Chapter 14: Manipulation
Rainbow’s seething breath could be heard throughout the cottage. Thanks to the dust, only her silhouette was visible for a few moments. Her shoulders could be seen moving up and down harshly from each breath. She eyed the area where the cage was with a vengeance. Clang had gone too far with that accusation. It was bad enough that she worried about herself being potentially dangerous to Fluttershy, but even if she couldn’t remember too well, she could tell Fluttershy being bad was absolutely NOT true. Those accusations made her really want to reach inside that cage with her tongues and strangle Clang with them.
Fluttershy’s harsh coughs could be heard as the dust was settling. She was covering her mouth with her hoof from each cough. When the dust went away from her, she held her head and released a painful moan. The loud bang and the coughing caused her to have a serious headache from her already throbbing head. Her wound was bad enough, but all this banging loud noises was only making it worse.
The dust eventually settled and Fluttershy was able to open her eyes again. The cage was surprisingly still intact, but it had been launched against the wall on the other side of the cottage’s living room, breaking through a huge chunk of it. If the cage wasn’t in the way, a large bear could fit through that hole that had been created. But that hole wasn’t her worry right now. It was Rainbow and her restless figure staring at Clang.
Clang’s body was hanging high with his back against the bars. His eyes were wide and stunned in utter shock with his teeth gritted. It took until the dust finished settling before his body could slide back down to the ground. He was shaking.
“You-... You’re insane…” he hesitantly said. “Not just crazy… insane…”
Rainbow was still growling deeply while staring into Clang’s soul. With a grunt, Fluttershy walked up to Rainbow with a leash in hoof, attaching it back on her collar. “Rainbow, please, control yourself,” Fluttershy said pleadingly while she tried to nudge the leash back. Rainbow seemed to cooperate as she let her body gently get turned.
“Now do you see what I mean?” When Clang said that, Fluttershy felt her nudge get stopped. Clang’s words were making Rainbow resist again. “That sort of untamed ferocity cannot be allowed to walk freely.” The resistance was getting stronger. A fearful whimper escaped Fluttershy as she tried to pull harder. “Your methods will only accelerate her temper. Surrender her now, or-”
Fluttershy yelped as Rainbow suddenly lashed out her tongues towards Clang. Before he could react, they wrapped around and squeezed his neck. He suddenly found himself unable to breathe, attempting to pry them off with his hooves. Then those coils immediately pulled him away from his sitting position at the back of the cage and towards the front, causing his head to bang against the bars of the cage. Rainbow retracted her tongues back as Clang’s body fell back to the ground.
The ears and heads of the three ponies raised as they witnessed this exchange from the window. One of them saw Fluttershy's expression and looked away in concern. They had turned their head towards the front door, the other two following suit. Feeling that they had to do something, they started moving towards the door.
Clang was moaning in pain with squeezing eyes and his hooves pressed fiercely against his forehead. That sight was bringing satisfaction to Rainbow as she rubbed her cheek to relieve pain. It was a familiar feeling, and that feeling was making her no longer care for Clang’s words. As long as he kept demonizing Fluttershy like this, he had to suffer.
But Fluttershy was a different mind that was getting terrified of this exchange. She braced her head both from internal and external pain. Not only was all this loud noise developing a painful headache from her already wounded head, but she was now doubting her abilities of keeping Rainbow under control. All this aggressiveness was just supporting Clang’s saying. It made her voice whine inside as her grip on the leash released.
Rainbow slightly gasped and turned her eyes toward Fluttershy. But her attention to Fluttershy was short lived when Clang grunted and picked himself back up. Rainbow’s responses were only making Fluttershy worry more. She wished Rainbow would stop, but as far as she was concerned, there was nothing she could do.
“Do you really want this to happen?” Clang’s words were hitting Fluttershy like rocks now. Ever since Rainbow came to her like this, she always believed that Rainbow was now her responsibility, like a pet. But now as far as she was concerned, Rainbow was never her pet. It was foalish to think so. She couldn't control Rainbow's actions. And Rainbow's actions were indeed... dangerous.
