contingent

Soarin sat on the train with the Elements, Spike, and little Scoots. Earlier that day Twilight had received a letter explaining that not only did they find Flare and are bringing him in for questioning, but that he had Dash as well. She is alive, broken a bit and will get better, but alive.

She was brought to the hospital in Canterlot by some guards and a medic. Flare was currently in holding cells awaiting trials at the capital as well. That was all they needed to hear in order to be reassured. Immediately all the Elements began to plan for the train that night.

Soarin naturally wanted to go. He had been a part of this since the beginning and wanted to see his friend safe and sound. And rightfully apologize for not flying her home. Twilight originally didn’t see it fit. As soon as Soarin offered to go along, she started to say otherwise.

“Soarin, you’ve been so much help this past week and we appreciate it so much.” Twilight started. “But now that she is safe I don’t think you need to worry about it anymore. You’ve done your job. No need to feel obligated to do this. We’ll make sure she can thank you when she is back here in Ponyville, ok?”

“I don’t think you understand, princess.” He stated. “I want to go see her as a friend who cares, not my job and what I’ve been doing to help the investigation. Which is really nothing.”

Twilight all at once understood why Soarin has been doing all of this. “Oh, I didn’t realize -” She slaps her hoof on her forehead. “I’m sorry Soarin. I’ve had my head in those official scrolls on the case and researching stuff on kidnappers -”

“Had a lot on your plate.” Soarin summed up.

“Yeah, that I didn’t even think you'd be here for more than your job and the investigation.”

“It's fine.Me and Rainbow are firiends. This has nothing to do with my position as a Wonderbolt captain.”

“Oh. She hasn’t really said anything. I’m really sorry again for assuming that you were just here for the case and-”

“Twilight.” He interrupted. “It’s fine. Don’t sweat it.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

Now that they were all on the same page, they all left on the train. Which is where they were now. They anxiously waited for their trip to be done. All they wanted was to see Rainbow safe and sound. Well, that and to know what happened. Everypony was curious. This Flare guy had her for nearly a week, anything could've happened…

“That Flare is behind bars now, right?” He asked no one in particular.

“Yes.” Twilight answered. “Well, in holding right now. But there was the matter the... body... found on the scene. That is enough to have him under custody. We already have proof of several things he could be arrested for. But official court needs to be held for legal reasons. You know.”

“I still can't believe the Flare we knew as kids was capable of such horrendous things.” Fluttershy said.

“You said you haven't seen him since you were kids.” Rarity stated. “A lot could have happened since then.”

“And you said that you and Rainbow were never really close to the feller.” Applejack also pointed out.

“Still...” Fluttershy trailed off.

With that it grew silent as the ride continued. Eventually they made it to Canterlot and left the train, Scootaloo making sure she had her saddle-bag, and all left straight for the hospital. Upon arrival they were greeted by the receptionist. A light blue mare with a maroon mane.

“Can I help you all?” She asked.

“Yes, we're here for Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, yes. Of course. Room 287.”

The group began to migrate that way and spotted the room in no time. They walked in one by one, Twilight in the lead, Soarin with Scootaloo in the back. The doctor was just beginning to leave as they were entering.

“Oh” He said, surprised. “You must all be Rainbow's friends.”

“That's us!” Pinkie spoke up.

“Right. Well, she is still sleeping at the moment should be waking anytime now. Hasn’t woken up since she got here. And I understand that there is an officer headed here later, correct?”

“Yes” Twilight answered. “Officer Shield has been called in to question Dash and get her official story on what happened. She should be here in a little while.”

“Excellent.” The doctor said. “Then we are all on the same page. Would you like the papers on her injuries and such? ”

“Yes actually. That would be useful.” He handed the papers to her, smiled, and continued his way out of the room.

There were several chairs off to the left of Dash's bed and a couple more to the right. The group made to go sit down. Soarin made his way to the farthest seat away to the left and let Scoots sit next to him.

