Ripples

by BronyWriter

Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash stepped off of the train, Scootaloo perched on her back and her head and ears drooped. They had just gotten back from Canterlot where...

Rainbow Dash suppressed a sob for fear of disturbing Scootaloo.

Scootaloo.

Scootaloo was an orphan because of Rarity and now Rarity herself was dead. That rotten mare was a serial killer who murdered Scootaloo's parents. Rainbow Dash let out a small grunt of disgust as she walked in the direction of Town Square. She saw her cloud house in the sky and slowly took off in the direction of her home. She glanced back at Scootaloo who was still sound asleep on her back.

The flight to her house was only a few minutes. She landed on her front porch and pushed her cloud door open. The main room was exactly how she had left it. Her discarded blanket was still crumpled on the floor where she had tossed it when the guards had come knocking. She had been sleeping on the couch when the came.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and walked up the stairs. Her room was on the top floor, and in that, her bed. Scootaloo needed a good night's sleep.

When she entered the room, she gently slid Scootaloo off of her back and onto the bed. Scootaloo whimpered and shifted around a bit.

"Shh..." Rainbow Dash gently stroked Scootaloo's head and pulled a blanket over her. "It's... it's gonna be okay soon, Scoots. I'm gonna take care of you now, okay?"

"Momma," Scootaloo whimpered.

"You're gonna be okay, Scoots," said Rainbow Dash softly. "Rarity's gone. She can't hur--"

Rainbow Dash sharply inhaled as her words registered in her mind. She blinked back the first traces of tears and shakily put a hoof on Scootaloo's head. "Goodnight, Scootaloo."

Rainbow Dash walked out of her room and quietly closed the door behind her. She pondered getting her sleeping bag so that Scootaloo could have the bed, but Rainbow would still be in the room when she awoke. She didn't need to be alone.

Rainbow opened up her icebox and took out a cider. Popping the top, she took a long pull from the bottle before sitting down at her couch, placing the bottle on a coffee table in front of her. She stared ahead at the blank white wall in front of her as she began rubbing her forelegs. She bit the inside of her lip and rubbed harder, trying to make the feeling of the hoofcuffs go away. It had been so... demeaning, when the guards slapped them on her forelegs like she was some common criminal. She flinched when the memory forced itself into her brain. She needed another sip of her cider after that.

Rainbow sighed and laid down on the couch as she replayed the rest of the night's events. "A serial killer," she muttered to herself. "A bucking serial killer."

She found the idea still difficult to comprehend. Just the previous week the six of them had been at Sugarcube Corner laughing like they didn't have a single care in the world. Rarity and Fluttershy were giggling about something to themselves. Some side conversation or private joke between the two of them. The idea that Rarity would be outed as a serial killer and executed just a few days later would have seemed impossible. Rainbow groaned and drained the rest of her cider, tossing the empty bottle onto the floor. She'd pick it up later. Maybe she could grab another one.

Why bother?

Her thoughts turned back to Fluttershy. Rainbow couldn't imagine how she was taking it. She should probably go see her in the morning. Element of Loyalty nonsense, or whatever. If that even meant anything anymore. The Elements couldn't work without all six of them, right? Rainbow scoffed and reconsidered grabbing that second cider.

Nah, might as well go to bed, or something.

Rainbow groaned and got up with a great deal of effort. Her mind briefly flashed back to the feeling of the hoofcuffs on her legs, causing her ear to flick. She pushed that aside and got her sleeping bag out of a nearby closet. Scootaloo needed the bed more, but Rainbow could still be there when she woke up.

She never had to be alone again.

* * * *

"How you feelin' today, Squirt?" Rainbow asked, forcing a half-decent attempt at a smile on her face. Scootaloo didn't respond, choosing instead to poke at her cereal. She hadn't eaten a full meal in a few days. "Not too great, huh? That's fine. Take your time." Rainbow took a bite of her own cereal, taking the time to mentally berate herself for her dumb question.

"So... uh, anything you want to do today? Anything at all?" Scootaloo just shrugged and pushed her bowl away. She hadn't taken a single bite.

"Gonna go back to bed," Scootaloo muttered. "Wanna be alone for a bit."

"Oh, yeah..." Rainbow got to her hooves just as Scootaloo did. "Yeah, that's fine. Take all of the time you need and stuff. I might go check on Fluttershy in a bit, but seriously, if you want me to get you anything or if you want to do anything today that's..." Rainbow trailed off as Scootaloo went back into her room and shut the door. She sighed and flattened her ears. Scootaloo would open up when she was ready.

