-------------------
Rainbow Dash
-------------------
Rainbow walked her way to the library, ignoring the slight aches that pinged her muscles. She had recovered enough to walk around on her own and no longer needed to use that totally uncool wheelchair. Her sister seemed very excited this morning, and left with a tight hug which she gladly returned. Rainbow had a suspicion why, and yelled at her to be careful just before she was gone. Rainbow needed to collect information from Twilight who she’s certain would know. The only real problem was keeping Twilight in the dark about why she needed this information, which she had a flawless plan for. As she reached the door she noticed that the sign that stated the library was closed was no longer up, before she barged in with some effort, she wasn’t fully recovered after all.
“Oh hey Rainbow,” welcomed Spike as soon as he noticed her, “here to check out another Daring Doo book?”
Rainbow had become friends with Daring Doo herself, and as such would get the newest copy slightly sooner before anypony else, “No, I’m here to see Twilight. Is she here?”
“Yeah, but she’s really busy, she decided to continue translating that journal for some reason, she seemed so happy yesterday to be over with it, but now she’s back at it like she’s possessed…” Spike’s face twisted with panic, “n-not that she’s actually possessed like Rarity was, that one time…” Spike finished open ended. Rainbow knew what Spike was referring to, she wasn’t directly a part of it, but she did get to listen to Twilight vent about it.
“Right…” Rainbow said cautiously, “Well, where is she I need to talk to her, it’s important.”
“She’s upstairs in her room, though I wouldn’t…” Spike began to say before he noticed Rainbow was already half way up the stairs, “I’ll just be down here watching the library,” *sigh,* “like I do.”
Rainbow ignored her aches as she raced to Twilights room. She didn’t even bother knocking once she reached it and just barged in. She found Twilight at her desk looking intently at books, papers, and other such egghead stuff. “Twilight,” Rainbow said as she approached.
Twilight panicked and her wings unfurled briefly in fright, while she levitated a piece of paper under a stack of papers in distress, “Rainbow!? What are you doing here?” she half-yelled as she turned to face Rainbow, “Don’t sneak up on me like that, you scared me.”
“Alright jeez, sorry,” she ignored whatever had Twilight so shaken, “Listen we need to talk about Scootaloo,” and got to the point.
Twilight breathed in to calm herself down before she looked rather interested in what this was about, “Okay shoot, what’s going on with Scootaloo and Sweetie?”
Rainbow was confused by this question and it showed as much in her face, “Umm, nothing that I’m aware of.”
Twilight looked down, “Oh, I just thought that… ahh it’s nothing I’m just over thinking things. So what about Scootaloo do you want to talk about?”
“Her flying lessons,” Rainbow answered, she just needs to steer the conversation towards her condition and she has this in the bag.
“Oh, well don’t worry I’ve read several books on the subject shortly after I got my own wings, with you teaching her, I’m positive we can get her flying with an appropriate amount of fear and respect for the open air in no time. Well at least until you recover fully, how’s that going by the way?” Twilight asked.
‘Perfect,’ thought Rainbow, that was easier than she hoped, now the hard part, “Well I can walk now and everything still aches, but I’m tough. This is nothing, heh, you know I’ve had this same condition once before when I was a filly.”
“Realy? What did you do to have it happen to you the first time, if you don’t mind me asking?” Twilight questioned.
Anger spiked through her, “It isn’t so much what I did,” Rainbow spat, ‘where did that come from?’ she thought.
“What do you mean by that?”
Rainbow breathed in to calm down her nerves, “What I mean is when I was a filly I got adopted by some ponies after I did the sonic rainboom and,” Rainbow blinked a couple times, “they had me try to do another sonic rainboom and of course I didn’t, but they urged me to continue until well I couldn’t move,” she breathed out slowly. Rainbow was getting mad, this was something she only talked about with Gilda and that was pretty much right after it happened, even then they stopped talking about it within a couple months. She hadn’t brought it up to anypony else since. Apparently the pain and loneliness that her sister got rid of was replaced with anger.
“You were an orphan!?” Twilight yelled.
“Yeah, well you’re not the only who doesn’t bring up their family or lack thereof to her friends Twilight Sparkle. Shining Armor ring any bells?” Rainbow jabbed at Twilight for not mentioning her brother until she got a wedding invitation, and this was after they saved Equestria twice by then.
Twilight frowned, “Well… you got me there, but this is a little different don’t you think?” Twilight argued.
“Look, I don’t normally like talking about this stuff. Okay, let’s m-” Rainbow stopped herself, she needs to talk about this or else her questions might be suspicious, she groaned, “I mean, Yes I was an orphan and I still kind of am,” Twilight merely looked at her sadly, “after those ponies,” Rainbow said with a hint of anger, “adopted me they basically bribed me to my physical and magical limit with the promise of- I don’t even know why I did it. I just wanted to impress them…” Rainbow breathed in and out, “I-I decided to leave that mockery of a family, and I didn’t accept anypony else's attempts to adopt me after that. I was sure they’d be no different than those ponies…” she hissed. She was feeling so many mixed emotions but mostly anger, now that she has an idea on what she had missed out on. She owes that to Scootaloo.
