were both pegasi. Winter had the cropped mane that was only just starting to grow back. Rainbow was in a graduate Wonderbolt recruit uniform. Rainbow was leaning heavily on Winter who was trying to stand up straight. She was giving him a daredevil grin, which he answered in kind. They also had one of each other’s feathers tied into their manes, a sign of marriage engagement among pegasi.
Yet what really gave Twilight a worried frown was the two messages written in pen next to each pony. The one next to Rainbow read “In Loving Memory”, while the message next to Winter said ‘See you next time cowfilly’ in different mouthwriting.
“Did I say you could look at that?!” Rainbow demanded from behind Twilight. The thestral didn’t even wait for Twilight to jump in surprise before racing up and yanking the picture out of Twilight’s magic. Rainbow yanked a drawer open, gently placed the picture inside before slamming it closed again. She gave Twilight a spiteful glare. “Keep your mitts off, got it?”
Twilight found her voice a moment later. “Sorry, I didn’t think you’d have anything so sensitive out in the open.”
“It’s my bedroom,” Rainbow half growled. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to yell again, but Twilight painfully apologetic face kept her from further speaking her mind. “Just keep your magic to yourself. Now here!” Rainbow grabbed the weapon she had dropped upon seeing Twilight looking at the picture, and shoved it into Twilight’s chest for her to grab it. “You know how to use a shotgun right? Or did you only learn magic up there?”
Twilight looked down at the proffered weapon and claimed it with her magic. She had no clue as to the manufacturer or the model, but she could at least identify a pump action shotgun when she saw one. “I practiced with a few during self-defense classes. I always preferred scatter swords myself, but I can try this out.”
“A scatter sword?” Rainbow replied with a thread of contempt replacing anger. “This isn’t some sports arena, Twiggles. If you’re hard up on using a sword, then use a real sword.”
Now it was Twilight’s turn to be irked, but she managed to contain it in a mild scowl. “Scatter swords can be just as lethal as regular swords, thank you very much. You’ve never seen my personal one back at the palace.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow poked the shotgun just hard enough to make it rock in Twilight’s telekinesis. “Well, good luck getting the thing now. The Princess would need to dream up some serious winger of an excuse to move that piece, if it exists. But for now, what you see is what you get.”
A defeated frown marred Twilight’s face, and she sighed heavily. “Fine. Point made.” She rotated the weapon to inspect it, only for her ears to wilt in expected disappointment when she discovered it was not designed for unicorn use.
Rainbow eyeballed the unicorn for a few moments, seeing if Twilight was being honest with her. Rainbow continued once she was satisfied. “Look, I know the shotgun doesn’t have a kickback crystal, but you’re just going to have to deal with it until we have the bits for an actual unicorn weapon.”
“I’ll manage.” Twilight tried to put on a friendly, if only to shrug off the melancholy that threatened to take root. “I may not have a lot of options outside of a dragon line, but my telekinesis is better than most. I can handle the kick well enough.” Twilight grimaced at the weapon. It looked worn with multiple scratches along the butt of the weapon and a long groove along the barrel, presumably made by a claw or sword. It was a weapon not meant for her. “I’ll take good care of it.”
“You’d better. That’s Winter’s gun.” Rainbow fished out a box of shotgun shells from one of the drawers and presented it to her guest. “Until the Princess pays us for the next run, you’ll have to settle for the basic stuff we have.”
“That’s fine.” Twilight claimed the ammo box and stuck it in one of the many large pockets on the jumpsuit she wore. “Princess Celestia should be contacting us soon. I’d really like to take a shower before she sees me all greasy.”
Rainbow shrugged in disinterest and jabbed a leathery wing at the bathroom. “Sure, not like I need one.” She noticed Twilight looking around the room, unsure of where to put her plate. “I’ll take your food downstairs. I’d rather not give the roaches a reason to crawl around up here.”
“You have roaches?” Twilight’s ears perked up in a panic, but she was able to peaceably give Rainbow the plate and cautiously approach the bathroom. “How is that even possible in a cloud home?”
