Rainbow felt a sense of deja-vu as she sat in the hospital room, only this time instead of sitting by the bed of her long lost daughter; she was now sitting by the bed of her stepsister Fluttershy, who was in a coma after being hit by Firefly’s lightning. It had been several days after thin incident; and the doctors had all but given up on trying to revive her, because every time they tried to touch her with their magic, her own pegasus magic would surge against it, for it had become incredibly unstable after being struck by Firefly’s own magic.
But there was something she knew she could do to help Fluttershy out of this, but she couldn’t do it with everypony watching, and every time she had gone to try and help she had found somepony already there, watching her as she laid there motionless.
So while she waited for a chance to be alone with her sister, she had been busy doing other things. She had finally headed over to the Ponyville police station to identify the two stallions that had been locked up, and had finally found out from Scootaloo the reason why they had been attacking her. It seemed that they had been the victims of one of the Crusaders attempts at earning their cutie marks, and had decided to corner Scoots and chase her into the alley Rainbow had found them in to teach her a lesson, having mistaken her for the leader of the group.
She had also started giving flying lessons to Scootaloo along with her wife Spitfire, and together they made a pretty good team, gently guiding their daughter through the proper ways a pony should fly. It was hard at first, due to Scootaloo having never actual tried to fly before her wings were underdeveloped, but with a little help and some support magic from both her parents, her own pegasus magic started to grow stronger, and she could now fly around pretty decently, even if her wings did buzz like a bees instead of flapping like they should.
Rainbow shook her head to clear her mind of the happy memory; she had things she needed to focus on besides memories. She looked across the bed, seeing Twilight sitting in the same chair she had been occupying since Fluttershy had been brought to the hospital. She had refused to leave, sleeping in a cot in the corner of the room so that she could be close to Flutters, refusing to even go out for meals and even getting mad when the princess had tried to make her go home.
Rainbow knew why of course, she had seen the look in Twilight’s eyes when she stared at Fluttershy’s unconscious form; that pain in them that she knew only ponies in love could feel. She got up, going over and sitting down next to Twilight, wrapping a comforting wing around her friend before speaking. “So…how long have you and Fluttershy been seeing each other?”
Twilight looked at her in shock, “How…how did…”
Rainbow put a hoof to her lips, smiling as she spoke, “I knew because of the way you looked at her Twilight, it wasn’t hard to guess after that.”
Twilight stared for a moment, and then smiled, looking back at Fluttershy as she spoke. “We’ve been going out for a few years now, she…she was actually the one to ask me out on our first date, it really caught me off guard. We…we were going to try for our first foal a…after this whole mess with you had calmed down…but now…”
Rainbow’s eyes widened at that, and she decided that she was done stalling. She got up, heading over to the door and locking it, causing Twilight to give her a puzzled look. “Rainbow, what are you…”
Rainbow made a gesture to silence Twilight, walking back over to sit down next to Twilight before speaking up. “Twilight I need you to Pinkie Promise me that what I am about to show you stays between us ok?”
"why do you need me to…”
“Because what I am about to show you will help Fluttershy, but I need you to Pinkie Promise me that you won’t tell anypony else, I’m taking a big risk even showing you this.”
Twilight looked skeptical, but went through the motions as she recited the words. Rainbow then nodded, her wings beginning to spark as rainbow bolts of lightning began to pass between her feathers. Twilight’s eyes widened in shock, but before she could speak Rainbow spoke up. “I have the gift like my mom,” she said, placing her wings gently on the temples of Fluttershy’s head as she spoke. “But mine was different somehow, I don’t know if it was the sonic rainboom that did it, or if it has always been this way, but my lighting can heal as well as hurt.”
She kept her wings by Fluttershy’s head, and as Twilight watched, she saw the monitors hooked up to Fluttershy begin to show signs of brain activity, and then Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes.
“Ra…Rainbow…is that you?” asked Fluttershy, looking at the blue mare as she pulled her wings away.
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah it’s me, but I think there is somepony more important you should be seeing.”
Fluttershy looked confused, but then she looked forward, seeing Twilight staring at her in disbelief, “Twilight,” she said, reaching out her hooves as the other mare ran to her, both of them hugging each other and stealing kisses as Rainbow smiled, getting up to leave before being stopped by Twilight’s hoof, turning around and then getting a hug from the tearful librarian.
“Thank you Rainbow, I know it must have been hard for you to share such a secret, and I promise you I won’t tell anyone else, just promise me you won’t hide if from the others.”
Rainbow nodded, then headed out the door, making her way out of the hospital and then taking off into the sky, turning toward Canterlot with a determined look in her eyes, for she had some business to settle.
