Starlight looked up at Rainbow Dash with tears in her eyes, still very upset thinking she was the cause of the trouble.
“Why would the Guard be after you?”
“Not now, Kid--”
Starlight cut her off. “But--”
“Just let me get us somewhere safe and then I promise I will tell you anything you want to know.”
“Pinkie Promise?” Starlight asked, looking up at Rainbow Dash, who smiled.
“Pinkie Promise, Starlight.” Rainbow jumped when she heard a voice behind them.
“Hey!” It was the Guard stallion who had been questioning Rainbow Dash’s neighbor. He was standing at the opening of the dead-end alley, looking at them. “I know who you are, and you are under a warrant to be detained by the Guard for…Hey!” As he had been talking Rainbow Dash had scooped Starlight up onto her back, slowly so the Guard wouldn’t notice. “Stay where you are! I will shoot!” He called pulling out a long-range tazer.
Rainbow Dash watched him calmly, waiting for the perfect opportunity. She took in all her surroundings; the fire escape on the side of the building that would be a perfect launching pad to aid her quick flight; the nervous way the Guard stood and held his weapon. He was a rookie, Dash could tell. Standing perfectly on protocol, aiming the tazer at her at the handbook perfect angle, he was new. A veteran Guard would have known to taze her on sight.
Well, Rainbow Dash would take advantage of that.
“What’s on your back?! Put it in front of you and come towards me…slowly!” He mussed the last word as the tazer in his hand drooped and he quickly righted it. Good, Dash thought, he hadn’t seen Starlight on her back. She slowly inched towards the fire escape, hoping to make her escape while he was off guard. “Towards me!” He yelled, louder this time.
Starlight clung tighter to Rainbow as his call caused a chorus of shouts to erupt from the street. The Guard turned for a fraction of a second to make sure his comrades were coming. That was all the opening Rainbow Dash needed. She jumped towards the fire escape and pushed off hard with her back hooves, throwing them into the sky.
She breathed a small sigh of relief as her wings opened and they were airborne above the city. Rainbow Dash put on as much speed as she could, hoping to get far away- fast.
“Let’s hope that Guard was an Earth Pony!” Starlight yelled against the wind.
“Ha! Even if he was a Pegasus, he would have a hard time catching me!” Dash laughed. However, she craned her neck to see behind her just in case. Then her eyes widened in surprise and shock.
“What is it?” Starlight asked, but she never got an answer. Suddenly, Starlight was aware of a whizzing sound and then Rainbow jerked, static coursing over her body. Starlight could even feeling the tingling. Rainbow tried to say something, but her eyes closed, she passed out and they were falling.
“RAINBOW!!!!” Starlight screamed, desperately trying to get her to wake up. There was no response and they were falling fast. From this altitude, Starlight knew, when they hit the ground… well, they would be nothing but colorful splats on the hard concrete. You’ve got to think of something! Starlight was panicking and time seemed to slow down as they fell, making each second seem like a year. She saw something white fly past her in the breeze, her hat! She didn’t even care; what use was having a hat when nobody would even be able to tell she was a unicorn when they hit the ground!?
Wait! You’re a Unicorn! What are unicorns good for? Magic! She concentrated fiercely, hoping against hope she could do something, anything! Her magic wasn’t very strong, but she had to try! Come on horn! Work! She closed her eyes, concentrating ever harder. Just a she was sure her magic wasn’t enough, she opened her eyes. They were milliseconds from hitting the ground!
Suddenly, as if that intense fear had awoken something, her horn burst with dark purple energy that wrapped around her own body and Rainbow Dash’s. Starlight stared with wide open eyes as her magic swirled around them in waves, bringing them slowly to the ground. As soon as her hooves touched the stone path beneath her the purple bubble of energy burst and dissipated. She only had a moment to be relieved as she remembered the event that brought them down from the sky.
She turned to see if Rainbow was okay, but the blue pegasus was already staggering to her hooves. Her left wing hung limply by her side, electric sparks still dancing across the outermost feathers.
“Rainbow!” Starlight called as she rushed over to her.
“Its okay, I’m alright, just, well, a little bit…shocked.” Rainbow said, testing her wing. She winced as she tried to pull it in towards her body. At last, she succeeded in folding it in and she sighed.
“There’s no way I can fly on this wing. Huh, wouldn’t have believed that rookie Guard would be able to hit the broadside of a thunder-cloud, much less him hitting me. Not to brag or anything, but I was cruising pretty fast!” She stopped and looked down at Starlight. “Wait, how did we get down here? We were high enough for a fall to kill us, how are we okay?” Starlight looked at the ground.
“I had to do something! I used magic…” She said, not wanting to meet Rainbow’s eyes.
