//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: The Edge of Madness 
// by SaltyJustice 
//------------------------------//

	I convinced the two to come back home with me, after I managed to get a few more details out of them.  They had been living on their own for over a year now, Rainbow had been abandoned at a summer camp, while Fluttershy had been an orphan since she was born.  For some reason, they had become best friends, perhaps from a mutual struggle, or because Rainbow believed she had to protect Fluttershy, I don't know.  It was a tragedy in motion.
They had been hiding out on the school grounds and taking food from the cafeteria's freezer, hoping to somehow convince the staff they were students there when the semester started.  I could tell they hadn't really thought their plan through, or it was due to sheer inexperience, since fillies rarely had to fill out paperwork.  Suffice is to say, they would have been found out on the first day.  I intended to fix that.
I hadn't felt anything when I was examining the basement, but my gut told me that it was still dangerous.  Something at that school wasn't right, even if my instincts were quiet.  The less time these two spent there, the better, though I couldn't convince them to drop it entirely.  Rainbow was a huge Wonderbolts fan and insisted she was going to join them someday.  Fluttershy didn't want to talk at all.
The twins were out when we arrived back at home, but this time there was some food in the fridge, so I gave my new friends full access.  Fluttershy ate an apple in three bites, while Rainbow went straight for the sandwich spread and covered it with the grape jelly that I presumed Squeaky had bought for me.  The fastest way to a filly's heart is through her stomach, I suppose.
I decided to write a letter to Tia to report my findings, and get her to pull some favors and get these two admitted to the school.  While I was doing that, I heard the door open a surprised gasp come from Fluttershy.
"A flamingo!  Oh, hello, mister flamingo.  What's your name?"  I heard her say from outside the room.  I heard a squawk.
"That's a lovely name, may I call you mister Labamba, or just Labamba?" she asked.
I briefly considered calling in Dr. Hoverace to take a look at her, but dismissed the idea as soon as I had had it.  You can't fix this kind of crazy, I've been trying for years.
"So it seems we have new roommates," I heard Squeaky say from the doorway.  "That makes three in one day."
"It's not my fault, they just followed me home," I said wryly.  She gave me a disapproving look.
"Are they gonna pay rent at least?" she asked.
"First, we're not paying rent at all.  Second, they're fillies, how are they gonna pay rent?" I said.
"It's called sarcasm, Cadence.  Could you at least run this stuff by us first?" she asked.
I waved my hoof inwards, telling Squeaky to get closer.  I whispered quietly, "Orphans, big deal.  Abuse.  Non-negotiable," I said.  Squeaky understood.
"You're like a disaster magnet.  I'll see about getting them beds or something," she said, sighing.
"You'd do that?" I asked.
"The yellow one is worse than Minty.  Go look at the living room, they're doing some kind of moron-dance," she said, "This is just like being at home.  If the rainbow one starts cussing and collecting broken junk in the basement, I'm gonna think they're related to us."
I finished writing the letter to Tia, then Squeaky and I went on a shopping trip to get the house outfitted properly, leaving the fillies in the care of Minty.  Rainbow wanted to come with us, but I told her to be patient for a little while longer.
The next day was Saturday, and while I had hoped that would mean nopony was going to be at the school, I couldn't take that risk.  I woke up fairly late that morning, and I would have slept longer except for a rhythmic pounding that seemed to be coming from the kitchen.  When I checked, I saw Rainbow standing in the middle of the room, looking at the cloud floor.  Another pound came, and Rainbow suddenly shouted, "Right there!".
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Helping to fix the plumbing," she said, matter-of-factly.
I heard the sound of something unscrewing and then something clanking a few times.  Water poured out of the newly-installed faucet in the kitchen.  I had missed quite a lot this morning.
A moment later, Squeaky flew in the window and turned the faucet off, with a very proud look on her face.  "Well, aren't you going to ask me how this works?" she said.
I looked dumbly at her.  "Water comes out of the faucet?" I said.
She shook her head.  "Yeah, but where does the water come from?" she asked.
I looked even dumber.  I had never even considered where it came from.
"From the clouds, duh!  I installed a condenser in the base stratus, pretty cool huh?" she said, smiling.  I couldn't bring myself to be properly amazed.
"Rainbow and I will go get some more clouds to build the mass up, and we'll have to watch it to make sure the house doesn't fall apart if we use too much.  Still, this place is now almost livable, don't you think?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, all the finest comforts," I said.
Minty stuck her head in the window.  "Hey, check this out!" she shouted at us.
