//------------------------------// // Act II Chapter 4: Broken Rainbow // Story: Welcome to Wherever You Are // by FrozenInTime //------------------------------// Shift was struck across the face by a telling blow from Rainbow's hoof. The pain in his chest was increasing, but his chitinous skin seemed to be doing it's job. Nothing seemed broken quite yet, but Rainbow was about to fix that. "Answer me you little..." Rainbow Dash was cut off when she felt herself rising off of her prey. She recognized the warmth of magic surrounding her, and it effectively restrained her from causing any more undue damage to the Changeling below her. "What the hay?!" She struggled to turn her head to the side when she heard several sets of hooves landing, followed by a great deal of panting. "You... really must learn... to listen... before... jumping to... conclusions..." came the weary voice of Princess Celestia. Applejack jumped off of her back and ran towards them. "But... but... he's a..." "An ally," Princess Luna chimed in. Whitewolf was the next to speak. "Miss Dash, you were comatose for nearly two months. We understand that you want answers to the many questions you undoubtedly have. However, that doesn't exactly justify blowing up an entire hospital room and assaulting an innocent." She reached out her hoof to help Shift get up off his back. "You alright buddy?" Applejack was concerned for her newest friend's wellbeing. "I'm... ngh... fine. Carapace. Hard to crack... but still painful." He held a hoof to his chest, feeling for any dents or cracks. He was surprised to find that only his back had sustained any real trauma, with a small fault at the base of his neck. "But... I..." Rainbow was at a loss for words. This Changeling, this bug, one of the things responsible for Twilight's capture, was an ally? Celestia spoke again. "Perhaps we should head back inside. We need to make sure nopony was hurt in Rainbow's little stunt... and we're attracting stares." Looking around, ponies in the streets below were stopping and looking up at them. The expressions on their faces ranged from confused, to horrified. "We will explain everything once there are no extra ears listening, Miss Dash." On the way back into the hospital, using the front doors so they could apologize to most of the staff for the damages that Celestia would cut corners to dismiss expenses for, they were given a new hospital room and practically begged to keep 'that rainbow-headed wrecking ball' tied down to something. Upon entering, Rainbow Dash was ambushed. "RAINBOW!!!" Despite bracing herself, she was caught by surprise as the blur crashed into her. She was embraced in an all too familiar tackle-hug. "You'reawakeyou'reawaeyou'reawakeyou'reawake!!" The mare was already hyperventilating. The yellow Pegasus following her was speechless, a look of pure awe decorating her features. "Yeah, love you too Pinks. Could you stop trying to kill me now? I wanna enjoy being alive again." Pinkie complied by releasing her death grip and giving Rainbow room to stand. "You weren't dead, silly! Applejack said you were just asleep and wouldn't wake up! Then the doctor tried saying something but she shoved a hoof in his mouth for some reason she just wouldn't tell me and Fluttershy was crying and you looked so peaceful for a while until-" "Pinkie..." Fluttershy tried to quiet her. "-breathing and the doctors said to get us out of the room but you turned out to be okay but still asleep so they put you on some weird machine and told us you could be like that for a long time and I said 'Maybe she's just reallyreallyreally tired!' and Applejack got choked up and ran out of the room and I had no idea what was-" "Pinkie." Rainbow's eye twitched. "-until finally Princess Luna told me you were in a coma and there was a chance you might never wake up! Then I was sad but after a little while I laughed because it sounded like one of those bad-" "Pinkie Pie." Rainbow was about to scream. "-after a while longer it hit me that you could actually die like that and-" "I think she's heard enough, Pinkie Pie." Princess Celestia's voice finally got through to Pinkie's mind, which made her stop mid-rant. "Ooh! But I didn't even tell the part with Shift yet!" She began hopping up and down. "We will get to that, Miss Pie." "Y'know, sugarcube, you can stop callin' 'em Miss now. They're yer friends, too." Applejack had entered the room completely unnoticed by all of them except Wolf, the very mare she was addressing now. "As you wish. Back to the subject matter, you undoubtedly have questions. We will tell you anything you want to know, nothing held back." Wolf took a seat on a nearby stool and crossed her legs. "Okay, um... where's