Rainbow has looked better. Her right wing was all bandaged up as well as most of her forearms. It was clear that she had several gashes that got stitches. It was a little hard seeing Rainbow like this. She's always so bold and tough and went head first into anything life threw at her. But here she was, beaten and bruised. Soarin looked at Scootaloo, who was staring at the broken mare.

"You all right, Scoots?" He asked.

She took her sight off of Dash. "Yeah. I'm ok. It's just weird, I guess. Seeing her like this."

He ruffled her mane. "It's alright. Once she gets better, everything will go back to normal."

She smiled up at him. "Yeah."

"The poor dear." Rarity said "Just look at the state she's in."

"She's fine though." Applejack stated. "She's here, safe, and getting proper treatment. She'll be fine."

The others silently agreed. Having her here was the road to recovery. What happened, happened, and they'll worry about it later. Twilight was reading the papers on Dash very closely, her expression getting very grim towards the second page.

“Everything alright there, Twilight?” Soarin asked.

“Hm?” Looking up from the papers for the first time since receiving them. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

“You seem unsure. What do those papers say?” He was very confused at this point as was the whole room. Everyone looked towards the young princess with the same puzzled expression.

“Nothing. It’s fine.”

“Doesn’t sound fine.” Scootaloo asked. But before Twilight could answer, slight mumblings could be heard from the hospital bed. Everyone instantly became quiet and looked on in anticipation for Rainbow to wake up.

“Ugh.” She said as she opened her eyes. “Where am I?” She tried to sit up but winced in pain and laid back down.

“You're in the Canterlot hospital.” Twilight answered.

“You were a mighty mess when they found you.” Applejack said.

Soarin stayed away in the back while the friends reunited. He ushered Scootaloo to go ahead, but she turned around to grab something out of her bag first. It appeared to be a thing of tinfoil.

“Pinkie, I would appreciate less hugs right now please.” Rainbow was telling the pink mare. “They kinda hurt more than anything.”

“Oh” She got off of Dash and backed off a bit, smiling. “Sorry.”

Scootaloo then came up to the bed, hopped on, and sat right next to Rainbow.

“Hey there squirt.” She said, ruffling the filly's mane. Dash then noticed the tinfoil “Watcha got there?”

The young pegasus handed it to her. “I-it's for you.” Rainbow un-foiled it to reveal a piece of apple pie. “I told you I'd save you a piece...” Tears were forming in the brim of her eyes now. “I.. I saved it for you. For our afternoon practice. A-and when you never showed-”

Scoots was crying at this point, unable to continue her sentence.

With how brave the little filly was acting through this whole ordeal, it was easily forgotten that she was going through a lot. Rainbow Dash was the world to her. To have her guidance figure, close friend, even parental figure in most cases, up and disappear like that can be frightening.

Dash set the piece of pie on the side table and pulled Scootaloo in for a hug, ignoring the pain. She let her cry for a few minutes, the others in the room looking on, before her sobs died down. Rainbow pulled from the hug and looked at the filly.

“Hey, I ain't going no where. Ok? I'll never disappear again. Pinkie Promise.”

Scootaloo wiped her nose, sniffing, before responding with a smile. “Good.” With that she hopped off the bed, satisfied with her greeting, and went to sit down.

Light knocking was heard at the door. Everyone turned to see a mare police pony standing in the doorway. She was light brown with a sandy mane. Her cutie mark was that of a riot shield.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" The officer asked

"Of course not." Twilight answered.

“I’m officer Shield. I understand Rainbow has some information we could use for the Manehatten murders? You’re a victim as well as the only witness.”

“Murders? Who died?” A curious Scootaloo asked.

“Alright!” Soarin said, standing up. “Why don’t you and I go get some ice cream, huh? That sound good?” He started to usher the filly out the door.

“I wanna hear what’s going on!”

“Maybe some other time, ok? Let the adults talk.”

“I’m twelve! I’m pretty much a young adult already.”

“I’m twenty-three and still don’t get to be treated as an adult. Let’s go get some ice cream.”

“Spike, why don’t you go with them please.” Twilight instructed.

