Spitfire glanced between Rainbow Dash and the red stallion with amused disdain: “Have the two of you figured out who it was that burnt the theater down yet; or were you hoping to come up with an answer while screwing?”
“This isn’t what it looks like.”
“You have ten seconds to come clean if you want my help. First question; who is this?”
Rainbow Dash looked at Awesome-red-guy uncertainly; “… He’s…”
“Silent Storm.” The stallion answered coolly.
“Why did you attack Trixie?”
“...She made fun of Derpy.”
“Awww that's so sweet.” smiled Spitfire with utterly deadpanned eyes, “Have fun in prison.” She turned and tensed her wings for flight, than froze as one of the royal guard pegasi broke over the palisade. He glanced at Spitfire, then at Storm, and then locked onto Rainbow Dash. He looked a lot like the guy she had knocked out that afternoon, who wasn’t meant to remember seeing her.
“She’s here!” the guy yelled at the top of his voice, “The mare who knocked me out is here! I was right; it is Rainbow Dash!”
Dash cursed loudly. She cast one desperate glance at Spitfire who repaid her with a deadpanned stare. By all logic she should have accepted arrest, but her instincts kicked in and before she knew it she’d decided she was going to try and knock this guy out again, grab Storm and get out of there.
She got as far as spreading her wings and taking the first step; and then a pair of hooves grabbed her left wing. Dash turned mid-leap and smashed lightly into the palisade. She kicked twice into thin air, trying to free herself; but the grip tightened. It took three more tries before she realized the person holding her down was Spitfire.
“I have her for you officer;” she said coldly, to the pegasus guard who unhooked a pair of shackles from his belt and landed next to them.
Her next exhale through her nose brought a spray of blood from where she’d been hit with the wall earlier; but that was nothing compared to the rage of betrayal which was leaking out of her eyes right now. (She wasn’t crying!) The guard hunched over her and touched the cold steel to her skin, and then the shackle glowed green, and hooked one end onto Spitfire’s arm with the other onto the guard.
Before either of them could pull back, the second shackle followed suit, chaining Spitfire to the guard, left hoof to right, and face to face; before both of them were bowled over by a wave of telekinesis. Dash felt magic pull her to her hooves, and that when she saw the bolt with the paralysis poisoned tip used by the palace guards flying towards her.
A thin flick of magic deflected the bolt, and then Dash felt herself being pulled towards Storm before a solid wall came down around them in a bubble. More guards appeared; surrounding them. Most of them surrounded Storm’s shield in a loose bubble in case they tried to run, one guy went to unchain his buddy from Spitfire and a few over eager guards began trying to break the shield down.
“Talk quickly.” Ordered Storm, flinching as slightly as a halberd struck against his shield. “Did you burn the theater down or not?”
“I didn’t mean too! I mean… it burnt itself down! Trixie had several big crates of phosphorous in the back room, and then left candles burning on the shelf right above them from when she tried to seduce me and I ran in looking for a way out and knocked them down and they blew up and-”
“Hold on.” Interrupted Storm, “Trixie tried to seduce you?”
Dash felt her face burning, “No-well-yes; a few months ago a story came out in a magazine saying I liked mares. It’s not true, I totally like guys, but people believed it and then Trixie believed it and she wanted me to help her and… well I said NO!”
Storm stared at her for several long seconds, a dozen possible things to say pulling at his mouth before muttering; “... alright then.”
“Great, how do we get out of here?”
“We don’t.”
“But the longer we wait the more guys will surround us!”
“Yup.”
“… You’re turning me in… to save you?”
Storm looked at her in a solid, comforting way, “No.”
“Then why-”
“There’s the commander.” Said Storm as a crested pegasi captain arrived on the scene. The other guards fell back so not to get trampled on as he careened towards Storm’s shield, stopping suddenly about half a pace away. Storm dropped the shield and stepped calmly in front of Rainbow Dash.
The pegasi commander halted, did a double take on Storm, checked his cutie-mark and then stepped back; “What in the world are you doing here?”
“You know I wouldn’t be allowed to answer that.” Storm answered, towards the other side of the tower and trotting past an uncertain guard who fell back when his commander didn’t try stopping him.
A pair of bulky guards took posts on either side of Rainbow Dash, but didn’t touch her. Spitfire had her own set of guards, and the rest of the mob, who didn’t have anything obvious to do, tried listening in on Storm’s conversation with the pegasus commander. Well OK, Dash was pretty sure everyone was trying to hear that, but the only guy who was careless enough to look straight at them got a buck of telekinesis to the face from Storm’s horn, and the commander didn’t retaliate.
