Mistress Do Well: Extradition

Mistress Do Well: Extradition
by milesprower06

Homecoming

"R-R-Rainbow...?" Blaze stammered, unable to believe his eyes.

"Can I come in? I don't want anypony to see me out here."

The stunned Blaze was quick to nod, and step aside. Dash stepped in, and Blaze closed the door, before stepping forward and taking Dash into a tight hug as he began to weep. Dash didn't really know how to react; she had never seen her father cry before. Her mother, Firefly, a dark pink pegasus with a dark blue mane, came out to see what the commotion was.

"Dashie!" She nearly shrieked, and came up opposite her father and likewise embraced her, leaving her squeezed in a sobbing parents sandwich.

After nearly a full minute, they reluctantly began to release her, not wanting to let her go, and their hearts sank when they took a longer, more objective look at her.

Their daughter's mane was quite disheveled, looking like it hadn't seen a brush in quite some time. Her eyes gave away the clear impression of being sleep deprived. She appeared just a bit leaner, but nothing to be alarmed about. They couldn't see her wings, but she had gotten up here, so they had to guess they were alright. Lastly, she barely managed the weakest smile. This was not the daughter they remembered at Hearth's Warming Eve nearly two years ago now.

"Something smells great. Did... Did you make enough for three?"

Her voice was soft and defeated. They reassured her, beckoning her into the dining room. Firefly got her seated across from them while Blaze got a steaming hot bowl of his Spicy Storm Cloud Soup. It had been one of her favorites ever since she started to take to spicy foods. Blaze had barely gotten to his seat when Rainbow picked up the bowl and began to sip from it. The pepper spices used in the preparation heated and tingled the back of her throat and warmed her chest as it flowed down. Just like old times...

"So..." Rainbow began, setting her bowl down gently. "How much do you know? Ab-About what happened?" Rainbow asked her parents as they watched her. The two of them exchanged glances.

"Sweetheart, you don't have to talk about it if you-"

"C-Can you please just answer the question?" Rainbow interrupted. It wasn't forward or aggressive, but rather pleading.

Blaze looked over to his wife, silently debating which one would let her know.

"Celestia let us see Princess Twilight's notes." She told her.

Dash let out a sigh, taking another sip of soup.

"I don't want to talk about it, it's just... Part of me was hoping it didn't get out very far."

"It didn't." Blaze began. "We pestered Celestia to tell us what they did to you, and she warned us - three times, in fact, of the contents, before she finally relented. They investigated it for five weeks."

Firefly left the room momentarily, and came back with a pamphlet, setting it beside Rainbow's bowl of soup.

"They never stopped looking for you. Royal search teams went back and forth on all major paths for months looking for you. They even got the Wondebolts to help."

Rainbow looked down at the pamphlet. It was from a Wonderbolts air show.

COME HOME RAINBOW DASH! WE'RE WAITING FOR YOU!

"They were never charged. I don't know if you knew that." Blaze continued.

"I do now." Was Rainbow's simple response.

"It took me and your mother considerable time to come to terms with that. Luna had to console us with the fact that their guilt was eating them alive in their sleep."

"Good. It means they still have to pay their own way. No bed and three meals given to them." Rainbow said, continuing into her soup.

"That's the only thing that made us feel better too. That, and the fact that the unicorn who started all of it was beaten within an inch of her life. Still in a coma up in Canterlot." Firefly stated.

"Rarity." Rainbow said, just above a whisper.

"Yeah, her."

"We took as much time off from the Weather Factory as we could, but we eventually realized there was nothing we could do that the royal guard teams couldn't. We weren't sure how long we could hang onto hope... That was last Spring... And now you show up right on our front door."

"Yeah. I'm sorry... I know it hurt not hearing from me, even telling you I was okay, but... I needed to be alone, to try and figure some things out."

"Water under the bridge, darling. You're here. And we won't tell anyone, if you don't want us to."

"Thanks. I... I don't think I'm ready to... Deal with all that yet." Dash told them, finishing off her bowl of soup.

"Look, the flight up was a long one. I know I just got here, but I'd like to get some rest."

"You can do whatever you'd like, sweetheart."

Firefly got up from the table, and Rainbow followed her down the hall. Her mom opened the door at the far end, and stepped aside so Rainbow could go through.

"Is it just the way you remember it?"

Rainbow slowly strolled into her old bedroom. Very little had changed since she had left after she got a job with Ponyville's weather team.

"Yeah... Yeah it is."

Firefly came up to her daughter, and gently hugged her.

"I'm so happy to see you're okay, hun. Let us know if you need anything, alright?"

Dash returned the embrace.

"Thanks, mom."

Firefly released her daughter from the embrace, and left after giving her a reassuring smile, silently closing the door.