Rainbow had already flown out through the window by the time Squeaky and I made it there to look out.  Fluttershy was balancing on Labamba's back in the yard, looking like some kind of chicken-rider as he strutted around.  They were having the times of their lives, judging by the looks on their faces.
"This is just too adorable, wish I brought my camera," Squeaky said.  She turned to me, "Hey, what are you doing today?  Busy?"
"I was gonna go watch the school building.  Princess stuff, you know," I said.
"Ah, was gonna ask if you wanted to help me with my project," she said.
"What project?" I asked.
She took on a surprised expression, though it softened in a second.  "Yeah I guess you wouldn't know," she said, seemingly to remind herself.
"Every year, all the first-years in the Physics department have a science fair where we try to invent something awesome," she said.
"Really?  Why?"  I asked.
"Because it's awesome!  Duh!  Science is fun if you give it a try," she said.
"No Squeaky, dancing is fun.  Sports are fun.  Jokes are fun.  Science is a job," I said, though I could tell this was falling on deaf ears.
"When you see what I'm planning, you'll change your mind, I promise," she said.
I swung by the library and got myself a couple of novels to read while I kept watch over the school.  My plan was - well, I didn't exactly have a plan.  If anypony tried to go inside, I was just going to improvise, and definitely keep them out of the basement.
I decided to land on the side closest to where Gazzo had broken in, I could still see the warning paper, still broken from my entrance yesterday.  It flapped idly in the wind as I landed on the far side.  The yard was actually a huge runway made of black-painted floatstone, though it doubled as an aerial hoofball field.  I could see markings where the nets were tethered on the runway, and there were a set of fold-out bleachers on one end, with an inflatable air-raft underneath.  There weren't any pumps around though, they must keep those somewhere else and only use them when there's a game on.
I'd need to be fairly close to feel if something was wrong inside the building, so I nonchalantly perched myself on top of the corner of the classroom building and started reading.  I had seen Pegasi in Canterlot do this, just hang out on top of buildings and talk to one another, so I reasoned there were no laws against it.  If this was something I was supposed to know, it wasn't going to be easy to bluff my way out.  "Oh yeah," I imagined myself saying to a passerby, "I didn't used to be a Pegasus, but now I am!"
The day went by uneventfully, I read a lot of my novel and took a few sweeps around the building's perimeter.  Nopony came or went, not even staff, and now that I had flushed out the two squatters, the dormitory building was quiet.
Sunday was much the same, though Minty and Labamba stopped by to give me a bagged lunch.  Otherwise, it was dead quiet.  I considered going in to take another sweep, or even brave the basement, but I thought better of it.  For all I knew, the threat had passed, though until I got a feeling, or worse, a letter from Tia, that I was needed elsewhere, I decided to continue watching from a distance.
That Monday was the first day of classes for both the flight school and for Los Pegasus University, so all six of us woke up fairly early to get ready.  Minty and Fluttershy gave a tearful goodbye to Mr. Labamba, who (they assured me) promised to watch the house while we were away.
I escorted the fillies to the school, not because they wanted me to, but because I insisted.  They could doubtless handle themselves, I just didn't think they should have to.  When I was younger, there were certain things I expected my parents to do for me, so I could relax and enjoy myself.  I hoped these two hadn't become jaded by the experience, I hoped that I could undo whatever damage had been done to them by neglect.  I suppose that's my lot in life.
When we arrived for orientation, there was a table by the main entrance which had a pony standing next to it in a brown shirt that read "STAFF" in big bold letters.  He addressed us as we walked up.
"Name,"  he said, not as a question.
"Miamore Autrena," I said.  He looked at a clipboard on the table and then pulled out a little ID card.  It had my name on it and, more curiously, a picture of me on it.  Now I really was wondering how everypony had pictures of me for ID cards.
"Name," he said, this time to Rainbow.
"Rainbow Dash," she said.  She had told me earlier that wasn't her real name, but I hadn't managed to get the rest out of her.  She said she didn't want to talk about it, and Fluttershy didn't even have a last name.  We had decided to leave it as "Smith" for the paperwork.
The staffer gave her the ID card which also had her picture on it, though hers was smiling broadly.  Not only had I never seen her smile, there was no way a runaway orphan with forged paperwork had had her picture taken for an ID card.  Perhaps Tia has cameras on street corners that snap photos of passersby...
