The first paladin stumbled as three small balls of force slammed into his chest. Belle leveled her slender rapier at the next paladin, throwing more magic missiles from its tip.
Scoot and Snail started waving their hands and chanting softly, while Twilight threw force walls up to funnel all the corrupted paladins at their non corrupted counterparts. The glowing blue walls shimmered and Twilight grit her teeth in concentration as corrupted slammed into them.
Pinkie and Bright grunted as the first corrupted slammed into their shields. They dug trails in the ground as their feet were pushed back slowly. Pinkie snarled as she pushed back, advancing step by step.
Bright stabbed his sword through the space between him and the young woman to his right. The corrupted paladin caught the jab on its shield expertly and with all the skill it held before the corruption.
Rainbow rustled her wings, wincing as the bolt in her right wing shifted. She wasn’t getting into the air any time soon. She drew both her crossbows, aiming them between the paladins’ shields. As soon as an opening presented itself, she pulled both triggers. One of the shieldless corrupted crumpled, a crossbow bolt in both its neck and face.
Flutter moved to stand by Bloom, behind Mac and his massive tree-turned-club. She closed her eyes for a moment, and a yellow-tinged copy of Mac, complete with his club, appeared behind the corrupted paladins. With an overhead swing of the massive construct, one of the paladins crumpled down to the ground, obviously dead.
Dirk drew a sword and dagger, standing protectively by Rarity, ready should any corrupted break through the paladins.
There was a flash of smoke as Applejack vanished. She reappeared behind the shield line built by the corrupted. She jabbed a dagger into the back of the heads of both the paladins she was by before spinning around, throwing another dagger into the face of a third. With another flash she was behind the advancing allied paladins.
Even with that, there were still nearly thirty corrupted charging at the group. Three turned around to fight with the construct Mac. Flutter winced as they broke chunks off of the golem, but retained enough concentration to make the yellow Mac swing once more before going down. With a swing of the massive club, two of the corrupted crumpled. The construct then shattered, making Flutter cry out, dropping to the ground with a hand to her head.
Pinkie locked her shield with one more paladin, growling. She used her teeth to pull the straps tying the shield to her arm, dropping it. She used the moment of unbalance that caused her opponent to pull a crossbow from her belt. With a pull of the trigger, the other paladin dropped.
Bright threw his shield to the side just in time to catch a bolt shot by one of the farther back paladins aimed at the young woman. “If you could do that teleporting thing again, Miss Applejack,” he said, grunting as he brought his shield back to block a swing from the corrupted in front of him. “That would be great.”
With a nod, Applejack vanished, appearing behind the crossbow wielding paladins. With two quick slashes from her longsword, they both dropped, headless. Sun walked up behind her, grabbing her around the throat before she could teleport again. She let out a strangled exclamation of surprise.
Rainbow saw what was happening, and whipped a crossbow up at the senior paladin. Her first bolt hit him in the hand, causing him to drop the agent. She immediately vanished, appearing by her savior. The next two bolts Rainbow threw went through the joints of Sun’s armor, one in the knee and the other in the elbow.
“Everyone down!” Scoot yelled as she reached the climax of her casting. Everyone in front of her obeyed instantly, dropping to the ground. The corrupted chuckled with voices sounding of ground charcoal before advancing on the now prone paladins.
They never made it, as Snail shot a grease spell over the prone forms of his allies. The grease coated the ground and the corrupted. Sun, who was just out of range of the spell, widened his eyes as he saw the fire spark in Scoot’s hands. He turned and ran as best as he could with a crossbow bolt in his knee as a small red bead shot into the middle of the grease.
The corrupted slipped and stumbled as they tried to stand up in grease while coated in the stuff. Scoot smiled as she said one word, “Boom.”
Right after she said that, the bead caught fire and seemed to expand exponentially, engulfing most of the corrupted in a thirty foot fireball. Those that weren’t caught in the blast were lit on fire as the flames ran along the grease Snail had thrown moments prior. The corrupted that weren’t immediately incinerated screamed in agony as they slowly burned to death surrounded by fire.
“And that, my friends, is why it is awesome to know an Evoker,” Scoot said smugly, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend from behind.
Bloom and Flutter stared at her in horror, looking at the former paladins, some of whom were still screaming and thrashing around in the burning grease.
“That was,” Applejack said, pausing to try and find a word to describe what she just saw.
