No Home for the Wicked
Bullit Blaze dragged Rattle into the dark, safe confines of the Barrel Scraper. The injured pegasus groaned as she went over the rather sharp doorway. Bullit ignored her plight and kept pulling.
"Well," he muttered, "...that was interesting."
"...I think my body is broken."
"Don't be a whiner," Bullit snapped. "We didn't know she was quite that... quick. But hey, we might have gotten the next best thing, right?" He laid his comrade over in the corner, and trotted over to the bar. "Who'd have thought she'd be that susceptible to a few mean words, after all?" He waited until his drink was ready, then took a long sip. His sides were still aching from the beating he had sustained, and he was sure they'd bruise by tomorrow. "You know the saying about sticks and stones? Well, Rainbow can dodge those, so we'll just have to make do with words." He glared out the window, wondering if perhaps he might catch a glimpse of his elusive prey. "I'm not leaving without what she owes me."
"I need bandages..."
"Yes, yes, yes, we'll get you bandages. Like I said, don't be a whiner."
"I can't feel my wings."
Rainbow cantered down the streets, avoiding other ponies as much as she could as she chased down Scootaloo. She'd have head home, she thought... she'd have had to. Where else would she have gone?
She cursed Bullit's name as she went. She shouldn't have expected him to play fair... he hadn't gotten where he was by keeping the odds even. But she just wished he hadn't been quite so effective at it. If her friends had been there, maybe it'd have been different...
"Hang on, squirt, I'm coming..." she panted, knowing full well that her presence may well only make things worse. Scootaloo would have forgiven a lot of Rainbow Dash... as far as the little filly was concerned, she could do no wrong. But bullying... given the circumstances, it wasn't surprising she'd feel betrayed.
Rainbow tried to stop herself from thinking too much. If she kept on thinking, she'd only run herself into the ground. She needed to keep running... just keep running.
She reached Greased Lightning's house, sweating and panting. Her little skirmish with Bullit had tired her out more than she cared to admit. That kind of acceleration wasn't something to be undertaken lightly. If she had been any other pony, she may well have catapulted herself into a nearby cloud.
She banged on the door, trying to get either the young filly or her mother to let her in.
"Go away!" Scootaloo shouted from the window above. Rainbow groaned.
"No! I don't want to!"
"I saw everything!" Scootaloo shouted back. "You're just like Diamond Tiara! No, you're worse than Diamond Tiara: she never hit anypony or tried to kill them!"
Rainbow craned her neck back to try and get a view of the young pegasus. "It's complicated!" she said, as soon as she could make out Scootaloo's face.
"Did you bully ponies for not getting their cutie marks too?"
Rainbow regretted making eye contact as soon as she asked that question. The hurt on her face told Scootaloo everything she needed to know. Scootaloo slammed the window shut.
"Thought so!" was the last thing Rainbow heard of her.
She charged at the door again, her skin feeling like it might peel off from all the times she rattled at the door. "Grease'! Lemme' in, please!"
"Rainbow, stop that awful racket!" came the adult pony's mature and confident voice. "More noise'll only upset her."
The lock came undone, and the door opened just enough for Rainbow to make out Greased's worried face. Rainbow almost fell to her knees in relief. "Oh, thank goodness!" Grease still blocked her path though, refusing to let her in.
"Rainbow, calm down: I'm going to tell you what happens next," she said. "First off, I've never seen Scootsie' like this, so you can imagine I'm pretty darn worried. Second off, I heard what was said about you this afternoon. Sounds like she's got reason to be afraid of you right now."
"Yes," Rainbow admitted, "I know, but I've been changing! I've been trying! I don't want to lose Scootaloo to this!"
Greased nodded understandingly. "Of course, I can tell you don't, but she's just a filly, 'kay? I won't let you storm in here and terrify her senseless, as much as I think this is unfair."
"You believe me?"
