Invincible

The last time Talitha and Loony Bin fought, several years ago, Talitha barely even had the strength to walk out of the room when Loony Bin had finished with her. He could have easily took it upon himself to end her right then and there, but he didn't, and Talitha never understood why. Perhaps he enjoyed seeing her suffer and struggle, finally having to admit defeat for one of the very times in her life. The answer was never very clear, but Talitha was by nature a sore loser.

"So, why? What does Said-So want with Fire Bolt?", Talitha asked both Loony Bin and Evening Primrose.

The changeling, still in her unicorn disguise, and the mentally insane pink unicorn both looked at each other,and exchanged glances, wondering who Talitha was referring to. "Who?", Evening asked, assuming Talitha meant Nimbus. Even if her question was somewhat rhetorical, Evening was more curious as to why Talitha was referring Nimbus by anther name.

"That's what I named him." Talitha looked over to Nimbus, who had finished dancing with Rainbow Dash several minutes ago. They were both now sitting at a table right off the dance floor, catching up on the past five years they spent away from each other. The two of them were laughing and throwing punches and insults back at one another just like they always did, completely unaware of the potential threat Talitha was guarding them both from.

"...but he calls himself-", Evening was going to tell Talitha the name she and everypony else knew him by, but Talitha snapped her jaws at her before she could finish.

There was a mean glare Evening gave Talitha for snapping at her but Talitha gave the gesture no attention."I know what he calls himself now!" Talitha looked from Loony to Evening, determining the difficulty of fighting them both at the same time. Even for Earth Pony standards, Loony Bin was an incredibly large pony. His build would allow him to push through most physical attacks like a rock being thrown the air. His limited amount of magical abilities were nothing to look over either. They were definitely predictable but one of them connecting even against a Minotaur had a great possibility of breaking bones.  "Look, whatever fire Fire Bolt started with Said-So, let me deal with it. I know how to speak his language."

True, Talitha used to work with Said-So, supplying him with military grade armor, weapons, tools, and the like for over the six years she was in the service. That was back when she was raising Aero Dynamic by herself the first few years she was born. She used the extra bits she got from Said-So to put Aero through a good school and support her through every sport she got involved in. Within that time frame, Talitha and Said-So got around to seeing each other on a more personal level, but their "relationship" ended right as Talitha moved to the Griffin country.

Evening flipped her mane out of her vision in a flashy manner. "Face it, old mare. You're far past your expiration date. Said-so wants nothing to do-" There was a light tapping on Evening Primrose's shoulder coming from her Boss's younger sibling. "Just give me a minute, Loony. The grown ups are talking." Treating Loony Bin like a child was the closest Evening could ever get to getting back at Said-So for her shitty pay cuts.

"It's important." Loony Bin told her, but she brushed him off and continued insulting Talitha.

"Why DID you-" Evening started again, but Loony Bin began tapping at her shoulder again more persistently this time.

"WHAT?! WHAT, CAN BE SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAVE TO INTERRUPT ME?! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TALKING?" Evening hissed at Loony Bin. Talitha kept her usual strong bearing but let out a grunted laugh at Loony Bin being demasculated by a changeling half his size.

Pointing his hoof behind Evening Primrose, Loony Bin informed her "The little one has awakened and ran off towards the target." The bones in Evening's neck nearly snapped from how quickly she spun her head around. From the distance she was at, she could see tiny Sugar Bomb crawling underneath the crowd, between all the dancing hooves around, and heading away from her.

Evening took one step forward only to have Talitha stepping in front of her and make a threat. "Hurt anypony tonight, and you won't be walking out of here."

Threats were nothing more than empty words to a changeling, and Evening was no exception. "That's a good idea, threaten the one you're trying to negotiate with."

"She's not trying to negotiate with you.", Loony put bluntly for Evening, catching her attention.

Evening dragged her hoof over a spilled drink, drenching it in the liquid. She refused to shake the substance off her hoof as she asked Loony, "What are you talking about? She just begged-"

"I don't beg, and I didn't." , Talitha told Evening truthfully. She checked on Sugar Bomb, who was still crawling around on the alcohol spilled floor of the dance club, too dark for anypony to see unless they were directly looking at the very spot she was at.

Talking over Talitha, Evening stretched her neck out over Loony Bin as far as she could. "Begged me to talk to Said-So, so she can take the hit off Nimbus."

"Fire Bolt.", Talitha corrected with a firm calm voice.

"Whatever!", Evening snapped. The liquid that was previously on Evening's hoof got flicked into Talitha's direction with a rude hoof gesture, but the range of the alcohol died a few inches from Talitha's chest.

Even if the alcohol had hit Talitha, she wouldn't have reacted anyways since she already reeked of Jack and coke. Without smiling, Talitha flashed several of her impressively shiny white teeth in a cocky expression. There was no more need in distracting Evening and Loony now, since Talitha intentionally bought Rainbow Dash and Nimbus time to walk out of the club without them ever knowing the amount of danger they were potentially in.

