Rainbow tensed and let out a whine.
‘Shhh.’ An unsettling cheerful voice hushed in her ear. ‘This is just a test, Rainbow Dash, cooperate and no one will get hurt.’
The voice, Rainbow noted, had a thick accent she couldn’t place, this only drew more fear – what country had a vendetta against her? She felt the gag loosening and with a quick jaw-jiggle she managed to free her mouth. ‘What have you done to Spitfire?!’ she yelled.
The gag was back on, being pulled tight and Rainbow felt it being knotted better than it had been. She stood still as the barrel of the gun pressing into her scalp.
‘Oh she’s fine.’ The voice said cheerfully. Dash suddenly realised that the woman was trying not to sound cheerful, but vague and threatening. They weren’t doing a great job, but the gun however, was. ‘Walk.’ A hand pushed her and Rainbow stumbled forward.
Walking took a good several minutes, the guiding hand on her shoulder gentle, but the gun resting on the nape of her neck kept her tense, and for some reason dizzy.
‘Sit.’ The gun was pulled away as Rainbow was shoved down onto a chair. Ropes dug into Rainbow’s skin as she was bound to the armrests. Hands worked at the back of her head and the gag was pulled away.
‘What’s going on?’ Rainbow’s voice cracked in desperation as she tried to replenish the moisture the gag had taken out of her mouth. ‘What do you want with me? Where’s Spitfire? What have you done with Spitfire?’ Rainbow kept shouting all the questions that had been circulating in her head for the last several minutes, that was until she realised that no answers would be forthcoming because she was spewing them at Pinkie Pie levels of speed.
She fell silent, breathing heavily.
‘Relax.’ The gun holder’s voice said cheerily from directly in front of her, making Rainbow feel like she wanted to do the exact opposite. ‘I just wanted to ask you a few, questions.’
‘Spitfire...’
‘Shhh,’ the voiced hushed her, or rather the press of metal to her lips did. ‘She’s fine, maybe a little bit in shock, she was caught by surprise.’ The woman drawled in her peculiar accent and giggled.
‘But it’s just you and me, dearie.’ A hand patted her patronizingly on the head. ‘And we’re going to have a little talk and you can tell me anything you want to...’ Rainbow tensed as she smelt the sickeningly sweet perfume as the stranger drew close to her. ‘It can be our little secret.’
Rainbow shuddered as the woman’s breath washed over her ear. ‘I’m not telling you anything!’
The woman laughed, heartily and began walking around Rainbow in circles. ‘Oh dear, you amuse me so, ooh, a little birdie told me something interesting about you today – tell me, sitting in the Captain’s chair, it felt good didn’t it?’
Rainbow bit her lip.
‘You can tell me, Rainbow Dash.’ The woman’s voice was no longer teasing, it took on a serious tone. ‘Did you sit there and for a moment pretended you had an army of Wonderbolts at your command. That you could shape the way Equestria’s defence force operates? Did you feel that Rainbow Dash? Can you taste it?’
Rainbow trembled where she sat as hushed words rushed over her.
‘The power, the respect, the security, the money – Dash – Captain of the Wonderbolts is employed and paid for by Celestia, you could get whatever you wanted... That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?’
Silence seemed to ring in Rainbow’s ears. She caved, ‘What does?’
‘Captain Rainbow Dash,’ the voice cooed sweetly, enticingly. ‘You’d like that wouldn’t you? You can tell me Rainbow Dash – would you like to be Captain of the Wonderbolts?’
The question hung in the air almost menacingly.
Rainbow swallowed, her throat dry, ‘Maybe?’
The person hummed in response, as if they knew that it was very appealing to her.
‘What would you do to be Captain Rainbow? What would you have to do? What lengths would you go to?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘What stands between you and the Captaincy? Who would you have to get rid of?’
Rainbow’s heavy breathing filled the space, speeding up in a panic. ‘What have you done with Spitfire?!’
‘Shhh...’ the gun traced Rainbow’s collarbone. ‘Listen very carefully, Rainbow. I’ve got a very sweet deal to offer you – all hypothetical of course.’ The gun suddenly tucked under her chin. ‘There are no wrong answers, only stupid ones.’
Rainbow gasped as the gun was pulled away.
‘If I asked you for silence, would you give me it?’
‘What do you mean?’ Rainbow asked, panicked.
‘If Spitfire were to suddenly, oh I don’t know,’ The gun was pressed against Rainbow’s forehead. ‘Bang.’
Rainbow could feel the sweat dripping down her neck.
