Mistress Do Well: Extradition

Mistress Do Well: Extradition
by milesprower06

February

Spitfire had been in Canterlot Castle countless times, but it had always been for some regal party or performance. But being specifically requested for an audience by Princess Celestia herself? That was a first. She had arrived the night before and got a hotel room. She got up at 5 AM and prepared herself in her honor guard uniform. She came to the front gate and was ushered right through without any delay. Upon seeing her uniform, the throne room guards saluted, and opened the doors for her. The Wonderbolts Captain stepped inside, and walked down the red carpet at an even pace. Princess Celestia sat on her throne, reviewing documents with her secretary.

Spitfire walked up, removed her aviator shades, and promptly saluted.

"Princess Celestia, Your Highness."

Celestia rolled up the scroll, handed it to her secretary, and dismissed her.

"Captain Spitfire, thank you for coming."

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Princess?"

Celestia cleared her throat, and rose from the throne.

"It has to do with one of your acceptance letters from a few months ago."

The Princess magically gripped a file folder from the side of the throne, opened it, and levitated a laminated letter over to Spitfire, who took it and looked it over. It had her signature.

"This is Rainbow Dash's acceptance letter."

"Yes. We believe it was used as leverage against her."

"What? I know she was involved in some kind of kidnapping, but how would they know about this?"

"Because her kidnappers were her best friends, I'm afraid. They put her through three days of physical and sexual abuse. According to testimony, she was coerced into cooperating by an offer of being let go in time to answer the acceptance letter."

"But, we never received an answer from her."

The Princess brought another item out from the folder, a small plastic bag filled with cyan feathers.

"They clipped her primary flight feathers. The ringleader had no intention of keeping her word."

"By Luna's moon... I had no idea."

"Twilight came to her senses and helped her escape on the third night, but she was gone by the time the sun came up. She was angry and scared out of her mind. She hasn't been seen since, nor would she be able to fly yet. We were hoping the Wonderbolts could help us with finding her."

"How can we help, ma'am? We could send our backup and reserve teams out on search."

"I don't believe that will work, Captain. I've had dozens of search teams out for three months. However Rainbow is hiding from us, she's hiding in the dream realm as well, so even Luna can't find her. I'm thinking of a different approach. We can't find her, so our best bet is convincing her to come to us. She was always a huge fan of the Wonderbolts. I was hoping you could put something in your pamphlets and brochures. Let her know that you'll still take her in when she's able to fly again."

"And we would, without question. Especially now that I know the details... I... I had no idea."

"If I may offer some advice; don't dwell on it. I've always gotten quite angry when it's on my mind for more than five minutes, and that's no way to go about your day."

"What happened to her friends, Your Highness?"

"Nothing."

Spitfire was dumbfounded.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, and we have our reasons. Rainbow took the only piece of direct incriminating evidence with her when she disappeared. Princess Luna strongly believes if she truly wanted to see them punished, she would have left it behind, or come forward with it."

"I'm at a loss for words, Your Highness. But yes, the Wonderbolts will do everything in our power to try and get Rainbow to return."

Pinkie sat in front of the mirror on her dresser, brushing her hair before bed. Her old bedroom was just the way she remembered it; plain and simple. Brushing her hair wasn't something she had done since she got her cutie mark. Sleeping with balloons had done the job, but that was back when it was all... Well, all Pinkie-esque. But now, her hair had lost all of that life since that night she ran from the basement. It had returned to the straight, flat mane she had when she was a filly, and that short bout of insecurity on her birthday that one year.

She had a feeling it would be staying that way this time, instead of being brought back to its normal liveliness by her friends' surprise party.

It had been an ordinary day. She had asked her family to not celebrate her birthday this year. She didn't feel like partying. She didn't feel like celebrating anything anymore. When the house arrests were lifted in November, she had been the first one out of town. She didn't say goodbye to anypony. Not Cup Cake or Carrot Cake, not her friends; just took Gummy and took the first train south to the rock farm. Her family was rather disconnected from the outside world of anything not concerning rocks, but even they knew something was wrong when Pinkie came home.

For the past three months, she had been inconsolable. But they had given her her old room, and she gladly helped out on the farm to earn her keep. They never pried for details on why Pinkie had come running home, and she was grateful for that.

She finished with her mane, and set the brush on the dresser. She let out a sigh at her reflection in the mirror, got up, and walked over to the bed. A soft knock at the door interrupted her climb into bed.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, and Maud came in, a package on her back.

"Hey Maud, what can I do for you?"

"Actually I was wondering if there was anything I could do for you. You haven't been yourself, and you never miss an opportunity to throw a party." Maud said, in her usual expressionless, flat tone. Only a Pie could detect the concern in her otherwise disinterested-sounding voice.

"No, thanks anyway sis, but this isn't something anypony else can help me with. I just had to get away, and I'll be honest, I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back."

"Mmm," Maud responded in affirmation. "Pinkie, I know you didn't want to celebrate your birthday, but we're your family, and part of being a family is unconditional love. Marble and Limestone were insistent. Marble really wanted to find some way to help you, and you know Limestone; there's no stopping her when she wants to do something." Maud said, taking the brown paper-wrapped package, tied loosely with twine.

Pinkie swallowed the lump in her throat and accepted the package.

"We know you've been having a lot of bad dreams, and the three of us thought it might help." Maud explained while Pinkie undid the twine. She unfolded the paper, and the lump in her throat came back with a vengeance, and tears welled up in her eyes as she opened up the paper to reveal a homemade dreamcatcher. It was a series of 14 small flat rocks hanging from one larger pendant, with the Pie family crest carved into it.

Pinkie bit her lip in a futile effort to buy precious seconds before the impending eruption of emotion. She quickly, but carefully hung it on the left bedpost, before coming back over and throwing her hooves around her older sister, bursting into tears. Maud was never one for expressing emotion, but she still knew when her little sister needed somepony. She returned the hug, and held her grieving sister. She didn't need to know the specifics of what she was going through; it didn't matter. What did matter was being there for her.

The nightmares were terrible and unrelenting, but Pinkie knew she deserved nothing less. She ran away not once, but twice. Every time she tried to forget how sadistic she acted in Rarity's basement, her mind reminded her when she slept without fail. Rainbow's screaming, crying, and begging... She laughed and giggled at it. She took joy in it, and deep down, she didn't know why she had. She had always hoped that her nightmares had not been overheard by the rest of the household, but it was a moot point now.

After several minutes, Pinkie calmed down. Maud got up, wished her a happy birthday, and left her in her room.

There were no nightmares that night.