“Don’t know or care how, only that they can. As for having them here, not yet, and I’d like to keep it that way,” Rainbow replied with a bit of self-imposed embarrassment. Ugh, why did I have to mention that? Twiggles doesn’t seem like the slob type anyway.
“Oh, okay, that’s fair.” Not wanting to waste any more time, Twilight bolted for the shower. “I’ll be out soon.” As she walked off, Twilight started muttering about researching cockroaches and cloud walking.
With Twilight gone, Rainbow’s defensiveness bled out of her. Her eyes drifted back over to the sea of pictures and then back to the drawer she had hid the one missing from the rest. Rainbow carefully put the plate down on the floor and gently took the picture out of the drawer and stared for a good long time at the sky blue pegasus with a devilish grin.
Grief and regret warred within her the longer she looked at the pegasus mare. A part of her, the cowardly part in her eyes, wanted to look away from this painful image, but her pride and loyalty kept her gaze fixed. “Well, here I am, serving the crown for real again. I hope you can still look at me with pride, If only a little.” Rainbow sniffled, and got irritated upon finding her face was getting damp with a few tears. “Ugh, I hate getting sappy.” Outside of Winter and the kids. Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to say that last part aloud, not in front of the pictured pegasus. I’m a miserable thief, and didn’t have a choice in the matter. Using one foreleg to do her best at drying her face, Rainbow reverently placed the picture back to its proper place. “Great, now Winter’s going to pry into why I was crying.” I can’t hide anything from him, she thought with a mix of irritation and no small amount of love for the stallion.
Shaking herself to try and clear her thoughts, Rainbow looked at the clock sitting on the floor next to her side of the bed. Celestia should be contacting us tonight. I hope she’s got some info on the mob assassin I need to kill. Who knows, maybe she’ll save us the trouble and just kill him for us.
Resolving to spend some time to let her emotionally reddened eyes return to normal, Rainbow eventually went back downstairs to await her next orders.
Some time later, after the children were asleep, all four adults were awaiting Celestia’s arrival. A simple message wouldn’t suffice, not with the artifact in hoof. There was a tense silence among them as the designated time approached. That is, for everyone except Twilight, who was practically bouncing on her hoof tips in excitement.
The empowered sunstone resting on the floor lit up with the same summoning diagram as the first one. Within moments, Celestia flashed into the room, this time lacking the same oppressive heat as before. Almost as one, the four non-alicorns prostrated themselves, with Fluttershy cowering behind her mane.
Celestia was quick to cast her anti-scrying spell. With her presence masked, Celestia gave them all a quick look before her eyes lingered on Twilight. “Please rise, everypony.”
Twilight was the first to do so with a spring in her step. She approached Celestia with a beaming smile that Celestia reciprocated with one of her own, and opened a wing. Twilight eagerly accepted the sidelong hug. “It is good to see you are unharmed, my faithful student. I am also glad to see you all in good health.”
Rainbow fell back on her old Nightborne training and stood at attention the way a captain should. Winter did much the same, doing his best to minimize the difficulty of holding that posture with his bad leg. Fluttershy opened up a little due to Celestia’s friendliness, but still kept her mane over one eye as she rose to her hooves.
“Your highness,” Rainbow started up with a crisp tone. “We retrieved the Element of Harmony as ordered with zero fatalities.” Rainbow picked up the Element off the floor where she had been sitting and presented it to Celestia. Rainbow tried to hide her attempts at checking Celestia’s face for clues.
Celestia’s proud grin flashed at Twilight before she refocused on Rainbow. “I see Twilight’s ability to perform research isn’t hampered by her new surroundings.” The alicorn accepted the artifact in her magic, and brought it over to her face for inspection. It didn’t take long before a satisfied grin appeared. “You have performed admirably, Captain Rainbow Dash. I will be forwarding your payment as soon as I return to the palace.” She raised a mildly put-off eyebrow at Rainbow and Winter’s rigid stances. “At ease, Captain.”
Not our fault our ‘surroundings’ are not up to your standards. Rainbow snapped to the military’s at ease stance, causing Celestia to flash a sad frown before banishing it for a neutral mask.