‘What would you do – answer carefully now.’ The gun gone, and Rainbow had no clue as to where the woman was in the room.
‘If you want to kill Spitfire, you’re going to have to deal with me first.’ Rainbow said, her voice wavering. ‘I want to know where she is, what have you done with her?!’
‘Rainbow Dash, with Spitfire out of the way you could step into the Captaincy – all I ask for is your silence.’
‘I’m not understanding you...’
‘Will you sell her out?’ The drawling voice was now in Rainbow’s ear, making her jump. ‘…And look the other way, just to guarantee your own success...?’
‘NEVER!’ Rainbow cried, trying to wriggle her way out of the chair. ‘How DARE you question my loyalty – do you even know who I am?’
‘Rainbow Dash...’
‘I would NEVER sell ANYONE out to better myself! And I won’t let you hurt Spitfire!’
‘Enough!’
Rainbow Dash stopped, breathing hard. ‘S-spitfire?’
‘Surprise, that’s enough.’
‘Oh thank Celestia, that accent was hell on my throat.’
Light flooded Rainbow’s vision and she found she was no longer bound. Hands gently cupped her cheeks and Spitfire’s concerned expression swam into view. ‘Are you alright?’
Rainbow blinked rapidly, trying to adjust. ‘I-what-you...’
‘Shush.’ Spitfire’s finger gently wiped at the tears in the corners of Rainbow’s eyes. ‘It’s alright, it’s ok, you’re safe here – I promise.
A loud clang alerted Rainbow to Surprise standing over at a table on the wall, guzzling water greedily, spinning a thin piece of metal pipe in her free hand – there was never any gun.
‘I’m sorry for what I just put you through.’ Spitfire said, clutching at Rainbow’s hands, rubbing where the cuffs had been. ‘But I really needed to know where you stand.’
Surprise had brought over a glass of water for Rainbow, which she took reluctantly.
‘You should have just asked – that was really unnecessary, and mean.’
Spitfire bowed her head in apology.
Rainbow shakily sipped at the water, now able to see clearly in the room. The secret door from which they had entered was only a few feet away, the room was relatively small with a high ceiling. The floor was concrete but Rainbow spotted the overlarge pillow she had fallen into earlier. On the table where the water sat was two sets of night-vision goggles. It was then Rainbow realised what they had planned; she was never in danger of actually being hurt, in fact she should have realised something was up the moment they stepped into the room – even falling on such a soft pillow was a dead giveaway, she should have felt that they had walked in a large circle for several minutes – no wonder she felt dizzy. Heck, Surprise herself hadn’t been able to keep from being herself.
‘Caught by Surprise.’ Rainbow muttered dryly in disbelief. ‘Why... all this?’
Spitfire was still staring at her folded hands in her lap, looking forlorn.
Rainbow was about to ask her again, when Spitfire looked up at her, her golden eyes wet with unshed tears looking as vulnerable Rainbow had ever seen her.
‘I’m afraid, Rainbow Dash. You were right, I think I am in trouble.’
~
Rainbow yawned widely, feeling the strain of not having had enough sleep. Annoyingly enough, the yawn was cut short as Rainbow had to dodge Lightning trying to squirt her with her water bottle – the water missing its yawning target and splashing Rainbow in the cheek instead.
Lightning had to move rather quickly as Rainbow made to grab the offending water bottle, her fingers managing to grip the bottom. A small battle of tug-of-war between the two broke out as they stood in line.
‘Hey!’ Spitfire was walking down the line saddled up with her own travel bags, making sure she swat her rolled up papers over both of their heads. ‘Be-have.’ She punctuated with each strike.
Rainbow failed in pulling the bottle from Lightning’s grip. She huffed at a smirking Lightning, wiping the water with the back of her hand off her face and turned to stand in line properly, making sure her bag hit her partner as she turned around.
Lightning just shoved Rainbow’s back.
There wasn’t any more time for tomfoolery as the exit was upon them. Rainbow placed her bag down on the conveyer, Lightning, throwing hers on top. Rainbow fixed Lightning with a glare, which was interrupted by a yawn.
‘Gee, Rainbow. Did you not sleep last night at all?’
‘Not much.’ Rainbow gave herself a little shake and walked through the scanners, Lightning right on her heels as they walked over to wait for their bags to appear.
‘Neither did Spitfire so it seems.’ Lightning gestured to their captain who had walked through the only scanner that wasn’t clogged up by cadets.
Spitfire, with her bags hitched up, was covering her own yawn as she took off in the direction of Cloudsdale.
