//------------------------------//
// Consider this an "eye for an eye" 
// Story: Vulnerable 
// by Nimbus92 
//------------------------------//

The pouring rain gave Nimbus the perfect camouflage curtain he needed to sneak from the knights and get around to one of the windows of the apartment that wasn't being watched. He pushed up on the top seal of the window to open it and slip inside. Using his wings to float himself down, Nimbus lightly landed his hooves down on the rotted wood floor beneath him. 

The wood creaked at the first step Nimbus took forward. He shrugged his shoulders up at the sound and looked around to make sure nopony was around to hear him. When Nimbus gave himself the all clear, he sighed gratefully and took lighter steps. His pace was slow but at least nopony would be able to hear him. 

There was no sign of where the pony who stabbed Storm could be. Fortunately, the building only had five floors and Nimbus decided to take to the very top. He figured that's where he'd want to be if he was trying to hide and keep an eye on a whole squad of law enforcement. 

Keeping in a dark corner of the top floor where he could see the whole room without any interference, Nimbus waited quietly for Storm's murder to appear eventually. He didn't have a solid plan of how he was take him down. He didn't even think he could go through with it. Nimbus just wanted to get his payback for whoever killed Storm. 

It took about a good five minutes until Nimbus heard a noise coming up the stairs, no doubt the killer. Nimbus inhaled deeply, prepping himself to apprehend this asshole and show him an eye for an eye, a life for a life. 

The pony that appeared from the bottom of the stairs couldn't have but a few years older than Nimbus was, barely even an adult. He kept switching between facial expressions of sadness and anger. Storm's killer didn't seem like any more of a threat than the knights gathered around the building down below. 

Nimbus took a mental step back and looked at himself. He almost couldn't recognize himself. He was angry, hurt, and filled with a heart full of revenge. From what he could tell by looking at himself, he was a completely different pony from the one who was at home with his family just a few hours ago. 

"What the hell am I doing?" Nimbus asked himself quietly. He looked back up at the pony at the very top of the stairs entering the fifth floor. "I can't hurt anypony, not like this, not for this reason." 

Nimbus shivered away from his corner and began to sneak his way back through the window he came in. He could still get himself out of here before it was too late, before he did something stupid. Nimbus was about a few feet away from exiting the window until Rainbow Dash swooped in and landed right in front of him. 

She flared her nostrils at Nimbus and screamed at him. "Just see his face, huh?! Celestia damn it, Nimbus! I trusted you and you completely turn your back o-" 

"Who's there?" The pony who killed Storm yelled. Drawing a pistol from underneath his wing, the pony held the firearm in his mouth and aimed it wildly in the darkness. "I-I'm armed, so stay away!" He ordered with a stutter. "I s-swear, I'll shoot you. I k-kiled that old geezer and I'll k-kill you too." 

The line had been crossed with Nimbus, and all the respect he held for another pony's life was thrown out the window. "THAT OLD GEEZER?!" Nimbus screamed. He had been in the dark long enough for his eyes to adjust, unlike Rainbow Dash and Storm's killer had. "THAT OLD GEEZER HAD A NAME!." Nimbus yelled at Storm's killer and charged him with a stiff wing to his face, knocking the firearm out of the pony's mouth and sliding onto the floor. A stray bullet flew when the pistol slid against the wall and set off the sensitive firing trigger. 

Nimbus feared the stray bullet had hit Rainbow Dash. He snapped his head quickly back towards to see if she had been hit. From what he could see, she didn't seem to have any bleeding or an injury at all. After confirming that she was perfectly fine after looking at her for a few good seconds, Nimbus his attention back to the murdering pegasus who was scurrying towards the pistol. 

Gliding across the floor by almost running on the air, Nimbus bowed his head and rammed into the pony's left ribcage, pushing him farther away from the pistol. Nimbus grabbed a hold of the pony's throat by pinching his neck in between his wings. He held Storm's killer up above his head and told him. "By the way, that Old geezer's name was Storm, and he was more of a father to me than he would ever know, and you murdered him in cold blood." 

"Dude, chill, man! Just let me live. I have so much to live for." 

Nimbus took the pegasus begging into minimal consideration. "YOU have so much to live for, huh?" The strength of Nimbus's wings were able to throw Storm's murderer into a window almost ten feet away. The glass shattered and pierced into the pegasus wings mercilessly. Sympathy was lost from Nimbus, he stepped and pressed the fragments of glass deeper into the Pegasus wings. "Don't you think my dad had a lot to live for, or were just thinking about yourself?" 

