Guardians of Many Hues

by TadStone

A Nocturnal Helper (Black Guardian 1, Cyan Guardian 7)

A Nocturnal Helper (Black Guardian 1, Cyan Guardian 7)

Luna’s dominion was at its end, being replaced by her sister’s light glowing deeply red on the horizon. In ancient times, a red moon was seen as an omen for a great battle to be fought during the day. But the times of swords and blood had ended long ago, they were no more than a tale told anew each Hearth's Warming Eve, but at least for today the foreboding nature of the twilight sky still held a universal truth.

The plans had been formed, the allies had been rallied. The battle would begin within the hour. It was time to say goodbye. Thankfully it was just for the day, she didn’t even want to think about losing Scootaloo.

Rainbow was the only feasible option for the filly. Scootaloo was an only child. Her parents had died half a year after her birth during an evening stroll when a group of Timberwolves had preyed on them.

The tale had been spread through Ponyville via gossip at that time as Applejack recalled from a dark corner of her memory. No pony had ever seen those creatures in the outskirts of Trottingham, before or after the incident, as far as the trio could remember. Bad luck at its worst.
As for grandparents and other relatives, they had either died of a natural causes or plainly never existed. No one was left to care for and love the poor foal.

But that was only a part of what they could extract out of the bureaucratic and emotionless pages of the record, along with myriad of other misconducts of Ms. Birch and the, compared to her age, long medical history of Scootaloo.

Alone during the last year spent at the orphanage, there had been seventeen requests for adoption, all by viable parents, all of which had been denied by the headmistress.

As it stood, the young pegasus had told her of only one beating, the last and worst one, that had ended in injuries worse than hematomas. But the record had exposed a much darker truth. The files had revealed fourteen documents, signed by fourteen different doctors, treating anything from infested wounds to a black eye and a broken front left hoof. While Ms Birch probably was not responsible for all of this, considering the rambunctious nature of Scootaloo, they guessed she had something to do with a fair amount of them.

It was a good thing the filly had run away and an even better one she had come clean. There was a new and better life ahead of her now, Rainbow was sure of this. She would make sure of it within the day.

Big McIntosh was already awake and working on the farm, so Dash did not fear to rouse him, when she made her way along the creaking second floor of her friend's house. Granny Smith could sleep through a storm at her age. There was no need to worry about her waking up, either.

An hour earlier, when Big Mac had made his way to the kitchen just after falling out of bed at the first call of the rooster. He hadn’t even questioned what was going on when he had found three Elements of Harmony and a middle aged, jet-black stallion with blue mane and an iron shield as a cutie mark sitting and scheming in his kitchen. It was a far too usual sight in Ponyville to see them caught up in something big and unusual. Big Mac had even accepted that Applejack would not be able to work at the farm for the day, which meant even more tasks for him, with a simple “Eeyup.” What he lacked in words, he made up for in heart and hard work.

The black stallion who had joined their endeavour was Aegis, whom they had decided to include later in the night after they had detected that special training was needed to become the legal guardian of Scootaloo, because of her history. Dash was up to it, no questions about that, but it would take her more than a month to complete the schooling.

Up until then somepony else would have to live in the same household, someone who had the needed qualifications, who could at least check on Dash and Scootaloo as was required by law. A description matching the stallion to the letter.

He hadn’t been overly happy to be disturbed as Twilight had reported them, but who wouldn’t be when woken by a near stranger. Once he knew it was about Rainbow and her mysterious protégé he had become eager and enthusiastic, tackling the problems while wearing a smile.

If asked, most ponies would tell you that only unicorns held magic within them. Far less ponies knew of the innate magic of pegasi, used to fly and mould the weather. Only very few understood the magic within earth ponies, providing them an intuitive grasp of the future like Pinkie or the ability to understand the emotions of ones opposite as well as Applejack, not to mention the effects ones Cutie Mark had on every kind alike. Magic was omnipresent in everypony’s life.

Aegis’ magic was similar to Pinkie’s, but in a more protective way. As it turned out, he had anticipated something similar to the current situation among many other theories since the day Dash had talked to him. He already had a flat ready and waiting for them. One, as he had stated, that was perfect for a pegasus family of two, with a lot of room and big windows. He had even already gone through the ordeal of cloud-proofing it, a combination of special paint and magic, meaning they could keep all of Dash’s furnishing.

Impressive as this feed already was, he didn’t stop there, presenting them the previously prepared needed paperwork. All of it and a lot more. The forms to enroll Dash at the Equestrian School of Pedagogical Education, amazingly planned according to Rainbow's work plan and general school times, the lease contract for the flat, and most importantly Dash’s request to become the legal guardian of Scootaloo, something Rainbow had never even mentioned to him, accompanied with his agreement to supervise Dash in this role. All that had been left to do was to fill in the blanks of the needed signatures and the filly's data and of course to throw away a large stack of prepared documents for other scenarios that weren’t needed after all. Aegis sure went to great length to help others. That’s what made him him.

