The Chaos That Killed Kindness (MBFD)

by ChillyKitty

Another One ~ Chapter 7

“Oh! Rainbow I needed to tell you that I sent maids and butlers here so the guards were just making that up and-” Amethyst Star stopped herself, “Princess Twilight! Hi...” she turned her attention back to Rainbow, “When I got to Pinkie’s she told me what happened so I galloped here to tell you it was a trap and.. I guess you figured that out.” The mare stood on the other side of the doorway, next to Spirit and Strongiron.

The teleported trio trotted out towards the stationary group, seeing that the two injured guards were now slumped against the wall made a small smile show on Rainbow’s muzzle. Strongiron straightened himself up and saluted when he saw Shining Armor. The captain returned his salute with nothing but a side glance and two hesitant words, “..At ease.” he turned back to Rainbow, “Could you tell me everything that happened?”

Rainbow nodded and went through her story quickly glossing over the part where she was tricked and making sure to perform a full one pony show when describing her heroic fight. “And Spirit helped too I guess,” she turned to the dark unicorn to finish off her tale, “Congrats, you are good enough to distract a couple of idiots.”

“Thanks Rainbow.” he stared at her as he spoke, a deadpan look on his face, which she promptly responded to by sticking out her tongue.

“Is this true?” Twilight asked the two guards, who both looked down in shame.

“And is what she said about you true?” Shining glared at Strongiron.

“W-well I...” He faltered, “I obviously couldn’t believe that a maid was friends with the princess.”

“..Do you not know that many refer to Twilight as the Princess of Friendship?” Shining asked.

“Oh y-yes but I just assumed...” He smiled nervously.

“That I discriminate on whether somepony can be my friend because of their job?” Twilight asked, her high and mighty alicorn-ess shining through.

“N-no of course not..” He looked to the side, avoiding eye contact.

Twilight sighed, “What shall we do with you?”

“No-nothing?” He grinned.

“Perhaps you could relieve him of his duty?” Spirit suggested, “Even if it’s only temporary.”

There was but a moment’s pause, “Yes that sounds right,” Shining agreed, “Strongiron will be going on an unpaid break for a month.”

Rainbow watched as what little color that was there drained from the stallion’s grey face. She glance over to Spirit who was showing a satisfied look on his face. In fact it was the first time she’d seen him show any emotion since Fluttershy’s death. That’s why he made Rainbow go to Strongiron first, wasn’t it? He had planned on getting him in trouble.

“Now that that is taken care of,” Twilight turned, “Rainbow, would you take these guards-” she nodded at the two injured ponies slumped on the wall, “-to the herbalist cottage. I’ll visit your room later, we’ll continue our talk then.”

“Alright,” Rainbow trotted over to them, “Get up, you’re going to the herbalists.” The pegasus moaned, a bit of blood dribbling from his mouth, “Ooh be careful, we don’t want to make the maids clean up your mess.” Rainbow spat with a grin.

She lead the two guards out into the gardens, as soon as she felt the sun hit her wings she spread them and took to the air. She flew just a few feet above them, watching as they limped with a satisfied smug on her muzzle.

“Hello Rainbow, and what have we here? Why do you have two injured guards so near?” A zebra had opened the door when she knocked and greeted her in a common way.

“Hey Zecora,” She responded to the rhyme, “I beat up these two.” She said confidently, “In self defense of course.”

She eyed the guards, “As I can see, they were no match for your fight. I wouldn’t want to cross you with such might.” She joked and signaled the three to come inside.

“Oh sweet Celestia! That looks bad,” Red Snow rushed over to the guards, she was overly caring, like Fluttershy, and it showed whenever she did her work. Rainbow liked this mare, despite being a unicorn and looking utterly nothing like Fluttershy in color, she did have similar mannerisms, as they were very close friends when she was alive. Red immediately started examining the damage, “Really Rainbow? Did you have to hit them that hard?” Well, Red was little more sarcastic than Fluttershy.

Rainbow took a step back before standing her ground, “Of course! I was only protecting myself. Not that they stood a chance in the first place.”

“No of course not.” She didn’t look at Rainbow, “They were foolish to go after you of all ponies.” she said, which then earned them both a scoff from the unicorn guard.

And that is why Rainbow liked Red Snow. Her red mane and tail were styled like Fluttershy's, and her eyes showed that same kindness. Her cutie mark was even gained in a similar way. For Fluttershy, it was when she first spoke to animals, for Red, it was when she first tried gardening. The berries on her flank were holly, according to her, though Rainbow dash couldn’t confirm on account of the fact that she knew next to nothing about plants, the most she could think of is that it’s the same stuff ponies use to decorate during Hearth’s Warming.

“Dash, could you go grab some more aloe?” She spoke, not taking her eyes of the pegasus’ bleeding jaw.

Rainbow quickly responded with “Yep!” before a moment’s pause and her question, “Which one is that?”

Red still didn’t turn but just hovered a sword shaped leaf towards Rainbow. Which gave her enough of an idea to go through her shelves and shelves of herbs.

“Fixing that break won’t be that hard. I’ll do it so you can conjure ice for this guard.” Zecora said, stepping in to take over the work Red was doing.

“Oh! Yes, I’ll do that.” She said quickly. She levitated a pewter cup which likely had water in it. She proceeded to dump it out onto a table and focused on it until, in a flash, the water became a solid object. Red used a hoof to wipe of a bead a sweat that appeared just under her horn and then levitated the ice chunks onto a cloth and gave it to the guard. He put it over his eye wordlessly just as Rainbow turned back to her own work.

She eventually found a cupboard that might have had it, although she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t understand how the herbalists decided to sort their supplies and seemed to just be going in circle at this point. She swung the cupboard door open and- FINALLY! A jar containing only one aloe leaf in it sat just in front of Rainbow.

She grabbed it quickly and brought it over to Zecora, “Sorry I took so long, and there’s only one,” she pointed out, “Is that enough?”

“Worry not, we’ll have more soon. They are being gathered as we speak by Apple bloom.” she explained, putting some of the leaf’s gel on her hoof and rubbing it into the open wound.

Almost as if it was planned Apple bloom stepped through the doorway. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed the two guards. She trotted towards Zecora when the zebra gave her a wave of her hoof and helped her with the aloe she’d just picked.

“It won’t do much to sooth the pain, but it will do while we get this jaw back to the same.” Zecora informed Apple Bloom.

The filly put the leftover aloe leaves in the jar and set it down, shoving it a bit towards Rainbow as she said, “Can you put this away? Ah gotta help Zecora.”

By the time Rainbow had a chance to respond, Apple bloom had already turned back to her work with Zecora. So Rainbow just wordlessly grabbed the jar and trotted it over to the cupboard, opening it and going to place it in.

It wasn’t until after she set down the jar and pulled her hoof back that she finally looked up and saw a pale white face staring back at her. Really? Another one? How many ghosts were in this Celestia damned place?

Author's Note:

*dj khalid voice* another one
oof hi how do i zecora
i never realized how hard it is to write rhymes until now;;;