Loony Bin had been the first one, after Talitha, to notice Rainbow Dash and Nimbus were leaving, but he didn't address the issue since it would have been rude for him to interrupt Evening and Talitha's conversation. His older brother, Said-So, had told him his only objective was to follow Evening tonight and remain on his best behavior, nothing else. Interrupting anypony midway through their conversation would have been a complete disobedience to Said-So's specific instructions. Tracing his mask with his hoof, Loony Bin remembered well the last he disobeyed his older sibling, and he had no intentions of making the same mistake more than once.

"She's been distracting us. Nimbus and his rather delicious looking mare friend aren't here anymore.", Loony Bin admitted to Evening.

Spinning like a child's cheap plastic toy top, Evening twirled on her hooves, nearly tripping over herself, looking in the direction of where Nimbus was last sitting down. "WHAT?!"

"I said, She's been-", Loony began to repeat for Evening, taking her question far too literal.

Raising her voice at the pink unicorn, Evening Primrose hovered above him, looking down at him while she yelled, "I heard what you said!"

"Then why would you ask the question?", Loony asked, not understanding what crime he committed to have angered Evening so.

A small splash was made when Evening landed in the tiny puddle of alcohol she stepped in before. "It was..." Evening snorted and grunted, kicking what remained of the puddle beneath her hooves at Loony. Letting out her anger at Loony Bin with a kick of the puddle prevented her from accidentally reverting back to her changeling form, alerting everypony in the club of her presence.

Evening let her issue with Loony Bin go and spun back to face Talitha "You've got some nerve to-", Evening spoke to the empty air in front of her. "Where did she go?!", Evening raged, flaring fiery magic from her nostrils.

"Away from us, obviously.", Loony Bin answered for Evening, not able to see her eye twitching out of anger.

***

The air outside of Ponyville was chilly and far too cold to comfortably fly through without a jacket or the proper attire. Despite the moon being blocked by clouds darker than Cerebus's coat, the streets of outside Ponyville were fairly well lit enough by all the city lanterns posted high up and down the roads. Nimbus selflessly pushed Rainbow Dash in the path underneath the lanterns, so she could catch a glimpse of it's warmth each time she passed one over head.

Nimbus watched as Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, enjoying the brisk moment of heat from the lantern she just walked under. "Where DO you live these nowadays anyways?", Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash, keeping a good half foot of space between himself and her. In the direction they were walking, Nimbus could see they were headed somewhere a bit further in the outskirts of Ponyville.

For some odd reason, the question had upset Rainbow Dash a great deal. Her ears went down as she explained, "I still live in the same house. After mom left, I didn't really have anypony else to help me and I had to move the house in Ponyville, so I could afford it."

"Wait, Mo-I-I mean Rainbowshine left you?", Nimbus asked right before remembering how Rainbow Dash told him that she wanted him to meet her earlier tonight. "How do you want me to meet her if she's gone? Gone where?"

Before Rainbow Dash couldn't answer Nimbus, there was a popping sound she immediately recognized. Both her and Nimbus turned their heads in between the two of them and looked towards the club where the shot had been fired. Ponies were fighting to escape the club and stay clear of the direction the next bullet might fly.

Nimbus's protective nature urged him to run back towards the club until Rainbow Dash unexpectedly grabbed a firm hold of his tail and asked him, "What do you think you're doing?" She knew exactly what he was going to do. It was a repeat of everything Nimbus always did whenever he was around danger.

Nimbus didn't fight Rainbow Dash's grip around his tail, it was stupid that he was going to selfishly put himself in harm's way again. "Rainbow Dash, I can't just stand by and let somepony get hurt, knowing I could have-" The sudden memory of Flower Butt came into Nimbus's mind. He had completely forgotten all about her and all the rest of his friends in there as soon as he meet Rainbow Dash tonight.

Rainbow Dash was struggling whether to let Nimbus go or not, she knew he'd beat himself up later if she didn't at least let him try and help. "Okay." Rainbow Dash came to a conclusive decision. "But I'm coming in with you."

"I'm not-" Two more shots were heard inside the club before Nimbus hastly agreed to Rainbow Dash's terms. "Just stay close to me." Going to a fire fight with Rainbow Dash meant he wasn't goign to be able to put on his Dark Wing mask. Without his Dark Wing mask, he couldn't sneak around as effectively or use any of the mask other features.

Flying over the crowd and going inside the door over them, Nimbus lead Rainbow Dash behind a booth inside that was placed directly in front of the wall. Perfect cover until he found out exactly where the shooter was. To his surprise, though he shouldn't have been, it didn't take him long to find out that the shooter was Gunilda. She was openly flailing her gun about the air and aiming it all across the sky.

"Isn't that the mare you were with?" Rainbow Dash asked Nimbus, noticing her about the same time as he did. Making Nimbus a bit upset by Rainbow Dash's first impression of her, she added, "You sure can pick 'em", in a sour tone.

