We set out the way back to my house, Rainbow didn't want to fly for some reason, so she walked instead, filling the silence of the streets with her clopping.
"Is there something bothering you?" I asked.
"It's just what happened earlier," she said.
"Why does it bother you? It's not like it's your fault or something."
"I know I know, it's just..."
"What?"
"Well, I don't think you know this, but..."
"Speak Rainbow, don't stretch it," I said impatient.
She took a breath, and continued.
"Nopony ever had felt any attraction to her."
"Huh? You mean that nopony was ever interested in Fluttershy?" I asked "Well, it makes sense, she never was an attention lover or something."
"Yeah. That's why it surprised me."
"Well, believe me when I say..." I stopped at the middle of the sentence.
"What?"
"I shouldn't tell her, if one guy is surprising, a hundred would be shocking." I thought "Uh nothing, let's just keep going okay?" I said.
She shrugged and we kept walking.
A few blocks separated us from my house, and I hoped we wouldn't run into any trouble. Streets were very dangerous at this time. But if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.
I suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Rainbow asked.
I slowly walked again, with more caution.
"Is there a problem?" she asked, but I shushed her.
"Don't speak!" I whispered "There's trouble ahead."
Rainbow looked at the street, and she saw a little group of gangsters (or their south-american counterpart) loitering around.
"Let's just pass by them, do not stop or anything." I instructed Rainbow, to which she nodded.
We kept walking on the road (because in the street we currently were, cars rarely are spotted), my heart racing by the step, and I glimpsed at the group. One of them returned the look, so I quickly looked ahead again, I noticed they were three.
"Ya' lost somethin'?" the guy who looked at me said. I kept walking, a bit faster now. "Hey, I'm talkin' to ya' dude!" he called again. I hurried my pace, Rainbow started to get worried.
And then, a stone passed in front of us, missing by a little.
"When somebody talks to ya', you gotta turn around brotha'." he said.
"I'm in a hurry, please let me be." I said still with my back facing them.
"Seems ya' can't git it through ya'r skull. Fair 'nuff, we'll make it for ya'." he menaced.
Right when a hand grabbed my shoulder, I swiftly turned around and punched the guy across his mouth, making him lose his balance, and as fast as I could, flee from the group.
I ran for a square, and stopped to catch my breath. Big mistake, these guys run away from cops as a sport, and they do it everyday, they may not be faster than me, but they can last longer.
As one of them catched up to me, he quickly threw a punch taking advantage of the momentum. I blocked as I could, but I fell to the ground anyway. He then tried to pin me down, but I quickly moved away, kicking him in the process. The other two had already joined him. I tried to run but I was out of stamina, I could barely walk without wheezing.
"Wassamatta', ya' tired?" he mocked.
And as the three were about to hit me all at once, a blur between them and me threw them away. And then I saw.
"Rainbow!" I exclaimed.
She stood beside me on the ground, I was confused at why wasn't she flying, maybe she didn't want to raise suspicions.
"I could use some action." she whispered to me.
The gangsters stood up again.
"That lil' doggie packs a punch, it will be fun ta' punish an animal." one of them said.
But one of them was fidgeting in his place.
"Uhh, dudes? That thing launched us back, I don't think it's a good idea."
"Are ya' scared of a puppy? Such a wuss." the third one mocked, but to no use, the other guy has already fled.
"I guess we'll go one on one then guys." I said to the duo.
"I'll tie your tongue to my boot and shove it up yo' ass playa'." the first one menaced.
"Aren't you able to say something else?" I mocked.
That was when the dude got out of control. He lunged at me with a kick, he managed to hit me in the stomach. But I grabbed his leg, lifted it up, and while the guy was begging for me to let go, I kicked him in his weak parts. And while he was trying to recover, I wound up an uppercut which made him lift his feet from the ground, falling on his back.
"One down, one more to go." I said satisfied, I never had fought a guy before, besides my brother.
Rainbow was dealing with the other guy, she was just staying out of his reach, and whenever she found a chance, she'd kick him in the face.