“Don’t listen to him, Fluttershy!” All ears in the cottage suddenly raised. The cottage door opened just as suddenly as that voice came. Everypony’s attention was brought to the door. Three fillies stood there, and Fluttershy was especially confused.
“Scootaloo?” Fluttershy questioned. “Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle?”
Clang’s eyes went narrow looking at these fillies. “What the,” was all he could say.
“Don’t you see what’s going on?” Sweetie Belle said as all three of them rushed to the cage.
“He’s tryin’ ta get in yer head and make y’all feel guilty for everything you’ve done.” As Apple Bloom said that, Clang’s face and eyes struck high in surprise.
Fluttershy tried to respond, but Scootaloo faced her and responded first. “It’s a little torture trick that Rainbow Dash taught me once. That’s why she’s flying her feathers off at him. He’s saying things that’ll get under your coat and make you look bad and regret what you’re doing. But you're doing nothing wrong!”
Apple Bloom cut in to continue. “An’ if ya listen to his lies, y’all be doin’ what he wants ya to do.”
All eyes were focused on the three fillies. Clang’s were the most wide, completely stunned by this situation. “You can’t seriously believe these kids! What do they know?! Listening to them is comple-” He was silenced by a long black tongue reaching inside the cage and slapping duct tape over his mouth. Eyes going even wider, he noticed that same bunny waving at him with the duct tape, on top of the tatzlpony’s mane. With his mouth shut, steam blew out of his ears while his face reddened and shook.
Rainbow Dash’s temper had dropped significantly thanks to Angel’s help. Seeing his ways of torturing Clang was both amusing, and satisfying. With Clang silenced, her eyes turned back to the three fillies. She was happy to see Scootaloo again, but seeing the other two sparked up more memories. It felt like she remembered them too.
“What are you girls doing here?” Fluttershy asked. “Weren’t you all supposed to be in school today?”
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom responded as her eyes slanted. “An’ we had to ditch class to come here.” It left Fluttershy surprised with how bluntly she said that.
“We didn’t ditch!” Sweetie Belle responded. She closed her eyes and placed a hoof to her chest. “We excused ourselves to take care of important family problems.”
Turning her eyes to Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom responded. “Which is ditching class.”
Sweetie Belle threw her hooves in the air. “IT’S NOT DITCHING!”
Clang press his hooves roughly against his ears as this argument went on. All this craziness was gonna make him lose his mind, if it wasn’t already. If it wasn’t for that stupid bunny and the tatzlpony watching him, he would remove this duct tape over his mouth and yell.
“After I gave you that letter, Rainbow Dash was so eager to stay with you.” Scootaloo explained. “So I followed you to see why. And I saw everything that happened. How this jerk attacked you guys, how he explained he was hired to take Rainbow Dash away.” She narrowed her eyes. “How he gave you that nasty bruise! I couldn’t leave you guys after seeing that!”
Apple Bloom stepped in to continue. “Scootaloo told us all ‘bout it when y’all were comin’ back here. We saw him gettin’ under yer coat. But a real interrogator has ta git under theirs.”
As Scootaloo walked towards the cage to join them, Sweetie Belle finished. “And we know the perfect pony for the job! Cutie Mark Crusaders-”
All three fillies joined together and shouted at the top of their lungs. “INTERROGATION DELIVERERS!!!”
Fluttershy’s ears were bursted once again while her mane was blown back from the force of their voice. Before she could recover, scurrying and banging occurred across the cottage. Tools were being flung around, a smoke of dust was spreading from the cage, and Fluttershy constantly yelped, flinched, and ducked. All three fillies went from one place to another, opening drawers, going under couches, and grabbing whatever they could to, for some reason operate on the cage.
“Wait a minute. Ah! Girls! Wah!” Despite her attempts, Fluttershy couldn’t get any words to reach them.