"She's friendly!" Nimbus argued, but after he saw the way Gunilda comfortably fired her weapon like it was second nature, he quietly threw on  "-ish", before thinking to himself Or at least I hope she is. Nimbus convinced himself. "GUNILDA!" He yelled over the screaming crowd between him and her.

Gunilda turned her head to Nimbus after he called out for her. She could see that he and the pony who asked her to dance with Nimbus were taking cover, too frightened to come out and discover how accurate her aim was. As a friendly gesture, Gunilda held the barrel of her large pistol up and facing the opposite direction of Nimbus and Rainbow Dash.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Nimbus knew she was shooting holes into the ceiling, but that's not what he was getting at.

Before Gunilda could answer Nimbus, she got blind sided and tackled to the ground by Loony Bin. Gunilda's pistol dropped and slid across away from her magic when she lost control of her levitation spell after being attacked.

Loony Bin pinned her to the concrete her back was resting on with the incredibly heavy weight of his hooves. A pink glow of magic shined brightly on Loony Bin's horn as he flashed and aimed it for Gunilda's temple. Gunilda struggled to push Loony off of her as he just adjusted his weight around her every time she tried to fight him off.

Coming in with an airborne round house kick, Nimbus placed bottom of his rear right leg underneath Loony Bin's chin. The pink unicorn flew off of Gunilda faster than a cork did after opening a new bottle of wine. He fell on his back on top of a unattended table full of half-empty glasses.

Nimbus held out a helpful gesture with his hoof to get Gunilda back up on her hooves. Once the Marakian  Unicorn got back on her hooves, Nimbus asked her, "What happened, and who is that guy?"

Gunilda searched for her pistol left and right, seeing Rainbow Dash flying towards her in the process. Without any success, Gunilda's pistol could not be found. She assumed it must have been been slid farther than she last physically saw it. "That is Loony Bin, an escaped patient from Pen Book's hospital for the unfortunately gifted. He is an incredibly dangerous pony who should not be taken lightly."

Nimbus shook his head and blinked his eyes twice. "Pen Book's what for the who?" Nimbus repeated as best he could to the best of his abilities.

"An insane asylum, but they don't call it that anymore." Rainbow Dash said to help Nimbus understand, landing right behind him.

Nimbus's head nearly off from how fast how fast he turned it when he heard Rainbow Dash's voice. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET BACK TO BEHIND SOME COVER!"

"Screw. That!" Rainbow Dash fought. ""You're just in as much in danger as I am. What makes you so special?"

"I care about you and don't want you to get hurt!" Nimbus used his head to push Rainbow Dash back towards the over flipped couch bench. "Now, go back!"

"And I care about YOU and don't want you to get hurt!" Rainbow Dash snapped at Nimbus, flying over him and making him fall over once she moved. "I want to help."

It took Nimbus a few seconds to recover back to his hooves and begin pushing Rainbow Dash back towards cover again. "NO! You can't help. This guy is really-"

At that moment, a table flew over Nimbus's head and shattered into multiple pieces once it hit the wall on the other side. Loony Bin rose from whence the table came from and levitated himself above the ground. His levitation magic beyond that of any other's either Nimbus or Gunilda had ever seen. Loony Bin slowly progressed closer to Nimbus as each passing second went by.

"Dangerous" Nimbus said, finishing his last sentence. "He's a very dangerous pony!"

"I'm a very dangerous pony." Rainbow Dash debated with Nimbus, going back and forth with him as to why she should/shouldn't be here. "Don't worry about me." She told Nimbus. "I can take care of myself!"

"Your prom date at flight school stepped on your back when you two started dancing!" Nimbus fired.

"You were my prom date!"

Nimbus crossed his forelegs and smiled at Rainbow Dash after her last confession. "I rest my case."

Gunida couldn't stop herself from smiling at how Nimbus and Rainbow Dash flirted at each. I am so glad I came to Equestria. At least, that's what she told herself until she realized how close Loony Bin was getting to all three of them. "I am sorry to intrude, but" Gunilda started before grabbing Nimbus's face and turning it to the charging Loony Bin, "But he is getting really close!"

Nimbus his face away from Gunilda's grip of her hooves and yelled, before charging Loony Bin, "Rainbow Dash, go and turn on the fire sprinklers. I think I have an idea!"

Nimbus with an effective idea was about as rare as finding a diamond in the rough. Rainbow Dash nodded and tapped Gunilda on the shoulder before leaving. "Make sure he doesn't get hurt.

Right as Nimbus dodged Loony Bin's offensive spell and landed an upper cut to the unicorn's chest, Gunilda asked Rainbow Dash, "Which one?"

The levitation spell Loony Bin had placed around himself deactivated and caused him to fall hard onto the floor after Nimbus had stricken him. He charged up another spell, faster than his last but not as powerful, and shot it at Nimbus.

Like before, Nimbus dodged it and landed another hit on Loony Bin, except this time with a headbutt to the face.