"Sure, why not? Pony I've never heard of says you're an old gangpony, and maybe I think I'm missing a bit of context. You know how it is."
Rainbow's face fell. "But you're not going to let me stay, are you?"
"No. I'm her mother, and I think she needs time." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I really did mean to let you stay as long as you needed to..."
Rainbow closed her eyes, hanging her head low as she felt the world drop away from beneath her. "I... I get it."
"I thought you would," Greased said with a smile. "But you know that my daughter always comes first."
"Yeah. I want the same thing."
"Do you have someplace to stay?" Greased asked. "I can arrange for a hotel if you're out of options..."
"No way. I don't want to stay alone right now," Rainbow replied. "There's a pony who'll probably be willing to take me in, and I know for a fact that we get along."
"The one in the hat, right?"
"Yeah."
Greased nodded with approval. "Right. Do you want me to send your stuff there, or...?"
"No, not just yet... I'd rather make certain. And besides," she added, "I don't intend to make this a permanent change." Rainbow hesitated. "Do you?"
"No. Give her a few days. That's all I ask."
"That's all I want," Rainbow replied, and turned to leave. "Thanks... for everything."
"Chin up, girl," Greased shouted as she flew up into the air. "If I know anything about these ponies, it's that they'll believe anything. Stay strong, and watch your back."
Rainbow soared through the air, her words ringing in her ears.
"Will do," she replied quietly, just loud enough so that only she could hear.
"C'mon, Applejack," the farmpony muttered to herself. "You've been skippin' out on too much work already... can't jes' stop halfway through, no matter how tired ya'll are..."
In the course of a few days, Applejack had turned from the most hard-working of the Apple Family to the least. She knew she had been distracted recently, but she knew that was no excuse to leave all the apple-bucking to Big Mac, the cooking to Granny, and most of the remaining chores to Applebloom. She was supposed to be the pony carrying the family, after all.
She carried on pushing the logs up the hill, sweating rivers. The top seemed so very far away, she thought, her muscles aching.
All of a sudden the log seemed lighter.
"Hey, AJ."
Applejack turned to her side and saw Rainbow Dash, pushing the other end of the felled tree. Applejack quickly took note of her sunken eyes and taut, drawn face. Something was wrong.
"Hey..." she replied, pushing the tree to the top, along with the others, thanks to Rainbow's help. "You manage to clear your head?"
Rainbow seemed to sink into the ground like it was quicksand. "No."
Applejack tilted her head. This wasn't the talkative Rainbow she was used to. Even when she had been panicking earlier, she had been moving around, breathing, showing the slightest amount of emotion. Now, she just seemed empty.
"What went wrong?"
"I... need a place to crash again. And you were kinda' the only pony I hadn't asked yet, so..."
"What went wrong?" Applejack asked again, more insistently this time.
Rainbow looked close to tears. She blinked, barely containing the hurt inside of her. Applejack quickly dropped all she was doing and trotted up to her friend.
"I lost Scoots," she replied, leaning into her friend, unable to keep her feelings locked away any longer. "They took Scoots away from me."
Applejack kept her cool as best she could. "Who's 'they'? What's..."
"I can explain later," Rainbow muttered, blinking away any tears she might have shed. "Just... please help me."
Eventually, Applejack was able to lead Rainbow down to the house. Big Macintosh and Granny both looked at her, not understanding what was going on, but knowing from her face that it was serious.
"Granny, Big Mac, Rainbow'll be stayin' with us for a time," she said. Rainbow gave a small wave.
"Hi."
Big Macintosh remained perfectly silent, but gave a calm, nonchalant shrug. It didn't matter much to him either way. Granny was far more vocal.
"What's she been up to this time? Does she have a toothbrush? Does she..."
Applejack brushed the questions off with quiet assurance. "We can figure it out, don't you worry. I'll show 'er around."