the Changeling?" "Right here." Shift appeared from behind Pinkie Pie, startling everyone in the room except the pink mare. "Well... I trust you are all capable of explaining to Rainbow all that has happened. Luna and I must return to the palace. There are some nobles who just won't wait, especially now that... a position..." Celestia choked on her words, being unable to bear the thought of Twilight. Luna rushed to her aid. "Yes, we must be going now. We don't want to deal with the nobility any more than the next Princess..." She was too late to catch that last part before she said it. "... but... erm... BYE!" The two Princesses were gone in a flash of blue light, leaving Fluttershy cringing and everypony else confused. Only Fluttershy caught on to Celestia's emotions in the seconds before they were gone. Several moments passed between the six of them, until Shift broke it like Rainbow would've done to his skull. "I understand that you don't trust me, and you have no reason to rightly do so-" "Trust?" Rainbow spit the word like it was poison, and her head jerked to face him. "You think this is about trust?!" She rose to all four hooves, taking a step towards the Changeling. She was quickly stopped by an orange foreleg. "Rainbow, you jump to conclusions one more dang time an' Ah'l have to smack th' stupid out a ya." Rainbow growled in response, but backed off. "Rainbow... he's a friend. We trust him, and he's saved many more lives than he's hurt," Fluttershy said meekly. Rainbow's tension began to fade at her longest friend's words. "But... it's not just about trust, Fluttershy." "Then what is it about? C'mon, tell us Dashie!" Pinkie hopped into the air once. "Please, don't call me that..." she mumbled. She was met with nothing but confused looks. She let out a long sigh, and decided that silence would cause more damage than it was worth. "It's about... Twi..." "Uh... care to repeat that RD?" "It's... about...Twilight... "We can't hear you, y'know!" Pinkie practically yelled directly in Rainbow's ear. "It's about Twilight!!" She yelled back. Pinkie shrank down into the floor. Rainbow looked around the room with a wild blush on her face. "Uh... Sorry." This time, she was met with looks of understanding and pity. Pinkie sat up, her smile restored. "We understand 100%, sugarcube. That's been botherin' us non stop since the battle." "Did you see the Princess just before they left? She looked close to tearing up!" Fluttershy spoke up, finally. But, it went unnoticed. "No, I... don't think you do understand." "Huh? Whatd'ya mean by that?" "....Nothing. Never mind." Rainbow looked to the ground, deciding it was much more interesting at the moment. Silence followed once again, but it was broken by Whitewolf. "Talk to us, Rainbow. Or at least talk to them. They're your friends, and believe it or not, you need them right now, and they need you to want them to help." "Just who the buck are you anyway?!" Rainbow snapped. Whitewolf didn't even flinch, and she looked on at Rainbow with conviction and confidence written on her face. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me... Wolf was it? Thanks... you're right." Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy's jaws all dropped. It was a rare day that Rainbow Dash apologized for anything, much less admit somepony else was right. She also never backed down, at least not that quickly. "It's no issue. If I was out cold for two months, I'd be on edge too. The name's Whitewolf, and my friends in the service call me Storm Runner." She reached out her hoof. Rainbow gladly accepted the hoof-shake. "Well... you already know me I'm sure. The awesomest of the awesome, Rainbow Dash! Bringer of the Sonic Rainboom and future Wonerb-" "Spare us the details, Dashie. We're here to answer your questions, remember?" All of her friends were shocked at just how quickly Rainbow's mood shifted gears. "Yeah, I remember Pinkie. I just don't know where to start," she grumbled in an almost defeated voice. Also, 'awesomest' isn't a word, Rainbow. Yeah, yeah, Twi. I kno- Rainbow's blood froze. That voice that she just heard... it couldn't have been real. It had sounded like it came from inside her own head for one thing, and there was no way Twilight was here... The term you're looking for is 'more awesome'. The laughter that Rainbow knew and loved followed. There was no doubt that it was indeed Twilight's laugh. "Yoohoo, Equestria to Rainbow Dash!" She was brought back to her senses by the pink hoof waving in her face. "Yeah, uh... what were we talking about?" "You're questions," they all said. "Right, right. Uh... you there. Changeling." Shift stepped forward. "I have a lot to ask you."