Loony Bin grunted and backed way from the impact. He growled angrily and fired random shots of magic in every direction in front of him. If he had known that Nimbus had made his way behind him, he would not have done so. Nimbus spun around and was about to place a donkey kick to Loony Bin's rear side, but to Nimbus's left, Talitha had Gunilda's pistol held in her mouth with her tongue around the trigger and the barrel aimed at Loony Bin's temple.

Nimbus screamed, "Don't shoot!" but it was too late as Talitha had already pulled the trigger on the weapon. To both Nimbus's and Talitha's surprise, there was nothing. No sound or projectile came out of the weapon Talitha had just fired. She pulled the trigger a second and third time with the same result. Only a click came from the gun and nothing else. Talitha popped the cylinder on Gunilda's pistol open to find out there not even empty shells inside of the weapon.

She swore every word she could into a single sentence and asked Gunilda, "Who carry's around an unloaded gun?" Which didn't make sense to her or anypony else around her. She had literally just seen Gunilda firing flashy shots at the ceiling of Club Dub just a few minutes ago. Only one thing was certain now. Gunilda didn't need bullets to fire a gun. She used her own magic to make the firearm function.

Talitha flipped the pistol over to it's side to see the brand on the weapon read "Crystal Crypt". "Damn it!" Talitha swore again and again before calling out Gunilda's name and throwing it back at it her. "It's a magic fueled firearm!"

Unlike regularly fired guns, Crystal Crypt weapons, mainly the firearms, ran off of magic rather than the physically created ammunition they were inspired by. Due to this, Crystal Crypt weapons could only be fired by the magical users they were registered to. Nopony or creature could take a Crystal Crypt weapon as their own and get away with committing a crime with it. Crystal Crypt weapons could only be purchased by those of of great wealth or those had acquired a license for one.

Gunilda took back her pistol and charged the crystals embedded cartridge inside of it with her magic. The weapon was now reloaded and ready for action! She placed the iron sights in between her sight of vision and Loony Bin. She aimed carefully to not hit Nimbus in the cross fire and pulled the trigger. A red line of magic ejected from the barrel of Gunilda's pistol and made contact with Loony Bin's chest before he could get back up.

Loony Bin fell from the paralysis spell Gunilda had landed on him. There was nothing he could do to break the spell without an outside interference, which is why he was excited when Evening Primrose came back around, disguising herself in her Octave persona.

Nimbus was just as excited to see Evening Primrose as Loony Bin was. He screamed "Octave!".

Evening looked at Loony Bin with apologetic eyes before dressing Nimbus. "I'll be right there." She told Nimbus. Bending to Loony Bin, who was still paralyzed, she kissed her hoof and placed it against Loony's cheek. She apologized, "I'm sorry, old friend", before telling Nimbus and the others to escape before Loony Bin got back up.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"  Loony Bin growled at Evening Primrose as she began to walk away from him. "My brother won't forgive you for this!"

To his surprise, Loony Bin was not expecting Evening to say, "It's alright, he already knows", before she took off behind Nimbus, Gunilda, and Talitha.

Loony Bin couldn't grasp what was happening. He had thought that Evening was betraying Nimbus, not vice versa. What was even more confusing was that Said-So knew about it and didn't bother to tell him. There must have been a logical explanation for all of this. There had to be.

***

Once Nimbus had reached the outside of Club Dub, with Gunilda and Talitha following closely behind him, he turned around to see Rainbow Dash flying outside one of the windows not too long after.

"Liar!" Was the first thing she said to Nimbus when she got close enough to him. "There were no fire sprinklers!" She poked Nimbus in the chest angrily repeatedly.  "You lied to me to get me out of harm's way!"

"It worked, didn't it?"

Rainbow Dash growled at Nimbus for two reasons. Number one: for how right he was, and number two: for using his trust against her. Behind Nimbus, Rainbow Dash could see Talitha behind him, instantly recognizing her from earlier that night.

"Hey, you're the pony who made those stallions go away." Rainbow Dash reminded Talitha.

Talitha didn't address the topic Rainbow Dash had just brought up and changed to another one. "That was stupid of you!" She jabbed her hoof at Rainbow Dash to only have it swayed away by Nimbus defensively. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"What's it matter to you?" Nimbus asked Talitha, getting himself between Rainbow Dash and her before Rainbow Dash said a smart remark.

Talitha stared down at both Nimbus and Rainbow Dash before looking at Gunilda behind to see her putting a grip around her magic pistol. "It doesn't." Talitha shrugged her saddle bags and marched off with Sugar Bomb tucked away in the back of her bags. It was too early and an inappropriate time for Talitha to bring up that she was Nimbus's mother. He already enough drama on his hooves than to deal with her right now.

When Talitha was finally far enough away. Rainbow Dash said and asked, "Well, that's one question I won't ever find out, but" She pointed her right wing towards Evening Primrose disguised as Octave, "Who is that?!" Rainbow Dash was not appreciating the fact that Nimbus had been surrounding himself with mares while she had been away. "How many more are there?"