“Oh Rainbow,” Twilight said softly, and went for a hug.
Rainbow accepted the hug but made it short, it wasn’t as good as a hug from her sister but it was still welcome, though she might be a little biased, “You know it’s funny, even though I’m an orphan, I never really knew the laws around it, I’m almost certain they should’ve been punished for what they had me do,” Rainbow said, in genuine interest as that’s why she brought up her past in the first place, so she knows what to expect for her sister.
“Well, it’s funny you mention that as I already read all the general laws pertaining to adoption since the book I’m reading on Equestria’s laws goes in alphabetical order from location…” Twilight stared blankly before frowning for some reason, “Anyways,” she perked up, “you grew up in Cloudsdale right?” Rainbow nodded, “Well I read those laws, if I remember correctly Cloudsdale mostly follows Equestria Common Law when it comes to adoption,” Rainbow looked at her questioningly, “which means that the foal is free to accept an adoption if they so choose, or redact their adoption like you did, if what you’re saying is true then you might have had legal grounds to sue them, heck you still might if they were directly abusive to you in anyway…” Twilight said open endedly.
“No they weren’t. They were just fake, insincere jerks who ‘encouraged’ me to that point,” Rainbow scowled, “You know I did consider running away from the orphanage a couple times, what do the laws say about that?” Twilight looked at her oddly which caused her to shrug, “What I’m curious now,” truth be told this is exactly what she’s been wanting to know.
“Well if you go by Equestria Common Law the orphanage would be forced to retrieve you, and or ensure your safety and well being if you refused to return. Which basically means that if you were happy of free will, in good health, attended school, and had good support that they couldn’t force you back to the orphanage, but that’s just Equestria Common Law, various cities and towns have much stricter adoption laws, but they can’t override Equestria Common Law,” Twilight said informatively.
Rainbow smiled, she liked what she heard, but quickly put her face back to neutral, “Huh, well that’s good to know I guess, so what were you doing before I got here?”
Twilight's eyes dilated and she looked around, “I’m translating the journal that’s all.”
“Twilight you’re as bad a liar as Applejack, you can’t fool me,” Rainbow said confidently.
“But I’m not lying, it’s just I’m not sure what to make of it right now, I haven’t completed the translation just yet,” Twilight said sweating slightly.
“What do you got so far?” Rainbow questioned.
“I’d rather not say until I know for sure, sorry,” Twilight smiled awkwardly.
“Okay... well I’m sure you want to get done with your egghead stuff so I’ll leave you to it,” Rainbow said before she walked to the door and left. She could hear Twilight start to ask her something as the door closed, “What was that,” she asked popping her head in.
“I said what did you want to talk about with Scootaloo? You know the reason you came here?”
Rainbow smiled sheepishly, “I was just making sure you were going to be prepared for when we start practise, after you had her smash you into that wall, she’s been pretty excited.”
“Really? I don’t see why,” Twilight stated.
“Are you kidding me?” She really didn’t understand Twilight sometimes, “She just learned she can move the air around her, there’s no way she’d not be thrilled. I bet she’s at the park right now trying to figure out what she can do with something as awesome as that,” she gushed, and walked back in the room.
Twilight frowned, “you should go check on her then, I don’t know if you remember but I seem to recall everything around her being blown all over the place, what if something hits her or somepony passing by? She could really hurt herself.”
Rainbow envisioned Scootaloo getting gored by some tree branch after she tried to do something awesome like be the center of a tornado, Rainbow freaked out, “Well I gotta go. Bye!” She was out of Twilight's room so fast, she almost tripped down the stairs, thankful that her years of perfecting flight didn’t let her fall, though it did make her wings burn.
“Everything alright Rainbow?” Spike asked as she rushed past him to the exit, ignoring all the protests of her body. She didn’t have time to answer that, and kept going.
Once outside she slowed to a canter, and eventually got slower until she had to stop to catch her breath. She had a little bit to go before she could make it to the park. “Rainbow,” Twilight said behind her, shocking her slightly, “You need to think before you run off like that, what if she was doing something very dangerous and you just ran in and got yourself hurt? I don’t think she’d forgive herself,” Rainbows mind went over that possibility only a little darker, it almost made her cry like a foal, “Besides I don’t want her getting hurt anymore than you do.”
She wiped away what tears that thought produced and faced Twilight, “you’re right, thanks,” she never thought she’d freak out like Applejack and Rarity. She always thought they were just losing their cool and she knew that never helped any situation. She had more respect for that part of them now that she’s done it herself and understands why.
“Don’t mention it,” Twilight said as she went to Rainbows side and provided support so they could continue moving.