“Hey, Kid. I don’t care how you did it, I’m just glad we’re alive and you’re okay. Like I said earlier, I have no problems with magic…or unicorns.” At first Starlight didn’t say anything. Then she looked up at Rainbow and smiled. Nopony had ever been so nice to her. She couldn’t even believe how much Rainbow had already done for her. She opened her mouth to say something when suddenly they heard running hoofsteps coming up behind them.
“Hey! They fell over here!” It was the Guard. Starlight froze and Rainbow whipped her head around, her eyes narrowing. About ten Guard ponies were running towards them at full speed, but they were still a ways off. The Guard stallion that had found them in the alley and who had tazed Rainbow was in the lead.
“I swear to Celestia, if I ever seen that rookie Guard pony after tonight I am going to give him a serious reason why leaving other ponies the hell alone is a damn good idea!” She turned to Starlight and lifted her on to her back. Her left wing twitched again and she exhaled in frustration. “Well, looks like we’re hoofing it!” She said and took off running.
Luckily they were very close to the edge of the city. They had landed on a path that eventually led to a nearby town. Coincidentally, the path also led right over Starlight’s bridge. Rainbow galloped over the bridge at high speed. Even on the ground she was fast. However, the sound of hoofsteps behind them never faded in the slightest as the Guards gave close chase.
Starlight looked back to see how close they were and was startled to see the gap between them was closing, not very fast, but they were certainly gaining on Rainbow.
“How close are they?” Rainbow huffed.
“Close and getting closer!” Starlight responded, still looking at the pack of Guards chasing them. The Guards were close enough for Starlight to see their faces, and she watched as they continued to narrow the gap. The Guard at the front of the pack glared at her. Then his eyes widened and he stumbled momentarily before righting himself. When he looked back at Starlight there was new venom and fire in his eyes. He said something to the mare next to him, who nodded and repeated it to the rest of the group who in turn redoubled their efforts.
The wind snatched away the sound before Starlight could hear what they had said. She turned back around and bit her lip. They needed somewhere to hide. Rainbow couldn’t run forever.
“Rainbow! They’re coming faster!”
“It’s okay, Kid. We’re almost to the forest!”
Starlight faced back at their pursuers who were even closer now than before. The lead Guard stallion’s gaze was fixated solely on her. Then it hit her. She wasn’t wearing her hat. She was a unicorn for all the Guard ponies to see. That was what the lead stallion had noticed before they speed up!
“Oh no…” She whispered, flipping around and ducking low to avoid them seeing her, but the damage was already done. Suddenly, the path narrowed and they were plunged into dim forest. Rainbow Dash didn’t slow even the tiniest bit. They went around a corner and Rainbow dove into a break between bushes on the side of the path. They tumbled into a ditch and Rainbow flipped around, putting Starlight behind her. She was breathing heavily and didn’t say a word. Starlight knew to be quiet.
Starlight looked up at the opening Rainbow had made in the foliage. If one of the Guards noticed it, they would investigate for sure, and they would see Rainbow and her hiding below. She concentrated on the break and let her magic, which was oddly easy to call forth, swirl around the bushes, pulling them back together. Not a moment to soon, the branches knitted back together and the dark purple glow dissipated.
Seconds later the sound of hoofbeats on the dirt path thundered by and the forest was still. Both Starlight and Rainbow Dash breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Wow. I had no idea you were so talented in magic!” Rainbow turned to her.
“Please don’t be mad at me!” Starlight said, still feeling like a naughty filly for using magic.
“Are you kidding?! That was amazing! I can’t believe you saved us…twice! Well, I certainly am glad to have you on my side!” Rainbow smiled at her and she felt ecstatic. Not only was her magic flowing easier than it ever had, but she was being praised for it. Suddenly, being a unicorn didn’t feel like such a bad thing. Then she remembered something and frowned.
“What is it, Kid… Starlight?” Rainbow asked and looked down at her.
“They saw me.” Starlight answered. It was then that Rainbow noticed for the first time that Starlight didn’t have her hat on.
“Starlight, where I’m planning on going, I don’t think they will be able to follow.” Rainbow reassured her. Starlight looked up,
“Where are we going?” She asked.
“We’re going to see a friend of mine who hopefully will be cool with us staying with her for a few days. Don’t worry, she’ll love you.” Rainbow reassured her when she saw Starlight make a face at the mention of some pony else. “And she lives in a very remote part of the forest. So we’ll be safe for a while.” Rainbow looked up at the sky.
“We should get moving. This strip of woodland eventually joins up with the Ever Free forest and there are things in there we do not want to run into. We need to stay moving. Hopefully, my wing will be better soon, but there is no way to tell how long I won’t be able to fly. We’ll need to go fast. Do you think you can keep up for a while? I need to keep you off my back so my wing can heal.” Starlight nodded. “Let’s go.” She said and followed Rainbow Dash as she moved deeper into the forest.
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