A long wait passed, probably only about two minutes, but that’s still a long time when your heart’s racing and nothing happenings. Eventually the pegasi commander came back, gave one word, and his entire unit cleared off like magic.
Spitfire was caught in a rare moment of indecision, and lost her chance to leave when Storm strode up to her making her, since the first time Dash had ever seen her, look very small. “Do you have anything you want to say to me?” Spitfire shook her head, taking a step backwards.
Storm took another step forwards; “Are you certain?”
“No.” breathed Spitfire, taking another step backwards and looking very unhappy when her flank pressed against the palisade. “…I don’t.”
“Is there anything you want to say to Rainbow Dash.”
Dash couldn’t believe this; Spitfire was sweating! The mares locked eyes for a moment; Dash tried to think of something tough to say and then realized she didn’t even need to. Spitfire clenched her small sweaty chin and swallowed, then turned to Storm in an imitation military salute; “Sir, no sir!”
She looked ridiculous.
Storm held his gaze on her a little longer, then just as Dash began the wild fantasy of seeing Spitfire cry he whispered, “Get lost!”
A few seconds later, Spitfire was an amber blur in the direction of Tiara’s party; “That is the single hottest thing I have ever seen any guy do.” breathed Rainbow heavily, sliding up just close enough to him to be suggestive without becoming obvious. “What did you tell him?”
“That Trixie was under investigation for alleged criminal activity, and that the fire was started by her stockpile of illegal explosives; namely phosphorous. I also said that you had been helping in the investigation, under temporary legal protection as a royal agent, as well as a criminal witness; putting you out of his jurisdiction.”
Dash blinked, “Seriously? You're able to do that?”
“Probably not.” admitted Storm, “Honestly I have no idea if I'm able to order anything around here; but Windrend will to check things with Shining Armor before making another move.”
“Shining Armor?” Dash asked, “I thought he was like... dead or something.”
“Not yet.”
“...So as soon as Shining Armor hears about this he's going to reinstate my arrest?”
“Windrend will have to go through channels to report to Shining Armor. He won't get through until tomorrow at the earliest; I'll be seeing him tonight.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Dash grit her teeth, “... When you do... could you tell him his little sister's been trying to talk to him for like... a year.”
Storm swallowed; “You're friends with her sister?”
“She's one of my best friend; well, she was before I became a Wonderbolt, I haven't seen her much lately.” She drawled off for a moment, “He hasn't talked to her much since he broke up with his fiancée last year, and she'd really like to talk to him. Could you tell him please?”
“Alright.” promised Storm evenly, “I'll tell him.”
“You might also want to tell him to be careful if he shows up unannounced... she's pretty mad at him.”
“I'll be sure to tell him that too.”
“Thank you.” Dash smiled, fluttering her eyelashes.
About seven awkward moments passed.
“Soooo,” she said finally, trying to restart the conversation, “How long do you have before your big meeting?”
Storm checked the clock tower, “Four hours.”
“What do you want to do until then?”
Storm looked at her for a long second, making her feel uncomfortable, and hopeful at the same time, spastic twitches of a smile stinging at his lips; and then he turned away with a small sigh. Then his eyes focused on the royal gardens beneath them; empty and beautiful, and his smile became genuine, “Let's take a walk.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Four and a half hours later; Storm passed deeper into the inner spires of the east palace. He crossed several checkpoints with a letter bearing the imperial seal and a silent nod to the guards who admitted him without further question and proceeded alone up a long winding staircase into a dimly lit room, and closed the door behind him.
In one corner, on a bed of soiled hay lay a shivering pony, his fur was coming out and was scattered across the floor, his muscles were wasted, his condition suggested somepony who hadn't eaten properly for weeks, his breathing was labored but steady, and the blood vessels in one eye had burst, leaving it red in stark contrast to its milky white counterpart.
“Hello old friend.” Storm muttered caustically, checking what was left of the cutie-mark to confirm this really was Shining Armor; and then turned to the only other pony in the room, Princess Celestia, who stood silently over the suffering creature. She did a very good job at hiding it, but Storm couldn’t help notice the faintest glimmer of smug satisfaction, tinged with guilt; buried underneath her motherly compassion. “I'm ready,” he said calmly, “Let's begin.”