Nimbus put his hooves up innocently. "Wait, now I know how this looks like." Before he could even explain himself, Nora came running with Sky Forge from the direction Talitha was walking towards.

"Nimbus! Are you okay? We saw the fire and got worried." Nora had Sky Forge trailing a few feet behind her.

"Oh, hey! You two found each other. Who would've known you two would find each other again? Hehehe." Sky Forge tried to play off as innocently as she could, but Rainbow Dash saw right through her act.

"Oh, look there's more!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, moving her wings to point at all the mares around her individually. "I guess you didn't miss me as much as you said." She spread her wings and began to fly off back to her home.

Nimbus pooped open his wings and flew on after her. "Rainbow Dash, hold on, wait! It's not what it looks like! I only two of them."

"Well, that wont help his case." Octave commented.

Gunilda slid her weapon back into it's holster and asked Octave, "I am sorry, but I do not think I know your name."

"Eve-" Octave caught herself before revealing her old name. Calling herself by her new name was still getting some used to. "I'm Octave." she greeted kindly to Gunilda and the other two ponies who just showed up.

Only Nora knew who Octave's true identity was, besides Nimbus, but chose not to reveal it. "What are you doing here?"

Octave looked all around her before answering the question. Even though Loony Bin was paralyzed inside a burning building at the moment, she didn't want to chance how long it would take him to get back up. "Is there anyplace more private that we could discuss this at?" She asked kindly. "Maybe another time and place where there's not any danger?"

***

"Rainbow Dash!" It had been about the twentieth time Nimbus had called after her, "Wait!" He could have flown faster to catch up with her, but that would have just urged her to fly at a speed he couldn't keep up with.

Rainbow Dash swore at Nimbus to go away but he ignored her request.

"I know you;re upset, but could you at least tell me what happened to your mom?" It was last thing Nimbus and Rainbow Dash were talking about before he dove into Club Dub during the shooting

Finishing his last sentence, Nimbus asked again, "Where is she?"

Rainbow Dash finally stopped and braked in the air. Her back was still facing Nimbus but she did answer with, "She's in jail."

Ten thousand questions popped into Nimbus's head as he tried to figure out how and why Rainbowshine would be in jail. "W-what?! What happened?"

There was a slight hesitation in Rainbow Dash's next answer, "You happened!"

"Me?", Nimbus repeated. Nothing of what Rainbow Dash was telling him was making sense. In what possible way could he be the reason to explain why Rainbowshine was in jail. "What exactly happened when I left?"

Forgetting how rudely Rainbow Dash could invade someone's personal bubble, Nimbus backed up and fell on his back two legs when she turned around and barked in his face. "What happened?! Oh, okay. Let's see, two hours after you left, my mom confessed to me that she told you to leave. I got really stupid and angry, told her I hated her and never wanted to see her again. She lied and admitted to killing that pony YOU pushed out the window." Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin and looked up at the sky in a quick and frustrated manner. It looked like she was doing her best to hold back some tears from Nimbus. "What else? Oh yeah! She has a twenty year sentence and refuses to see me every time I go during visiting hours. I dropped out of flight school because I was going through so much shit. And let's not forget, after five years of searching, I find my best friend, who by the way promised he'd FIND ME, dancing in some crappy club with a freaking super model bimbo!"

Nimbus sat in place, shaking in his coat as Rainbow Dash chewed his ass. When she finally finished her anger tantrum, he tried to think of something to say to help calm her down a bit before she bit his head off. "Would you feel any better if I told you she was actually a Princess in another land?" Unfortunately, Nimbus chose the wrong words to use.

"Are you freaking serious?!". Rainbow Dash pushed Nimbus down onto his back and towered herself over him, with her face in his. "You're unbelievable, you know that? I been looking for you in hopes that you could possibly help me turn my life back around, thinking you were going to appear back on my door step someday. But no, you've just been going around chasing Princesses and hanging out with Bat Ponies."

The mention of Bat Ponies clicked a light bulb on in Nimbus's head. "Flower Butt!" Nimbus was thinking about going back to the club and picking her back up, but the glare Rainbow Dash gave him told him that wasn't going to make his case or situation any better after mentioning the bat pony's name. "Actually, Sky Forge is there with her. She'll be okay.", Nimbus said quickly, still underneath Rainbow Dash.

"And Sky Forge, of all other ponies. You chose to keep in contact with her but not me? She's the only reason I found you. What in Tartarus makes her so special?!"

When Rainbow Dash lifted her head higher, Nimbus flinched and anticipated her to headbutt him in the concrete, but he was even more surprised when she slammed her head into his shoulder and started to feel hot tears rolling down his shoulder and onto his arm. Rainbow Dash's sobbing was quiet and tore a hole in Nimbus's guilty heart like a silenced pistol.

