//------------------------------// // Limelight // Story: Rainbow in the Dark // by BaeroRemedy //------------------------------// “The King wants to speak to her, Captain.” Spitfire and Rainbow Dash had walked all the way back to the palace together in the pouring rain. The former kept a wing over the latter, shielding the maimed mare from the showers overhead. Now they stood at the gates to the palace, their entry barred by a stunningly baby blue unicorn mare with cold eyes the same color as the clouds overhead. “I figured as much, but I’ll have to ask that you tell His Majesty that it can wait until tomorrow, Galea.” Spitfire, even though she wasn’t in uniform, seemed to slip into her role easily. As the unicorn, Galea, opened her mouth to speak again she was cut off by a raised hoof from Spitfire. “I asked him to let me handle this personally outside of my duties as Captain of the Guard, which he approved. I’m exercising that right further and I will report to him when it’s completed.” “Very well, Captain.” Galea answered through semi-clenched teeth. “I will inform His Majesty of your decision. Should he oppose where can you be found? Your apartment or—” Once again, the unicorn was silenced with a hoof. “My apartment, yes. I ask that he holds off, though.” Rainbow Dash looked between both mares, the cool composure that commanded respect radiating from Spitfire was wholly juxtaposed by the coiled and stiff rigidness that Galea put forth. “Trust me, he’ll understand.” Spitfire ushered Rainbow Dash through the gate and past Galea. Dash couldn’t help but stick as close to Spitfire as she possibly could, her side pressed right up against the slightly larger pegasus. Despite all of her doubts about the world as it seemed, there was now something to latch onto. Even in the life she remembered, not the one that was slowly coming to the surface, Spitfire was a stabilizing force. The Wonderbolt was somepony she had always looked up to, somepony who had achieved everything that she had wanted. The work ethic and drive that Dash had seen everyday of flight school when she was young from Spitfire was something she took to heart. Now in this life, with so much doubt cast on the world around her, there was somepony truly familiar. The flashes of memory she had received back in the house illuminated more about the current Captain of the Royal Guard. In both lives Spitfire was something of a rock, in this one somepony she considered a sister even though they shared no familial relation. The constant presence and feeling of another pony was reassuring that this wasn’t fake, it wasn’t some sort of trick or illusion. It was most definitely real, and the pony beside her wasn’t malicious. Sombra still wasn’t to be trusted, as this had to be some sort of time travel nonsense or something. There was no way he was innocent in changing everything around. Spitfire could be trusted though, she was sure of it and she was going to cling to it for all it was worth. “Who was that?” Rainbow Dash decided that it was best to stop thinking about all of the differences, and focus on what was in front of her. Knowing about this world could only help her figure out where things went wrong in the long run. “Galea, my second in command.” The door into the palace was opened for them by two identical guards. “She’s… well, she’s good at her job.” The bite in Spitfire’s words told Dash that there was more to say, but not in public. The wing that had been over Dash’s head was withdrawn and shaken out, water droplets spraying over the tile floor below. “We need to get you dry and change those bandages on your wing.” “Yeah, right.” Dash mumbled and nodded. Dragging the conversation back to her, and more specifically her wing, brought her mood down once more. She looked back at the stump, the bandages surrounded it damp and slumping near to the point of falling off. “I hate this.” “It’ll be okay, Rainbow Dash.” With other ponies around it seemed like Spitfire’s use of ‘Dashie’ dried up, which was more than okay with Rainbow. “We’ve measured you for a prosthetic when you were out, and it’ll be done soon enough. It will take some time to get used to it, but I know you’ll get right back into form.” “Yeah…” The rest of the walk through the castle was held in silence. Gazes of all types lingered on them, the cripple and the Captain. For some unknown reason, more than a few of those gazes were more nasty than others and all of those were focused solely on Rainbow Dash. Now usually all eyes on her was something she could handle, but this was something much different. The glared daggers in her sides spurred Rainbow Dash on, pushing her and Spitfire's walk into a hasty trot. They followed much the same path that Dash took when she left the castle and headed right back up the stairs she bolted down earlier. Instead of taking a left turn at the top of the stairs, they swung right. It was a short walk from there with just two more turns in the labyrinthian inner workings of the castle until they were in front of a door with two crossed spears engraved into it. The door was pushed open and Spitfire stepped in with a light, relaxed sigh. The scent of lilac and gooseberries mingled in the bright interior of the apartment and spilled out into the hall just enough for Dash to catch a whiff. A deep purple carpet coated the floor inside, complemented by the white walls with their gold trim. Alternating candles and bouquets of flowers dotted the walls, bringing a very fancy and polished look to the space. Rainbow Dash honestly couldn’t believe that Spitfire lived here, surely this was all done by the castle staff and not the Captain herself. “Honey, I’m home! I brought Dash along, hope you don’t mind,” Spitfire called out as she stepped into the apartment properly, motioning Rainbow in as well. “She won’t mind, trust me. You two bicker, but I know she enjoys your company.” The small primer was nice, but that didn’t answer the question of who ‘she’ was. It was surprising enough