“You mean to tell me that he drugged Missus Fluttershy?!”
“Pretty much,” Rainbow Blitz cringed, feeling shocked himself despite witnessing it firsthoof.
The trio walked along the edge of the apple orchard, the crisp fruit releasing a pleasant aroma that tantalized their appetites, in turn making the idea of their picnic much more satisfying. Golden Delicious walked alongside the pony of her affections, shaking her head from the disappointment she felt in her friend’s devious behavior. She looked back at the alicorn colt, his wings spread out as he balanced a well-stocked basket on his back.
“Oh, hon’,” She tutted disapprovingly. “Ah know you’re an aggressive little bundle, but Ah’ve never known ya’ to do sometin’ like this. Dontcha’ feel bad at all?”
“More than you can even imagine,” He muttered to himself, his teal eyes glazed and downcast.
Golden Delicious widened her eyes by a margin’ before darting them to her left. Rainbow Blitz walked on, unaware of the subtle emotional cues she picked up on. She slowed her pace, holding a foreleg out to detain his movements as well.
“Sugarcube, Ah plum forgot the zap apple jam back at the barn. Could you go back and get it for me?” She fluttered her eyelashes, inducing a goofy smile on his muzzle and light glow on his cheeks. “Ain’t nopony faster than you ‘round these parts, after all.”
He was off in a flash, leaving Golden Delicious free to begin her interrogation. She gave Capricorn a pleading look, resting a hoof delicately on his shoulder.
“C’mon, sugar. Ah’m listening loud ‘n clear. Why dontcha’ tell me what’s goin’ on?”
He closed his eyes, turning his nose to avoid any visual connection with the filly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Golden Delicious scowled, squeezing his shoulder with a crushing force.
“Out with it,” She imitated him, softening her grip once his eyes relinquished tears. “Why’d ya’ do it? Ain’t no use lyin’ to me, Cappy. Ah know you well enough by now. Who told off them colts that said you looked girly?”
“You did.”
“And who calmed my mama down when you accidently turned all her apples into oranges?”
“You did.”
“And who set things straight with Gizmo after things went a little too far?”
“Way too far. You did.”
“You bet Ah did. And Ah’d do it all again for ya’, sugar. Apple family doesn’t have ta’ run blood deep; it’s all about lookin’ out for the ones you care for. Now make this easier on yourself and tell the truth.”
Capricorn continued to let the tears flow, dipping his head to the ground in shame.
“Because I had to.”
“You had to go and drug your Mama?” She asked, cocking her head, a persecuting eyebrow raised.
He shifted uncomfortably, knowing she had him cornered.
“No, I probably could’ve done something else, but I was mad and did the first thing I could think of. Do you Pinkie Promise not to tell Blitz what I know?”
“Cross my heart an’ hope ta’ fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she recited, a vermillion orb obscured by her hoof.
Capricorn sighed, lifting his head to meet Golden Delicious at eye level.
“Spitfire doesn’t want Rainbow Blitz at the practices. She thinks a kid would blab their entire routine to the public, especially if the media showed up at their doorstep. I wasn’t supposed to hear this, but the Princess wasn’t counting on me leaving my test to go eavesdrop on their ‘private’ conversation.” He paused, tapping his horn proudly.
“I spent the next few days learning a spell to measure a pony’s skills. You know, how fast they can run or fly, how strong their magic is, stuff like that. I used it to measure Blitzy and his parents this morning. It’s a good thing my mom doesn’t know anything about magic; I told her it was some hypnosis spell.”
“That’s mighty impressive, Cappy,” Golden Delicous drawled impatiently, “But Ah don’t see how keepin’ a tab on his wings is gonna convince the captain to let him inta’ practice.”
“That’s just it, Goldy!” He said, his expression lightening a bit. “What’s the one thing Rainbow Blitz could do that would make Spitfire wanna keep him around? What’s the flashiest move in the sky; the one she’d wanna make sure stays in the Wonderbolts forever and ever?”
“Oh sugar, is that why you’re so dead set on Rainbow Blitz learnin’ the Sonic Rainboom? Ah know he’s a bit of a flying wiz in his own right, but you can’t… possibly… think… that….,” She gaped, coming to grasp at what Capricorn had been implying. “You’re jokin’.”
“I’m not,” He grinned cheerily. “My spell told me he had the physical ability to do the Rainboom, and it was right! Blitz can form the Sonic Barrier! He just needs a little push to break it. He’s actually faster than his dad, but not quite at his mom’s level yet.” He frowned, pounding a hoof into the dirt in frustration. “They would know that if his dad wasn’t so dead-set on keeping him away from risks! They’re stunt fliers! It’s not exactly like they play it safe themselves. Anyways, Mom would never go against Soarin’s wishes, so that’s why I… I…”
“Took her outta the picture?”
“Yeah,” He pawed uncomfortably at the dirt, kicking a small cloud up. “I had to do it. Blitz is so lonely, and it’s not like he can always come to Ponyville to take him away from that. I did my research with the drugs too; I looked at the back. Turns out it’s the same stuff they put in cold medicine, only stronger. I still should’ve thought of something else, like teleportation.”
“Ya’ still owe her one heck of an apology, sugar,” She said, lowering her hoof to the ground. “But you already knew that.”
“Yeah,” He croaked meekly. “She’ll probably never trust me again… but it’s worth it if I can help Rainbow Blitz get into those practices. Just… don’t tell anypony what’s going on. Can’t let them think I’m turning out more and more like my mom.”