Knowing for Rainbow Dash as long as he did, Nimbus still had trouble predicting her crazy mood swings whenever she was angry at him. She always would yell and poke her hoof into his chest all the time, but would instantly switch back to the loyal friend Nimbus loved her for without a moments notice. "I t-thought I was special to you.", Rainbow Dash choked in between her words.

"But you are..." Nimbus released his front legs from underneath Rainbow Dash and tried to hug the back of her wings.

His front hooves went flying up into the air when Rainbow Dash flared her wings up and warned Nimbus, "Don't. Touch. Me."

"Okay, okay.", Nimbus kept his hooves up and away from her to show his innocence.

The crying didn't stop, but Rainbow Dash could talk a lot clearer than she did. "I know why you left, but why did you stay away?", Rainbow Dash sniffled.

Telling Rainbow Dash that he was now a crime-fighting masked vigilante was at the bottom of Nimbus's to do list, right under getting his mane cut. "I didn't want to put you in harm. I told you I was going to be a criminal , remember?" Technically, Nimbus had kept to that word, but probably not in the perspective that he had originally intended.

Rainbow Dash laughed at the thought of Nimbus actually becoming a criminal. "The only thing you're guilty of is being a crappy friend." She hugged Nimbus tightly underneath her with her head still in his shoulder. To Nimbus's relief, she was taking the idea of him being a criminal pretty lightly. Maybe revealing his alter ego wouldn't be such a bad idea. It would definitely build some trust between the two of them.

An expression of guilt flashed on Nimbus's face. "Oh boy, if you only knew." He reached around Rainbow Dash's shoulders but stopped suddenly when he saw that her wings were still standing stiffly up on her back. Rainbow Dash had a pretty good history of slapping Nimbus repeatedly when he consistently pushed her buttons, as well as slapping him when he used the last of the milk too. Jumping through fire, Nimbus stretched his legs out farther and pushed her wings down, hugging her back tighter then she did him.

Nimbus's hooves were low enough down Rainbow Dash's back to make her wings go back down and set them back at a resting state.

Rainbow Dash pushed away from Nimbus with her hoof. "Hey, just because your hooves were that far down when were dancing, doesn't mean you can try and grab a hoof full whenever you feel like it." She threw her hips up to push Nimbus's hooves farther up her back and way from her hind quarters.

Fed up with Rainbow Dash's rules, but glad to have them back, Nimbus asked, "Do you come with a manual? 'Cause you're harder to understand than a C-130."

***

Ceramic plates went soaring and crumbling into the walls when Nora fired them at Sky Forge inside of Nimbus's apartment. Smoke sizzled from her horn and words when she screamed from her mouth as she yelled at Sky Forge taking cover behind Nimbus's only piece of furniture. "What do you mean he's too busy getting some? Getting some what? What could he possibly be getting at-" Nora looked and peered her eyes at the sideways clock hanging in Nimbus kitchen. "Two in the morning. What's he getting with Rainbow Dash at two in the morning?!"

Only Sky Forge's eyes and muzzle were visible above the head of the couch when she looked over at Nora. "Do I need to hook you up with somepony too? I said, he went with Rainbow Dash, probably about to get some."

"Some what? You just keep saying the same thing over and over again!"

Sky Forge ducked back behind the back of the couch when Nora missed her head by a few inches and burned a hole into the door of Nimbus's room. Poking her head through the hole, Flower Butt wordlessly checked to see what the whole commotion was. She had left Club Dub before the firing even started and  gotten into Nimbus's apartment with the key Sky Forge had took from Nimbus to prevent him from avoiding the club this night and heading home.

The tilt of Flower Butt's head gesture at Nora asked her what she was so angry about.

Nora placed her hoof over her headband and threw her hoof back in Flower Butt's direction. "He's supposed to tell me why he sold the wand to that Unicorn Princess. That idiot actually sold it to her! I should've known better than to let him hold onto it."

This time coming out form the left bottom side of the couch, Sky Forge stretched her neck out. "What's so special about these stupid wands you're always talking about? You've had that one on you for years and done nothing with it. What do you need TWO for?"

Nora casted her claw grabbing spell and picked up the couch Sky Forge was hiding behind. She held the couch over Sky Forge, freezing the poor Pegasus in fear.

"These aren't any ordinary wands you just buy off the shelf. These are the Fellowship Wands!" Nora saw the blank expression  on Sky Forge's face, telling her that she had no idea what she was talking. Surprisingly enough though, the perked up expression on Flower Butt's face was yelling the complete opposite. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" Nora asked Flower, before dropping the couch her back in it's original place, narrowly missing Sky Forge's tail.

Hesitating to answer the question honestly, Flower nodded and pulled her head back from the hole in Nimbus's door and opening it up right after from the twist of the door knob.

Nearly throwing herself onto the Bat Pony with the badly adopted name, Nora hung her hooves on the back of Flower's neck and begged her, "Can you tell me what YOU know about them? You're the only pony I've ever known to know SOMETHING about these wands."

