Author's Note

Back again with another chapter, you guys. Hope you enjoy it. Also some. . .sensitive words may be in this chapter, but I assure you they are there for the sake of the story, and not to be taken lightly or taken away from anyone who may have had the unfortunate act in question happen to them, which you have my deepest sympathies and support.

Energy can't be created or destroyed, and energy flows. It must be in a direction, with some kind of internal, emotive, spiritual direction. It must have some effect somewhere.

-Keanu Reeves.

A Lesson In Redirection

A Claim To Faith. . .

Starlight Glimmer may have bit off more than she could chew. Then again, that could be said about many of her previous exploits if she had not been adequately prepared. Twilight Sparkle and her friends would prove that she would need all her years of experience to navigate.

When Princess Celestia offered the idea to pose as one of her friends to conquer and divide their ranks made the most sense seeing as her star pupil was admittedly on the fence about her actions, but this would undoubtedly gather their attention and be able to rally their minds to the right side once again.

Or the lesser option would be put into effect.

Copying Ranbow Dash's appearance and voice was one thing, but having to constantly maintain her mannerisms and thoughts to pass off as legit was in a whole another world in itself. Plenty of ways her mission could go right, but only a few could make it go very wrong, mostly by Twilight's nosy self. Again, she often questioned why somepony with the regalness and power that Celestia had would entrust her most coveted position to an inexperienced pony who spent more time studying the practice of magic than actually taking the delve into the beyond.

All of the codices, and even an amateur like Twilight would be able to turn the very nature of Equestria on its head.

Speaking of the resident pony currently giving her a headache. . .

''Rainbow Dash!'' Twilight stomped back and forth in front of her, the bloodshot look in her eyes and gritting of her teeth at the last 6 hours would have put any normal pony in a mental institution. And sadly, Twilight herself was close to that very point if she failed to get any answers. Why; why did her friend, one of the ponies that helped save and protect Equestria and preach the message of the magic of friendship and represent her respective Element of Harmony lie? ''What could possibly cause you to lie and accuse Duncan of something like that? Are you trying to make all of our work be for nothing for Princess Celestia?!''

''Hmmm, the lungs on this one,'' thought Starlight, internally rolling her eyes and resisting the urge to fire a blast between her eyes to silence her. Permanently. She would have to sell this guise for as long as she could, or at least as long as Celestia deemed how good of a hoof she had over her subjects to sway them against her target, but she knew it was more than that. Anything to ensure her rule and power remained unquestioned. ''Regardless, if she continues. . .''

''-I mean, really?! Going so far as to suggest an accusation of something like that? That is too far of a prank!'' Twilight barely managed to shout through gritted teeth as her hoof struck the floor of Ponyville General, actually managing to crack the tilled floor in her fit of indescribable anger. How? Why? Why?! So much progress was being made, and everypony began to warm up to the idea of Humans being the more plausible reality versus something to be feared. Duncan wouldn't; he couldn't. Twilight. . .she had to ask Rainbow outright. Twilight slinked over slowly, eyeing one of her best friends with a softening glance. ''Rape?'' Twilight whisperered.

Starlight nodded. Time to get back into 'character'. ''Yes, why l-lie about this, Twilight? I have no reason to; I'm shocked as you are, but I guess what Princess Celestia said to us actually rang true,'' Starlight willed herself to cry a few crocodile tears to push the envelope more. ''I'm aching; in pain, I feel. . .used. Dirty. I-I tried!'' Twilight flinched at her tone. ''I tried to. . .''

''-I think it best to take it slowly, dear. You must be in more shock than you realize,'' Nurse Redheart slowly wormed her way into the fray, bringing a clipboard with the results of her test. In all her time working, Rainbow was the by far, the most. . .expressive and spirited when she was admitted, nearly giving the old nurse an appointment to get some new teeth as she fought with the doctors and Ponyville Police to get her settled into a stretcher long enough to calm her down and perform their tests. ''Quite the kick on you,'' Nurse Redheart chuckled nervously, attempting to lighten the mood. ''I have the results of the test.''

''Yea,'' Rainbow glared, snorting in her direction at the eagerness of the medical staff. So quick to stick, poke and prod. ''Test me when I told you that I didn't need one! That was bucking invasive!'' Rainbow slammed a hoof onto her bed, her body and more sensitive area seriously aching at their invasiveness. Though she could care less about it being about some other pony when it came to having a rape kit performed on her, and mostly against her will (if not for blowing her cover to act), it was more comparable to the act itself. ''I'm the victim here!''

