Chapter Four: Boredom
Rainbow Dash tried to learn, yet she knew the program was for young children just learning the basics on how to read. Anakin had left some time ago for a meeting he was called to and her only companion was the medical staff. ‘With personality blander than a haystack. Scratch that, the haystack has more personality.’ she grumbled mentally poking at the screen. It flashed red for a moment causing her to slam her head backwards into the pillow. Her eyes looked out at the sky beyond the window as metal things flew by. The program tried to get her attention with the next challenge but she ignored it. She wanted to fly. Climbing out of the bed, Rainbow began to pace the room before seeing pillows. She snatched one up before looking back to where a collection of learning tools and writings were and grinned. These Jedi had to learn that one thing that you should always be wary of is a bored Pegasus. She began to stack the pillows following the shape of the next letter on the screen. An idea grew her wings twitching. She flew quickly around the room gathering up the pillows and had them form letters before flying out of the room to gather more.
A few hours later and Anakin found himself being summoned to the room that was given to her. The High Council and a few Jedi Masters were standing outside looking quite perturbed.
“You called me?” Anakin asked and Mace Windu looked at him as if there was a mess that was his fault. With a wave of his hand the door slid open revealing Rainbow Dash sitting on the bed working on the program. The major difference in the room was the floor was littered in meditation cushions. Anakin bit back a laugh, it seemed like Rainbow Dash had taken every meditation cushion that wasn’t in use. Once in a while she would stand up on the bed and glance around before sitting down and answer a question. A grin grew on her face when she got it right. The door slid shut and Anakin said slowly. “I’m sure if she understood what they were for she wouldn’t have just grabbed them. Besides she seems to be using them to learn.”
“Our own ways to learn we all have. Yes, hrrrm.” Yoda said nodding his head as Rainbow’s voice called out. “I can hear you! Shoot! Why is your writing system so hard to learn? Come on in.”
The door slid open again and Rainbow Dash was facing the door, her legs crossed as she stared at them. The screen was turned off and her arms were folded in front of her chest.
“Young lady….” one of the High Council Members began earning a raised eyebrow from Rainbow Dash. “I am Master Plo Koon, these are for meditation, to clear our mind and find peace.”
“Well if they aren’t being used, then what’s the problem? I was going to put them back. I needed some way to learn.” Rainbow pointed out dangling her legs over the side of the bed. “I’m not just a ‘sitting still and listening to lectures’ type of pony. I have to be doing something.”
“Perhaps you can learn while you put them back.” Mace Windu suggested and Rainbow Dash turned the screen on again. A wave of his hand and it turned off causing Rainbow’s wings to twitch in irritation. Finally a smirk grew on her face saying. “If you want me to, but I might not remember where I got them from.”
“You would do well to reme…” Rainbow Dash didn’t let him speak as she grabbed two cushions with a grin. She spread her wings before leaping off the bed flying over them, a burst of speed and she was heading down the hallway leaving a trail of glowing particles in her wake. Yoda let out a chuckle. “A lot of energy she has. Allowed outside, if we all want some peace, she should be.”
“She’s not a pet.” Anakin said and Obi-Wan patted him on the shoulder saying. “I think you just volunteered to keep an eye on her.”
The wind shifted as Rainbow ran by them to grab more cushions. Raising a hand Yoda stopped Rainbow causing her to look down. “The cushions away we will put. A nice day it is. For a walk you should go, an eye on you Skywalker will keep.”
This seemed to cause Rainbow Dash to lighten up as her eyes were drawn to the sky outside of the window. This did not seem to sit well with most of the Jedi there but they held their tongue until Rainbow was led away from them by Anakin.
“Do you think it is wise to be letting her see Coruscant? So soon after she was cleansed. We are not sure if any Sith spirits still linger within her.” one of the Jedi spoke as Yoda looked on silently in contemplation.
“She has been sleeping for a while and we forced her to stay indoors the moment she awoke. Can you imagine what other trouble she could cause if we kept her inside? Perhaps rearranging the lesson rooms or disturbing mediation.” Obi-Wan pointed out his arms behind his back. “Anakin is probably the only one she can relate to. They seem to be about the same age and she already gets along with him.”
Rainbow Dash stretched her arms the moment they walked out of the temple. Her magenta eyes scan the sky only to be drawn to the speeders flying past. Her wings twitched seeing a challenge.
“So, how fast do those things go?” she questioned pointing at a speeder as it flew by.
“Depends on the make and model, how you customized it, what the engine is like.” Anakin said looking at them as well. “Why, you want to try flying one?”
“I want to try racing one.” admitted Rainbow, her wings spreading. “I’m the fastest flier where I’m from. When I see something move fast, I just want to go faster.”
“I used to race.” Anakin said thinking back to when he was young. “I won my first race just before coming here. I… haven’t raced since then.”
Rainbow Dash smirked as she saw some speeders parked by the temple. “Try to keep up.”
Anakin’s head barely turned as Rainbow Dash doved off the walkway, she fell for a moment before spreading her wings and flying upwards with a shout of joy. Grinning Anakin used the Force to quicken his movement. He looked at the speeders carefully deeming which one would be the best to race in. Finally choosing one he leapt in and hotwired it before speeding off after Rainbow Dash. He moved past the speeders until he caught up with her.
“I am going to get in trouble.” he told her, though the protest was half hearted. She grinned at him as she replied. “Yeah, but what’s life without a little bit of trouble?! This way!”
Rainbow Dash dove downwards to where there were less speeders and Anakin followed. Weaving through the speeders that were flying keeping his eyes on Rainbow Dash. He felt a familiar energy well up inside of him thinking back to the Podraces. He was catching up to her easily seeing her fold her wings back and drop.