“But -” He began to protest before Twilight interrupted him.

“No arguing.”

With that the three left.

"So, Rainbow." Shield addressed as she pulled a chair up and sat right next to Dash.

"Yeah?"

The cop pulled out a clipboard and pencil with her magic. "Ready to tell me what happened? Do you want everypony else to leave the room?"

"No, I want them here. I-I don't want to explain it more than once."

"Alright then. Girls, please no interrupting no matter what you hear. Got that? This is a witnessing account that will hold up in court along with your spoken testimony, Rainbow Dash." They all nodded. "Good. Now Dash, talk at your own speed and don't feel that you need to let it all out at once. We can take a break."

"Yeah, alright." She paused, took a deep breath, and began her tale from when she left the stadium.

She described how Flare was acting funny, how he knocked her out, and how she woke up chained to the floor and not knowing what was going on.

"He came down and described what he had been doing in the past. All the mares he's killed and such. From-from there he said not to fight and just...just forced himself."

Dash was having a hard time continuing the conversation, not wanting to talk in the first place. She was sitting there staring down at her hooves. But a comforting hoof from Fluttershy found its way to her shoulder which was enough to make Dash continue. She needed to talk about this. Not only for bringing Flare to justice, but to let her friends know the situation.

"I decided not to fight back. Just let it happen. I was chained down and if I didn't want to die I just... There was nothing I could do. He decided he liked me and didn't want to get rid of me. So he kept me around. I became his little toy."

"How many times did he...?" Shield asked skeptically, not knowing if saying the word was ok around the victim at this point.

"Rape me? I don't know. At least once a day. More on some days. Lost count."

"I see. And what happened on that last day? With that other mare."

"Sunset Daze?"

"Yeah, her."

"Flare came back that day and said he had a new mare. He brought her down to the basement and told me to tell her the ropes. So I did. But when he started to... You know, she fought back. So he killed her."

"With the screwdriver?"

Dash nodded. "And  those guards showed up shortly after. You guys know everything else."

The officer finished some notes and put the clipboard back into her saddle bag. "Thank you, miss Dash. You have no idea how much your witness account will have on this case. All those other unfortunate mares who didn't make it alive will receive justice as well. He freely admitted to doing such acts and we have enough evidence from past cases to put him behind bars."

"Glad I could help." Rainbow said half heartedly.

Officer Shield left at that point saying saying she'd send them word on the case. As soon as she was gone, Pinkie zipped to Dash and bestowed her a hug.

"Ah! Pinkie! I'm hurt remember?"

Ignoring her, the pink mare continued to hold her friend. "We had no idea what had happened was this bad."

"Yes" Rarity agreed. "We were under the assumption it was a kidnapping and abuse."

"Last thing to cross our minds." Applejack summed up.

"Yeah well. It happened." Rainbow said. "Whatever. Just move on from it."

"That’s a positive attitude." Twilight said. "But if you ever need help or anyone to talk to, we’re all here for you.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Just then Dr. Scalpel walked into the room carrying some papers.

"We have some good news miss Dash. Your tests came back and you’re completely in the clear. No diseases, no pregnancy.” She handed the papers to Rainbow who began to read them. “If anything seems off please stop in and we’ll see if something may have slipped by. Highly unlikely though.” The doctor left.

Dash slumped in her bed. "Thank Celestia."

Just then a little orange filly made her way into the room with Soarin and Spike in tow.

"Hey Rainbow!" Scootaloo greeted happily. "You doing ok now?"

"I'm fine squirt. Nothing to worry about."

"Well that's good to hear." Soarin said.

“I thought I saw you earlier. What’re you doing here?”

“He’s been helping us find you all week.” Applejack said.

“He was a real help.” The princess added.

“Ah, well.” Soarin said, scratching the back of his head. “It was nothing really. What’re friends for?”

“Apparently for saving you from psychotic assholes.” Dash said.

“Language, Rainbow.” Rarity scolded.

“Buttholes.” She corrected herself.