that Spitfire was married, but the added information didn’t help quell that surprise. “Oh she’s finally up and around? I am so happy to hear that, darling!” The melodic tone, the inflection of somepony who spent too much time around the Canterlot elite. It wasn’t just familiar, it was a voice that Rainbow Dash heard almost every day of her life. A pearlescent white mare rounded the corner, presumably from the living room. A slender white horn poked through the royal purple mane on her head, which was pulled up into a tight bun. Sparkling sapphire eyes gleamed with excitement and then momentary worry as they caught sight of Dash. “R-rarity?” “We met in Canterlot at a coffee shop.” She just didn’t seem like Spitfire’s type. “I know she seems too fancy for me, but…” Rainbow would trust Spitfire for now. “Yes?” The unicorn responded with her head tilted to the side. “Darling, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” As Rarity approached Rainbow, she was intercepted by Spitfire, who placed a hoof on her apparent wife’s shoulder. “Are you sure she should be walking around, Spitfire? She looks positively ghastly, and you’re both soaking wet and dripping all over my carpet!” “Dash is having some memory problems, Rare.” Spitfire spoke softly enough, just trying to keep it between herself and Rarity. Even through the raging pain that shot through her skull, Rainbow still picked up on every word. “She had a bit of a panic attack and ran to her house. I just need to help her readjust, y’know? Get her back up to speed. You don’t mind if she stays with us for a bit, do you?” “Oh, of course not.” Rarity responded with a smile before pecking the taller pegasus on the lips. “She’s welcome to stay as long as she needs to. I cannot even begin to imagine the things the poor dear had to go through with those brutes.” Spitfire went in for a hug, but was quickly rebuffed by a well manicured hoof. “Ah ah ah. You take Rainbow and dry off first. You are not using me as a towel.” “Right, sorry.” Spitfire chuckled and cleared her throat. “Mind getting us some towels? We can wait in the kitchen and dry off there so we don’t get the carpet any more wet than it already is.” That made Rainbow look down at the rather damp patch right under her hooves, which caused her to take a big step to her right so she was in the kitchen and on tile. “Splendid idea.” Rarity smiled as her blue aura encased Spitfire and lifted the mare off of the ground before moving her into the kitchen. “I’ll be right back, you two.” With that, Rarity ventured off deeper into the apartment, humming as she went. A bevy of questions rose to the surface of Rainbow’s mind. There was the obvious one of ‘why Rarity?’ and ‘when did they get married?’ and things of that variety. Never in the life that she considered her real one had she ever thought of Rarity as one for a life of domesticity. That wasn’t the thing that was truly gnawing away at her, though. “How long have I been gone? Like, how long was I in that dungeon?” It had been a question that had slowly been bubbling its way up to the surface the longer she had been awake. Nopony had told her the exact length of time she had been captured for, and it was beginning to worry her. “Like a week tops, right?” “Dashie—” That already didn’t bode well and reopened that all too familiar pit in Rainbow’s stomach. “—You went missing while you were training. You were practicing your rainboom out towards Ponyville and you just disappeared.” Shame crept in on the edge of Spitfire’s voice, and her eyes fell to focus on her hooves. “I-we searched everywhere we could think of. We had guards roaming the countryside thinking you got hurt or worse…” Spitfire sighed and raised her head again to meet Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “Three months. You were gone for three months.” “Three months?!” Dash couldn’t help the volume of her voice as it rose to a near roar. “I-I can’t remember any of it…” She had assumed it was only a week or so, maybe a little over. Months? “I-what…?” “We looked for you everywhere. I looked for you everywhere.” Spitfire’s voice cracked and the wings on her back shifted uncomfortably. “At first we thought maybe you went to see your mom or… or maybe even back to Cloudsdale, but no. You went out to fly one day and just didn’t come home. It wasn’t until one of my ponies in Ponyville reported some strange stuff happening down there that we even thought to check that old castle.” Spitfire paused to clear her throat and look Dash in the eyes with a small smile. “But you’re okay. You’re back now.” “Yeah…” Rainbow could only nod and return the smile even though it felt more than a little fake. “I guess I am.” “Here you go, you two.” Two towels were unceremoniously dropped on the heads of the two mares. “Now clean up, I need you two out of my kitchen so I can cook dinner.” Rarity’s pushy haughty tone at least hadn’t changed from what she remembered to now, so at least some things stayed familiar. The duo went about drying themselves off in silence, Dash needing to remove her glasses and set them aside before getting to her mane and face. When she got around to her wings, she had to be a bit more careful than normal. More than once she brushed against the still raw stump that protruded from her back and winced in pain. “So you two met at a coffee shop or something?” The memory was pretty clear on that point, but Rainbow Dash wanted to hear it from the pony’s mouth. The thought that, of all ponies, Spitfire and Rarity had managed to get together was baffling. As she put her glasses back on her face, she had to blink away those last few lingering moments of blurriness. “At first, yeah, our orders got mixed up.” Spitfire spoke as she took Dash’s towel from her. “Gimme a sec, Dash.” The flaming pegasus disappeared for a few moments and came back without the towels but with Rarity. “We talked for a bit afterwards, but I didn’t really think anything would come of it. Just a passing conversation with a cute