“Ah wouldn’t dream of it, sugarcube.”
Golden Delicious leaned forward, her teeth flashing and her eyes beaming with excitement.
“So, do ya’ think Blitz knows he can do it?”
“Does Blitz know he can do what now?”
Both ponies turned to the raspy voice in horror, each wondering how long the colorful colt had been hovering in their airspace. Rainbow Blitz held a stack of jars, his head poking around them and his lip jutted out in a pout.
“Were you guys making fun of me behind my back? You know I’d rather you just say it to my face instead.”
“O-oh no, sugar,” Golden Delicious stammered, her cheeks perked up in a forced smile. She took the jars from him, placing them in Capricorn’s basket. “Ain’t like that, honest. We were just wonderin’… if ya’ll knew about that rainbow trail you leave behind. You know, uh, ‘cuz it’s behind you and it’d be dangerous to not keep your eyes on the sky.”
“Of course I know I can do it!” Blitz chirped, blissfully ignorant of her forced demeanor He spun around, landing ahead of her after a successful roll. “I see it when I do corkscrews all the time. Now let’s go eat!”
“Yes, now that there is a good idea. Besides, Ah still gotta help ya’ll so Ah can get my kiss,” She added with a quick wink.
Rainbow Blitz flushed as he looked back, evoking mild laughter from the other two children.
Soarin’ pounded on the locked cottage door, wailing in despair for a response that would never come.
“Bliiiiiiiiitzy! It’s Daaaaaaddy! Aaaaanswer meeeeeee! Pleeeeeeease!”
“Soarin’, they probably left for town already,” Rainbow Dash sighed, her mane swishing along her neck as she shook her head in shame.
Soarin’ whimpered pathetically and continued knocking at the door, tears welling in his eyes as he was met by further silence.
Rainbow Dash groaned, stepping forward to drag her lamenting husband from Fluttershy’s property, when a flash of brown drew her rose eyes from the comical scene unwinding on the porch. An irritated auburn bunny halted to a stop in front of the prismatic Wonderbolt, waving his tiny arms to garner her attention. He motioned with a small paw for her to follow him, repeating himself several times for emphasis. Rainbow Dash knew enough about his temperamental grandsire to realize that Angelo was not chasing her off of his territory and actually had something important to show her. She followed him, leaving her hysteric husband to continue pounding away at the mahogany door.
Angelo rushed around to the back of the cottage, Rainbow Dash in tow, her thoughts reaching panic at the rabbit’s somber behavior. He jumped through a small flap, clearly built as a sort of ‘doggy door’ for smaller creatures and leapt up, perching on the doorknob. The familiar sounds of clicking reached Dash’s ears, informing her that the surprisingly mechanical savvy creature had unlocked the door. She pulled the door open violently, following the brown streak of fur to Fluttershy’s living room. Dash gasped as she bore witness to her delicate and demur friend uncharacteristically dribbling on the couch, her deep slumber eliciting a quiet snore on every down breath.
“Fluttershy!” She yelled, shaking the yellow pegasus roughly, breaking her unconscious state.
“Wha huh?!” Fluttershy wheezed, her speech slurred by the diminishing effects of the ‘medication’.
“What happened, Fluttershy? Where are the boys?” Dash asked, her tone completely calm and understanding. Something had to have happened; she knew Fluttershy better than to assume that the caretaker would even dream of dozing off in the middle of her responsibilities.
“I-I’m not sure,” she stuttered, blushing in mortification at the current situation. “We had some tea, and I-I-“
She froze, mouth agape as the gears in her mind turned, coming to a horrifying conclusion.
“No…” She croaked, hoping her first assumption wouldn’t be the correct one. She vanished from Dash’s grip, leaving behind nothing more than a yellow blur that bounded toward the kitchen.
“He did!” She shrieked, the framed pictures in her cottage shaking at the murderous volume the pegasus reached. “My little parasprite of a son drugged me!”
She stomped her way back into the living room, pictures falling off the walls as the house quivered in submission to her hoofsteps. Rainbow Dash shook in her seat, telling herself that it was Fluttershy’s treading that caused her involuntary spasms, not the bloodlust in her voice.
“Oh when I get my hooves on him! Just wait until his father hears about this! I can’t believe it! I mean he’s pulled some stuff, but this beats them all by a landslide!”
Rainbow Dash hovered in the air anxiously, eager to fly away and rescue her son from whatever terrible fate Fluttershy’s had in store for him.
“Why would he even do that?!”
“He, um…” Fluttershy quickly reverted back to her timid self, afraid to reveal the truth to her panicked friend. She hesitated, biting her lip as she weighed the pros and cons of sugarcoating the situation. Giving into her morals, she decided to be completely honest with the troubled parent.
“He wanted to train Rainbow Blitz so that he could do the Sonic Rainboom.”
Fluttershy’s door came crashing down, the frame splintered from impact. A cloud of dust settled, revealing Soarin’ who came stumbling in, eyes wide in panic.
“The Sonic Rainboom?!” He bellowed, his voice echoing throughout the house. Soarin’ shakily turned around and took flight, his trajectory wobbly and his voice fading out as he gained distance from the cottage. “My baaaaaabyyyyyyy!”
Both mares stood in mute shock, their trance broken by the sound of the last piece of doorframe falling. Rainbow Dash cleared her throat awkwardly, embarrassed by her husband’s display.
“I’ll pay for that.”