Seeking a way to end the awkward silence, she finally turned her attention to Fluttershy. “Ah, you must be the Angel I’ve heard about when Rainbow Dash informed me of the Shadowbolt roster. A pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you, your highness.” Fluttershy cowered under the attention and hid further behind her mane.
With the two thestrals in the room, Fluttershy’s reaction brought up memories of how the old thestrals all looked at her after banishing her sister so many long centuries ago. Few, if any, knew she had fallen to the Nightmare at the time. Fluttershy’s timid fear echoed the horror from the old thestrals’ faces. Seeing that same fear here and now bit deeply at the ageless alicorn, threatening to break Celestia’s composure. So many years of being seen as a monster by nearly the whole tribe. She moved to give Fluttershy a reassuring hoof, one she had tried to give to so many of the past, but Rainbow Dash intervened with a loud request.
“Your highness, what are our next orders?” Rainbow Dash risked a worried glance at Fluttershy, but only for a second in hopes that Celestia would miss it.
Leveraging her millennia of experience, Celestia repressed the memories and found her center. “Down to business. Very well.” Celestia’s horn lit up with a 3D model of a three story mansion. “This is the residence of Denim Pants. He is a self-proclaimed Collector of All Things Obscure, and is currently in possession of the next Element. He will be hosting a soirée two nights from now, where he will be officially showing off his collection of rare artifacts to various important beings from the world over. I can not stand the stallion myself, but he always sends me an invitation as a matter of course. I want you, Captain, to infiltrate the party and steal the artifact out from under him. I care not how.”
Rainbow blanched at the loose discretion she had been given and tried to suppress it. Twilight on the other hoof was able to speak up first. “Denim… Denim… Isn’t he that louse you’ve been keeping a whole Section tied up in investigations over?”
Twilight shivered in a cold sweat. “I heard he was indicted in multiple counts of corporate espionage and several electronic break-ins all across Equestria. But nopony could get the evidence to stick.”
Celestia clenched her jaw to mask her loathing for the stallion. “The same. He is nothing like his son, Fancy. He plays lip service to the crown and Equestria at large, but too many questionable matters about him have been brought to my attention over the decades. More than enough for me to have him executed for treason many times over. He only makes matters worse for himself that he is a pipeline for foreign spies. Section Three and Six are overworked from having to track and remove these agents. Your orders are to retrieve the Element, download any scrap of data you can from his servers, and if need be, eliminate Denim. A trial would only harm his son’s reputation.”
Winter tilted his head, studying the calm, collected mask that barely hid Celestia’s ire. “If I may be so bold, your highness, if this stallion is as criminal as you say, why have you stayed your hoof?”
“It is a difficult matter. Up until recently, he’s been rather valuable in his own way.” Celestia lit her horn, causing her golden regalia to project a holographic list of names. “Once we discovered the pipeline, the Sections have been quite effective in identifying and removing the spy ring he’s been forming over the years. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the rate of technology theft by the Griffin Republic and the Minotaur Consortium has seen a staggering drop in the past decade due to the Sections’ work. As a result, the GR and MC have finally caught on to the fact that Denim is useless to them, and the rate of spies funneled through him has diminished to the point where removing him is worth the bad press.”
Fluttershy whispered a question, only for Twilight to outspeak her. “Why would you get bad press for prosecuting this traitor?” she asked incredulously. “If anything the public would praise it!”
“No, it makes sense,” Winter cut in. “The Pants dynasty, Denim in particular, has made it abundantly clear to the public that he holds the Element of Loyalty.” He looked to Celestia for confirmation. “Something you gave his family a long time ago, right?”
A sad, forlorn frown wormed its way onto Celestia’s muzzle. “There was a time when the aristocracy lived up to the title, but the Pants family are the only ones left who could still call themselves noble. It is a symbol of absolute trust between myself and his family line. Even if that was not a source of embarrassment, I have no doubt he expects to be raided by the police one day. He’ll wipe his personal servers should that happen, along with any evidence they might contain.”