''And I am sorry, truly I am. But these are standard operating procedures when we end up with patients who have been. . .raped,'' Nurse Redheart wanted to truly shy away from the topic, and every single time, she did. But, part of her duty as a nurse, and a genuine pony wanting nothing more to help others, it was a necessary, albeit soul-wrenching process only for the few who rarely chose the route, and rather it was chosen for them. ''Now, and I just want to be as sure as possible when I ask this, but you do know who this Duncan is, correct?''

''Yes, but me telling you that won't have him in jail any quicker! I'm fine!'' Rainbow shooed away the nurse, intent on making sure that her pursuer would be seeing the behind of a jail cell for a very long time. ''You're worrying about the wrong thing!''

''And while I will not take that want away from you, we also have a job and duty. Wherever he is, we worry about it later. Our priority, right now is you.''

''And while I would be inclined to agree, Nurse, Rainbow has more to worry about than just her little 'accident.' Our friends,'' Twilight gestured to the closed brown door on the far side of the room where a lone officer pony stood. ''are out there, and they want answers. They do, as well as Ponyville about this, this just didn't come out of nowhere.'' Twilight frowned. ''Help me understand.''

Rainbow sneered, knowing Twilight was getting dangerously close to the point of no return. She needed to rile her up a bit further, to test the limits of their friendship, and the true power of the Elements of Harmony. The pieces were almost falling into place a bit too easily. ''Well, you certainly don't sound more on my side than I thought you would. If I didn't know better, I'd say you think I was lying.'' Rainbow turned her head away, trying to get the slightest bit comfortable if she were to be essentially confined to this room for the foreseeable future. ''And understand what? we're supposed to be friends. You should be taking my side more than him.''

Twilight reeled, her next string of words getting caught in her throat at Rainbow's comment, tears nearly falling off of her face and onto Rainbow's sheets. Why would Rainbow ever go to the lengths to doubt their friendship? After all of the things, they had been through? ''T-That's not what I meant when I said-''

''-No, you know what? Save it! You already made it up in your made that I must be lying!'' Rainbow chuckled, though nothing was truly funny. ''I guess you must not be able to take one second to think that I, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, could be telling the truth. You just want to defend Duncan so bad, and because he's a Human,'' Rainbow nearly spit on the floor where Twilight's hooves were, just to make a point. How easily for her to consider tearing apart the fabric of their relationship as friends, and over Duncan, no less. ''Taking his side won't make Princess Celestia any less mad; you're doing the literal opposite.'' Rainbow closed her eyes, wanting the conversation to be over with. ''Just go.''

The realization took a moment to dawn on Twilight about what Rainbow laid out, though not in so many words. ''Rainbow.''

''Leave, Twilight. Come back tomorrow, I can't stand to look at you right now.'' Rainbow said, mentally checked out and wanting nothing more but to hear Redheart's little speech and then get on to bed. ''You should know out of anypony that you won't be getting any answers from someone like me unless I want to tell you.''

Even a pony like Twilight understood a losing battle, and frankly, she was tired. Having to deal with the immediate fallout of Rainbow's accusation, the townsponies, and their chase of Duncan and Luna out of town, would be another issue to address sooner than later. On top of that, to add insult to injury would no doubt be the fallout that would come from ponies opening their mouths and blabbering about the presence of a human, and too soon for it to be a good thing!

An uphill battle, but for how long?

''Fine, Rainbow Dash,'' Twilight's tone finality took Rainbow Dash by surprise. She expected more pushback, or at least a final plea before folding, but then again, she was Celestia's student, though not for much longer. ''But our conversation is not over, not by a long shot. I won't try and make you understand my thought process, but I want you to know that I try to remain neutral-''

''-Keyword, try,'' Rainbow drly cut in.

''-Besides that, we are friends, and we need to get all of the facts straight before any concrete judgment can be made. But the bigger issue would be going to find out where Duncan and Princess Luna went off to; they couldn't have gotten far.'' Twilight said, chewing her lip at the thought of opening that can of worms. ''We just need to take things one step at a time,'' the last past was said mostly to herself as she walked towards the door as Nurse Redheart discussed the nature of her test results while also questioning the existence of Humans.