Rainbow Dash pulled Nimbus off of the wounded pegasus wing and slammed his back into a wall. "Nimbus, stop it!" She begged. "Let's just go home, okay? I'll forgive you. Just please...stop, you're not acting like yourself, but I know you're angry. I am too, but we can't go around hurting other ponies whenever we feel like it. It's not right." 

From behind Rainbow Dash's back, Storm's murderer stood up strongly and held his aim clearly at Nimbus's temple with the pistol back in his mouth. "Your little marefriend is right, Nimbus. It's not right to hurt other ponies" The pegasus closed one eye to get a clear accurate aim at Nimbus. "Because this is what happens." 

Just before the pegasus could pull the trigger. Rainbow Dash pushed Nimbus down and yelled "NO!" right before the bullet flew from the barrel and hit her square in the chest. The bullet tore clean through Rainbow Dash, piercing clearly through her chest and out her back. She fell slowly backwards, narrowly hitting the dusty ground beneath her before Nimbus caught her by extending his wing out. 

Rainbow Dash was limp in his wing and didn't move at all in his grasp, showing no signs of life. Nimbus set her down easily and growled deeply before charging the gun armed pegasus one last time, with intentions to kill. The pegasus couldn't tell where to aim with Nimbus swaying side to side so quickly to dodge the bullets. He fired three loose bullets that all missed their target before Nimbus connected a strong uppercut underneath his chin. 

The uppercut sent the pegasus flat on his back and swaying all around to get back up on his hooves. Nimbus stepped and stomped on the Pegasus's face before he could stand up fully. Nimbus's heavy hoof pushed the pistol deep into the pegasus mouth, knocking a few teeth loose and blood splaying everywhere. The armed pegasus cried beneath the pistol in his mouth, trying to pry away from Nimbus's anger. 

Before the pegasus could register that he was bleeding from the mouth, Nimbus picked him up by his throat with his wings and threw him out the already shattered window. The armed pegasus flapped and flattered his wings as best he could, but the glass prevented him from using his wings properly. The clouds failed to catch him since his landed with his back facing them. He fell past the clouds and onwards down toward his death below where it would take the Cloudsdale law enforcement a minimum of twenty minutes to find his body. 

Nimbus peered out the window until he could no longer see Storm's killer beyond the clouds. He snapped his head back towards Rainbow Dash and held her head up to the small amount of light allowed in the top floor. 

"Rainbow Dash?" He called out for her but received no answer. "Rainbow Dash?!" Nimbus called out a second time with the same response as last time. Rainbow Dash gave no reaction to Nimbus or her name being called out. She continued to stay motionless with her eyes shut just as Storm's eyes were when he died. 

"Rainbow Dash, baby, you got to wake up!" For the first time he allowed himself to today, Nimbus cried and placed his face into Rainbow Dash's chest. "I should have been paying attention, I should have protected you like I said I always would." Tears from Nimbus's eyes been to choke him up in his throat as he tries to talk to Rainbow Dash as best he can. "You were right! Just like you always are...I wasn't acting like myself. I-I should have listened to you." 

Nimbus took another look at Rainbow Dash cold frozen face before begging her. "Please...don't leave me. You're my only true friend here.  I don't want be alone. Don't leave me. I love you." 

*** 

Shortly after the pegasus fell through the clouds, the Cloudsdale knights stormed in and checked all floors until they found Nimbus hugging the gravely injured Rainbow Dash in his forelegs. They asked him several questions he couldn't understand. Nimbus ignored every question about what happened and begged and told them to take Rainbow Dash to the nearest medical facility they could. 

Once the knights got Rainbow Dash to a hospital, Nimbus realized that he had been shot by that first wild bullet when the gun hit the wall. Nimbus's adrenaline was running high when he got shot by the stray bullet, explaining as to why he didn't feel it when he got shot. He wasn't in any pain or great danger. The bullet had barely only hit his right foreleg. He didn't walk with a limp until he stepped out of the old apartment. 

As soon as Nimbus got his leg wrapped up and put in a sling properly, he asked where Rainbow Dash was and got an answer right away. Making his way to the elevator from his room, Nimbus met up with Rainbow Shine, who's eyes were as red as any mother's eyes would be in this situation. Barely a word was spoken between them until they entered the elevator together up to Rainbow Dash's floor. 

"It's all my fault." Nimbus started to blame himself for what happened to Storm AND Rainbow Dash tonight. "If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened." Nimbus began to regret meeting Rainbow Dash entirely and imagining how her life would have been if she never met him. " I should have never challenged her to that stupid race, or have even asked her to be my marefriend. She told me she didn't want to fall in love with me, but I ignored her and made her anyways."