The farmpony led Rainbow upstairs. This was the first time she had seen so much of the large wooden building from the inside, Rainbow realized. She had been in the barn for a few parties, seen the kitchen now and then, but never been upstairs. She took it all in. There were pictures of Applebloom and the rest of the family, including dozens of ponies she didn't even recognize, adorning each and every wall. They all looked similar, Rainbow noticed. It was pretty obvious they were part of a massive family, even though there were big ones, small ones, medium sized ones... it was incredible.
"This here's the upstairs," Applejack showed her. "It ain't very spacious, but it's cosy." The floorboards creaked as Rainbow followed after Applejack, who chuckled. "Ah, right... the floor's a bit noisy. You'll get used to it."
Rainbow tiptoed around the squeaky plank. Her old house had been completely silent, and at least Greased Lightning's house had been relatively quiet. But even from up here, Rainbow could hear the rest of the family busting around upstairs.
"We ain't got a spare bedroom, I'm afraid, so you'll have to bunk in my room. We got a spare mattress 'round here someplace."
"Heh... it's still more spacious than Pinkie's, eh?" Rainbow quipped with forced humour. Applejack chuckled.
"Yep, that sure is true."
They went down a rather long corridor that seemed to get narrower as they went. Applejack opened a bright red door at the end, revealing an airy room with a tall ceiling. It wasn't big, Rainbow realized, but it felt open, somehow.
"This your room, then?"
"Our room, for as long as you're stayin'," Applejack told her. "I know it ain't much..."
"It's perfect!" Rainbow assured, bobbing her head as she trotted into the room. "It's, uh, great. Minus the floorboards and the— Y'know what, it's just great, nothing else to say about it."
Applejack watched Rainbow smile at the old brown curtains, and nod at the flaking paint on the windows. Rainbow looked nothing if not completely satisfied. She beamed. "Glad you like it! It's all I got."
"It's nice. And far from Ponyville."
"You ready to tell me what happened?" Applejack asked. "I'm gonna' find out anyhow..." she added, noting Rainbow's lack of enthusiasm.
The pegasus nodded. It took her a good ten minutes to recount what had happened, from her leaving the hospital to her encounter with Bullit Blaze. Finally, she reached her discussion with Greased Lightning. "I finally found the guy responsible for Thunderlane, and he gets away because I'm such an idiot!" she exclaimed. "And those ponies, too... eating up his every word!"
"I'm real sorry," Applejack said. "Townsponies have a habit of believing what's put in front of them." She tried to chuckle. "At least you got some good licks in."
"I got more than a few," Rainbow replied. "Rattle won't be walking straight for a while."
"Reminds me of the old days," Applejack told her. "It's a real shame this happened." She tilted her head. "What did them ponies want from you anyhow? Why'd they come all the way from Cloudsdale?"
Rainbow shrugged. "We didn't leave on good terms. I said it took me a real bad day to want to get out of that life... well, Bullit had something to do with it." Her hoof went to her mane. "He never got over it."
"Well, shucks," Applejack said, looking out the window. "Looks like there's a storm comin'. Feel free to hide out here for as long as you need to... this'll blow over in no time, trust me."
Rainbow frowned. "Not with Bullit out there... he'll just keep on making things worse, and worse, and worse..."
"He can't hide forever," Applejack assured her. "Me and the gals' will root him out quicker'n a mountain lion on a ball o' yarn, trust me."
"Yeah, well... my hooves are tied," Rainbow said. "If I try to get him, he'll just lead me in circles again. I'm useless."
Applejack trotted away from the window and back to the door. "We'll cross that bridge when we're in the water. C'mon, dinner'll be ready in no time, and I'd better set the table."
Rainbow watched her leave, then cantered after her. She extra careful to fly over the patch of floor she remembered was squeaky, not at all keen to have the house scream at her some more.
Applejack dragged in a spare chair from the kitchen with her teeth, dodging her brother's bulky frame as she did so. "Mmhff ertrr' wrr!" she grumbed angrily. Big Mac backed away as fast as he could: whatever she had said, it hadn't been happy.