"Son of a... this dog kicks hard!" he said once.
I wanted to end the conflict right there, so when the guy was facing away from me, I snook behind him and elbowed him in the head, he quickly fell, and wouldn't move again for a while.
"Ouch, hitting with elbows actually hurts." I said.
I heard Rainbow snicker, and we moved away a little.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
"Yeah, please help me get this hood off, I want to breathe." she said.
And so I did, I pulled her hood back, and she could feel the breeze after a while.
"It was quite the time since I last felt breeze in my head." she pointed.
"I want to apologize for that." I said.
"Don't worry, it's not your fault, you're just taking care of us."
Then she stretched her wings, and flapped them a bit.
"These guys can't stand a beating." she mocked.
-BANG-
We both flinched, that was a shot from a gun, no doubt about it, and it was heard nearby. I looked around and the guy who I knocked down before was holding a pistol at us, still on the ground.
"W-w-w-what the hell is that thing?!" he yelled looking next to me.
I did so too, and the sight I had, was the last I would have ever wanted. Rainbow Dash was shot.
She was still conscious, but she was sitting on her haunches, looking at one of her front legs, stained with red. She was crying in pain.
"OH YOU PIECE OF-" I yelled, and launched myself against the guy, he shot two more times against me but missed.
When I had him grappled, I hit him time after time with any punch I could make out, grabbing his armed arm to point away.
One, two, three, I lost count of how many times I punched him, but I made sure to spill his blood on the concrete of the road with every single one of them. Eventually, I stopped, not because I wanted, but because someone stopped me.
Rainbow was at my side now, and with her sane leg she stopped me from being a possible killer.
"He had enough, let him be now." she said.
"This guy shot you, he wanted to kill you!" I replied, not taking my eyes away from the gangster.
"But you don't want that for him, do you?" she pointed "You wouldn't bear with the burden of a murder." she was right, but she also added "She wouldn't want that either."
At that sentence, I stared at Rainbow, she was more than just right.
I was about to lift myself from the ground, but the guy gave a weak groan. Without thinking twice, I finished him with one last punch, rendering him unconscious.
"You could have killed him." Rainbow scolded.
"Be glad that I didn't stomp his face, that way he'd be truly dead." I replied, and added "We have to strap up that wound, hold on."
So I tore a piece of the t-shirt the second guy had, then I tore a smaller piece from it, and put it over the wound, fastening it with the larger piece.
"Let's go, can you fly?" I asked.
"I think." she tried to lift from the ground, but couldn't mantain herself for long.
"I'll carry you, we're not far, hang on."
Thanks that I brought the keys with me, we managed to enter my house. But we couldn't keep quiet, as the dogs barked once we got in, and the doors aren't too silent either.
I ran to my room, where Rainbow's friends slept, and waked them up. I called at them telling that Rainbow was hurt, catching the attention of Fluttershy, and she quickly looked at her friend's leg.
"I'm fine, don't wo- OW!" Rainbow was saying as Fluttershy inspected her.
"How did this happen?" Twilight asked.
"Let him explain later, for now let's just take care of Rainbow." Fluttershy ordered (which was strange coming from her), and she took Rainbow to the bathroom.
I noticed a pain in my side, but after the strenous event, who wouldn't have his insides aching for not breathing properly?
As quick as she left, Fluttershy returned with Rainbow, who had her leg wrapped up.
"She's okay, her leg has just received a cut. I cleaned the wound and put the gauze over it."
"Are ya' sure she didn't drain off?" Applejack asked "Because ah don't like that trail of blood on tha' floor." she pointed downwards, drops of red making a path.
"Well, most of it isn't hers." Fluttershy said, and sniffed the floor "It doesn't have the same odor."
"Wait, if if isn't Rainbow's, then-" Twilight stopped in mid-sentence.
Then it came to me, the pain wasn't only because of being out of breath! I rolled up my t-shirt and looked, my left side was completely stained with blood.
"Oh." I managed to say before fainting.