Rainbow Savior Chapter 4
By: Juria
Dash sighed as she watched Scootaloo sleeping peacefully, gently running a hoof over her mane. Suddenly, the overhead florescent lights flickered on as Spitfire and Soarin entered the room, causing Scootaloo to groan and Dash to rise to her hooves. “You two had better have a good reason for doing this.” she stated. Spitfire sighed deeply. “We need to talk to Scootaloo.” Spitfire began to take a step in Scootaloo’s direction, as the pegasus filly groggily opened her eyes, however Dash quickly positioned herself between both Spitfire and Soarin and Scootaloo, a determined look in her eyes. “No way. She’s been through enough as it is and the last thing she needs is you two…”
“Rainbow Dash!” Spitfire shouted, her voice carrying the tone she usually reserved for Wonderbolts recruits. Spitfire huffed as she regained her composure. “You have my word that no harm will come to Scootaloo and we will do everything in our power to bring the one responsible for this to justice, but right now, we need her to talk in order to get to the bottom of this.”
Dash returned the same frustrated huff to Spitfire. “Fine.” She stated, standing stoically next to Scootaloo for support. Spitfire took another deep breath before focusing her attention on Scootaloo. “So, what can you tell us about griffins?”
Scootaloo gave her a confused glance before cautiously speaking while twiddling her hooves. “W..well I know that they’re from the Griffin Empire, and I know that some of them eat meat, and I know that…”
Spitfire held up one front hoof towards Scootaloo while face-hoofing with the other one. “No, Scootaloo, what we mean is, what do you remember about the griffin who attacked you?”
Scootaloo’s face froze in terror. “I..I can’t!” she shouted, sobbing into her hooves. Rainbow Dash faced Spitfire. “You two. Get out of here.” she stated. Spitfire started to glare at her, until the realization of Dash’s plan popped in her head. “Come on Soarin, let’s go wait outside.” She said calmly, Soarin giving her a befuddled look before following.
Once Spitfire and Soarin had left the room, Dash walked over to Scootaloo and gently wrapped a wing and hoof around her. Not a word was said as Scootaloo nuzzled and sobbed into Rainbow Dash’s chest. Dash looked down at her with a look of concern. “Listen Scootaloo, I don’t know why you’re so afraid to tell us what you saw and who did this to you, but I promise you, whoever it is will never harm you ever again.”
Scootaloo wiped her eyes and looked up at Dash. “Really?” she asked with a sniffle. Dash’s magenta eyes narrowed not
in anger, but in determination. “Really.”
Scootaloo cautiously motioned for Dash to lean down so she could whisper in her ear, then slowly gave her all of the information she could remember, what the attacker looked like, how they were living in a small abandoned cottage just outside of Ponyville that was primarily used during Nightmare Night as a haunted house, even their name. Once Dash had all of the information, she broke away from Scootaloo’s embrace and started to leave, but the next words from Scootaloo stopped her.
“Mom, I mean Dash?”
Dash froze in place, before taking a deep breath and turning around. “Yeah?”
Scootaloo tilted her head down, nervously blushing. “Will you come back to me?”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Always. I pinkie promise.”
“Cross your heart and hope to fly?” Scootaloo asked.
“Stick a cupcake in my eye.” Rainbow responded, even performing the motions.
A small smile lit up on Scootaloo’s face as she watched Rainbow Dash leave her room.
Once Dash exited the room, she quickly rushed past Spitfire and Soarin heading for the hospital front doors. “Hey, what did she tell you?!” Spitfire called out to her. “Just meet me about a mile west outside of Ponyville in about 20 minutes. Look for an old rickety house. And bring back up!” Dash replied, rushing out the doors and flying as fast as she could without destroying any property. “I should have known.”
Meanwhile, in the library…
Twilight continued to stare at all the evidence strewn about her living room table. She’d positively identified the killer and had turned over all of her findings to Fleetfoot and Rapidfire, who in turn had turned them over to Spitfire and Soarin, so why did she feel like something was missing or something had been overlooked? Twilight twisted her head this way and that, trying to figure out what she was missing. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a jolt from a certain pink pony.
“Hey Twilight!” Pinkie shouted, sticking her head out from the ceiling lamp, causing the purple unicorn to practically jump out of her skin. “Sweet Celestia Pinkie!” Twilight shouted back in a mixture of shock and frustration. Pinkie jumped down to the floor, a small frown on her face. ”Sorry Twilight, I was just wondering if you had seen Rainbow Dash.”
Twilight’s eyes began darting over the pictures of the slain fillies as the name echoed in her ears. “Ooh, how could I have been so stupid?!” She grabbed Pinkie by the shoulders. “I can’t believe I missed this. All of the victims share one common trait aside from their age, and do you know what that is?!”
Pinkie shrugged her shoulders in confusion, giving her best Big Macintosh impression. “Eenope.”
Twilight began shaking Pinkie as she spoke. “They all have a different colored coat. Not a single one of them is the same. Combined, they all share the same color scheme as…” Twilight stopped shaking Pinkie, ignoring the dizzied pink pony as she fell to the floor, grabbing the headset off of Rapidfire. “Rainbow Dash!”
Spitfire wrenched the headset off, trying to regain her hearing. “Ms. Sparkle, please, speak with a little less volume.” she grumbled.
“It’s not Scootaloo. The killer isn’t after Scootaloo, she was just a decoy. Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
A concerned look crossed Spitfire’s face. “She just left a few minutes ago, told us to meet her about a mile west of Ponyville and to bring back up, something about an old house used on Nightmare Night, why?”
Twilight gasped. “She’s the killer’s real target.”
Rainbow Dash gave a quick glance to the sky before she landed backwards, smashing the front door of the dank, musty old house in. Dash did a quick spin as she stopped, facing the barely-lit living room. “Alright, where are you?!” she shouted in a demanding tone.
“Right here.” came the soft raspy voice from behind her. Dash turned to face the voice’s owner, only to be met with a flash of yellow to the jaw, knocking her to the floor. Dash looked up through bleary vision as she caught the yellow eyes and beak of her attacker. She didn’t even have time to speak as a second yellow fist struck her again, sending her into total darkness. “Welcome home, Rainbow Dash.”