The Bureau: Wretched Machines

Rainbow Dash looked at Frostbite. “Frostbite, we need to talk.”

“About what?”

“About what happened in Manehattan.”

“Oh. Sit down. I guess I promised, didn’t I?”

She nodded.

“Fine. How’s being back in the real world again?”

“It’s great. After we woke up, I wanted to take a nap. I was pretty tired.”

He nodded.

“And, um...you saw what happened in that hallway between Soarin and I, right?”

He nodded again.

“Well, than and there, I felt a lot of love for him, but, when we got back, it all went away. Is that...is that normal?”

“Yeah. The TARDIS amplifies certain feelings inside your subconscious. So, while, here in the real world, you love Soarin, you live him like a friend loves a friend, not like a stallionfriend loves a marefriend.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense, then. Kind of.” She laughed softly.

“Anyways, I owe you an explanation, don’t I?”

It was Rainbow’s turn to nod.

“I think I told you about me and the Doc working on the Major Case Squad in Manehattan, right? Well, this one time...a little filly was foalnapped. Name was Curtain Call. Wanted to be an actress. She was foalnapped by someone who we called the Frog, because after he raped his victims, he strangled them and folded their bodies up like a frog about to jump.”

“Dear Celestia...” Rainbow gasped.

“I know. Pretty fucked up.  Anyways, we had found him. I went in to confront him. I caught him...raping...” he choked up. “I caught him raping her with a sex toy covered in barbed wire.”

“Sweet Luna...”

“I know.” His tears were coming out now. He couldn’t control them anymore. “I could have saved her! If only I had been faster... I could have done something... but all I could do was watch. When he saw me, he stopped, took out a hunting knife, and slit her throat. When I saw it...I pulled my gun and emptied an entire clip onto him. After that incident, I became worse and worse. My wife and kid...left me, and I was dishonorably discharged. After a tangle with the mob, I cut my losses and moved to Ponyville to try and forget, and everyone knows that it’s easy to forget with alcohol in your system.”

Rainbow was in shock. He’s been through so much loss...

All she could do was hug him.

And it was all she could have done at that moment.