Evening Primrose had been little to no help as she had left Club Dub a few seconds after Nimbus had. She told Nora that she "Had some errands to run"...at this early in the morning, and Gunilda had departed away from Nora and Sky Forge just as quickly. The only pony she wanted an audience with was Nimbus. To her knowledge, Nimbus was the leader of their trio.

The turn of Flower's head slipped Nora's hooves right off her neck and falling right back onto the floor. She kept to her silence folded her wings over her head. Flower Butt hadn't spoken a word to any pony since Nimbus had found her.

"She can't talk, Nora. Nimbus has been trying to since he-"

"Yes, I can.", squeaked Flower Butt behind her wings, leaving Sky Forge's mouth hung widely open midway through her sentence. "I-I-I...talking...just gets me in trouble." Flower kept pausing in between her words, not because she had trouble speaking, she was just deciding on which words to choose, carefully.

Nora picked herself up off the floor and placed herself in front of Flower's vision, only to have her turn back way from her. "You won't get in trouble if you're with us." Nora told Flower. She tried to make the Bat Pony more comfortable to turning the flipped over couch back up right and fixing all the decorations she had thrown at Sky Forge back in their rightful place, at least the ones still intact.

Flower Butt shook her head vigorously, regretting opening her mouth and trying to sprint back inside Nimbus's room, but Nora grabbed hold of her tail with her claw spell.

Nora didn't dare call Flower Butt by the full name Nimbus had plagued her with, but begged her, "Flower, please, I need to know. I've read what these things can do. If they're truly as powerful as I think they are, then you know how dangerous they can be." There was no telling what Gunilda or Said-So what do with the power of these wands.

Flower let Nora keep a firm grasp on her tail and hid beneath her wings, where she could be seen shaking underneath nervously. Like Gunilda, Nimbus was the only one she trusted. He was the only pony she came across who was immediately polite to her without judging her based off of her racial appearance.

After tugging on Flower Butt's tail a few times with no result, Nora gave up and let go of her. "This is hopeless!" She growled. "We're going to have to find Nimbus if we want to get anywhere, and he's at Rainbow Dash's. Where ever that is."

Sky Forge curled out of the fetal position she was in. "Are you kidding me? I know where that is."

Nora bolted to Sky Forge and picked her picked by squeezing her cheeks and holding her face up close to hers. "You do?! Why didn't you just say something? Come on, let's go!"

Just as Nora was making her way towards the door outside Nimbus's apartment, Flower told her, "He's still there, but he's with Rainbow Dash.

He's safe."

Nora paused grasping the door knob in her magic claw spell. "How do you know that?"

"Because, I can do this." Flower Butt revealed her head from underneath her wings and let out a high pitched screech that only she could hear. Using her sonar like hearing, she leaned her head to the east and found out that Nimbus was closer than she thought. "He's close, really close."

"I though you just said he was at Rainbow Dash's." Nora said, "Well, that's convenient" , commenting on both Flower's super hearing and the fact that was already on his way.

Flower Butt ducked back underneath her wings and began shaking again with more fear than before. In her soft voice she said, "No, not Nimbus, somepony else. He's right outside, and he's been out there for awhile. I don't know who it is, but it's not Nimbus!"

***

Somehow, Rainbow Dash's door creaked when she finally found the right key to her parents old house. Peering over Rainbow Dash's shoulder, Nimbus looked inside the house to see how much how changed since last he came. A bunch of pictures had either been replaced or rearranged, the living room everypony walked into as soon as they opened the door was still just as spacious as ever, the majority of the furnishing was still in the same position and stayed relatively the same, even the old couch he use to snooze on was still there.

On the floor were a pair aviator goggles that Nimbus had never seen before. There was nothing significant about them other than the fact that they  were there. "Do you go storm chasing or something?", Nimbus asked Rainbow dash, still standing right behind her and waiting for her to walk in.

Keeping still in front of the door, Rainbow Dash guessed Nimbus had noticed the goggles laying in her open floor. "I'm a weather pony, remember? I already told you that." Rainbow Dash paused, expecting a small response form Nimbus, but she continued to talk before walking inside when she didn't hear anything.

"It's dark in here.", Rainbow Dash said.

"It IS past two in the morning.", Nimbus notified Rainbow Dash after remembering he heard the large bell tower ring no too long ago. He grew impatient with her standing right in the door way. "Are you just going to keep staring at the inside of your house until Celestia raises the sun, or what?"

The wind pushing through Rainbow Dash and Nimbus's manes was the only thing making a sound. Like always, Rainbow Dash's mane blew beautifully in the wind, turning her mane into a beautiful dance of colors. "It's just weird. It's been so long since you been here, I didn't realize how empty this place really was until now."

The floor beneath Rainbow Dash's hoof creaked as she took her first step inside her house. Nimbus arched his head up and looked up at the ceiling to see a couple trophies that had been placed right over head of the door way as soon as he walked in. "It is meant for a family of four.", Nimbus commented, taking a personal spark of happiness that the trophy raised above all the rest was the very first and only trophy he and Rainbow Dash won together.

