//------------------------------// // Tornado Warning // Story: Earning Freedom // by Daxisle //------------------------------// Tornado Warning Two weeks had passed since Sin's royal order to remain bound to Ponyville. He sat relaxing in the corner catching a mid day nap. Saturdays were always nice, especially when a certain wager offered him complete isolation the week prior. It seemed Twilight wasn't in the mood to bother him, which suited him just fine. Aside from a meal to be eaten every other day, there was no interaction with her, and Uppity had yet to show up either. Though he knew it wouldn't last, and was kinda glad about it. Being alone for a time was nice, but a small part of him craved social interaction. 'I'm so fucking BORED!' Yea, that part. Work had been going well, he wasn't the new guy anymore since an old donkey named "Cranky" came on board. This struck him as odd, but the old jack proved himself much better than the stallion expected. The two didn't talk much outside of the necessary communication that pushing and steadying a log required, mainly because the sound of the saw's buzzing drowned out anything else, though he couldn't complain about that. Cranky lived up to his name sake. Even his neck was healing well enough, the dragon scales in his chest would occasionally rub uncomfortably if he bent his forelegs too much, but nothing too bad. The only complaint he really had was when Twilight had bothered him yesterday, but that was about some presentation Rainbow Dash was having on rallying pegasi to help bring water somewhere. He had to find somewhere else to laze about for that night, but all in all, he wasn't complaining. Plus he'd gotten his first pay check which was extremely generous. A couple more of those bad boys and he'd be out of the Library with a down payment for his own house. He opened his eyes and looked at the clock to find the time was three-thirty and decided to check on Spike. Twilight had something to do with measuring wing powers of ponies. He didn't much care about it, he had other, more important matters to attend to. As he walked up the stairs, he found Spike moving around a bit more than he had previously. Sitting up and twisting about. It did the Federalist good to see him active and about. "How are you doing, man?" "I'm doing." Spike replied. The dragon was healing a lot quicker than the doctors had anticipated. He'd stopped having pains from his ribs and arms two days ago, and Sin was convinced by the drake to cut off the cast that held his broken arm. Despite the doctors orders not to do so, but he'd disregarded multiple physician's demands before, what was one more? Today he was moving around his legs with ease and Spike had a feeling that he'd be well enough to get out of bed by tomorrow morning. Dragon healing properties were simply amazing. "SIN!" He heard a bark from down stairs and sighed. "Well, I knew this was coming." Spike quirked a brow. "You knew Rainbow Dash would be coming?" "Rainbow?" Sin thought it was Uppity's voice, but in a blur of cyan, there hovered the Pegasus in question. Though she bore some unsual attire, a whistle and a baseball cap. "Huh, so it is." "Sin, I need your help, pronto!" She commanded, causing the stallion to step back and demand to know what she was talking about. Apparently the presentation yesterday was mandatory for all pegasi in an effort to help bring the Highview resuvuar water up to Cloudsdale for it to be distributed as rain water for the rest of Equestria. It didn't take much more explination to figure out where this conversation was going. "Fluttershy and Rarity said you were a pegasus, and that means you've gotta help out too." "Yea, that's not going to happen." He dismissed bluntly. Rainbow inquired why not and he gave a list of why nots. Firstly, he had work tomorrow. Which he wasn't scheduled to, but volunteers were always accepted on Sundays. Rainbow brushed it off, claiming that all pegasi were excused from work by law to attend the event. Which would explain why Crow hadn't come in yesterday. Finding that excuse to be a bust, the Federalist moved onto a more legitimate reason, he had no interest in doing it. To no great surprise Rainbow tried to reason with him, claiming that she needed all the pegasi she could get if they were to set a new wing power record. This lead to a bit of back and forth until Rainbow pulled out her trump card. "Does he know? She asked motioning to Spike. "About, you know, what we almost did?" Sin's furrowed his brows and requested they move to conversation away from Spike, who begged them to returen and tell him what they "almost did". Finding a place down stairs, Sin explained that he hand't told Spike and would rather keep it that way. If Twilight ever heard about the conspiracy the five of them had almost committed, it would not end well for any of them. "Fair enough, now will you tell me why you wont help me with this?" She pried again. "I've told you already, I'm not interested in it." "Than do it as a favor. I was willing to help you!" Sin gritted his teeth and grunted, he was afraid she'd call him to task on that at some point and here it was. He did owe her for the