Once Nimbus and Rainbow Shine both reached Rainbow Dash's floor, Nimbus headbutted the elevator before stepping off and saying "I'm such a idiot!" 

After staying silent for what seemed like an eternity, Rainbow Shine finally spoke and agreed with Nimbus. "You know, you're right. If it wasn't for you, Rainbow Dash and Storm would both be with me right now." 

Nimbus removed his head off the wall to recall what he was hearing. "W-what?" 

"Storm, my husband, is dead because he went looking for you. Rainbow Dash, my daughter, is down the hall with a bullet wound because of you." Rainbow Shine's voice was soft but as harsh as a knife stabbing somepony in the stomach. "When I first met you, I gave you chance to show me who you were. I even had to force Storm to give you a chance as well. For years I thought Rainbow Dash made the right choice of making you as her best friend, I was happy that my daughter always had someone she could count on..until now.

"I saw the way you treated her when she tried to calm you down earlier. I ignored it because I THOUGHT Rainbow Dash could handle it, but obviously..." Rainbow Shine took a glance at Nimbus's wrapped leg. " I made a mistake....to mistake you for her real friend. Anyponyelse would have known better than to lead her into danger." 

Nimbus spoke a little less than  three words to defend himself before Rainbow Shine waved her hoof and cut him off. "I don't want to hear it, Nimbus. I-We, my family, gave you everything we could to make you feel like one of us, and you turn right around and do this to us." 

Rainbow Shine looked to the hall towards Rainbow Dash's room before looking at Nimbus one last time. " I want you to leave. Don't EVER come anywhere near Rainbow Dash or my home again." Rainbow Shine's voice was calm but all the more serious with her threats. "And you forget about considering yourself as part of this family, or dating Rainbow Dash. She could, and always could have done better than you." 

Leaving her final words to Nimbus, Rainbow Shine pushed Nimbus softly and slowly back into the elevator and said, "Goodbye." 

*** 

Several hours passed before Rainbow Shine left Rainbow Dash's room. Within that time frame, Rainbow Dash had actually woken back up. She wasn't in too much physical pain except for the small pencil radius sized hole on her back. The bullet penetrated clear through her but amazingly didn't hit any thing vital. There was a few fragments from the bullet inside of Rainbow Dash's chest, mainly the muscle. She was told by her doctors that they were splinter sized but were going to get removed first thing tomorrow morning. 

Once Rainbow Dash finally had enough strength to talk with wheezing, the first thing she asked her mother was "Where's Nimbus?" 

The question was one of the first things Rainbow Shine had anticipated when Rainbow Dash woke up. She had already thought of a tiny white lie to tell Rainbow Dash. "He's...in better conditioned than you." 

Rainbow Dash laughed and shifted to a more comfortable position in her hospital bed. "Figures, he always wiggles his way out of everything. Is he going to be coming to see me soon?" 

There was no easier way for Rainbow Shine to tell her she didn't want her seeing Nimbus anymore. "I don't think that's going to happen." Rainbow Shine saw the instant thought of worry on Rainbow Dash's face. "He's okay! Don't worry about that. He's just...not going to be around anymore. He left." 

"LEFT?!" Rainbow Dash asked Rainbow Shine. "W-why? Where did he go?" 

"I don't know." Rainbow Shined answered honestly. "He couldn't stay. There's just too much at risk for him here." 

Rainbow Shine wasn't being completely forward as to why she didn't want Nimbus around no more. It wasn't that she wanted him to leave. No mother would ever tell her child to go away, no matter if he was her child by blood or not.  

When Rainbow Shine was on her way to meet Nimbus earlier in the hospital, the knights told her Nimbus was on his way to the brig as soon as he healed. Nimbus was being charged for the death of the fallen pegasus. There was no proof that it was in self defense other than Rainbow Dash's word, but she was unconsciousness when the event happened so they didn't consider her story valid. 

Talking to Nimbus from behind a cell for the next twenty years was the last thing Rainbow Shine wanted for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash's loyalty to Nimbus was too strong and dangerous for Rainbow Shine to keep them together like that. 

Rainbow Shine lied and told Rainbow Dash about Nimbus being charged for the death of Storm's killer and that he ran away to avoid being thrown behind bars. 

After repeating the same thing for the seventh time, Rainbow Dash was finally convinced by her mother that Nimbus was gone and she'd never see him again. Visiting hours were finally over and it was time for Rainbow Shine to leave. She hugged Rainbow Dash for the last time that night, told her she loved her and "sorry" before she left. 