“Efficient,” Mac finished for her. Applejack nodded dumbly.
“Brutal,” Rarity said. Applejack nodded again.
“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, jumping in front of the older woman. “That was so cool!”
Scoot blew her bangs out of her face, before replying, “I know.”
Snail put a hand on the excited woman’s head, stopping her bouncing. “Don’t inflate her ego.”
Scoot smacked him playfully on the arm, “Do you want to lose your cuddle buddy privileges for the duration of this trip?”
Smartly, Snail chose not to respond.
Pinkie stood by the edge of the still burning fire, staring at the finally still corpses of the paladins. She couldn’t tell if the smoke rising was from the corruption or from their flesh immolating.
Bright walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t even react. “Pinkie,” he said softly. He flinched as she turned to him with broken eyes, eyes he hadn’t seen in nearly a decade. “Pinkie, there was nothing we could do. The Dark One knew we were on the way and was waiting for us.”
Pinkie turned back to the corpses. She pointed at one, “That’s Shine. She loved riddle games. She would always trade riddles with Crimson, there.” She pointed to another burned corpse.
“Pinkie,” Bright said. The rest of the group was looking at the two of them, but he didn’t care at this point.
“Crimson just got engaged. He was so happy,” she choked up. “Now look at what happened. What am I going to tell his fiancé? ‘Sorry, but there isn’t a body, it’s burned away’?”
“Pinkie,” Bright said again. “Don’t think about it.”
“Don’t think about it?” she shouted, whirling at him. “These men and women were our friends! They were like family! Look at them now!” She pointed a finger at the smoldering corpses. Bright didn’t break eye contact with her. She brought her right hand up and slapped him across the face, forcing his face towards the former paladins. “Look at them, damn you!”
“Pinkie,” he said again, looking at her again and ignoring his stinging cheek. “We couldn’t have done anything. Thinking otherwise is wrong and will do nothing but hurt you.”
The young woman slowly dropped to the ground as tears started to fall from her eyes. Bright grabbed her and held onto her as she wept into his chest. What a great start to her career as a paladin.
—*~*~*—
He opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness. He waited calmly, knowing that this meant his mistress was contacting him.
“You are incompetent,” the voice in the darkness growled.
“Mistress?” he asked.
“All you had to do was deliver her to me, a task that is not too hard, and you failed,” the voice echoed throughout the darkness.
“I set it up perfectly!” the man cowered. “None of them even knew they were being manipulated!”
“And yet she survived,” the voice growled, “and they have united.”
“Mistress?” he asked, daring to look up.
“You have failed me.” The dark parted as a beautiful woman walked through. She was tall, with long, slender legs and flowing, dark blue hair. She wore tight-fitted platemail over her slender body, and a helmet partially covered her angular features. “You have failed at this, of all tasks.” She smiled, showing off pointed teeth. “This means you have to be punished.”
“No, mistress!” he wailed. “I can do better!”
His started screaming within seconds.
—*~*~*—
The thirteen companions walked up to the gates of Baltimare. Pinkie was still hanging on to Bright as they walked through the streets, caring not for the stares her tears brought in addition to those caused by her winged companion. When the group reached town square, Bright spoke up. “Pinkie and I cannot return to the monastery. This was an inside job, there was no other explanation. Someone told it where to find us.”
“Then where are you going to go?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t know,” he sighed, “but until we know who’s leaking our movements, we can’t dare return.”
Scoot spoke up, “Why don’t you come with us? Ma and Pa have more than enough room for you two in their house.”
Belle shot her a look. “Scoot, do you think that Mom and Dad are going to be happy with you inviting random people into the house without talking to them first?”
“Ah’ll come with,” Applejack said. “If they don’t want to take care of ‘em, ah have more than enough money to get them a room for a week or so.”
“Thank you, Applejack,” the paladin said, giving her a smile.
She tipped her hat. “Just Jack to mah friends.” She turned to Dirk. “Which you still aren’t.” The man held his hands up defensively.
“Come on, Dirk. We have to find a place to stay until we can leave,” Rarity said.
“Scoot, don’t you dare—” Belle started to say at Scoot’s smirk.
“Hey, let’s all head to Ma and Pa’s house,” the woman in question suggested. “We owe you more than a day’s rest, but it would be a start.”