A smile came across Rainbow Dash's face when she walked to the area of her refrigerator. When she opened the door and bent over to reach something on the lower shelf, Nimbus thought he heard her say, "There's two of us now. We could get started on the third one."

Nimbus's head nearly snapped his head 180 degrees after closing the door behind him. "W-what did you just say?"

Raising back up with a cold mug in her mouth by the handle, Rainbow Dash repeated herself, "I said, I don't have anything to offer, but would you like some cider?"

A few strands of Nimbus's mane fell out when he ran his hoof through the front and to the back of his mane. "Oh, uhh yeah sure. I swear I thought you said something else." A thought of what Rainbow Dash's and Nimbus's child would look like crossed his mind and made him chuckle.

A thin smog of white raised from the bottom of the mug Rainbow Dash set down on the table for Nimbus. She went back to the refrigerator to get one, and the last one, for herself. "What did you think I said?", Rainbow Dash lightly laughed, ignoring how cold the mug was she grasped.

Taking the mug Rainbow Dash offered him, Nimbus raised it barely above his chin. "You don't want to hear what I think you said." He took a quick sip of his cider. He had accounted on it being home made since it didn't have any sort of logo on it, and the fact that it was in a mug, but there was more flavor than he anticipated for it to have.  The taste was sweet and it swam down his throat smoothly. It was some of the best cider he had ever had.

Rainbow Dash leaned on the opposite of the table across from Nimbus and gave him a sly smile. "Amuse me."

Nimbus waved his hoof at Rainbow Dash nonchalantly. "Mmm, nah, don't worry about it. It was stupid." He didn't want to explain to her why he was thinking of a name for the their first child.

Rainbow Dash kept cross hairs on Nimbus as she took her first drink of her cider, waiting for him to explain himself. She could have pushed the table into his chest and pinned him between the wall, but she already had him sitting in the corner of the room with very little escape options. He wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. Or so she thought.

Shifting his head left to right, pretending like something on the blank walls of kitchen caught his attention, Nimbus stood up out of his chair and said, "I actually need to get going. It's getting pretty late and I have a lot of things to do tomorrow morning." It was the only way he could see getting out of an awkward conversation.

"You have to go now?", Rainbow Dash asked, removing the hostility from her voice. "But you just got here, can't you stay? We can catch up."

As tempting as staying back and chatting it up with Rainbow Dash sounded, Nimbus didn't realize how tired he was until he started to make his way to the door and yawned. "No, I REALLY have some important things to do tomorrow, and I haven't gotten any rest for..." Nimbus yawned involuntarily, even the thought of trying not to yawn made him do so. "I'm sorry, but I really got to go."

Rainbow Dash's eyebrow arched up as she asked, "What exactly DO you do now?"

Dropping the ball to Rainbow Dash about Nimbus being vigilante would have only given her another reason to not let Nimbus leave. "It's personal. Don't take it personal, but I just..." Nimbus chose his words carefully. "I don't need you worrying about me."

"Don't worry?" Rainbow Dash rose up out of her chair with her hooves on the table. Seeing how carefully Nimbus was avoiding the subject, Rainbow Dash admitted, "Okay, now I'm worried." She pushed herself away from the table she was sitting at and touched Nimbus's wing. "I want you to be fully honest with me. The last time I saw, you promised me you were going to be criminal, like everypony saw you as. You don't actually go through with that, did you? You're not doing anything-" She paused and braced herself for the worst possible answer before finishing her question, "-illegal?"

Still facing the door, Nimbus sighed and dropped his wings down to the carpet floor. "Look, I just can't, okay?" After how much danger he almost got Rainbow Dash without the mask, he didn't want to push his chances.

Rainbow Dash figured she would have to gain his trust all over again if she wanted him to spill the beans about whatever it was he was hiding from her. "Can't you just tell me where you're going?" She asked.

"Sweet Apple Acres" Nimbus answered, when Rainbow Dash began to stroke and massage the back of his wings. He hadn't checked to see if anypony was following him like all the other times he flew home. He could be putting Rainbow Dash in great danger, but her teasing and flirting was making him put everything at risk. She missed him just as much as he did.

"Sweet Apple Acres?!" Rainbow Dash answered a bit excitedly. "I know who lives there. Apple Jack!" Rainbow Dash released Nimbus's wing and stood in front of him. "It's not far from here at all, it's only ten minutes. Just rest here - with me." When it looked like Nimbus was about to decline her offer again, Rainbow Dash politely asked, "Please? We can catch up in the morning and head there when you're ready."

Getting the rest he needed was something Nimbus couldn't refuse. Plus, if it was as close as Rainbow Dash said it was, it saved him about two hours of flying home and flying back to find the place. Nora hadn't even told him where the place was earlier. He sighed and looked at Rainbow Dash with a smile. "Okay, I'll stay. I don't have to go 'till the evening anyways."