help she was going to offer, for all he knew she might have died in their plot to save Spike. Though he still had to decline. "Are you serious?" She growled. "Look it's... complicated, okay?" Sin replied defensively, hoping beyond hope she'd just let the issue die. Though he may have not known Rainbow long, he knew her long enough to understand his hope was false. As expected she asked what was so complicated about it, he didn't answer and then she played on his guilt and calmly asked him to trust her the same way she trusted him. "I can't fly, alright?" He barked. "Can't fly? Whaddya mean ya can't fly? You're a pegasus, you've got wings, don't ya?" "Aye, that I do, but I haven't used them in years." Finding such an idea laughable, Rainbow grabbed his cape and tossed it over to see for herself. "Oh my gosh!" She decried, stepping back from him and taking in his bandaged and underdeveloped wings. Judging by the look on her face, Rainbow had never seen anything quite like it. "What happened?" Her words were soft and devoid of any accusation, only sympathetic curiosity. It was then that Sin told the first Equestrian the story of why his wings had never seen use. His brother was an earth pony who desperately wanted to venture into the sky. He knew this from conversations the two shared about how lucky Sin was to be born as he was and how envious Malich admitted to being. He loved his brother and didn't want to make him feel bad or jealous, so as a child he'd made a promise to never fly and leave Malich behind. He was about nine years old when his father tried to pressure the pegasus into it, but Sin held firm, convinced that doing so would do damage to the only relationship he cared to have. His father was just as stubborn as he was though and much more irritable since he was in the middle of restructuring his father's company. So the Federalist did the only thing a child his age could do when faced with such pressure. He broke his wings, he tried to snap them in half, but found the pain too unbearable. "It was enough to get my old man off my back, though." Sin chuckled. "After that, he must of gotten the hint and never asked me to fly again." He came back to his senses to find Rainbow staring at him skeptically. "What? "You broke you wings so you'd never fly because you didn't want to upset your brother?" She deadpanned, irritation quickly spreading across her face. "Yea, more or less." The Cyan flyer inhaled deeply before removing her baseball cap and setting it gently on the ground. "Are you stupid?" Her head cocked to the side, giving him a look of patronizing that made Sin want to kick seven puppies. "Do you really think that's what a brother wants? To see somepony he loves limit themselves for their because of them?" Sin opened his mouth to retort but Rainbow cut him off. "Does the Federation have any idea what a family is? Or are you just so closed off and hateful that you don't?" Sin, taken aback by the unprecedented accusation spoke: "You think I live in hate? No, I'm a pragmatist, I live in the real world where-" "No!" Rainbow barked, point a hoof to silence him. "No! No more of your word games. Twilight told me how good you are at twisting things to get out of dealing with your feelings, and I'm not going to let you do it anymore!" She stomped her hoof for emphasis. Sin quirked a brow and he felt his muscles tense up. So this was his reward for being open and honest huh? Getting yelled at, funny thing was that was how his father treated honesty too. With hostility. Besides, what did she know? Equestrians and Federalists were a great deal different from eachother. He knew Malich would be upset if he'd taken flight, he saw it in his brother's eyes every time he'd see a pegasus in the sky. "Look, I'm sorry I yelled, but to not fly, to never embrace being a pegasus just because you didn't want to hurt your brother's feelings is just... it's just not okay." She quickly apologized though was resolute. It made sense to Sin, from what he'd understood everything in her life revolved around being a winged equine and the thought of it being denied must terrify her. "Oh? And you presume to know what the objective definition of right and wrong is? You think you knew my brother better than I did?" He retorted, taking a step in challenge. Rainbow lowered herself down, meeting the pony eye to glass covered eye. "You see, there you go again! Using big words to justify your bitterness!" She declared, pushing her forehead against his in a show of attempted dominance. "I may not know what the 'objective right or wrong is' but I know family, and families don't hate each other when somepony can do something somepony else can't." Sin didn't say Malich would "hate" him for it, but there would be resentment brewing for him and he knew it. His promise was a promise and he intended to keep it. Sin's patience severely strained, the stallion found the argument too much of a hassle and simply said what she wanted to hear. "Fine, I'm just being bitter. There, happy?" "No, no I'm not happy!" The flyer decried, stepping back, swiping up her hat and placing it upon her head. "Tomorrow, four A.M. Be ready for a crash course in flying."