She placed the chair at the dining table with a happy smile. It'll be perfect. Best show some of that famous Apple hospitality.
Rainbow Dash hovered in the corner, looking left and right for something to partake in. "Don't you worry none," Applejack told her. "We work best as a team."
"Y-yeah. So, what do I do?"
"Just wait there, sugarcube."
Rainbow sat down heavily. Applejack left her to go to the kitchen, carrying a set of plates to the table. Applebloom was scuttling around between her legs, cleaning up after Granny. "Might as well sit at the table, RD!" she exclaimed, positioning the plates in front of each chair with expert speed and precision. "We're just 'bout done."
Rainbow nodded, finally allowing herself to smile. "Aw, right! 'Bout time, I'm hungry as a horse." It didn't take long for Big Macintosh to arrive with a massive dish of corn, and served out huge portions to each of his family. "Oh, uh, just a little for me. Athlete's diet..."
Granny looked at her suspiciously. "How'd you move, then, if ye' don't eat properly?"
Rainbow licked her lips. "It's, uh, like a careful balance of nutrition. The way my lifestyle works is... uh..." she stopped in her tracks. "It's just Pegasus stuff."
"Ah, of course," Granny Smith replied knowingly. Rainbow breathed outwards. Applejack coughed, attracting everypony's attention.
"Dig in, everypony!"
Rainbow Dash dove into her meal with a sigh of relief. Applejack kept her eye on her, becoming increasingly puzzled, wondering why she was on edge and unable to figure out why. She couldn't figure out if it was Granny, or if it was her, or a mix of both.
"Hey, how's the weather? Is it fun, up in them clouds?" Applebloom asked, curious. "Is it even possible for an earth pony to get their cutie mark in cloud herdin'?"
"It's doing great, kiddo..."
"Applebloom," the filly corrected. Rainbow swallowed. So Applebloom wasn't as open to nicknames as Scootaloo.
"...Right. Uh, it's great, Applebloom. The team are organizing around Thunderlane's absence to redirect some nasty storms from the south..."
"And the cutie mark?" Applebloom asked hopefully. Rainbow hesitated.
"I got no idea... I guess maybe, if it's your super special talent...?"
"Now, don't go givin' the filly ideas!" Granny argued. "She'll be launchin' herself in a catapult soon as you can say 'pickled apple'!"
"Would not!" Applebloom retorted. Granny gave her a stern look. "...Fine, I won't."
"I think it'd be best t'give Rainbow some space," Applejack warned. "She's had a tough day an' all..."
"No, it's fine! Don't give me space, I'm okay!" Rainbow replied, her ears flattening against her head as if she had come last in a race. "I'm just... not used to here." She quickly tried to salvage the conversation. "Uh... how's the, um, harvesting?" she stammered. "'Cause you guys harvest, right?"
"We do," Applejack told her. "Well, we were clearin' out some old useless trees out and gettin' em stored up for planks, or sellin' them. Other'n that, we're just sellin' our surplus this month while we wait for the next batch to grow. It's all pretty tame right about now," she explained. Rainbow nodded, doing her best to keep track of Applejack's runaway accent.
"Right. So you have to go every day to sell your stuff in the village?"
"Yep."
"Why can't you just set up shop here, make them come to you?"
Applejack shook her head. "'Cause that way, we're remindin' the town that we got apples for sale, and they'll sell better."
"Is that a thing?" Rainbow asked.
"Yep."
"Huh. Sounds like a drag."
"It is. A mile and a half long drag, t'be precise," Applejack said. "Not to mention, the road is rather hilly."
Rainbow chuckled. "Yeah, I know!"
The discussion continued much smoother from then on, much to Applejack's relief. Rainbow spent the entire meal absorbing everything she could about the Apple family. She studied their business, their routines, their business strategies, even their trade routes. She kept her eyes wide the whole time, as if she could see the information so long as she never blinked once.