Rainbow Dash’s blood boiled as the laundry list of his crimes against the Princess grew. She’s seen horrid things over the years, crimes on par with Denim’s own. But to abuse the gift of loyalty from the Princess herself?! Rainbow’s tail swished back and forth, and her eyes hardened like diamonds. “Let me kill him instead. I can make it quick, long, drawn out, whatever way you like.”
Winter looked at his wife with calculated neutrality. He thought about it for a short moment before nodding. “For what it’s worth, Princess, the punishment for treason is death. You can say or believe what you want of our alleged crimes, but we never approached anything close to this.”
Celestia gave him a warning scowl, her voice icy cold. “Which is why the two of you were not hunted down with the full backing of a Section. Were it not for Regent Shimmer’s council, I would have have had both of you brought before me in chains.”
Both Rainbow and Winter were dumbstruck by the admission. They shared a questioning look before Rainbow spoke up. “What did Sunset Shimmer have to do with our - erm - indictments?”
Celestia dialed the hostility down to smoldering irritation. “I suppose there is little harm in telling you. Regent Shimmer made it a point to review the evidence and testimony leveled against you, Captain. She pointed out some discrepancies, and postulated that your crimes were not as severe as Flintlock made them out to be. It was decided that the Sections had more pressing matters to tend to. Even if you two were, and still are, the only Nightborne to ever dishonor yourselves, and dishonor the Nightborne with desertion in the face of court martial.”
“A court martial?” Rainbow barked back with far more bravado than was wise. “That was going to be a damn show trial and you know it! I was ‘guilty’ before I even got back to HQ. How many times do I have to say Flintlock was giving conflicting orders to the rest of my squad?! I damn well meant it when I took that oath. Why did you have to believe him over me?”
Twilight Sparkle was utterly baffled by the question, yet didn’t get a chance to speak.
“Enough!” Celestia shouted, nearly breaking into the royal canterlot voice. The heat she was exuding caused the air around her to roil. “I’m not sure how you’ve forgotten this, Captain, but every member of the Nightborne swear the same oath before officially joining. Besides, it is not entirely a matter of your word verses his. Video and radio recordings were more than enough that not even Regent Shimmer’s council was enough to lift the charges against you.
“You have your orders, so carry them out. I haven lingered here long enough.” Without another word, Celestia teleported away.
Twilight’s astonished, disgruntled face slowly moved from Celestia’s exit to the thestral mare that was already marching out the room. “Are you trying to make her mad?”
“What do you care?” Rainbow growled over her shoulder. “You’re her perfect student. All she needed to believe your story was a spirit touch, or whatever that was. Me? Pah, I get to bend over backwards, and then fix her mess of a conspiracy.”
“But you’re getting a new life if you keep going.” Twilight looked to Winter for backup, only for the stallion to keep a firm, impassive face. He would not help her win this one. She looked to Fluttershy, but the pegasus was still trying to control her rapid breathing, having gone through such a rough close encounter with the Princess, all without sharing more than a few words with the alicorn. At last, she turned back to Rainbow Dash, who had by now turned fully around to face the sole unicorn. “A full pardon means you could rejoin the Nightborne if you wanted to, or—”
“The Nightborne?” Rainbow Dash spat bitterly. Painful memories threatened to bring tears to her eyes. “The rest of my tribe turned its back on us! Not one of them were willing to back us up. All because that kissass to the Regent didn’t want to tell the truth. I put everything I had into the Nightborne.” She waved a hoof at Winter. “We both did! And look where that got us. Living under the thumb of the mob for five years, and having to sneak completely out of the city just so my kids can fly around without me having to worry about them getting foalnapped because we look like some rich bat ponies just begging for a ransom!”
“But that won’t be a problem after we settle things,” Twilight replied, trying to keep things calm by waving her hoof low to the ground. “You’ll be free to live your lives wherever you want. Raise Amber and Sparks out in the country if need be.”
Having recovered from her hyperventilation, Fluttershy walked around the other side of the couch so Rainbow could see her. “Um, I wouldn’t mind going with you and living in a small town. It’d be really nice to see little critters that aren’t disease-ridden rats.” Fluttershy felt encouraged to continue upon seeing a sad, apologetic smile on her childhood friend’s face. “Oh, and if we go far enough, we can find a town with no real night life so the stars would be visible and the little ones could fly around without worrying. Wouldn’t that be just wonderful?”