Nimbus was hiding inside of a cloud outside of the Cloudsdale hospital when Rainbow Shine was visiting his best friend. He waited until he watched Rainbow Shine fly away from the entrance to finally float himself over to Rainbow Dash's window and knock with his left foreleg. 

Rainbow Dash was more than excited to see Nimbus. She hopped down from her bed and pulled the window open for him to enter inside. Nimbus's right foreleg in a sling was the first thing she noticed when he landed inside. "Your leg!" Rainbow Dash said. 


"It's okay. I barely got hit...again. What about you, how are you doing?" Nimbus asked, amazed to see she wasn't hooked up to anything like he was when he got shot last. 

"I got surgery tomorrow morning, but it's just minor." Rainbow Dash shrugged. 

"Since when is surgery minor?" Nimbus asked as he stretched his neck out to look at the patch of white gauze tape on Rainbow Dash's back. 

Rainbow Dash used her wing to keep Nimbus at a distance. "It's fine, Nimbus. I swear you freak out about the most dumbest things." 

"The dumbest thing I love the most just got shot, so yeah, I'm going to freak out." 

Rainbow Dash's face twisted as she tried to make sense of what Nimbus was trying to say. 

"You know...that sounded more romantic in my head, but when I put it in words..." 

"You sound like an idiot?" Rainbow Dash asked Nimbus. She knew Nimbus wasn't the "mares stallion" she probably could have gotten but she did appreciate it and laughed when he tried to be. "Mom said-" 

"She told you, huh?" Nimbus cut her off. He didn't know Rainbow Shine had told Rainbow Dash a different story than he had gotten form her. 

"...yeah" Rainbow Dash turned away, trying to think of something to make Nimbus stay. The thought of hiding him at the house crossed her mind, but it was a little too predictable hiding place. 

"I really screwed up this time." Nimbus said. He rotated his neck to keep his leg sling from falling lower down his shoulder. "I-I didn't think shit was going to be like this. If I had known I would have-" 

"Nimbus!" Rainbow Dash screamed and scared Nimbus to hiccup on his words. "Calm down...It's not your fault. Things happen." 

"Things happen?" Nimbus repeated? "Storm is dead, I killed somepony-" 

"You saved me!" Rainbow Dash added. 

"Yeah, if I hadn't gone after that guy you wouldn't have needed saving!" Nimbus argued, leaving Rainbow Dash with nothing else to fight with. 

"...they're calling you a criminal." Rainbow Dash thought about having to talk to Nimbus from behind bars if he stayed but she still wanted to believe there was a way he could stay. 

"After everything I done, all the good things I've done, it all gets thrown to the side and ignored because of one mistake?" Nimbus shakes his head and tried to stomp his hooves angrily but just fell over with the loss of balance. 

Rainbow Dash helped Nimbus back up to his other three hooves and tells him. "Just prove them wrong then. Once they see-" 

"See what? See a criminal?" 

"Stop saying that!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You're not a bad pony." 

"Oh, yeah? Then why doesn't your mom want me too see you again?" Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash. 

She was speechless, Rainbow Dash hadn't been told by Rainbow Shine she wasn't allowed to see Nimbus again, Rainbow Shine just told her she wouldn't see him again, but now it made sense as to why. 

"Yeah" Nimbus nodded. "Didn't know Mo-Rainbow Shine didn't want me to see you again? She doesn't even want me to be part of the family anymore." 

"I-I didn't know she told you that..." Rainbow Dash told Nimbus, hanging her head low. "Now I know why she told me you were going away." 

"I don't want to leave but..." Nimbus lifted Rainbow Dash's head back up by placing his wing under her chin. "I don't want to hurt you again." 

Nimbus kissed Rainbow Dash on the right side of her face before turning around putting his one good foreleg up on the window seal. He exhaled before extending his wings behind him, ready to leap and fly out the window. 

He promised himself, after tonight, he was going to do what the world expected from him. If they were going to point and call him a criminal, he was going to face them and give them the best one they had ever seen. He gave the world everything and they rewarded him with nothing back in turn. Now he was going to take it all back. 

"Wait." Rainbow Dash said, quickly grabbing a tight grip of Nimbus's wing with her own. She could feel that he was shaking just as bad as she was. "Am-Well I ever be able to see you again?" 

Nimbus refused to turn his head and look at Rainbow Dash for the last time. Seeing her before he left was just going to make it much harder than it had to be. The last thing he told Rainbow Dash and the one thing she held onto since that day was "Don't worry about looking for me, I'll find you."