Twilight nodded, adding, “As much of a surprise as it will be for our parents, you did save our lives, even if Scoot did the heavy lifting at the end. We owe you this much.” Belle sighed in resignation.
Rainbow stretched her wings, wincing as she forgot about the bolt still in her wing. “I need to find myself a healer,” she groaned, before adding, “and find some way to pay them.”
Rarity smiled at her. “I’m a healer. When we get to the sisters’ parents’ house, I’ll take a look at it.” Rainbow smiled at her in thanks.
Within minutes they were led to a fairly large building. There was a sign above the door that read, “Star and Twinkle’s Force Magic School”. There was a brick facade on the front of the wooden building, giving it a much more serious air than it would have had otherwise. Twilight and her sisters walked up to the door, and the youngest gave the door three quick raps.
A few seconds later, the door opened. An older woman opened the door. She had white and light purple striped hair cut similarly to how Twilight wore her hair and light blue eyes. She had a large grin on her face as she spoke. “Hello and welcome to Star and Twinkle’s Force Magic School! How can we. . . help. . . you?” she trailed off slowly as she saw the sisters on her step, giving her huge smiles.
“Hi, Ma,” Scoot said.
“Twilight, Scoot, Belle,” she said with disbelief. “Is it really you, girls?”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, giving her mother a hug. “We’re back. For now, at least.”
The sisters’ mother let a single tear fall as she wrapped all three of her children in a massive hug. “Star, get out here! The girls are back!” she shouted back into the building.
“What? Are you messing with me?” a voice asked from inside the building. A man with dark blue hair and golden eyes walked up to the door. “By the light one, you girls are done already?”
“Almost,” Belle said. “We’re on our graduation exercises, and decided to stop by.”
His smile fell as he looked behind the girls. “Who are all these people? Do you know them, girls?”
Scoot pulled away from her mothers’ hug, smiling at her father. “Allow me to start the introductions. This cute boy right here,” she said, giving Snail a hug, “is Snail. I’ve written enough about him that you probably know more about him than I know, by this point.” She turned to the rest of the companions. “Why don’t you guys introduce yourselves?”
Bright stepped forwards, “I’m Paladin Bright, and this is Acolyte Pinkie. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
Twinkle looked at him sideways. “What do you mean?”
“Later,” Belle said. “We’ll explain once we’re inside.”
The two eldest mages nodded slowly, turning back to the group. Applejack stepped forwards. “Mah name’s Applejack. This is Mac n’ Bloom.” The two nodded as they were named.
“I’ve heard your name before around town, Miss Applejack,” Star said slowly.
“Mercenaries tend to get their names out, if they want to eat,” she said. “That’s probably it.”
“Well, enough of that,” Dirk said stepping forwards. “My name is Dirk, and this fine lady behind me is Rarity.” At the look shared between the two mages, he elaborated, “I’m currently under the protection of the Headmaster of the Order of Light himself. I promise I’ll be harmless.”
Flutter stepped forward. “My name is Flutter.” As quickly as she stepped forward, she retreated back to where Mac and Bloom were standing.
“I’m the one and only Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said, flaring her wings. She winced, pulling her wings back in. “Er, that usually looks much more impressive when I’m not injured.”
Introductions finished, Scoot looked at her parents. “I was hoping that there would be enough open beds for all of us to snag some. We’ve had an interesting day, today.”
Twinkle sighed, “You don’t ever make things easy, do you, Scoot?”
“Nope,” she said with a beaming smile.
—*~*~*—
“Alright, explain what happened,” Twinkle demanded as soon as they were sitting down at a table. Currently sitting with her were her daughters, Snail, and the EIA-turned-mercenary siblings. Bright was finding a room for the near-comatose Pinkie, Rainbow and Rarity were fixing the former’s wing, Flutter was finding herself a room, and Dirk was sticking outside Rarity’s room.
“We don’t have the full story, or even as much as we could know currently, but we’ll tell as much as we can until Bright comes back to fill in what we missed,” Scoot said from her spot by Snail.
“Good enough. Start talking,” Star said.
They did. The three of them, Snail choosing to be silent, explained their travel from Canterlot to the siblings’ camp. Applejack interjected with a story explaining their travel from Baltimare to meeting up with Rarity, and eventually meeting with the sisters. From that point, the four of them explained everything that had happened until their meeting with the girls’ parents. They left out no details, explaining everything they could remember, from Rainbow’s crash to Snail and Scoot’s incineration of two dozen corrupted paladins. They left out Pinkie’s breakdown, knowing it wasn’t their place to speak of it.