Still lost in thoughts, Rainbow opened the door to Apple Bloom's room where the image of her soon to be official ward, sleeping peacefully entwined with her friend as if they were one colourful filly, brought her back to reality. She hated to disturb this idyll, but she had to leave for the day, and she would not do so without notice.

The blanket of the sleeping foals was peeled back with hooves as gentle as a feather, leaving the challenge of separating the seemingly inseparable. Only by the bright orange fur of her protégé could she tell the limbs apart, piecing together more and more of the filly until she was free and thankfully still snoring like her friend, whom Rainbow didn’t want to disturb this early in the morning.

As soft-hooved as possible she crept out of the room, her ward sleeping peacefully on her back. Once outside, she placed the foal down in front of her, waking her protégé by soft nuzzling as she did most mornings when breakfast was ready. Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes, by blinking against the low red sun somehow amplifying the natural colour of the filly’s fur.

“Good morning, Squirt,” Rainbow said as she ruffled up her ward’s mane in her very own affectionate way. “Sleep well?”

“Hmm,” Scootaloo yawned back, looking almost like a snake ready to devour its prey.

“I just wanted to fill you in with the plan, then you can go back to sleep, OK?”

Rainbow looked down skeptically at the foal in front of her who slowly got up with still half-closed eyes and mouth wide open, stretched out body parts bringing up creaking sounds that did not sound like a healthy sleeping position.

“I am already awake.” The dark rings under Scootaloo’s eyes suggested otherwise, but Rainbow chose to ignore it.

“OK. The plan is this: I am going to leave you here for a few hours. Applejack’s already out. She’ll fetch Sweetie from her parents once it’s a safe time to knock on doors and then will bring you all along an adventure trip through the woods. If, and only if you are OK with it, Aegis will come, too. You remember who he is?”

They all had agreed without much discussion that there was no need for Scootaloo to find out the exact reason for the trip; hiding her in the forest in case something did not go according to plan.

Equestrian law stated three different kinds of custody: parental custody, temporary custody and long-term custody. Parental custody could be attained for genetic reasons or by adoption, a very lengthy process and something Dash was not yet ready for after such a short time. In order to gain long-term custody, three very important criteria must be met: the willingness and suitability of the adult, the willingness of the foal and the adequacy of the housing situation. All of them had to be tested by individual officials, all of whom took their own time and could not be rushed to take less than a day.

Dash had to gain temporary custody first, but that meant persuading ponies with the mental flexibility of a stone of the urgency of the situation. Having to judge within a time frame of twenty-four hours, conservative ruling was the base of most decisions, clearly working against Dash’s favour. There were a lot of bureaucrats out there who would, free of any kind of empathy, put the filly back to an orphanage while the custody was sorted out, something that would not end well regardless of the carers or location of the orphanage.

While at least Aegis and Twilight did not fear to fail altogether in the task with the princesses on their side, they had to take the possibility of over enthusiastic police officers trying to detain the filly very seriously. It was not something the filly should be exposed to; Scootaloo would not be part in any political games.

A soft yes brought Dash back to situation and the question that had just been answered. Moving through a mental checklist of things she had yet to relay, she continued her speech.

“He’s waiting in the kitchen right now if you need anything. Maybe you can just go down and have a hot chocolate with him once you feel well-rested. Anyway, while you are out in the woods I will complete all the formalities to become your legal guardian, so when I return you’ll be safe forever and officially mine to care for.”

Rainbow draped a wing over Scootaloo without noticing the gesture herself as she continued in a suddenly very serious tone.

“I will also report Ms. Birch to the police. I will make sure that she is sent to jail, if she isn’t there already, which is what I really hope for. I will ensure that she will never be free again and never hurt another foal for the rest of her life. No pony gets away for messing with my number one fan!” The last sentence was accompanied by a shaking hoof raised into the air and a growl that could put a bear to shame.

“Twilight already scheduled an appointment at the hospital for you this afternoon. As I said, I need to make sure everything is in perfect order. Don’t want you to get sick. OK. I need to be dashing off. Got everything?”

Rainbow’s wings folded back neatly against her side as Scootaloo jumped up and saluted, accompanied with a loud “Yes ma’am!”

“At ease soldier!” Dash retorted, returning the salute, standing at attention with seriousness spelled all over her face. A few seconds Rainbow nearly choked, trying to hold back her laughter, her fake grim expression gave way to a more natural grin that was in turn replaced by heartfelt laughter on both sides.

“See you in a few hours!” Still in high spirits, she took off to the air, gliding down the staircase and leaving the house through the door for once. Twilight was already waiting for her at the police station together with Spike.

Author's Note:

Sry for the unplanned wait. My proofreader is great, but still very busy sometimes.

Comments

[LeopardCay]

[temerarii pulsat]

im not getting my hoped up this is tagged tragedy which mean no happy ending, the hero hast to fail...

[Grusome6]

Oh please sweet celestia please no self insurt shit please.

[TadStone]

4320271

Aegis might be an OC, but only because he is relevant for the story and no esthablished ponies could fill this role. He is in no way a self insert, if this was trouble

[BarryTheFlashAllen]

Dash had to gain temporary custody first, but that meant persuading ponies with the mental flexibility of a stone

Are you talking about Maud?