mare.” “Cute? Oh you do me a disservice, darling.” A very dangerous grin crossed Rarity’s face, which drew a light blush and a nervous chuckle from the mare beside her. The horn atop the unicorn’s head lit up as several pans were removed from the cupboards and placed on the counters. “Sorry, a beautiful mare.” As Rarity turned her back, Spitfire rolled her eyes playfully at Dash. “But yeah, it was a whole two-ships-passing-in-the-night thing. I didn’t expect to really crash into this"— Spitfire bumped her flank against Rarity’s with a grin —"particular ship ever again.” “Oh yes, and what a crash it was.” Rarity spoke as she went about preparing dinner, pulling things from the fridge and cupboards as she went. Dash was having a hard time focusing on what exactly it was she was making, some kind of beans it looked like, she was far too invested and interested in the strange pair’s story. “It was at The Carnival about five years ago. I was on the ferris wheel when it broke down, and thanks to some rather bad upkeep, the car I was in started to come loose.” “I was working security. I was going through a review for promotion and my name was up for Captain. I don’t think I’ve ever been that stressed before, but I was trying to have a good time.” Spitfire hopped up on the counter to sit, far enough away from Rarity that she wouldn’t interfere with dinner being made. Rainbow was happy enough to just lean against the wall, even though her muscles protested being made to stand up any longer. “I heard her scream and everything in my head just kind of fell away. I acted and got to her car right as it started to fall.” “My knight in shining armor.” Rarity interjected with a dreamy sigh. “From there, it was just… chemistry.” The goofy grin on Spitfire’s face as she recounted hers and Rarity’s relationship was more than a little infectious. “We dated for about two years and we’ve been married for three years now.” “You look fine, Spitfire.” Rainbow was sure of that much Spitfire in dress uniform, sweating. “What if she doesn’t say ‘I do’?” Whatever had been said between the two had been lost to the blinding pain that flashed through Rainbow’s head. She had played it off well enough and just closed her eyes for a moment to ride it out. Luckily neither member of the married couple seemed to notice. “We weren’t together in your… ‘memories’, were we?” The question from the other pegasus slammed into Dash’s gut at full force. She hadn’t expected that question, she hadn’t even expected Spitfire to indulge the other set of memories that dominated her head. “I’m afraid I seem to be missing some context.” Rarity took a moment from her work to turn on her hooves. “Would somepony mind filling me in?” Rainbow Dash could only look away from the pony she had considered to be one of her closest friends. It was hard to broach this subject seeing how happy they were together. “Dashie”— Spitfire started off by using that nickname again —”seems to have… created a fantasy world while she was captured. My best guess is it was some sort of defense mechanism to cope with what she was going through.” Dash bit back every venomous comment that fought its way to the tip of her tongue. It was a struggle that was noticed by Spitfire this time. “Not that I can blame her.” The other pegasus added on with haste. “I think I was some kind of athlete? A ‘Wonderbolt’ or something?” “Yeah.” Rainbow wasn’t happy with how nonchalantly her supposed long-time friend approached the subject of the memories she had, and she made sure that her tone reflected that. “Kind of like the ceremonial division, I guess. The Wonderbolts did shows and races and helped defend Equestria.” Wonderful moments in that blue and yellow uniform relaxed the muscles in Rainbow’s body. Memories of flight, exertion and glory all rang throughout her mind. “You were the leader, and somepony I looked up to. A hero. I always wanted to join, and eventually I did.” “Always looking up to your ‘big sister’, hmm?” Rarity smiled and turned back to the meal she was making on the stove. “I cannot fault you at all, darling. It does sound like quite the world.” The former element of harmony paused for a moment before asking the next question. “Was I there, if I may be so bold to ask?” “Uh, yeah. You were one of my best friends.” The answer caused Rarity to giddily trot and place and make a happy little squeal that drew questioning looks from the pegasi. “We lived in Ponyville and stuff.” For now the parts about saving the world would be left out, the doubt that this was all some kind of ploy by somepony was still there. This was all real, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something nefarious going on. Keeping cards close to her chest just seemed like the best idea for now. “And in this, did you have a special somepony?” Rarity prodded gently, but it was prodding nonetheless. She was looking for a particular answer, and judging by how Spitfire leaned in, she wasn’t the only one. “Not… really.” A blush crept up Dash’s cheeks, but it was quickly quelled and forced back down. “There was this one pony, a mare, we were really close friends but—” A bitter sigh escaped from her throat. “—I guess what we were to each other was always kinda up in the air, I don’t know. I guess we were both just too stubborn to ever take that next step.” “Very interesting.” Rarity hummed as the giddy grin faded. “You will have to tell us more about this some other time, Rainbow Dash. It sounds like something you need to get off of your chest.” “Yeah I guess.” The weight of the world finally came crashing down on Rainbow Dash. Her friends, every single one of them and the relationships she had… they were all dust in the wind. It was a possibility, no matter how weak she saw it, that they never happened at all. A fog settled over her mind that seemed to exacerbate all of the aches and pains she had. “Hey, I think I’m going to just go to bed. I just need some sleep.” Maybe she would get to see her friends again in her dreams.