"So you don't deliver to Cloudsdale?" she asked. Granny shook her head.
"No way, José! We don't have the equipment to cart apples all the way into the sky. We get them' Canterlot types to do it for us... after we sell 'em the goods."
"Uh huh, okay."
As soon as the meal ended, Granny got up to head to her rocking chair. "Applejack, y'might want to get that mattress out of Big Mac's room. Get the young mare t'help ya'."
Rainbow trotted after Applejack, assuming the 'young mare' was her. As the pair trotted up the stairs, Applejack turned to her friend with a warm smile.
"That was real impressive of ya'. I was worried you'd be nervous all evenin'." She chuckled, remembering how awkward she had been earlier. "You were eatin' up Granny's words more than her cookin'!"
Rainbow chuckled.
"I don't remember a single thing she said." Rainbow confessed, embarrassed. "Or what you said, either."
The pair trotted into Macintosh's room and slid a large mattress out from under his bed. Applejack was shaking her head in disbelief all the while. "Well, why didn't ya' say so?"
"Well... That way we actually could have a conversation without me having to say 'Pegasi stuff' every five minutes."
"Well, it ain't much better if we have to say 'Earth Pony stuff' neither!"
"Yeah, but the difference is," Rainbow replied as they shoved the mattress into Applejack's room, "...that I'm in a house full of Earth Ponies. It makes a whole load of difference, believe me."
"Tell me," Applejack asked all of a sudden, "...what made you leave Cloudsdale? You said you had a 'bad day'. What exactly happened?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "It's a long story."
"Well, you've jes' been listenin' to a long story about farmin', and none of that seems to have stuck. So, let's talk for real."
Rainbow sighed. "Fine, whatever, but it's not a fun story." She pulled a sheet over the mattress while she talked. "Do you want me to embellish?"
"Keep the Wonderbolts raids and giants to a minimum."
"Hrmph. Well, incidentallly, the Wonderbolts were involved." Applejack raised her eyebrow. "Well, I was trying to join, see? And the gangs were holding me back, which was a bit of a problem. Having criminal records is frowned upon by the Wonderbolts."
"No kiddin'?"
"No kidding. Not to mention I was beginning to have second thoughts about what we were doing... A pony can only be so heartless before seeing a grown stallion cry makes you want to quit that life, y'know? Anyway... I cut ties, and focused on practising. Ponies were still pretty scared of me, but I didn't mind, 'cause that's what I was used to. Until Bullit got ideas."
"What did he do?"
"He was pretty big on the idea of 'loyalty'. Ironic, huh? He came over with six other ponies and said that I had to pay a price to leave the Thunderclouds."
Curiosity gnawed at Applejack. "Can you tell me what that price was?"
Rainbow finished adjusting the sheet, and sat down on the mattress, just in front of the window.
"I... think it'd be best to show you," she said. "Gimme' your hoof?"
Applejack hesitated, but when Rainbow urged her on, she held out her foreleg obediently. Rainbow took a deep breath and took Applejack's hoof in her own. She slowly moved her hoof up towards her head, over her snout, between her eyes, up her forehead, and into her mane.
Applejack felt the thick colourful strands of hair part as Rainbow guided her hoof across her scalp. To Applejack's surprise, it was rather rough, bumpy, uncomfortable even. As she concentrated, she realized that there was a sort of pattern there... She felt a series of uncomfortable, unnatural ridges she didn't think should be there.
"What are those?"
"Scars."
"Is that..."
"Yeah." Rainbow peered into Applejack's eyes. "He said he wanted my mane."
Applejack swallowed, her throat feeling uncomfortably dry. Rainbow let go of her hoof, although Applejack didn't move from her spot. "Your mane?"
"My mane," Rainbow repeated. "And he wasn't too bothered about taking a bit of skin along the way."
"That's monstrous," Applejack replied, like it was the only logical response. Rainbow breathed heavily, her skin crawling under her coat.