A knock on the door took Rainbow out of her thoughts. She perked her ears up and flew over the the door to look through the peephole. She flinched back when she saw a very official looking pony flanked by a guard. Rainbow whimpered and flew deeper into her house, rubbing her forelegs.

"Go away," Rainbow whimpered almost inaudibly. "I didn't do anything. Don't take more of my friends."

The pony knocked on the door one more time, but after a few minutes, they seemed to realize that nopony was going to answer the door. They exchanged a few words then flew away. Rainbow watched them go, glaring at their retreating forms until they were nothing more than specks on the horizon.

Rainbow made a noise of disgust and rubbed her foreleg again. Whatever. They seemed to be okay with leaving her alone for the moment. Her mind went back to Fluttershy as she flew back down to the main floor of her house. Yes, checking up on Fluttershy would be a good idea. Scootaloo would keep for a little bit.

"Hey Scoots? I'm gonna go see Fluttershy for a bit, okay?" No response as expected. "Uh... help yourself to anything in the ice cloud. I'll be back soon."

Hearing no response, Rainbow Dash sighed and flew out of her house. Scootaloo would come around. She had to. Rainbow would work as much as she had to so until Scootaloo began recovering.

Rainbow flew to the edge of town, ignoring the groups of ponies huddled around each other on the ground. Some of them even looked up at her before returning to their gossip. Doubtlessly they'd heard that she had been arrested with Rarity. Let them talk. They'd get over it eventually. She touched down outside of Fluttershy's cottage, ignoring the chattering animals. She walked up to the door and knocked.

Rainbow stood in front of the door, waiting for any sound to come from inside the cottage. After a few moments, she heard shuffling inside. The sound of hoofsteps grew closer to the door, and after a moment, Fluttershy opened up the top half of her door. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but she managed a small smile when she saw Rainbow.

"Oh. Hello, Rainbow Dash." She took in a shaky breath. "H-how are you?"

Rainbow shrugged and leaned her head against the door. "Okay, I guess."

"How's Scootaloo?"

"She's..." Rainbow sighed and ran her hoof through her mane. "She's gonna be okay, I think. She's not happy, I know that, but she'll come around, I hope."

"That's good," Fluttershy said quietly. "She has you to take care of her. I'm sure she'll come out of her shell. She's endured a big shock, though. I can't imagine what she's going through."

"No, I guess not," Rainbow muttered. "But, uh, how are you doing?"

Fluttershy's jaw quivered, and a pair of tears streaked down her face. "I'm fine," she lied, her voice marred by a sob. "I've been taking care of my animals."

"That's good." Rainbow gave Fluttershy a joyless smile. "Heh, you had any more guards around here? I had some important looking pony come by my house. I pretended I wasn't home."

Fluttershy sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Actually, they came by my house, too. They, um, wanted to talk to me about some ponies that Rarity..." Fluttershy squeaked and let out a sob.

"I don't care about that," Rainbow growled. "She's gone. She's not gonna hurt anypony else. The identities of those ponies are the business of their families."

Fluttershy gave Rainbow a strange look. "So... you haven't heard that--"

"I don't care," Rainbow said, straightening up and waving a hoof. "I don't care about who she did those things to. We're just going to not think about that kind of thing, okay? Unless she killed my dad, or something like that, I don't give a rats."

"But Rainbow--"

"No," Rainbow growled. "I don't wanna talk about that! Just forget about it!" Rainbow let out a frustrated grunt and turned around. "If you're doing okay, then that's great. If you need anything, just let me know."

Rainbow began walking away, but Fluttershy's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Gilda, Rainbow Dash." Rainbow turned back to Fluttershy, her eyes wide. "When they couldn't find you, they came to talk to me. I don't know if they told the others, but they wanted me to tell you when you were ready."

Rainbow's ear flicked, but she narrowed her eyes and began backing away. "Don't lie to me. You're lying! Gilda's fine!"

"They found her in Rarity's base--"

"I said she's fine!" Rainbow snarled. "She's gonna fly into town and... and you'll see! We'll have time to... we'll talk again and we'll get over what happened with Pinkie the last time she was here!" Rainbow sobbed and spread her wings. "We'll... we'll have time to make sure everything is better between us!"