Rainbow took a deep breath, and removed her cloak entirely, for the first time in... She couldn't remember when. She turned to her closed door to look at herself in the mirror mounted on the back of her door. Staring back her was an exhausted, defeated pegasus whose year abroad had gotten the absolute best of her.

The yawns started to get to her. She went back to her bed and hung the cloak on the left front bed posts. She set her saddlebags beside the bed, and opened them. She dug through the left bag and brought out the basement tape. As much as she wanted to trust her parents, there was part of her that didn't trust anypony after the incident at Neighecho Inn. She wasn't going to leave herself or her possessions vulnerable and have her parents come in while she was asleep, and take that tape. It was bad enough they read about what happened; they didn't need to see it. She took the tape and slid it under her pillow, and then climbed into bed herself. Though she had spent the last few months spending the nights on errant clouds, there was nothing quite like her own cumulus bed. Mere seconds after she rested her head on the pillow, she was out.

Luna sat on the gently rocking boat in the black ocean for... She had lost count. By this point, it had been over three hundred times. Her heart was heavy with grief. Every single night she had done this, and every single night she had called Rainbow's name to no avail. Several week's ago, Celestia had even suggested she stop, but she refused. She had to believe that somehow, some way, she would pierce the veil.

Tears flowing her face, she took a deep breath and called her name.

"Rainbow Dash!" she yelled out into the vast expanse. Her echo died out as it always had, with no result, and she cast her gaze back down to the bottom of her dinghy.

Then, something changed.

A single beam of sunlight broke through the clouds and shone down on the waters. Luna looked up, as if the sunlight was hitting her heart as well.

'I feel her...'

The Princess of the Night stood up in the dinghy, and took flight, and started towards the beam of light, her connection with Rainbow's dream.

'Despair... Helpless... Another nightmare... No...

Rainbow had to be somewhere down under the depths. She had finally taken off the cloak, and the veil was dissipating. She flew as fast as her wings would take her, and as she closed in on the beam of sunlight, she concentrated, and reached out across the dreamscape. She touched minds in Ponyville, the Everfree Forest, Dodge Junction, and the Badlands, and selected the ones she was looking for. Four bright glowing spheres joined her over the ocean; purple, yellow, pink, and orange. They reached the area where the light was hitting the water, where it was rich blue instead of black.

Luna craned her neck, charged her horn with a high amount of magic, then fired it down to the water. The impact of the beam made a gargantuan splash, then began to form a maelstrom as it penetrated the depths. As the maelstrom expanded its depths reached 100 feet, an object started to be revealed under the water. It was a cobblestone structure. She felt Rainbow in there, pleading for help.

'Rarity's basement.'

Before she had gotten the cloak, nearly all of her nightmares took place down in the basement. She was not going to allow this anymore. She would use all her ability here, right now.

"Go, help her! NOW!" The princess commanded.

The four spheres went into a bomb dive towards the structure in the center of the violent maelstrom, and Princess Luna fired another powerful beam towards the structure.

Rainbow found her hooves chained to the walls and floor once again, as she was completely restrained in the basement. She started to shiver as she heard the shadowy unicorn figure descend the stairs.

"No... Help... Please help me..." She cried.

The room violently shook, and a white beam shot through the roof, and the ceiling began to crumble. Just moments later, four glowing spheres crashed through on all sides of the beam and landing on the floor around her. The purple and orange spheres began ramming and attacking the chains that held her, while the pink and yellow spheres flew against the unicorn monstrosity, while the walls and floor continued to be assaulted by the white beam above.

Dash clenched her eyes shut and screamed.

Everything went silent.

Dash shook in fear for several moments, refusing to open her eyes.

"Rainbow...?"

Still shivering, Dash opened her eyes, and found the chains, the basement, and storm above were gone, and she sat in an infinite white space, with the four spheres around her. Slowly, the spheres dissolved, revealing their occupants; Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack.

Rainbow's lips trembled as they closed in on her from all sides, and wrapped their hooves around her in a group hug. She began to sob as she basked in their warmth.

High above, Luna hovered, invisible lines of telepathy linking the dreams. It was far more strenuous than it looked. But she would hold this dream together for as long as she needed to. She wouldn't be able to find out where Rainbow was, but this was the spark that was needed. Together, they had freed Rainbow from her nightmare, and were now comforting her. They could heal from this. Now all that was needed was the next step.

But Luna couldn't figure out what that next step would be. It was impossible for it to come from her end; Rainbow's whereabouts were unknown, and she didn't believe she would tell her if she went down there and interrupted the embrace of her friends. The decision was hers. But here it was, clear as a full moon.

Her loyalty still endured. She wanted to be with her friends.