Rainbow Dash scanned the outer limits of the Everfree, bordering Sweet Apple Acres. It had been over five hours since the Praetor had left Fluttershy's house, and nopony had seen her. Now, with the sun just starting to go down, Rainbow had decided to go look for her.
She reached the very edge of Sweet Apple Acres, hovering above the gap. Directly in front of her, the Everfree circled around Ponyville for a while, petering out just before the Mountains around Canterlot. She turned around, planning to do another once-over along the border, before her ears swiveled. A faint noise reached them, echoing up from the trees off to her left. She turned, seeing a puff of white smoke rising out of the trees.
She flew over the tops of the gnarled trees, eventually coming to a small clearing near a bubbling creek. The clearing was almost completely bare, save for a few rocks, bushes, and several thick sticks emerging from the mud. At first, she didn't see anything in the clearing, only for her eye to be drawn by a brief flash of multi-colored light. The light darted from one stick to another, with most of the stick falling to the mud after the trail left it. Soon, all of them were cut cleanly into pieces, as the Praetor came skidding to a halt by the edge of the creek.
"Woah", Rainbow Dash said, causing the Praetor to look up at her.
"Magnificent, isn't it?", the Praetor said, sliding her swords back into their scabbards. "Swords are kinda outdated, but it's what I'm comfortable with."
"No, not that", Rainbow said, setting down in front of her. "Just... all of that."
"Hey, it works. Can't really defend against someone moving at upwards of twelve-hundred kilometers an hour", the Praetor said, grinning.
"Guess so", Rainbow Dash said.
An awkward silence reigned between the two of them, with the Praetor removing her helmet and setting it down. She sat on a rock, pulling a small knife out of her prosthetic. "Are you here for a reason? I know it's almost dark, and I was gonna come in soon."
"Kinda, yeah", Rainbow said, shifting her front hoof slightly.
"Kinda?", the Praetor asked. "Meaning it's not the whole reason. What is it?"
Rainbow sighed, before she said, "It's about what happened earlier. With Discord, and Fluttershy."
"I see", the Praetor said, rubbing the edge of her knife.
Rainbow said, "Uh... Yeah. So, what did you mean that what happened to you was all your friend's fault?"
"Well, technically not them", the Praetor said. "But, well: 'He who sees evil and does not attempt to at least aid shares the equal burden of that evil.'"
"What?", Rainbow Dash asked.
The Praetor said, "Old quote; who said it isn't important. Pretty self-explanatory, I think."
"So, what?", Rainbow asked. "What exactly did they do?"
"As I said", the Praetor said. "While I was in trouble, they did nothing. If anything, they only damned me further."
Rainbow snorted. "A little bit dramatic, don't you think?"
The Praetor looked up at her, a look of murder in her good eye. "Yes. Dramatic. Because what happened was just me being-"
"I don't know what happened to you", Rainbow said.
"Right", the Praetor said. "You know how I said that my eldest wasn't planned nor wanted?"
"Yeah...?"
"Because I was impregnated... via rape", the Praetor said. "Same bastard cut off my forelegs, then cooked and forced me to EAT them. Both him and another Degenerate waste of the Gods gift cut me to shit, broke my bones, set parts of me on fire; basically everything you can imagine you can't imagine being done to your worst enemy, they did to me."
Rainbow Dash just looked at her, jaw agape and eyes wide as windows. She said, "Bu-but what does that-"
"Weren't you listening!?", the Praetor growled, standing up. "Everything that happened to me, can be traced back to them not doing a fucking thing to defend me! They didn't pull the trigger; but they put me in front of the firing line. Even if the Queen-"
"Chrysalis?", Rainbow Dash questioned, to which the Praetor nodded. "Wait, she can manipulate minds. So, how is that any of their-"
"Only Twilight was affected by that carapace-clad fuck", the Praetor said, snorting derisively. "The rest have no excuse, and so I shouldn't even consider them worth my time."
"That's stupid", Rainbow Dash said, taking to the air again in order to hover in front of her. "I mean, give up on everything that you all had together for a bit of petty spite!"
The Praetor took to the air with her, hovering in front of her. "Oh, really. I'm supposed to just... pull the knives out of my back and just open up my back again!"
"Ahem." Both mares turned to the side, drawn by the sound of the clearing throat. Princess Twilight, as well as her student, Spike, and the rest of this worlds version of the Praetors friends were there. Most of them were darting their eyes between the two, mild concern across their faces. "I take it there's a problem?"