Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stood together outside of Blazing Fire’s home, waiting for him while he went to inform Honeydew of the situation.
“Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked inquisitively.
“W-well, it’s just… we don’t exactly know them that well. I mean, they seem nice and all, but, we did just meet them,” she said reservedly.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “I know Flutters, but it’s the best chance we got. I don’t like it either, but we have to try. If there’s a chance we can find her, then we’re gonna find her.”
Fluttershy smiled softly. “You’re right. We have no choice.”
“I really hope he’s telling the truth though,” Rainbow Dash said sadly.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find her,” Fluttershy said, wrapping a wing around Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.
Rainbow Dash smiled, looking up at Fluttershy. “Thanks, Flutters. You’re the best.”
“I know,” she said jokingly, before darting forward and giving her marefriend a quick peck on the lips, taking her by surprise.
After the kiss ended, Rainbow Dash took a second to regain her composure, before speaking once again. “H-hey Flutters?”
“Yes Dash?” Fluttershy asked.
“There's… um, something I have to tell you,” she said, stepping out from under her partner’s wing.
“What is it Dash?” she asked worriedly.
“Um, I… I just… um,” Rainbow Dash stammered, absentmindedly scuffing her hoof on the ground. “I… I l-lo—”
At that moment, the front door to the house swung open, and Blazing Fire walked out to join them.
“Alright,” he said. “I told Honeydew everything, and she’s gonna go tell your friends later today, and then come back for them in the morning to take them to the town.”
“Okay, that sounds good,” Rainbow Dash said, quickly abandoning what she was going to say to Fluttershy.
“Oh, but Rainbow, wasn’t there something you had to tell me?” she asked curiously.
“Hmm? Oh, right, that. Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you some other time. It’s not important,” she dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “Hey, Blazing Fire, does Scootaloo know we’re coming?”
He shook his head. “Nope. She knows I was going to be looking for you, but I doubt she thought I’d find you this quick. That’ll be a nice surprise, won’t it?”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it will be.”
“So what are we still doing here? Let’s get this show on the road! You’ve got a daughter to go see!”
And with that, they took off, with Fluttershy dragging along behind them as usual.
***
Twilight was sitting in Apple Bloom’s hospital room with the rest of her friends. It was relatively late in the day and everyone was clearly getting antsy.
They’d all been sitting around bored ever since Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had left. Apple Bloom was still asleep. The doctors said she’d probably wake up around dinnertime.
Then, there was a knock on the door, and the nurse from behind the counter walked in. She finally quit looking at Rarity and Twilight like they were aliens. However, she still looked to Applejack or Pinkie Pie when addressing the group.
“Hello, I believe there is someone here to see you,” the nurse said, her eyes fixed on Applejack.
Twilight jumped up instead, thinking it was Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy back with some news. ”Oh, I hope it’s good news.”
She walked in front of the nurse, forcing her to look at Twilight while she was speaking.
“I’ll go. You all stay here in case Apple Bloom wakes up. I’ll come and get all of you if it’s important,” Twilight said in her ‘take charge’ voice.
Reluctantly, the nurse turned around without another word, silently indicating for Twilight to follow her. They made their way out of the room and to a flight of stairs.
Eventually, they reached the bottom of the stairs, entered the hospital lobby and made their way to the reception desk that sat in the center of the room.
Quite a few other ponies sat in the lobby, as it was much later in the day than when they had first arrived. Standing in front of the reception desk, was a mare that stood out from the rest.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out as she approached the mare.
As soon as Twilight called out Rainbow Dash’s name, the pony’s eyes went wide, and she jumped back in surprise, locking eyes with Twilight as she did so, stopping her dead in her tracks.
The pony that she had thought was Rainbow Dash, was not actually Rainbow Dash. This pony was much older, her face had slight wrinkles, and her mane was much duller than that of Rainbow Dash. ”Wow… If I didn’t know better, I would almost think that pony was Rainbow Dash’s mom.”
The nurse ignored both of them and just went back to her spot behind the counter. “Uh…” Twilight said, still taken aback by her striking similarity to Rainbow Dash.
The other mare shook her head quickly, snapping herself back into reality. She dawned a smile and made her way over to Twilight.
“Hello,” she said, ignoring the mistaken identity for the time being. “My name is Honeydew. I have a message from Rainbow Dash.”
