Keeping your Promises

by RaylanKrios


Shouldn't I at least look into it

The two ponies stood in the barn, staring at each other, until Rainbow broke the silence. Despite being forced to acknowledge that maybe Applejack had something resembling a point, she still couldn’t quite find her way to being sorry about what she had done. Nopony was allowed to mess with Scoots, and if she had to be the bad guy, then so be it. Her anger began to surface again, but rather than try to suppress it, she let it wash over her, taking comfort in its familiarity.

“Well, what am I supposed to do now, huh? If you’ve got all the answers, how about you toss some my way, great bringer of apple wisdom?”

Applejack ignored the barb; she was used to dealing with angry Rainbow Dash. Years of experience had taught her that it was best not to confront her. “Didja actually hurt her?” she asked point blank.

“No, it was just talk,” Rainbow grumbled.

Applejack let out a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good. Ain’t much ta do, then. I might think long an’ hard about offerin’ Diamond Tiara an apology, if Ah were you.”

“No way am I apologizing to that little punk! She still hurt Scootaloo!”

Unwilling to start another confrontation, Applejack backed off, at least temporarily. “Ah’m just sayin’ think about it is all.”

Rainbow Dash grunted a decidedly ambiguous grunt. “Keep an eye on Scootaloo?” she asked, hoping for a cease fire on her terms.

Applejack nodded her assent to Rainbow’s implied offer. “You know Ah will. Ah’ll send her home when those three are all done crusading.”

Rainbow released some of the tension she didn’t realize she had been holding in her shoulders. “Thanks AJ,” she said, offering a conciliatory smile. She wasn’t really mad at Applejack. The problem was, other than Diamond Tiara, she wasn’t really sure who she should be mad at. After all anger is easier to manage when there was a target.

Her afternoon suddenly free of obligation, Rainbow decided to pay a visit to Twilight. Her last visit hadn’t yielded any gains, but that was a few days ago. Surely Twilight had figured something out by now...

Expecting to see the library in the same disheveled state that it was in on her previous visit, Rainbow was surprised when she walked in and saw the library returned to its usual, immaculate condition. There were still several black boards worth of charts and diagrams laid out, but they were sequestered in the back corner along with a small desk that contained a pile of books.

Similarly, Twilight no longer looked like death warmed over; she too was restored to her usual luster, her mane smooth and brushed, and the bags under her eyes no longer apparent. As Rainbow walked in, Twilight looked up from behind her desk with a smile.

“Hello, Rainbow,” Twilight said, looking up from her research.

“Hey, Twi. you look… better.”

“Yeah, well, Spike saw that I was burning the candle at both ends and made me slow down. It’s just as well, too. Some of my research was beginning to border on absurd.”

“Right… so, not to put any pressure on you or anything, but did you find anything?” Rainbow asked tentatively.

“Maybe. At first I started running tests on myself, but then I realized that, as an alicorn, it’s highly probable that my flight is powered by a different set of mechanisms than a pegasus, though I suppose there are some basic similarities. The problem is that there are only four alicorns in existence and it’s not like they’ve ever been studied. I mean, can you imagine Celestia or Luna in a lab hooked up to a bunch of monitors-”

“Twi...”

“Oh, right, Scootaloo. I talked to Snowflake, and he’s agreed to let me run some tests on him. I figured he’d be a good candidate because his wings are also small, so the techniques he uses to fly would probably be the most applicable to Scootaloo, I think. I mean, this is all new research to me.”

“Good idea, Twi,” Rainbow said hoping that she sounded encouraging and not impatient. One fight with a friend was about all she had the emotional energy for today.

Twilight smiled at the praise before her expression changed. It wasn’t outright accusatory, but it did contain a hint of disapproval. “So, Rainbow, I had an interesting talk with Princess Luna the other day.”

“Really? What about?” Rainbow asked, her attempt at feigning ignorance painfully transparent.

“Rainbow…”

“I can’t believe Luna told you,” Rainbow groused. “I just want to help Scootaloo fly. If there’s a spell that can help her, shouldn’t I at least look into it?” she asked, the desperation in her eyes convincing Twilight to try a softer approach.

“Why wouldn’t she tell me? I’m a princess and one of the leading experts on magic in Equestria. Plus, I’m one of the few ponies who has been through at least part of the forbidden archives, and since I’m already researching the workings of Pegasi magic, it just makes sense to compare notes. It’s not like there’s a ‘make pegasi fly’ spell, neatly detailed in a book somewhere.”

“I was kinda hoping there was. But if there’s even a chance that dark magic can help Scootaloo, I have to look into it,” Rainbow said resolutely.

“I’m not going to tell you what to do, Rainbow; I know how much you love it when ponies do that. But dark magic is dangerous.” Twilight softly emphasized the last word in the hopes that the concern in her voice would cut through Rainbow’s knee jerk reaction to hearing the word ‘danger’. “I’ve studied a lot of magic, and nopony who’s ever used dark magic has come out the other side unscathed. It always exacts a heavy toll. Always.” Twilight’s voice started to crack, and she took a moment to compose herself. “I don’t want to see my friend get hurt,” she finished quietly.

Rainbow couldn’t help but hear the honest to Celestia fear in her friend’s plea, and it caused her to retreat just a little. “Okay, Twi. I hear you. I promise I won’t do anything without talking to you first. But shouldn’t we at least see what Luna comes up with?”

Twilight nodded slowly, recognizing that this was as close as she would get to hearing Rainbow promise to turn away.

“So, why can’t you just give Scootaloo wings, anyway?” Rainbow asked eager to change the subject. “You gave Rarity a pair of giant butterfly wings that one time. Couldn’t you just do the same thing, only make them last longer and look more like pegasus wings?”

“Magic doesn’t work that way, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, shifting into what Rainbow had unceremoniously dubbed ‘egghead mode’. “You can’t create something out of nothing. The wings I gave Rarity were really just large kites. I used most of my magical energy and a little bit of hers to create them, and then I attached them to her magical matrix so she could control their movement; the fact that she’s a unicorn made that easier. Even if I could learn out enough about pegasi magic to both create realistic looking wings and allow to Scootaloo control them, they would still need a permanent energy source to prevent them from disintegrating like Rarity’s did. That type of spell is high level. I would be willing to bet that even Princess Celestia would have a hard time with it. Maybe Starswirl could have pulled it off on a good day. Even if I could pull it off and create a continuous draw from Scootaloo’s energy to make them permanent, it’s almost certain there would be some very harmful side effects. At best she’d be tired all the time; at worst we’re talking coma or...” Twilight’s voice trailed off, unwilling to actually say the word ‘death’ with regard to the filly.

Rainbow threw her forelegs in the air, in the universal gesture for ‘I surrender’. “I get it, Twi. No magick-ing up a pair of wings for Scoots. It’s just… I made her a promise, Twi. I’d like to keep it.”

“I know you would. But don’t give up just yet. I’m making some good progress, and I just need some more time, okay?” Twilight offered, praying that what she was offering wasn’t false hope.