Fluttershy had spent this whole encounter standing behind me, trying to stay out of sight, so I got her card for her and told her to hang it around her neck if she didn't want to get harassed by security.  Perhaps Minty was right, perhaps this really was an important flight school if the even bothered with security, since my old high school didn't have it.  They didn't even lock the doors on the weekend, because what would a pony steal?  Knowledge?  Can you steal that?
If you could, then Twilight would have burglarized the place a lot sooner, I can promise that.
There weren't going to be a lot of classes today, just orientation, introductions, and tours.  I could see the staff members funneling us towards what looked like an auditorium, though it was actually just a gymnasium which had a retractable skylight, made out of cloud.  We flew up to one of the higher balconies to better see the introduction speeches.
A pony flew up into the center of the gym and seemed to be counting us out, pointing his hoof at each group in turn.  He flew back down and said something to a pony wearing a staff shirt, and she in turn pointed to a big group of ten or so fillies and colts who entered the gym just then.  Satisfied, he pulled out one of those magically charged megaphones you can get for five bits at the hardware store, and turned it on.  From this distance, I could just make out the logo "Hummingbird" emblazoned on the side.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, may I have your attention please," he said.  The room quieted down.  "Please allow me to introduce the principal of Hummingbird Flight College, Miss Tax Break!"
A mare in a business suit stepped in from the gym entrance, she didn't fly.  In fact, she was an earth pony, which seemed strange for a flight school.  I also didn't recognize the name, the pamphlets I had read said somepony else was the principal.
She took the megaphone from the staff pony and gave him a nod, then raised it to her mouth.
"Hello everypony!  I am Tax Break, though you can call me Ms. Break if you prefer," she said, before the megaphone screeched and she turned it off while covering one ear.  A moment later she turned it back on and said, "Test?  Test?  Okay."
"Yes, as I said, I am Ms. Break, and I've recently become the principal as I have purchased this flight school for a tidy sum.  I will now be in charge of the administration, so if any of you have any questions or problems I would love to assist you as best I can," she said.
I wondered if the recent rash of psychosis had anything to do with the purchase of the school, perhaps driving the price down, though I didn't know thing one about economics.  I suppose Hummingbird made sense as a private school, if it had been founded by Van der Belt.  I also noticed that Fluttershy refused to look at Tax Break, and that Rainbow seemed to be on edge for some reason.  Then again, maybe they had something against suits.  Does living on the streets do that to you?  Rainbow was gritting her teeth and didn't stop until Ms. Break waved and exited the gym.
"I don't like her," Rainbow whispered to me.  I could hear Fluttershy whimper in agreement.
"What?  Why not?" I asked.
She just shook her head, "Trouble, I can smell it," she said.
"From up here?  Are you being facetious?"  I asked.
She stared at me.  "What?"  she asked.
"Never mind," I said, as we turned our attention back to the staffer who now had the megaphone again.
"All right everypony, your instructors have assembled in the hallway outside.  They'll be taking you for the rest of the day, so please file out – "he said.  Everypony except the three of us immediately lifted off and made for the doorway.
"In an orderly fashion!" the staffer yelled.  The three of us stayed on our perch, giggling to ourselves as a horde of ponies all tried to file out the same door.  After the crowd thinned out, we glided down and I briefed the two fillies.
"This is where we split up, will you two be okay without me?" I asked.
"No," said Fluttershy.
"Yes, we will," Rainbow said, pushing Fluttershy gently.  She fell over regardless, letting out an "oof" as she bumped the floatstone floor.  I had made sure the two were in the same flight techniques class, though I suspected Fluttershy was going to be a charity case.  She flew much like I did when I first got my wings, which is to say, only when absolutely necessary.  I could see she was getting better, and I really hoped that having Rainbow there to help would get her to overcome her fears, but I wasn't imagining her as the next captain of the Wonderbolts, if you know what I mean.
"Meet back at the front entrance when your classes are over, okay?"  I asked.  Rainbow looked uncertain.
"And then what?" she asked.
"Uh, we go home," I said.
"Nah, that's okay.  Don't wait up for me, I'll meet you at the house later," she said, before she trotted off behind me.  Fluttershy looked up at me, hiding her face behind her hair.
"Should I wait for you then?" I asked.
"Uhm, yeah," she said.  Maybe I could see about transferring her into some sort of animals class.  She barely spoke to ponies, but wouldn't shut up when there was a robin or a sparrow around.  Did this school even have classes with animals?  There must be a veterinary program or something to work with.
Fluttershy didn't move on her own, so Rainbow came back and dragged her off towards her instructor.  I started making my way out before I got a feeling.  A bad feeling.  Something terrible was happening, right now, very close, and it was coming from...