“Yeah well.” Soarin started. “You’re safe now. So where you staying while your wing is out of commision? Can’t exactly fly home all the time.”

“I forgot about that.”

“I got my whole castle.” Twilight offered. “ You can easily stay there and even have Spike help you with anything you need.”

“That’d be great, Twilight. Thanks.”

“We can go get your stuff and Tank when later when they let you out of here.”

“That’d be nice. When do I get to go? How long have I already been here?”

“You’ve only been here a day and the doctor said you should be fine to leave today.”

“Good. I’m done being confined. I wanna walk around.”

“Just be careful.” Twilight warned. “You’ve been kind of inactive for a whole week.”

“I’m fine.”

_____________________

It was a quiet ride home for the Six, Spike, Soarin, and Scootaloo. Rainbow was a little wobbly at first but quickly regained ability. Her right wing was all bandaged up as well as other various parts of her body. A few stitches here and there but nothing too terribly bad.

Twilight teleported Rainbow to her home as they grabbed Tank and anything else Dash might need. They went back to the castle and Twilight showed Rainbow the spare room. The pegasus walked in and plopped her things on the ground and set Tank off to the side.

“Thanks, Twilight.”

The young princess placed a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Anything for a friend. I’ll leave you to it. We’re all having dinner in the dining hall tonight, so we’ll be down there.”

“Alright. I shouldn’t be long.”

The alicorn left Dash to her business. She put her blanket up on the bed and shoved her bag under it. She got Tank’s food and water bowls and set them in the corner.

“Well. This is our home for a couple months.” She mumbled to no one. Tank immediately made himself at home and slept in the corner. “Glad you’re comfortable.”

She plopped herself on the bed and laid there. She was alive. She did it. Her plan worked and everything was falling back into place. She’d have to talk to Spitfire about her training though, no way was her wing going to be ready in three weeks. But that was easy to work around. She’ll just go to the next one they hold. Everything is fine. Everything seemed fine. The doctors told her she was fine. Was she fine? She was fine. She had to be fine.

Flare was behind bars and she was lounging in the comforts of a freaking castle. She was still going to take the next Wonderbolts step. She was still going to heal.

“Hey Dash?”

The pegasus yelped and jumped, landing ungracefully on the floor. She looked up and saw Soarin standing in the doorway, a surprised look on his face.

“I - Um. Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Rainbow got up. “It’s fine. What’s up? What’re you doing here?”

“I’m eating dinner with you guys. I was invited.”

“Oh. Gotten cozy with my friends while I was away, have ya?”

“Yeah well, we all spent a lot of time together while trying to find you. Anyway, dinners ready and such. Twilight said I should come retrieve you.”

“Right, thanks.”

“You ok?”

“Hm? Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

“I just. Well, with all that’s happened. I don’t know. You seem off.”

“I’m fine!” She shot back rather angrily.

“Whoa, sorry. What even happened anyway?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” With that, she left down the hall to get to dinner. She realized she hadn't really eaten today and was starving. The thought of having real food was starting to make her stomach hurt with want.

She didn't have intention to be mean at Soarin. It kind of just, happened. She was starting to feel guilty and made a mental note to apologize later.

She got to the dining hall and sat down with everybody. Food was spread across the table. Looked to be some lentil-barley burgers with fruit, fried chickpea and arugula Pita sandwiches, loads of hay fries, and more. She started to drool at the sight. Rainbow quickly grabbed some and began to chow down. Soarin made his way in and sat down at the table and began to eat with the others.

“Aw man! This is so good! Thanks, Twilight.” Dash mumbled with a full mouth.

“Actually.” Spike piped up. “I made it. Have you seen Twilight cook?”

“Let’s not talk about that.” The alicorn stated.

“Whatever! I don’t care. It’s good.” Rainbow said, finishing her second burger.

“Rainbow please.” Rarity said. “Manners.”

The unruly pegasus just loudly slurped her drink, not breaking eye contact with the proper unicron. “I do what I want.”

“Ugh, whatever.”

Rainbow just chuckled. It had been a while since she laughed.

It felt good.