Mistress Do Well: Extradition

Mistress Do Well: Extradition
by milesprower06

Luna's Ruminations

Princess Luna sat silently in the treetops, a clear view of Rainbow Dash dozens of feet below in the forest. The critters and crickets of the night was the main ambiance as the Princess of the Night kept silent watch on the Pegasus that had evaded all searches for her for nearly the past year.

Of course, now she knew how she had done it; the Cloak of the New Moon. The enchanted garment hid her identity to anypony and everypony; including those she had direct contact with. According to the stories, she could say her name, and anypony listening would be none the wiser. Luna was currently contemplating how dangerous it was to leave it in her possession. But every time she considered taking it away, each time she went back to plan of not letting her have any idea there was outside influence tonight. The fact that she was alive, sleeping down there, was nothing short of miraculous. Cadance's ingenuity had alerted them to her location, and her having taken the cloak off prior to her suicide attempt was what ultimately saved her life. Luna had detected her fading consciousness as she began to slip away. Even a few seconds later, and it would have been too late.

Luna was grateful she had managed to get Cadance to return to her castle. Not only was it a leap of faith on her part, but Luna's as well, to believe Rainbow would finally begin to heal. The seeds of hope had been planted, on both her side and Twilight's. For a very brief moment, Luna had considered sending her down to Mustang Springs, but had eventually ruled that possibility out. Noctilucent and his adoptive family might be a good choice, but she doubted it was the right one for the Element of Loyalty. Rainbow didn't strike her as somepony who would be particularly patient with foals and misbehaving orphans.

Luna had decided awhile ago that she would make a special effort to aid those who had tried to take their own lives. The signs were always there in the dream world, which was why they were so lucky Cadance had found Rainbow - there were no suicidal tendencies in her dreams when she first disappeared, but then she became invisible to Luna; no doubt having acquired the enchanted cloak and was sleeping with it on. Her dreams were her own, and the cloak provided a powerful barrier that the Princess of the Night could not penetrate unless she was physically close to it, as Cadance had been at the Crystal Heart.

Noctilucent was one of the 'Suicide Solutions' program's best success stories. After Luna stopped his suicide attempt at the very last second, the dapple blue pegasus had, with some light coercing, gone to the Mustang Springs Orphanage as a caretaker, and slowly dealt with his demons and began to heal. While finding a romantic connection with the librarian Quercus Alba, or 'Quirky', he had connected so strongly with the mostly-unwanted orphans that Luna had its status officially changed to a therapeutic foster home. The foals and orphans were his, Quirky's and Holly's. A family in every way but blood had been created in the middle of the desert. He was currently taking classes-by-mail at Los Pegasus University to further his studies in Foal Psychology.

And their separate upbringings couldn't be farther apart, either. Rainbow had a good upbringing. She came from a safe home, and a loving family. Noctilucent had not. His home and family were broken from the very beginning; he had never known his father and barely knew his mother. He had been slowly broken over the course of his whole life, and was slowly put back together with the help of Luna and the orphanage. Rainbow, however, was shattered in a matter of days, and tried, unsuccessfully, to glue herself back together while hiding behind the Cloak. Cadance's glance into her mind confirmed it; she needed Twilight and the others and she was afraid to admit it to herself. Forgiveness was the key, and Rainbow was terrified of even approaching the lock.

Mustang Springs had been right for Noctilucent, but it probably wasn't right for her. Besides, as comforting as his story might be for her, Luna knew getting her back to Ponyville would reap better results. Especially with the limited time frame they had to work with. They only had a few days left for Twilight and the others to be legally charged with her kidnapping. But even if she didn't get there in time, that would not stop Luna. She had made their nightmares haunt them until they decided to stop running away; until they turned and confronted their crimes. Until then, they wouldn't know a peaceful night again.

Then, there was Rarity. The unicorn who had started all this was still comatose in a hospital bed in Canterlot. She was wondering how she could perhaps use Rainbow to jolt her out of it, so justice could finally be served, and she could get closure.

Everything else, she was unsure of. There could be no telling where this was going to go. Would she forgive Twilight? What of the other four? Rarity?

Rainbow was the navigator of her own destiny. Luna could only give her a compass, and pray she would follow it.

Luna knew any geas she placed on Rainbow's mind would not last very long at all. But hopefully, it would be all the time she needed.

Her horn glowed, and she grasped Rainbow's mind, binding her will to her for a precious few hours.

"Return to the Crystal Heart with the cloak's hood down, and act upon what you feel."

It was done. It was only a start, but it would have to do.

With that, Luna left the treetops and departed into the night sky.

As tragic as Rainbow's situation was, there were always other ponies to help.