Rainbow stood at the doorstep of the house-turned-sanctuary and glanced towards the biped who stood next to her. The mask turned slightly toward her and nodded. Taking her cue the pegasus took to the skies. Meanwhile the man set off in the opposite direction, down nearby streets. Both of them leaving the two unicorns behind with Spike to guard the house and make the preparations for another dose of cure.
When the man was gone from sight the pegasus took a sudden turn and dropped low to avoid being spotted by the sharp-eyed doctor. She had a house she wanted to visit, someone to check on, and she doubted the doctor would let her go alone if he knew she intended to fly directly to the building and enter it.
As she arrived at the tree house near the edge of the Everfree she began to fly around it, checking for any plague-ridden that might have taken to patrolling the area. When she was sure it was all clear the pegasus dropped to ground level in front of the door. She paused for a moment to bite into a tablet that the doctor had made that would serve the same purpose as her injection, then knocked on the door.
The sound of creaking floor boards came from within and Rainbow Dash backed away from the door, spreading her wings wide should she need to take to the air suddenly. The door opened and a yellow face peaked out past the doorway. Upon seeing Rainbow she opened the door and gave a soft smile. “Oh, Rainbow. I didn’t know you were coming. Not that that’s a problem, I don’t mind, that is to say...” Her voice fell very quite and Rainbow smiled to herself, happy that her friend was similar to how she had been before, though the words seemed a bit... empty...
“Heya Fluttershy, just thought I’d swing by to see how you were doing.” Rainbow smiled widely and walked into the building, the mare moving aside to allow her entrance.
“I’m doing fine, how about you?” Rainbow Dash didn’t respond, she was shocked silent by the interior of the building. Loose bird feathers lay scattered around the room, the table was knocked over, and shed animal hair decorated everything. This wasn’t the house that she had remembered.
“Oh, I guess I forgot to clean up after I dealt with Angel, sorry.” The cyan pegasus turned around slowly to see her friend looking towards the ground, shamefully. “I just wanted him to join me, but he was so scary about it.” Her eyes roamed to the corner of the room, Rainbow’s not far behind.
There lay a small white bunny, his chest having been torn open and a small pool of blood around him. Looking back to Fluttershy, Rainbow saw the faint markings of dried blood on her face. “I just wanted him to embrace the dark, it’s so much more comfortable than that horrendous beating light he had before.”
Rainbow backed slowly away from the pony she knew was no longer Fluttershy. “Oh dear, it seems I’ve set your heart racing.” The pony’s face tilted to the side in order to examine the flyer from a different angle. “Which is strange, because you shouldn’t have a heart beat...”
Not waiting for the yellow pegasus to make the first move Rainbow ran. Fluttershy - or what was left of her - blocked the entry way still, meaning that the cyan mare had to find a hiding place, somewhere to plan her escape. As she rounded a corner she spotted her target, a closet door a few feet away.
Throwing open the door as quickly as she could Rainbow ducked into the alcove and slammed it shut behind her. After a serious of tense moments, a pair of hoofsteps approached and stopped in front of the door. “Oh Rainbow, won’t you please join me? I’m so,” A sad sniff. “I feel so alone without you.”
The racer resisted the urge to throw open the door and hug her friend, reminding herself that this was not the same Fluttershy she had come to know. In the dark of the closet, though, an idea came to mind. Looking around she spotted exactly what she was looking for, a collection of scarves that Fluttershy had saved from every Hearth’s Warming. They had been gifts from Rarity.
Working in the dark slowed her down but eventually the cyan pegasus had what she wanted. Or she assumed she did, from the little input she received as she ran her hoof over the material. After checking for the upteenth time the mare took a deep breath, preparing for what she was about to do.
With her quick reflexes she flung the door open, revealing Fluttershy standing a short distance away, her eyes widening in surprise. Putting on extra speed she flew past her, throwing her impromptu creation over her target as she did so. As she hit the center of the room she turned around sharply and slowed down, flapping idly to see her handiwork.
As luck would have it the net had work exactly as she had planned and had caught her target in a tangle of color and fluffy fabric. Not wasting anytime that Fluttershy might use to break out she swooped from her position and grabbed the lead rope in her mouth, lifting the small mare into the air and letting the net tighten around her.
With her friend securely restrained Rainbow began to drag the mare to the door, flinching every time her brash actions caused the pegasus behind her to thump into an object. Eventually though they left the house, neither physically worse for being in there. With a beat of her strong wings the blue pegasus took to the air and set her course for the house that Lucid had set up as their HQ, easily managing the weight of the cream pegasus.
As the steady beat of her own wings began to calm her mind Rainbow Dash looked down at her surprisingly silent prey and blinked as she realized that her drug had worn off. She now appeared to be carrying a giant octopus-like creature. Removing her attention from the pony beneath her Rainbow looked back towards the building and decided on something immediately. She wasn’t going to tell her friend what she had done at her house, even if it meant that her own life would be on the line. The idea of how Fluttershy would react to being told she had killed angel and then ate parts of him... to be the one who caused that... it was horrible to even think about.