Before Fluttershy could respond, Rainbow took wing and flew off. She ran her foreleg over her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her face.

Gilda was fine. It was some other griffin that Rarity had done that to. It was a tragedy for sure, but it wasn't Gilda. Gilda would hear about everything going on and fly to Ponyville to make sure Dash was okay. She was sure of it.

Rainbow flew over Ponyville, stopping in her tracks when she flew over Carousel Boutique. The place where Rarity had taken ponies to die. Rainbow narrowed her eyes and flew down to grab a rock. Rarity was no friend of hers. Not anymore. She had half a mind to burn the place to the ground. That would be fitting.

"Fuck you!" Rainbow screeched, hurling the rock straight through one of the windows. She landed on a nearby cloud and took a few deep breaths, glaring at the building as if her hatred would destroy it right then.

Her glare slowly faded away when the front door opened and Sweetie Belle poked her head out. She looked around with a look of confusion on her face, trying to find the pony who had thrown the rock. Rainbow grimaced, her anger ebbing away. She sighed and flew down to land next to Sweetie Belle.

"Uh... hey there, Sweetie Belle. You doing okay?"

Sweetie Belle flattened her ears and looked at the ground. "Somepony threw a rock through the window," she muttered. "Did you see who did it?"

"Uh..." Rainbow uneasily rubbed the back of her neck. "No, I didn't see anything. I heard it, though."

"Guess it doesn't matter."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Rainbow asked.

"Just came to get some stuff. Going back to Mom and Dad's house for a bit."

"Okay." Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, okay. You need any help with that?"

"Sure." Sweetie Belle opened the door a little more to allow Rainbow entry. "It's just a little box, but I wouldn't mind some help."

"Sure thing."

Rainbow went into Carousel Boutique, doing her best to refrain from shuddering. Her gaze flicked over to a few guards who were moving around, some going into a side room that led to the basement.

Rainbow followed Sweetie Belle up to her room and looked around, finding a small box in the middle of the room.

"So you need me to--"

Rainbow's words were cut off when Sweetie Belle wrapped her forelegs around one of Rainbow's. She didn't cry, but she nuzzled the fur.

"It's gonna be okay, isn't it?"

Rainbow sat down and wrapped a wing around Sweetie Belle. A part of her mind, the part still furious with Rarity for her betrayal, wanted to push Sweetie Belle away. She was the biggest remaining reminder of Rarity.

But no, she didn't do anything. She didn't know what her sister was. She didn't need to be punished for her sister's evil. She squeezed tighter with her wing.

"Yeah, kid. It's all gonna be okay someday."

Comments

[cowbrony93]

Hope there's more of this so we can use it even more as an interquel between SLoR and PLoSB

[Yami Vizzini]

As hard-hitting as ever.

[Gebsfrom404]

Hardest fate befell to Sweetie.

[Perry Pinkie Potter]

Darn it...

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

One thing I've always wondered.
So, why'd they let her stay dead? She was sentenced to die & she did. Time served, sentence up. There is an entrance to Tartarus near Ponyville. (It's About Time) Someone could go in & get her back.

Of course, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. But, it should be possible (Greek legends of Orpheus)

[BronyWriter]

8444296
Well she was the most brutal serial killer in history. They're not exactly just going to let her die for a few days then come back to possibly kill more ponies.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

8444298
Ponies in general, sure. But, her family? The rest of the Mane 6? Every pony she ever helped? I know that Mark Twain said something to the effect "If you help a dog, the dog is grateful. This is the principle difference between people & dogs." (I've shortened it, but that's the gist). Not one pony, anywhere?

In particular, Rarity helped rescue Princess Luna & (at least arguably) if Princess Celestia hadn't interfered the Elements might have cured her. They owe her at least the attempt. Whether they will pay what they owe...

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

The flight to her house was only a few minutes. She landed on her front porch and pushed her cloud door open. The main room was exactly how she had left it. Her discarded blanket was still crumpled on the floor where she had tossed it when the guards had come knocking. She had been sleeping on the couch when the....(news)….. came.

[G12]

I just realized something: What about all the villains?

Chrysalis? Tirek? Sombra? The Sirens, etc?

With the EOH disbanded how were they stopped long enough for Blossom to be born?

[RandomGuy101]

DANGIT someone already got Dixie!

[Divine Path]

11205615
...Suffice it to say I most likely don't agree with any of this anymore. XD