“That’s. . . quite a tale,” the girls’ mother said after a pause. “If it weren’t coming from you three, I wouldn’t believe it at all.”
“Add to that that it was an inside job on our end,” Bright added, walking in, “you get one hell of a story to try and get people to believe.”
“Wait, an inside job?” Star asked. “What do you mean by that?”
The paladin snorted. “Look, three dozen paladins, Pinkie and me included, left from the monastery to patrol along the Empire’s border. We were tasked with finding any of the Dark One’s corruption if it existed. What we found instead was the Dark One’s trap.” He sat down at the table. “Miss Dash had landed into our group the day before the trap sprung. Only Pinkie and I were willing to stay with the young woman, the rest of the paladins decided that anything with wings must be inferior and left.
“That’s what saved us. While we were trying to catch up with the rest of the group, Rainbow spotted a large cloud of shadow blowing towards us. She watched as the paladins were too slow to get away and were corrupted,” he sighed. “She puts on a brave face, but I know she was disturbed deeply by what she saw. She immediately reported to Pinkie, Flutter—who we had picked up late the night before—and me, and we started running. We were lucky to run into the others, or we would have died for sure.
“They probably told you the rest,” he finished. “Even if three dozen is a large number, it is still small enough to not attract notice. Someone told the Dark One where we would be, and until we know who, we can’t return to the monastery.”
The entire group was silent, digesting his words. Applejack was the first to speak up. “So yer saying that one of the members of our last line of defense is tellin’ the bad guy where to find paladins?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Miss Applejack,” Bright said.
“What’d I tell ya?” she said irratibly.
“Sorry, Jack,” he said sheepishly.
“This,” Twinkle said, pausing, “is quite a lot to take in.”
—*~*~*—
There was a small hole in the red aura of the flier’s wing. Rarity creased her eyebrow as she mumbled, “Of all the places to get hit, it had to be the one place I don’t know how to heal off the top of my head?”
“It’s better than if you had to heal one of the guys being hit in the balls,” Rainbow replied.
“I’ve healed dozens of groin wounds, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said matter of factly. “It only becomes awkward if you make it awkward.” She reached her aura to cover the wound. “Alright, I’m going to remove the bolt. This is going to hurt.”
“Ah, come on. It can’t be that—ARGH!” Rainbow exclaimed. “DAMN!”
“I warned you,” Rarity said, shaking the bolt at her. “Now quiet down, you big baby.”
Rainbow felt warmth flood into her wing as Rarity started poking and prodding it with magic. She let out a small giggle as Rarity started running her magic along the other wing to get a feel for how it should be structured.
“You’re lucky you have two wings, Rainbow Dash,” the healer commented. “If you didn’t, this would be much harder.”
“If I only had one wing, I would just cut off the other one,” Rainbow said. “It’s better than having a single useless wing getting in the way all the time.”
“Give my father a few weeks, and he would be able to grow your other wing back if he had one to use as a template,” Rarity said.
“I’d keep the useless wing and let it get in the way while I let your dad heal it,” the flier corrected.
“Alright, almost done,” Rarity said as the hole in the flier’s aura, and so her wing, shrank to a pinprick. Within a second it vanished. “There we go. Done.”
Rainbow sighed, flexing her wings. “Man, what I wouldn’t have given to have you around the year I broke my wing flying.”
The healer chuckled. “I bet. If you ever get hurt, even if it is just an annoying bruise, just say the word and you shall be healed.”
“Thanks Rares,” the prismatic-haired woman said, before pausing. “I can call you Rares, right?”
“Of course,” Rarity said. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
The flier smiled, “Of course we are. Thanks for the heal, Rares.”
“No problem, Rainbow,” the healer said, grabbing the shoulder of the woman in question. “Remember to come to me if you need healing.”
“I will,” the winged woman said, standing up. “I should probably find myself a room, now.”
“That’s a good idea,” the healer said.
“Yeah, maybe that stud Mac won’t have a room partner,” Rainbow was practically drooling. “I wouldn’t mind spending the night with him.”
“You’d get along marvelously with Dirk,” Rarity deadpanned.