Rainbow Dash could feel Anakin gaining quickly and was impressed. She had expected the speeder he grabbed to barely keep up with her. Yet she could tell that he was skilled at using it. She folded back her wings going down further, when she was sure that there would be no more speeders this low she flapped them getting a burst of speed. If she was going to see what he could do she had to go all out. Focusing Rainbow Dash began to push herself faster, weaving around the buildings hearing the hum of Anakin’s speeder as they flew.
“Peace is a lie.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she looked next to her, seeing her reflection shift in the window where a figure seemed to be running next to her. His skin was red, a cloak covering most of his form. He looked into her direction with emotionless black eyes.
“There is only passion.”
Rainbow Dash flew faster as if to escape from him, her mind no longer on the race.
Through passion I gain strength.
Anakin saw Rainbow’s movements become erratic and knew something was wrong. She turned a corner sharply and he pushed the speeder to catch up to her.
“Through strength I gain power.”
Rainbow knew where she heard the voice from, the masked figure. The one that caused her to be brought to the city planet.
“Through power I gain victory.”
Rainbow Dash turned a corner slamming into something causing her to fall backwards in a daze.
“Through victory my chains are broken the Force will set me free.”
She felt herself fall backwards trying to flap her wings to not crash. Yet her mind was in a haze.
“There is no emotion, there is peace.”
It felt like something grabbed onto her, keeping her from hitting the ground. Rainbow Dash looked up to see Anakin holding out his hand.
“There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.”
“I guess this means I win.” Anakin laughed and Rainbow Dash frowned, her wings spreading. “And you would want a rematch.”
“There is no passion, there is serenity.”
“Of course I do, I got distracted!” Rainbow told him as she began to flap her wings to steady herself in the air.
“There is no chaos, there is harmony.”
Anakin chuckled as he released his hold the moment he was sure she could stay in the air. Rainbow’s eyes glanced down at something catching her eyes.
“There is no death, there is the Force.”
“What is that?” Rainbow mumbled before flying down. It seemed to be an overgrown building, which was odd on Coruscant. From what she saw. Flying down she settled down on what appeared to be a pile of rubble looking around as Anakin landed down next to her.
“Looks to be like an old temple.” Anakin stated as he climbed out of the speeder. “Are you alright? You seemed distracted before running into that pipe.”
“I was just thinking back to what happened in that temple place. That’s all.” Rainbow said, rubbing her arm. “Where I’m from we don’t know much about dark magic and stuff. But what I felt there was different. It was cold and yet powerful, it wasn’t like any of the bad guys we faced. I mean when I faced them I was with friends and we had the Elements of Harmony if they were truly evil. This… made me feel helpless.”
“Elements of Harmony?” Anakin asked leaning against the speeder as Rainbow Dash nodded her head. “Sounds important.”
“It is… the Elements of Harmony protect the balance of Equestria. If anything powerful disrupts the balance my friends and I use them to drive them back. Or… we used to. They were returned to the Tree of Harmony.” Rainbow explained thinking back. “Now something is stirring and we don’t know what. I just wish I knew what so I can beat it.”
“I know that feeling.” Anakin sighed as he looked around his eyes spotting something glinting on the ground. Bending down he brushed away the dirt finding an ancient lightsaber.
“This place… it’s an old Jedi temple. I don’t remember hearing about one around here.” Anakin said looking around.
“That’s because this happened a really long time ago when the Sith Empire attacked Coruscant.” Rainbow Dash explained earning a raised eyebrow from Anakin. “What? I had to see if I was learning right and you mixed in ancient reports with the other writings you grabbed me. And some of those were a bit more interesting than learning about a Jedi Philosopher. The Reports of the Barsen’thor was a bit more cool to read about.”
“I should have looked at those more closely.” Anakin sighed as he picked up the lightsaber. “What else did you read?”
“Well the Barsen’thor had to learn a shielding technique in order to keep their master from falling to a Dark Side plague. The downside was that the technique used the lifeforce of the Jedi, so the more the plague spread the more strength the Barsen’thor used up.” Rainbow Dash thought back before rubbing the back of her head. “I couldn’t get anymore reading done after that. Like I said, your written language is hard to learn. I thought treating it like an adventure would help. Use the old reports and the cushions to figure out the mystery.”
Rainbow Dash kicked a pebble as she walked around the pile of rubble in the middle. Anakin fiddled with the lightsaber lightly.
“Come on, let’s get you back.” Anakin said climbing into the speeder. “Let’s take the speeder this time, we don’t want you crashing on your way back up.”
“Ha, ha.” Rainbow commented sarcastically as she climbed in next to him. “You’re not going to get in trouble for this are you?”
Anakin shrugged his shoulders saying. “Hey, they wanted to let you out so you could get rid of all that excess energy. Besides what’s life without a little bit of trouble?”
“Good point.” A grin spread on her face as Rainbow nodded her head as they took off. She didn’t like sitting in something that cramped her wings. At the moment she didn’t want to fly with what just happened. She glanced out seeing nothing but the reflection of her in the speeder.
When they got back there was no one there to tell off Anakin for letting her off of the Temple Grounds. Instead he was whisked away for something as she was led back to her room. The sun was setting as she sat down on her bed. She laid on her side curling up as she heard the machines still working. Closing her eyes she wished she heard a different sound. In Equestria she swore before she went to sleep there was singing. It was soft but it was there every night. On Moraband it was the wind and the whispers. Here the only thing she heard was the speeders, the temple was quiet. No real wind was heard. So she closed her eyes and hummed the tune she heard so many nights in her home until she fell asleep.