“Can I see that Angel? Thanks!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t even follow them as Scootaloo suddenly appeared in front of her, grabbing the duct tape from Angel and taking, well, both Angel and the tape with her. It was chaotic, yet it felt familiar to her.
When the carnage stopped, the smoke cleared quickly. Clang was pressing himself against the back of the cage, eyes wider than ever. If it wasn’t for that tape, his teeth would be visible. Meanwhile the three fillies had strapped themselves with the cage and looked like they were ready to pull it. How they were gonna pull it, Fluttershy wondered. Then she noticed that somehow, the cage was now built with wheels.
“Let’s go crusaders!” After Sweetie Belle shouted that, they all started towards the door, dragging the cage with them.
“Wait!” Fluttershy tried calling.
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy!” Scootaloo called. “By the time we get back, we’ll have all your answers. In the meantime, you can get all the other answers from Rainbow Dash, starting by doing that thing she wanted to show you. Later!”
They left through the door with Clang. Fluttershy had stopped her chase when she reached the door, unsure if she should even follow them. But watching them go, she noticed something odd at the back of the cage. It was holding onto the bars and waving at her with the duct tape.
“Angel?” she asked herself. It indeed was him. Some things never changed, but it didn’t make them any less confusing or shocking. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the girls being around Clang, even if he was caged up. But seeing Angel following them, at least he would be watching over them.
“Ooh…” Fluttershy braced her head with her hooves. This whole experience left her with a massive headache, which wasn’t helping the bruise on the back of her head. She wanted to just lie down and get some rest. But something clicked in her mind as she watched them go. Before they left, Scootaloo said something.
“Something Rainbow Dash wanted to show me?” Fluttershy wondered what she was talking about. And then her mind clicked again. “Oh, that’s right.” She wondered again how Scootaloo knew about that, but then remembered that Scootaloo accidentally overheard their conversation. With that thought, she turned to Rainbow. “Rainbow, before all this stuff with Clang happened, after you asked me if a tatzlpony was bad, you wanted to show me something. What was that?”
It took a moment for Rainbow to respond, and she responded with a smile. She walked over to the door, next to Fluttershy and looked off in the distance. Fluttershy looked in the direction Rainbow was looking. Curious, she asked. “Is it in the Everfree Forest?” Rainbow looked to her and nodded. After a moment of contemplating Fluttershy responded again. “Okay, but before we go, let me get a few things ready.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Several minutes had passed as Fluttershy packed her saddle bags. Unlike the other times, this time treading the Everfree wasn’t just done because of an emergency. So being prepared for a travel was now possible, in case there was any danger that they ran into.
But more specifically, Fluttershy wanted to bring some of these things for a different reason. As she was gathering some of the items, it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to come up to her, wanting to help. How could she say no? All she had to do was say what item and where it was, and Rainbow Dash was there in a snap. The last item however, Fluttershy handled herself, very carefully.
“Eeeasy now…” Fluttershy said to herself. In her teeth was a red and white striped box with a pink bow tie on it. With sweat dripping along her face, she carefully placed the box at the very top of the items in her bag. After it was placed, she zipped it fast and flinched away.
A few seconds of shivering and Fluttershy opened her eyes, looking towards the bag. “Phew…” she sighed in relief as she put the bag on, giving it a few shakes for testing. “I hope that doesn’t explode on the way.”
After Fluttershy finished strapping her saddle bags, Rainbow Dash walked up to her with her leash in her mouth. She tossed it in Fluttershy’s direction with a smile, to which Fluttershy was hesitant about.
“Um… you want to keep that on?” she asked. Rainbow just smiled and moved it forwards. That smile wasn't exactly making Fluttershy comfortable. After she just got done convincing herself that Rainbow Dash wasn’t her pet and shouldn't be treated like one, Rainbow was just edging that on again. She didn’t want to encourage that behavior,. But at the same time, she felt that not encouraging it would show she was believing Clang’s words and going against what Scootaloo said. It still didn’t make sense why Rainbow wanted this this much.