"Yep. It was just some sick power-play for him. It took all six ponies to hold me down for just long enough for him to try to cut it off for a few seconds... but I struggled." She gestured at her head. "That's where the scars came from. I was the strongest of them, though, and managed to kick my way out. I was real lucky."
"Must've hurt."
"I kinda' didn't notice at the time." Both ponies fell into uncomfortable silence. Rainbow closed her eyes, exhaling. "I didn't think they'd catch up with me. I thought for sure they'd have been caught once I left them."
"I'm sorry they weren't."
"Yeah... me too." She eyed Applejack's hoof, still rested in her mane, gently exploring the set of scars Rainbow had acquired. "You can let go, now... I think you've found them all."
"Oh, uh... sorry," Applejack replied. "Awkward touching?"
Rainbow hesitated.
"...not really, I guess."
Applejack slid her hoof away, brushing against Rainbow's ear, causing it to flicker. "That's all right, then," she said. She eyed the mattress sitting on the floor. "I'd better get some sheets for that."
"...right, sure. I'll be here," Rainbow replied. "Sitting." She watched Applejack leave. "All by myself."
Even though there was nopony else in the room, for the first time that evening, Rainbow didn't feel alone.
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Looks like I got Bullit's name wrong from the last chapter. I thought I read that it was Blue Bullit, not Bullit Blaze.
My bad.
Anyway, great chapter, and well worth waiting for!
I really, really like the bit where Scoot's mom didn't get mad, go off on Rainbow, and throw her out the way some would have after what happened.
And that she kept the door open for RD's return at a future date when everything calms back down and the two troublemakers are dealt with.
Severely, I hope, when talking about that last bit.
I'm also glad to see that AJ and the family took her in "temporarily" (why do I get the feeling that it won't stay that way?) til they get to the bottom of this, deal with Bullit and Rattle, and get things back to normal.
And for Celestia's sakes, I hope that Twilight ends up reaming out the ponies who witnessed what happened between Rainbow, Bullit and Rattle for their blind foolishness, and let them know what she thought of them turning on one of the mares who has protected Ponyville, and by extension, Equestria itself, so many times.
Then I hope that AJ steps in and gives 'em all a second one.
What I'd really like to see? Those two losers go up against a certain hard-working champion apple-bucker, and try their crap with her. Something just tells me that they'd be in even worse shape than when they tangled with Dash.
Especially after being introduced (rather forcefully, methinks) to Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks Magee!
And that's not even counting a certain Princess of Magic and Friendship being thrown into the mix!
Next chapter! Soon!
Please?
6107391 More shall be coming shortly!
6107151 A lot happens in later chapters. Personally, I don't think Bullit Blue would be bad, but I think the Blue would have to come after the Bullit, not before. Hits the ear better, I guess.
Aren't there any police ponies in Ponyville? Why hasn't RD gone to Major Mare to explain the situation? Why hasn't she gone to Twilight?
6107477 Really? Great! Looking forward to it!
And I know that all of it won't be good, or easy for our dear Dash, but I'm looking forward to it, nonetheless.
Yep, on all counts.
But for the record, even though I don't like him, I personally do think that "Bullit Blaze" sounds better than either Bullit Blue or Blue Bullit.
6107952 The best thing about Dash is that no matter what abuse I hurl at her in my stories, she's tough enough to take it. Most of the time.
6107985 Hmmmm, well, this is true.
Greased Lightning had a surprisingly reasonable reaction to things. Glad to see not everyone's either a main character or a total sheep.
Anyway, great update, and it's good to get more of the backstory out of RD. Man, that pony's as tight-lipped as a clam with botox injections.
6108087 She doesn't really like being vulnerable. It has to be coaxed out of her, like a pearl from a clam with botox injections.
All because he wanted her mane?!!?!!! Sicko Freako.
This is definitely your best story so far. I love the characterization.