Raining Metal

by thecakeisalie

Problems

As Rainbow landed on the balcony outside Twilights window, she second guessed herself. After all, just cause the egghead was, well, an egghead, that didn't mean she knew how to handle this situation. In fact, it probably meant she had no idea. Rainbow gave a sigh, and turned around to leave, but before she could leave again, the window behind her opened. "What are you doing out there, Rainbow? Get inside!"

Giving another sigh, Rainbow did as Twilight said. She knew she was in it now. She'd have to talk to Twilight, no chances of escape. "Well... I wanted to talk to you..." she eventually answered.

Suprise flitted across Twilight's face, but she wrestled it under control quickly. "What about, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight's voice was a little too sweet, and they both knew it. Rainbow was definently unsure about talking to Twilight now.

"You know, you seem, uh... pressured! Yeah, pressured! I'll just leave you to deal with it, ok?" Rainbow said, backing towards the window and opening it with a back hoof. A pull of magic dragged her away from the window, which promptly slammed shut, rather too forcefully.

"You wanted to talk, now talk." Twilight's voice had a tone Rainbow didn't think she'd ever heard before. It was, frankly, almost as scary as Fluttershys stare. Rainbow felt herself sitting down, trying to come up with something to say, in ten seconds flat, but nothing came to her but the truth. So, she decided to stick to it, despite wishing otherwise.

"Yeah, well, you see... I don't like AJ's new coltfriend, he creeps me out, plus he seems like an all around bad guy! And she won't listen to me, and I can tell just by looking at him that he'll use her then discardher, just like that!" Rainbow clapped her forehooves to enunciate the last sentence. She'd been growing slightly more worried with every word. The stone-wall impression Twilight's face was doing had grown better every time she'd let a word out, and she had a horrible feeling that this would turn out very, very bad for herself if she wasn't careful.

"Do go on," Twilight's voice did an amazing impression of a stone wall, one that made her face look like a pillow in comparison.

"Well... that's really all..." Rainbow uncharecteristically stuttered. She liked to pretend she was fearless, but that wasn't true. Anypony who'd been paying attention before the Young Fliers Competition would know that. But the way she felt right now, at this exact moment, made that feel like a slight, confused kind of fear, the kind you have after a very non descript nightmare. She didn't dare look into Twilights eyes, because she was sure they would cause her to fall apart the rest of the way with just a quick glance.

"Have you ever considered," Twilight began, trying to force some warmth into her voice and getting the opposite effect instead. "That maybe the best thing to do is let your friends make their own decisions?"

"N... no?" Rainbow was slowly sinking to the floor.

"Have you ever maybe considered," Twilight continued, as if Rainbow hadn't spoken, "that your friends are adult mares themselves? That we can make our own decisions?" The chill in Twilights voice had become cold enough that it may even have affected Luna. When Twilight finally finished and bothered to check, she was shocked to see Rainbow sniffling on the floor, looking like she was about to have a full out bawl. Twilight had intended to bring her down a few notches, but not like that. It seemed she'd overdone the coldness in her voice.

"No..." Rainbow choked out, barely avoiding tears. "I was just.. trying to protect AJ..." she mumbled into the carpet. She'd felt bad before, but never like this. She'd never felt the "ball of iron" in her stomach, but she knew now that itwas an accurate description. A strange mix of fear, regret, and sorrow had infected her when she felt a hoof on her back.

"Oh, Rainbow," Twilight sighed heavily. "I didn't mean for you to get down, I just wanted you to think. I mean, maybe your taking the whole 'Element of Loyalty' thing a bit too far, right?"

"Maybe.." Rainbow still didn't want to risk bringing her head out of the carpet, just in case Twilight was still angry.

"Rainbow, it's ok. We don't hate you, and I'm not angry at you, though Applejack may be." Twilight pulled Rainbow into a hug, then held her by her shoulders finishing, "But she'll forgive you. Especially if you apologize,don't you think?"

"Yeah... yeah." Rainbow got up to leave, having mostly recovered from the emotional tumult that had finally crashed down on her head a few minutes ago. "Hey, thanks, Twilight. I owe you one." With that, she walked out of Twilight's room, closing the door behind her.

Well, I'm not using that voice again, Twilight thought. Unless Spike slacks off his chores again, that is.

A few hours later, the group prepared to split up again so they could head to there respective groups. Applejack, Midnight, and Icescape would be heading to the docks, where their platoon was stationed. Rarity and Fluttershy would both be heading to the Military hospital across the river in the Princess district. Twilight would be boarding a ferry for Nework, Neigh Jersey, home of the artillery for the region. Pinkie Pie had to head out to a temporary Equestrian Army instillation in the Broncs. Rainbow would also be heading to the ports, but she was headed to the carrier fleet. With a final good-bye, they all set off for their various destinations.

This gave Midnight a chance to talk with Icescape, finally. Something had been off all day, and he wanted to know what. "Hey, bro, you ok?"

Icescape, as transparent as ever, simply asked "Do you think they liked me?"

"Well, no duh. They treated you just like the myself, and everyone but Rainbow Dash likes me," He said th last part hushed, not needing AJ to hear.

"But why didn't they talk to me then?" Icescape was trying to work out the disconnect, but it still didn't make sense. They'd liked him, but the never spoke to him?

"Well, did you talk to them? They had no idea how you'd react to anything they said, so they were probably waiting for you to make the first move."

"Oh!" It finally clicked in Icescapes mind. They knew nothing about him, so they wanted to make sure they didn''t ask any stupid questions. How... nice. Icescape definently liked nice. He got his glow back.

It took a while, but they had finally reached base. As they were about to check in, Icescape turned to Midnight, saying, "One more question."

"Yeah?" Midnight was distracted with getting his authorization papers.

Icescape pointed into the sky, were a slowly growing black mass was starting to block out the sun. "Is that natural?"