Putting more trust in Scootaloo’s words, Fluttershy accepted the leash and wrapped it around her hoof. Rainbow smiled and turned around.
“Okay. Are you ready to GOOOHOHO?!” Before she could finish asking, Rainbow Dash suddenly ignited her wings and dashed towards the door, dragging Fluttershy with her. The door bashed opened then forced itself closed behind them. “RAINBOW DASH! WAIT!” As soon as Fluttershy yelled, Rainbow stopped in her tracks, thrusting her back towards Fluttershy, causing Fluttershy’s momentum to be caught on her back. She then dropped back on all four hooves.
Recovering from that sudden acceleration, Fluttershy picked herself up, With the leash still in her hoof and her current position, she realized she was now riding on Rainbow Dash. “U-Umm…” Her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment as Rainbow looked towards her. That was when her splitting headache came back. When she went to go rub her head, she winced, forgetting about the bandage. But that sudden jolt in pain made her realize what Rainbow was doing. Rainbow must’ve still been concerned about her injuries and wanted to continue carrying her as they traveled. Since they were going to the Everfree Forest, she smiled on that thought.
But was that the only reason? Or was that just the reason she wanted conclude to? Whether it was or not, she was forced to conclude on that as a rough gust of wind started blowing her mane in her face. She attempted to block the wind with her other hoof, but it wasn’t helping much as she looked to the skies. Many clouds decorated the skies in a messy manner. It was causing them to blow these rough winds and blowing her mane in her face.
If they had the chance, Fluttershy wanted to try and see if Rainbow could remember how to handle the weather, or if she still could in her tatzlpony form. But right now, figuring out what happened to Rainbow was more important. They had already been distracted from this once. Still… she was starting to miss the wonderful weather Ponyville had. More importantly, she wanted that beautiful rainbow that catered the skies to return.
Her eyes went wide and blinked hard on that thought. “Okay Rainbow. L-Let’s go.” She instinctively waved her leash around without realizing it. In response, Rainbow started moving and trotted to the Everfree Forest.
A strange vibe coursed through Fluttershy's body. For some reason, she felt like she was forgetting something.
______________________________________________________________________________
Somewhere in Ponyville, a mare was standing in front of a building, hoping desperately for a good sign. But she already knew that was not the case. The building doors had been blown off, not just from sheer force either. It looked like an actual bomb caused this. Hesitantly, she looked inside. Despite the darkness, she could see the carnage inside, increasing her fears.
She looked up and her breath got heavy. Chain balls decorated the ceilings as they were dangling down. A gasp escaped her as she looked left. There was a capsule with its net sprawled on the floor. Two desperate gasps were released from her before and after she looked to the right. The sight made her release a long and terrified breath.
The mare approached the ropes that were sprawled along the floor. Those ropes looked like they had ensnared something. And whatever they ensnared had escaped. “Oh n-n-no…” she said as her body shook violently. Her eyes turned back to the rest of the carnage that decorated the room, summarizing the events that happened here. “W-W-What do I do now-w?”
Just after she finished asking herself that, somepony appeared at the front entrance. She flinched and immediately turned to that pony’s presence. The very sight made her heart drop down to her stomach.
She felt doomed
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I'm not sure "torture" is the right word for the Crusaders to use. "Annoy to death", maybe?
7996529 Annoy to death is torture. Unless you literally mean dying, then it's just plain murder.
What the... hell is going on here?
Hey here's an idea, how about you call up the goddess on speed dial (Celestia), and let the actual authorities handle this POS? And while you're at it, talk to Twilight about the ordeal. Again.
The idiot ball tennis and obvious plot armor is getting tiresome.
9450590
Phones don't exist in Equestria.
9450647
Still, she should tell Twilight.
9813251
But she can't since Twilight isn't with them.