—*~*~*—
“Unfortunately, there is only two to a room. You guys are lucky you showed up offseason like you did, usually the school is much more filled than it is now,” Star said.
“Two to a room will be more than enough,” Bright said. “We’ll get settled in and leave as soon as we can. I’d hate to be a bother.”
“Any friend of my daughters’ is a friend of mine,” the man said. “Stay as long as you need, the school year just ended, so you have a few months before we’ll need that room again.”
“Thank you, again,” the paladin said, pausing in the doorway. “You’ve been more than hospitable when you could have turned us away.”
“Like I said, we’re friends. Make yourself comfortable,” the other man said as he started walking back to his wife.
Applejack turned to Bloom. “Looks like we’re room buddies,” she said. “Sorry, Mac. You’ll have to share a room with someone else.”
The big man didn’t look worried.
After the sisters had walked into their room, Flutter walked up to Mac. “Uhm, could I–I mean, if it’s okay with you—”
“Yo, stud! Feel like sharing a room?” Rainbow said, walking up to the duo. “I know I wouldn’t.”
“Sorry, Miss Dash,” the big man said. “Miss Flutter was just asking me.”
“Damn,” Rainbow exclaimed. “Next time, you’re mine!” With that, the brash winged woman walked off.
Flutter looked up at Mac with a big smile, “Thanks, Mac.”
“No problem, Miss Flutter,” he said. “Let’s get you settled in.”
Scoot walked by with her sisters and Snail as the two walked into a room. “So I’m with Snail, and you two get to share a room. Sound about right?”
Snail nodded slowly as the other girls rolled their eyes. “Sure, Scoot,” Belle said. “Just try to not squeal too loudly. We want to sleep.”
“Aw, come on, Belle,” Scoot complained. “You know me.”
“Actually, Snail?” Star called from the end of the hallway. “Could you come talk with me?”
“Ooh,” the brash mage teased, poking her boyfriend in the stomach. “You’re about to get the ‘dad talk.’ Have fun!”
Snail shrugged, walking back down the hallway at an unhurried pace while his girlfriend got their room ready. The other sisters snickered as they walked into their room.
Snail walked up to the table his girlfriend’s parents sat at. Twinkle smiled. “Come, sit. We’ll try not to take too much of your time.” The man nodded and sat at the table.
“We’ll be blunt,” Star said. “We know how our daughter feels about you, but we only have her side on how you feel about her.”
“I’d kill for her,” Snail said without hesitance.
“That’s a bit backwards from what people usually say, Snail,” Scoot’s mother said. “Usually it’s ‘I’d die for her’ or some such.”
“I’d like to avoid dying, as much for her as for me. If keeping her safe meant my death, I wouldn’t hesitate,” Snail said slowly, “but if she were hurt, I would utterly end the one hurting her without hesitation if I felt it necessary.”
Star nodded, “Alright. I believe you. I only have one more question, then my wife gets to ask her questions.”
Snail nodded. “Ask away. I have few secrets to hide.”
“Another odd turn of phrase,” Twinkle said, causing Snail to shrug.
“Do you two use proper protection?” Star asked. “Not that I wouldn’t like a grandchild, but I wouldn’t want her to have a bastard child as young as she is.”
“We don’t need it,” Snail said after a pause.
“What do you mean, you don’t need it?” Scoot’s father asked, taken aback.
“She isn’t ready,” Snail said simply. “She would say she was if I asked, but I know that she isn’t, so I don’t.”
“You are an extraordinary man, Snail,” Twinkle said. “You’ve been dating for how many years without once asking for anything more?”
“Seven,” Snail answered without hesitance, before moving back to his measured way of speaking. “Every day she promises that we’ll do more, but we don’t. I think she’s guilty about it, but I don’t mind.”
“I don’t know how you do it, Snail,” the older man said, “but I more than approve of you.”
Scoot’s mother spoke up, “I do too, but I have some questions, first.” At Snail’s nod, she continued. “Do you have any intention of marrying our daughter?”
“Dear!” Star exclaimed, half standing up.
Snail held up a hand. “It is a valid worry,” he said. “We’ve been dating for seven years, after all.”
Star grumbled, settling back into his chair. Twinkle smiled at the young man, thanking him silently for handling it as he did.
“This should answer your question,” Snail said, digging into his bag. He pulled out a beautiful golden necklace with an oddly shaped gem set into the middle.