‘Hey, where’d my bag go?’ Rainbow asked, staring at the conveyer belt. Lightning’s had come out, as had the one behind it, which Wild Flower grabbed, briefly glaring at them, still not forgiving of the rude awakening two nights ago.
‘Calm your tits, Crash, it’s there.’ Lightning pointed as Rainbow’s bag rolled out. ‘They probably had to open it ‘cause your unwashed uniform set off the toxin scanners.’
Rainbow swung her bag at her partner before trying to settle it in a comfortable position for flight. She obviously hadn’t packed it as well as she thought there was something sharp poking her in the side, but others had already taken off, whether under their own steam or alongside families that had come to greet them and assist them home after a gruelling boot camp.
‘Don’t leave me hanging.’ Lightning stood waiting for a fist-bump goodbye.
Rainbow grinned and bumped fists and turning slightly for a little slap with their wings. ‘See you in a month, although it wouldn’t surprise me if they promoted us early.’
‘I hope they do, I’m sick of being called “newbie”.’
‘There’ll be new newbie cadets for us to pick on next time.’ Rainbow said, rubbing her hands together, remembering all the applications she had to go through yesterday.
Lightning Dust flashed her a grin. ‘See ya, Dash!’
‘Later, Dust!’
‘Hey Dash!’
Rainbow gave a start and noticed Thunderlane and Cloud Kicker hovering above her, waving.
‘Wanna do the fly home together?’ Cloud Kicker asked.
Dash sighed, that meant a slower trip. ‘Yeah, whatever.’
Thunderlane and Cloud Kicker chattered as they ambled at such a slow pace, Dash didn’t have to flap, she could just glide and think. Last night had been, well, strange, and quite exhausting really. Spitfire had shared her concerns and said she would contact her with something she wanted someone on the outside of the academy to know. In the meantime, she had said, to just get on with life as normal.
'Normal' Rainbow chuckled dryly, she was part of the ‘Elements of Harmony’, she had a princess for a best friend, she lived in a town on the edge of the Everfree Forest and she was a Wonderbolt about to enter the final stage of her training. She wasn’t normal, she didn’t have a normal life, normal was boring anyway.
Although, speaking of normalcy, she had weather duty the next afternoon, she realised with a groan.
She crossed her fingers behind her back as she rose up peering around a mountain in hopes that the emergency weather team hadn’t completely thrown the weather out of whack. A little bit crooked and uneven spread, the attempt at ‘partly cloudly’ over town was fine, for a bunch of novices. Rainbow could see where Derpy had been; on the woodland out of town were perfectly shaped clouds, but they ranged from cumulus congestus to cumulonimbus. Thankfully there weren’t any buildings on the outskirts for Derpy to destroy.
Applejack’s farm however, had a light shower happening, although Dash had the feeling it had blown in from the Everfree Forest and happily parked itself there. Still, AJ would be happy for rain, it was something she had complained to Dash; her crops loved the water and Cloudsdale’s distribution rations weren’t enough for her.
Rarity would always complain about the rain, and how it mussed up her hair. Twilight was more or less indifferent and would often say something science-y about weather. Fluttershy would inject about how rain refreshed everything and then Pinkie Pie would say something completely random and then go of on an irrelevant tangent, inevitably arriving at the idea that they should have a party.
Dash suddenly realised she was pumping her wings, leaving Cloud Kicker and Thunderlane far behind. She was so eager to get home and see her friends. Lightning Dust had become a great friend, albeit a little bit arrogant – Spitfire had mostly beaten that out of her though. But she couldn’t replace her best friends, as stubborn, stuck-up, shy, egg-headish or random as they were, she had a special connection, a magical connection, a friendship like no other.
She arrived at her house in no time at all, dumping her bag onto her bed before ripping it open and rummaging for her lead-pony badge and the two awards she had received while she had been there to show her friends. What’s a little show-boating between friends?
Rainbow paused, her hands wrapping around a rather bulky package and pulling it out. It was wrapped up in birthday paper, a little card attached to the top with her name in it – in Spitfire’s handwriting. She tore into the paper and found a proper note underneath.
Rainbow Dash, this package contains information for you and an item I have placed in your care. I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands. May I suggest you do this after any celebrations you have, or even after recovery from any celebrations you have. You’ll need to be able to focus and think clearly. Although don’t leave this too late.
Permission to party hard was granted, between the lines. Feeling very much awake now, Rainbow dashed through a quick shower before tearing towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Unknown to her, she was watched as she sped away from her unguarded house.