Truth be told, it was an option that had crossed Rainbow’s mind. That alone made her give the idea enough thought to dispel some of her aggression. There was something about how the demure butter yellow pegasus still looked at her as an easy friend, one who stood by Winter and her. Loyalty was a treasure. So often cast aside isn’t it?
Seizing the opportunity, Winter limped over to his wife’s side and gently nuzzled her. “We could live freely. Let the kids play with others their own age, and if we play it right, we can get the mob to leave us alone.”
Rainbow huffed playfully, and pulled away. Her cheeks flushed at Twilight and Fluttershy seeing her almost nuzzle Winter back. “You just don’t want to homeschool them once they get into real math.”
“Actually,” Winter began with a side-smirk. “I was thinking of becoming a full-time teacher if the town has an opening. I could give an education that’ll actually be useful for a change.”
Eager to jump on this opportunity, Twilight squealed with delight and ran forward. Her excitement was blunted heavily when she almost bumped into Rainbow Dash when she tried to properly face Winter. The thestral mare gave her a warning, seething glare, but otherwise did nothing. “Oh, that’s absolutely fantastic to hear!” Twilight started, trying to ignore the anger rolling off of Rainbow Dash. “I can offer you any sort of funding you need from the treasury for a new school or just an upgrade!”
Rainbow gruffly got back to her hooves and walked off. A teacher, huh? I guess an accountant wouldn’t find much work if we went to a super small town. Rainbow left the kitchen and hung her forelegs on the railing of her house’s outside stairwell, letting her rear hooves dangle off the edge. The glow of the city along with the din of noise was obnoxious, outright annoying or dangerous sometimes, but still… it was home. As rancid as the street stank was, as disconcerting as the domestic yelling coming from her next door neighbors became, it was what she had learned to wrap in the blanket of familiarity.
She felt an updraft strong enough to rock the house a bit, but it brought in some clean air, air she happily breathed deeply of. Sure a small town is great and all for raising kids, but what about when they move out? They’re going to want to see the rest of our tribe. If Sparks is like his father, he’ll be a horndog until he finds Ms. Awesome. Rainbow gave off a raspy chuckle at fond, rose-tinted memories of Winter. But that means they’ll come here, back to Canterlot. I don’t care how sugarcoated Celestia can make my pardon, the Nightborne would never accept Amber or Sparks. Not only that, but… they’d have no idea how to survive the city if they grow up in the country.
Moaning loudly, she looked up at the one thing she hoped to hear an answer from: Mother Moon. She raised a hoof to touch the crescent moon pendant still wrapped around her ear. As Amber and Sparks looked up to her so many times, she now gazed upon the Mare in the Moon, a question in her searching eyes. “Should I have just forgotten this damn city in the first place, and disappeared into a tiny town or something?”
The moon above seemed to shimmer along the edges. Rainbow almost fell over the railing at the sign. She scrambled to stand up to get a steady look, her mouth agape in joyous surprise. “A sign! What is it?!” The shine persisted, a beautiful display to be sure. However, Rainbow was quickly getting annoyed. “Ah, come on. They didn’t teach me moon language back at the palace!” Assuming that even exists. “Can you give me something like morse code, or nudge maybe? A text message would be pretty stellar.”
The shining light of the moon seemed to gather around the Mare’s horn before winking out, as if her message was left unfinished. Rainbow sat there, waiting for a gentle nudge on her chin like last time, hoping it would direct her to… somewhere. Yet nothing came. The moon resumed its normal luster as if it had not reacted at all. Even so, she waited a long minute, trying to ignore the distant police sirens wailing on the city shelf below. Disappointment spread over her face. Her hoof fell away from the pendant first, then her head dropped back down to rest on the stair railing. “It would be just my luck if she used up all her ‘give the mortals a sign’ mojo on somepony else just now.”
Suspecting she wouldn’t get an answer, Rainbow trudged up to her bedroom to prepare for the next assignment.