Rainbow Dash's house was perhaps the least-constant structure in Ponyville that could still be called the same structure. Hewn from clouds and hooked together with rainbows in classic Cloudsdale architectural tradition, it could be and often was modified without much effort, whenever Rainbow Dash tired of the current layout. Twilight had seen it as a three-story tower, a two-story fort complete with crenelations, a miniature palace loosely ringed with columns, and in shapes resembling each of her friends' houses - though so far not yet anything like a tree - after Rainbow had been particularly impressed by one of them. When the latter happened, Twilight made sure not to mention to Rainbow that her inspiration was obvious: the pegasus had her own sense of style and cool, which Twilight would never wish to take away from her.
Aside from there always being a central structure, there were always waterfalls spilling over the edge - sometimes normal water, sometimes rainbows flowing like water. These seemed to be aesthetic, fading away before they hit the ground. Another constant was some kind of primary rainbow, curving from the top to the back - or maybe the back to the top: Twilight never had figured out which way it flowed. There was also a front patio, for visitors to land on in front of the main front door. Down on the ground was a mailbox, the only completely fixed part of the residence (a quick glance showed enough mail that Twilight could believe Rainbow had not been here in a week), but aside from that the house could have been one of Cloudsdale's outlying structures. Perhaps Rainbow held a candle for someday returning there, though Twilight knew that Rainbow had grown to like Ponyville more than she would admit. Still, the home and its frequent, competently done changes clearly marked Rainbow as a master weathercrafter.
But the guard was altogether new.
A young griffon, about the size of a schoolfoal but with hardened eyes none that young should have, tried to stare down the much bigger Twilight. Tattered green fabric scraps - little more than rags - of what might have been a uniform adorned the griffon, counterpointing an ash-and-storm grey body and white head. The wings seemed almost adult-sized, which Twilight marked up to a growth spurt: some pegasi grew full-sized wings early, though these seemed a bit large even for that. A sword as long as the griffon's torso extended from a tight, firm grip in one forepaw to under Twilight's chin. While she could not see the blade's point from this angle, the part of the sword she could see looked sharp enough, with not a trace of rust. It was a simple blade - no crossguard, no ornamentation that Twilight could see. She tried to gently nod down, only for the griffon to press the sword up; any further and she risked breaking her skin, so Twilight stopped.
Once upon a time, Celestia had had her read a royal guard training manual. Military matters did not catch her interest, except in an abstract way, but she read the whole thing because that was what Celestia had told her to do. Dimly, Twilight recalled one section on pegasus-specific tactics: hide in a low-lying cloud, wait for an enemy to draw near, then spring down - or up, if the enemy walked on clouds - with weapon in hand. This ambush was literally a textbook maneuver. She tried backing up, and just as that textbook had described, the griffon moved forward in time with her retreat, not letting her get out of threat range.
Fortunately, the textbook also listed a counter-tactic. Twilight leaped up and hovered away. Flight was a bit less stable and provided far more maneuvering options, so holding at swordpoint from in front was less practical in the air.
"You leave now," the griffon repeated, not pursuing her skyward, but still pointing the sword in her direction.
"I'm...looking for Rainbow Dash's home?" Twilight offered.
"This it," the griffon hissed. "You no her. You leave now."
"Bertha," came a voice from inside, "are you pretending to be a - oh, hello." An adult griffon - apparently Bertha's mother, given the similar coloration and slightly large wings - poked her head out the front door. "Ah, sorry, we're waiting for Rainbow Dash. We thought she lived here. Bertha, put that sword down right now!"
Bertha looked over her shoulder. "But she no Rainbow Tash!"
"Put the sword down NOW, before you hurt someone!"
Bertha sighed at her mother, gave Twilight another glare, then sheathed the sword through a metal loop attached to her rags.
"That's better. Now get inside." Bertha's mother watched her sulk back into the house and noisily stomp upstairs. Once Bertha was out of line of sight, her mother looked up at Twilight. "Sorry about that. She can get a...lit...tle..." Her jaw dropped.
Twilight blinked, then looked around. There was no one else around; Twilight landed to confirm where the griffon was looking, and indeed the griffon's eyes tracked her.
Bertha's mother cowered. There was no better word for it. Naked fear came from her eyes as she prostrated herself. "P-please, take me, do anything you want to me, I'll do anything! Just spare Bertha: she doesn't know any better!"
Twilight frowned, flapping her wings slowly in thought.
Bertha's mother clapped her claws over her eyes and trembled. "M-make it quick, please don't force her to watch me die in agony-"
Realization spawned annoyance. Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. "Get up."
"Huh?"
"I said get up. And stop groveling!" Twilight caught herself yelling and choked back her annoyance, noting that an angry Princess was exactly what this griffon needed to not see right now.
Bertha's mother peeked between her claws. When she saw Twilight patiently waiting, she slowly got back to her feet and sat.
Twilight nodded. "Good. Now. Tell me your name."
"Beatrix Oxfeather. My family called me 'Trixie'."
