A Matter of Pride and Honor

by bahatumay

Chapter 6

Rainbow Dash flew up high in the sky, higher than most ponies could see from the ground. She did this because she didn’t want to be seen. She didn’t want other ponies to notice her.

So, of course, she ran into her favorite gray pegasus with the golden mane. Not literally; but almost, as neither was really watching where they were going.

“My bad!” she called.

But Rainbow Dash was not to be deterred. Rainbow Dash was on a mission. She had seen how happy Soarin looked last night after chatting with that cleaning pony. He didn’t even notice (or he just didn’t care) when Surprise switched his conditioner with her own super-poof conditioner.

And, to be perfectly, honest, she was slightly jealous. Maybe more than slightly.

This is why her latest master plan was simple. Macintosh had to have some sort of diary. She would just sneak in, find it, and check it out to see if he’d written anything about her. It would be like Daring Do recovering a priceless artifact, except she’d be putting it back when she was done, and nopony would be the wiser.

It wasn’t long before the green of grass diversified into trees. She was here.

Macintosh was easy to spot. He was in the upper loft of the barn, clearly busy sharpening a plow of some kind. This left Rainbow plenty of time for her quest. She quickly returned to the farmhouse, tiptoed past a sleeping Granny Smith, and she was home fr-

The door opened, and she shot up to the ceiling. She pressed herself against it as close as she could and held on tightly, both back legs braced against the wall, one forehoof against some cabinets, the other up against the ceiling in an attempt to both keep herself up without her wings and to remain as flat as possible.

Apple Bloom trotted in, her bow bouncing gently behind her as she walked. Rainbow felt her breath catch in her throat. She was no good at hiding! Her mane stood out brilliantly against the wood! She was going to be spotted and, once again, she had failed to think up a good cover story!

Ugh! Why couldn’t she learn?

Apple Bloom walked over to the icebox and retrieved a tall pitcher of lemonade. Rainbow Dash had a mini heart attack as she realized that Apple Bloom would then need a glass; but luckily for Rainbow’s heart, she merely picked up a clean glass from near the sink, poured herself a full-sized big pony serving, and drank it.

Rainbow Dash could swear she was drinking more slowly than usual. She probably already knew she was here, and was just getting ready to jump and scare her.

Apple Bloom finished her glass and sighed contentedly. She set the glass down, and Rainbow just knew she’d be seen if she didn’t-

“Apple Bloom!”

Rainbow’s ears pricked up. Was that Scootaloo?

Apple Bloom turned and darted out of the kitchen. “Coming!” she called.

Rainbow sighed in relief and made a mental note to do something nice for her little adoptive sister.

But right as she relaxed, Apple Bloom rushed back in. Rainbow quickly clenched herself against the ceiling again; but Apple Bloom was just here to quickly jam the lemonade pitcher back in the icebox before running out again.

Rainbow waited a little while longer until their voices had faded completely, and then waited a little longer before exhaling with relief. That had been too close.

Now more confident that she was actually alone, she dropped to the floor and began heading upstairs.

As she stepped on the second stair, it creaked loudly. Rainbow froze and gulped. Yeah, she was alone; but if she hadn't been, somepony definitely would have heard that. So she elected to fly the rest of the way up.

As expected, apple motifs were everywhere in this house, from the carvings on the wall to the picture frames to the pictures themselves. Upstairs, the first room she found was Applejack’s, with its ropes on the wall and books on the desk. Apple Bloom’s room was large, with a four-poster bed and a large box of toys.

Mac’s room was simple. It was large, for a large pony; but it was clean and organized. The bed was huge, and Rainbow Dash thought that at least three normal-sized ponies could have fit comfortably on it.

But as nice as the bed looked, she was not here for sleeping. She was here for more reconnaissance. She really liked that word, even if she wasn’t sure if she were using it correctly.

Her first spot to check was under the bed. That’s where she hid a few things. She was pleasantly surprised to see it somewhat messy under there. Somewhat like her own bedroom.

Unfortunately, there was no journal there. There was a storage box full of odds and ends, a blanket, a small whittling knife and a wood carving that was probably going to be a pony someday; but no journal.

Rainbow stood up and scowled. That was about as far as her master plan had taken her. She really needed to get better at making these.