“Oh, okay,” Twilight said, still not quite sure what to make of this. “Um, what’d she say?” Twilight asked.
“Well, I guess I’m here to do more than just deliver a message. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are with Blazing Fire, my husband, on the way to go see Scootaloo. It was our daughter who originally found Scootaloo.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up in amazement. “Really, you guys found Scootaloo? That’s great! When are they going to be back with her?”
Honeydew’s smile faded, and she lowered her head. “You see, that’s the thing…” she looked around suspiciously
“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” she asked with a hint of caution in her voice.
“Yeah, we can go up to Apple Bloom’s room. She’s not awake yet, and it’s just my other friends in there,” Twilight suggested.
Honeydew nodded. “That sounds good.”
Twilight made her way back up the stairs, with Honeydew not far behind. After ascending the many flights of stairs back up to the floor that Applebloom was on, they walked down the hall and entered the room.
As they entered, everyone sitting around the room turned to look at Twilight, hoping for some good news. What they weren’t expecting was a pony nearly identical to Rainbow Dash to be walking in behind her.
Nopony said a word for a short while, all of them simply sitting in shocked silence as they tried to process what they were seeing.
Pinkie Pie was the first to break the silence. “Uhh, is it just me, or is that a much older Rainbow Dash?”
“No, Pinkie,” Twilight corrected. “This is Honeydew. She came here with news about Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash.”
“Okie dokie!” Pinkie Pie said, immediately back to her usual upbeat and cheerful self. “Sooooooo. What about them? Did Rainbow find Scootaloo! Did she? Did she?” Pinkie Pie asked quickly.
“Pinkie! Please!” Twilight shouted. “Let’s let her talk.”
“Thank you. Now, as I have already told Twilight here, it was our daughter who originally found Scootaloo… well, that’s not entirely true. Somepony else found her and took her to the hospital where our daughter works.”
“So, she’s at the hospital?” Twilight asked.
“No, not anymore.”
“Then where is she?” Twilight asked.
Honeydew sighed. “You might want to sit down. This is gonna take a while.”
***
After they had been flying for a few hours, they were approaching the mountains. The sun was almost directly overhead by this point.
Rainbow Dash flew up beside Blazing Fire. “We almost there?” she shouted over the rushing wind blowing past them.
“Yeah,” he shouted back. “Just over these mountains.”
Rainbow Dash looked ahead and, sure enough, the town was just appearing over the edges of the mountains.
They slowed down, beginning their descent towards the town. After a few more minutes, they touched down in the center of town.
“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said, taking in the scenery around them. “You weren’t kidding. This is run down.”
“Yeah, there’s not enough money to do much around here. All of the extra money goes into the resistance.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“I think it’s nice,” Fluttershy commented. “It seems… homey.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Blazing Fire commented. “But it is home, so I guess I can’t complain.”
“Does this town have a name?” Fluttershy asked as they continued walking down the street.
“Didn’t I tell you already?” Blazing Fire asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. “Mm-mm.”
“Wow, I really thought I already told you. Anyways, the town is called Bronco’s Rest.”
“That’s a nice name,” Fluttershy commented.
“Where did that name come from?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well, the name ‘Bronco’ came from the term meaning a wild or crazy horse, to symbolize the rebellion. The term ‘Rest’ was added to symbolize the fact that it’s a hideout or a refuge for all of us. People come here to get a ‘rest’ from the government.”
“That’s cool!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Yeah, I’m not sure how long it has had that name, but I know it was the same when I was born. To most ponies, it is just a name, but to those in the Rebellion, it means much more.”
“Wow,” Fluttershy breathed.
“Speaking of the rebellion,” he said, stopping in front of the door to a bakery. “We’re here.” He pushed open the doors. “Welcome to the home of The Wings of Freedom,” he announced, walking inside, followed closely by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
Walking up to the counter, he exchanged a few words with the store clerk, before stepping behind the counter and motioning for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to follow him.
They walked through a door behind the counter and entered a dimly lit hallway. They walked down to the end of the corridor, descending a flight of stairs before making a left into a large, but sparsely furnished room. They walked over to a door on the other side of the room and stopped.
Blazing Fire turned to Rainbow Dash. “Are you ready?”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, calming her nerves. “I’m ready.”