Memories of a certain stage magician offered themselves, but Twilight brushed them aside: she was fairly certain that unicorn did not have a drop of griffon blood in her. "I'd recommend you stick with 'Beatrix' around here. Did you say 'Oxfeather', as in the Oxfeather Riot?"
Beatrix's face fell. "Even this far from home you've heard of us. My family name is cursed. I assure you, we're not the monsters they-"
"Your side," Twilight interrupted, glad for the opportunity to further distance the conversation from yet another bowing obsequiously to the Princess. She wondered how Celestia put up with it, beyond her occasional pranks.
Beatrix just blinked, her mind far more single-track than Twilight's. "Pardon?"
"I want to hear your side, please." Twilight smiled. "First-hoof information is more reliable, wouldn't you say? And if it's what your family is known for, I want to hear it. What was the riot about? What happened?"
"I...err..." Beatrix stared at Twilight in wonder. "Why would you want to know about such a thing?"
Twilight scooped up a tiny bit of cloud and examined it. "Unless I miss my guess, a certain mutual acquaintance played a major role." Letting it go, she turned her eyes to suddenly lock on to Beatrix's. "I want to hear the whole story. Please."
Beatrix's mouth worked for a second. "You mean Sah Rainbow Dash?"
Twilight did her best to hide her sudden alarm. "Sah" was a religious title used in foreign lands, to denote a revered figure who had demonstrated extreme virtue, in many ways the complete opposite of the Rainbow Dash that Twilight knew. She could feel the near-inevitable clash against high expectations and subsequent letdown; to head it off she would need to find out what Rainbow Dash was revered for. So Twilight nodded, slowly and deliberately, though a strand of hair curled up of its own accord. "She's one of my friends. Mind if we go inside? I wanted to check up on her house."
Beatrix took in Twilight's words as she backed through the front door. "...of course she'd be friends with the Princesses. Pardon my naivete for thinking it might be otherwise."
Twilight followed, keeping an eye out for Bertha. "Oh! Right, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm-"
"Princess Twilight Sparkle," Beatrix finished for her. "Assistant of Spike, the Savior of the Crystal Empire. We went there when it was freed, hoping it was more of Sah Rainbow Dash's work. It wasn't, but one of the ponies said she lived in Ponyville and knew Spike. You were, uh, mentioned in the ensuing...'discussion', I think you call it, but..."
Twilight grimaced. "Let me guess, they sang Spike's praises at the drop of a feather, and you sat through it because you thought there might be a nugget of info on something you cared about?"
Beatrix nodded. "I am still not certain how they came up with such lengthy lyrics on the spot, and their dance number seemed like it had been choreographed, just waiting for a pilgrim like me to ask, 'Who's Spike?'"
Twilight could not help but chuckle. "It may have been." She looked around the living room, finding it unkempt but not completely trashed. An unmade couch-bed lay in one corner, beneath a Wonderbolts poster, with a pair of Daring Do books and a few toys nearby. Rainbow's multi-hued electric guitar was propped up in a corner, underneath a sunburst banner similar to the carving in the main ceiling of Twilight's library - a less-stylized representation of Celestia's cutie mark, and Twilight had to admit she was slightly jealous that this one was more accurate. Stairs led up to the bedroom, over a closet in which Rainbow's few fancy clothes hung. Twilight heard a rustling from upstairs, and immediately identified it as a youngster - probably Bertha - flipping a book page; a moment's thought placed it as heavier stock, so probably one of Daring Do's earlier books. "You're a pilgrim?"
Beatrix closed the door behind Twilight, keeping her eyes on the alicorn the whole time. "Is that the right word? My daughter and I are on a pilgrimage to find Sah Rainbow Dash. Err...honest, we didn't make her house like this. Do you know what happened? It looks like some beast got inside. Is that why she has been away, recovering from the fight? We did not dare touch her possessions - err, except for the contents of the fridge: they were going to spoil and we got hungry waiting. And I have been using the books to teach Bertha to read, but I put them back afterward - that open one to the same page, so the Sah will find things as she left them."
Twilight smirked. This was exactly the state Rainbow usually kept her place in. "Close enough. If you view her as a Sah, well, you could say she's been doing penance for someone else's mistake. Help me clean up while you tell me about that Oxfeather Riot."
Beatrix just stared. "You...you're not going to execute me?"
Twilight faced away to hide her eyeroll, as she levitated a ball into the closet. "It'd be hard to introduce you to Rainbow Dash if you're dead." When no response came, she sighed. "Look. You're just trespassing, your daughter didn't know any better though I am going to ask she leave her sword here, and you said it yourself: this place needed cleaning up when you got here. So are you going to help or not?"
"B-by your command," Beatrix stammered, quickly getting to straightening out the couch-bed's blanket. "Where shall I begin, please your ma-" She stopped at a sudden warning glare from Twilight.
"Just call me 'Twilight'. A friend of Celestia's once told me, begin at the beginning," Twilight said, not so gravely as she remembered the words, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
"As you wish." Beatrix returned her attention to the blanket, inspecting every inch meticulously to make sure no wrinkle remained. "I'll tell you how she who would become Sah stopped a genocide."