“Is that—?” the older man asked.
“It is,” Snail replied.
“How long have you—” the woman started to ask.
“Five years. Three if you count putting it into the necklace,” the young man said in his usual slow manner, replacing the necklace in his bag. “She doesn’t know I have it, so don’t tell her.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Star said. “How long did you save up to get that made?”
“I’m still paying it off,” Snail said. “I took it to one of the Masters of Enchantment and to the most famous goldsmith in Canterlot. It cost me hundreds of thousands, but it will be worth it.”
“You are an extraordinary man, Snail,” Star said. “I’d be more than happy to have you as a son, and I’m sure my wife agrees with me.”
“I do,” Twinkle said. “Be careful that you don’t get hurt. She would never forgive you.”
Snail chuckled, “That’s what Master Baelfire said.”
“That’s because it’s true,” the woman said. “You can go now, and know that when the time comes, you have our blessing.”
Snail nodded before getting up and returning to the room he shared with Scoot.
—*~*~*—
Rainbow Dash grumbled as she walked into the only room with any openings. They were lucky that they did not have any more people with them, as it was, but she was annoyed that she had to share a room with a random student while Flutter got to be with the stud.
“Yo,” she announced as she walked into the room. “Looks like I’m your roommate.”
“Great,” a sarcastic voice spoke up. “The Great and Powerful Trixie gets to share a room with a bimbo.”
“Who are you calling a bimbo?” Rainbow bristled as she stepped into the room.
“Well there are two of us in this room, and only one of us qualifies,” Trixie said. She was a small woman in her late teens or early twenties, at least a year older than the seventeen year old Rainbow. “If you did not know, a bimbo is someone good looking who is an idiot. They usually sleep their way around to getting what their small minds desire.”
“Hey, if you know anyone I can bang that would get me what I want, sign me up,” Rainbow growled. “As it is, I don’t much like your tone.”
There was a thump on the wall from the other side, and Bright spoke up. “Rainbow Dash, don’t get in fights with the other guests. Trixie, I wouldn’t recommend pissing off a woman who can kill you in six different ways before you can get a spell off.”
There was another voice from across the hall as Twilight commented, “These walls aren’t thin, but they aren’t exactly thick. If you don’t want your every word heard by the whole building, don’t talk loud.”
Trixie huffed and turned over in her bed. Rainbow spoke up loudly, “Just for the record, if I attack her, it’s not my fault.”
“Noted and ignored,” Star’s voice said from the hallway. “Behave, girls. You’re both guests, which means I can kick you out for not behaving.”
Both the women grumbled, but let it drop. Rainbow climbed into the bed, having to adjust a few times before she got in a spot comfortable for her wings. After her third shift, Trixie snapped. “Do you think that is enough?”
“I’d like to see you sleep on wings,” Rainbow grumbled, finally getting comfortable. Both the young women said not another word the rest of the night.
—*~*~*—
“Sleep well?” Twilight asked Rainbow with a smirk the next morning. The other woman grumbled incoherently as she sat down at the table, making the mage smile.
“I can say the Great and Powerful Trixie did not!” the flier’s obnoxious roommate exclaimed. “I had to share a room with that bimbo!”
“Don’t you have other insults?” Rainbow asked, placing her face onto the table. “Are you just a one trick pony? What happens if you run into someone ugly or smart? Do you suddenly run out of insults?”
“Rainbow, don’t provoke her,” Bright said, walking into the room. “When the others get here, we’ll talk about what our next move is; whether you guys are going to be staying with Pinkie and I as we do whatever it is we do or not.”
There was a knocking sound at the door. Star walked through the room to the door, much to happy for as early in the morning as it was. He opened the door, “Welcome to—”
“Save me the spiel. I was told you had a winged woman staying here,” a rude voice interrupted. Rainbow picked her head up and looked at the doorway.
“Why are you—” Star started to ask, when a woman brushed past him.
“There you are. Do you know how much trouble you’re going to be in?” she asked, walking up to the table. She was a little bit shorter than Rainbow, with feathers where her hair should be. Her features were more angular than what was normal for a human being, and she had talons instead of feet. She grabbed Rainbow’s arm, pulling her up from her seat. She started dragging her towards the door, saying, “You had the whole clan scared to death! Mother has been beside herself since you vanished! You’re going to have more than a little bit to explain when we get back.”