But she wasn’t going to give up that easily. Daring Do never had a plan when she went into new temples; she improvised.

Ok, there was a lot of escaping traps, and witty one-liners, and every once in a while a fight; but none of those seemed particularly helpful right now. But there was a lot of improvising and thinking differently. That she could do.

Rainbow Dash took a literal step back and looked at the room again. If Macintosh had a book that he wanted to keep hidden, he’d hide it…

Her eyes fell on the bookshelf. That’s where a book was supposed to be, so it would be the perfect place to hide one. Nopony would think twice about a book on a shelf. Well, nopony who wasn’t as awesome as she was, of course.

She darted over to the bookshelf and started at the top. Most of what she found was informational books. Basic Tree Pruning; Apple Tree Care for Those Who Care for Apple Trees; How to Care for Your Apple Trees in Winter and Other Trees, Too; Daring Do and the Curse of the Serpent’s Chamber; 101 Apple Pie Reci-

Rainbow stopped and tipped it out to confirm. Sure enough, Daring Do’s smiling face looked back at her from under that giant snake she’d fought in act three. She blinked. The Curse of the Serpent’s Chamber was one of her favorites. Curious, she scanned the rest of the books, no longer looking at titles, but looking for that familiar golden swirl that every Daring Do book bore on the spine.

There were four. There was no order to them, and they were all different editions; they seemed to have been randomly chosen and had probably been picked up at flea markets or second-hoof sales. But he had them. Rainbow whistled. She would never have taken him for a reader like this. Maybe this could segway into a good conversation starter later.

Then she remembered that she was here for his journal. She quickly resumed looking. Not on the top shelf, not on the second shelf, but on the third shelf... There. It was a green book, with no writing on the spine. It didn't look professionally bound. This had to be it.

She pulled it out. The cover was blank, too. This was promising. She quickly flipped it open to somewhere in the middle and began reading.

The first thing she noticed was she was having trouble reading it. His writing seemed neat enough, for a colt; but words and phrases like caudiz, hep, nez, and The Ripple didn’t seem right; and what kind of name was Adrian?

She flipped to the beginning and started there.

It was a book. More accurately, it was a fantasy novel. Rainbow found herself caught up in this strange world, where cat-like creatures walked on two legs and all could use a sort of elemental magic, but their strength in this magic was somehow related to their actions. It was fascinating. For somepony who almost never spoke, he had a startling command of words, and Rainbow was drawn in.

And then the door opened. So engrossed had she been in what she’d found that she didn’t even notice him coming up; she was completely exposed with no place to hide, and even she wasn't fast enough to escape.

Their eyes met.

“Hi,” Rainbow started.

Mac stared at her. His eyes widened as he recognized the book she was holding.

“Just… doing a little light reading,” she said sheepishly, holding it up.

Mac’s eyes narrowed.

Rainbow continued. “Mac, this is amazing. Really, you could-”

“Get out.”

Rainbow froze. She'd never heard him speak so low. “Mac?”

“What is your deal?” he demanded. “You think it’s fun to sneak into somepony else’s room and go through their personal belongings? You think that’s ‘cool’? You think that’s ‘awesome’?”

“I-” Rainbow managed. She was stunned by his words; both by the truth of them—this really had been a low thing for her to do—and by the fact that he was saying so many of them in a row.

“I don’t know how it works up in Cloudsdale or wherever you’re from, but here, we respect others’ privacy. We don't go snooping through their things, we don't go sharing things they ain't comfortable sharing, and we don't go digging places we ain't supposed to be; so you can just get out!”

It hadn't been a true shout, he barely raised his voice at all; but Rainbow Dash needed no second invitation. She dropped the book and literally flew out the door so fast it whipped the curtains off the wall and almost created a mini rainboom behind her.

She made it back through town and to the fountain in the middle thereof before she finally felt safe enough to stop. She sank to the top of one of the statue and scowled at her rippled reflection. Some genius she was. She batted irritably at the water, distorting her reflection beyond recognition. She’d really kicked the thundercloud this time.

Comments

[RainbowsInReality]

7475338

Oh! Sorry... XD

[SFaccountant]

BUSTED.

[FelixTheBrony]

7476748 That's okay.

[djthomp]

Good job, Rainbow. Capital work.

[BroBpony]

[Mestre _das_fanfic]