Firefly glared through the bars of her cell as she watched Rainbow descend the stairs, a smug smile on her face as she got up to speak. “So, come to gloat at your mother about how she got her ass handed to her by that harlot.”
Rainbows wings sparked, causing Firefly to smile as she looked at her, “oh did I press a button, I guess you’re a lot closer to her then the papers think. So tell me, what's it like to be one of the princesses pets along with the rest of those elemental sluts huh…?”
“Mom would you just be quite, I didn’t come here for you to bad mouth me, I just want you to answer a question for me, then I’ll leave you in peace.”
“Well I’m not stopping you; ask your fucking question already.”
Rainbow wanted nothing more than to blast her mother with a bolt of harmful electricity, but she restrained herself, glaring at her as she spoke. “Mom, I want to know you reasons behind taking Scootaloo from me?”
Firefly looked at her, not really surprised by the question, having waited to give her the answer ever since that day. “You remember when you asked me why your grandma wasn’t around, and I told you I’d tell you when you were older?”
Rainbow nodded, “my momma was just like you, she was skilled, she had talent, and she was the fastest mare of her time, even capable of pulling of the sonic rainboom like you can. But one night she got pregnant, giving birth to two foals and deciding to raise them by herself, and it was the stupidest mistake of her entire life.”
She gave a choked laugh as tears welled up in her eyes, keeping her face turned away from Rainbow as she continued. “Oh she said we were her greatest gift, that she wanted nothing more than to raise us, said she enjoyed being a mother. But I knew it was a lie, I saw the regret in her eyes, how she would stare longingly at the sky, and wondering…what if.”
She then turned to rainbow, a glare entering her eyes as she spoke. “And then the day came, they day that fucking trash who had sired us walked back into our lives. He wanted to take us away, but mom wouldn’t let him, and then they got into a scuffle, a scuffle that ended up with both of them dead. We came home and found her bleeding on the floor, a knife dug into her chest that had punctured a lung, and she died there, with me clutching her as she whispered to me how everything would be alright, but I knew it wouldn’t be, because it should never have ended that way.”
“What are you…?”
“She could have used her gift, she could have killed him with it, but no, she would never use it on other ponies.”
She gave a sarcastic laugh, turning back to the wall as she ranted on. “She always told me and posy never to use our gift on other ponies, even if that pony was trying to hurt us, said it was wrong. But that day I realized she was full of horse shit, because if she had used her power then she would be alive! And that’s why I took Scootaloo, because I didn’t want you to waste your life and then die like my mom, does that answer your fucking question!”
“…you are a fucking idiot!”
Firefly looked startled, but before she could speak Rainbow cut her off. “Mom the reason why your mother told you never to use your gift against other ponies is because when you do you take their pain into you, corruption your magic and your soul along with it. It was something Gilda taught me when I went to her to learn about my gift, because I wasn’t going to trust with teaching me about it.”
“That bitch of a griffin, what the hell could she teach you that I couldn’t?”
“that bitch taught me more then you ever could, for one it was Gilda that taught me that each of us is connected in some small way to those of our race, and to attack one of your race you damage that link, and in so doing corrupt yourself. Your mother was trying to protect you from that, and you spit in her face by doing what you did.”
Rainbow then got up and walked away, stopping at the top of the stars to give one last glace at Firefly, and then she turned and left, leaving nothing but silence in her wake.
Rainbow landed on the porch to her house, opening the door and walking inside, not too surprised when an orange ball of energy ran down the stairs to the bedrooms and tackled her, causing her to laugh.
“Mom your home, we were wondering when you would get back, momma was worried sick.”
“Was she?” asked Rainbow, looking up to see Spitfire coming out of the kitchen, looking a little tired.
“Yeah I was; you could have left a message for me telling me where you were going.”
“I had some personal business to take care of, but now I’m back.”
Spitfire nodded, then motion for Scootaloo to head into the kitchen before giving Rainbow a peck on the cheek. “I got dinner ready for us, but I have a surprise waiting in our room.”
Rainbow grinned, following her wife up to her room and then gasping, for she saw that she had moved all the stuff she had owned inside their room, and she started to tear up as she turned toward her.
“I…I thought it would be nice if I finally moved in completely, you know, so that we could better raise our daughter together. I already made arrangements with the rest of the Wonderbolts, and Soarin has agreed to take over management for me while I am away, cause honestly girlfriend, don’t think I can do my stunts if I leave you here by yourself, I just…”
Rainbow silenced her with a kiss, holding it for a long moment before finally pulling back, looking deep into her wife’s eyes before speaking. “You don’t need to worry about that, you’re here now, and that makes me happy. Now come on, we got to make sure our little filly eats her vegetables.”
They both giggled, getting up and leaving the room with smiles on their faces, both feeling that life was finally turning around.