Trials

How could you do this?

What is wrong with you?

Twilight, how could you?

All of that, and more had her friends yelled out in pure confusion, shock, and rage after Rainbow Dash left their room. Twilight felt horrible, it was never meant to have turned out like this. But it had, and now her friend was upset with her, more than upset, she had felt betrayed, and it broke Twilight's heart.

It had been a long night, and Twilight had managed to explain to her friends what her intentions were. They didn't agree, but they did understand her enough to come down, but they were still disappointed in her, which she didn't blame them for. It would take time, but they would forgive her. Right now, they needed to talk to Rainbow..

They had been at her home, looking at the usual places, but she was nowhere to be found. Last place for them to look was at her parents house, and after some spells that allowed her and her friends to walk on clouds, except for Fluttershy of course, they made their way up to Cloudsdale.

"I hope Rainbow Dash is here.." Fluttershy said as they made their way towards the house.

"Poor Dashie.." Pinkie said, her usual poofy mane deflated. "She must be so sad.."

Applejack looked at Twilight, she wasn't saying much, in fact it seemed she was almost trying to vanish. While Applejack was angry and disappointed, she knew Twilight's intentions were good, misguided, but good, and so she tried stick up for Twilight a little. She had made her point in not being happy with all of this, but she also made a point to show Twilight they were still friends.

"Let's see if she is here." Applejack said, walking up to the door and knocked. The group waited for a bit, and just as Rarity was about to suggest to knock one more time, they heard somepony move about inside. The door slowly opened, revealing an older stallion, his short rainbow mane and his light grayish blue coat instantly made them aware this was Rainbow's father.

They had only met him a few times, but from what they recalled, he was a cheerful and friendly stallion, but his eyes, his expression, they told them that he was not so happy to see them. "Yes?" He simply said, his voice stern, giving them all a hard look.

No one spoke at first, so Applejack decided to speak up first, taking off her hat in respect, she looked Bow Hothoof straight in the eyes. "Mr Hothoof, pardon our intrusion. But we wanted to know if you by chance have seen Rainbow Dash? We, didn't part on the best of terms, and we're worried about her.."

He looked at Applejack, then at her friends. Sighing, he nodded. "Yes, I've seen her."

"You have?" Fluttershy trotted up beside Applejack. "Please, is she here, can we see her?"

Bow sighed again. "Listen, she's here, but I'm not sure now is the best time... She's finally asleep, and.." Looking at Fluttershy being on the verge of tears he finally relented. "Come inside, we can talk there."

As the five of them entered, Windy Whistles came down the stairs. "Bow? Is everything alright, oh.." She frowned, seeing her daughters five friends standing in the hallway. "Please, give her some time, she is finally sleeping.."

They all nodded while Bow gestured towards the living room. "We can talk in here."

"I'll make some tea." Windy put in, trotting into the kitchen.

Once they all got seated, either on chairs or the couch, Bow planted himself in his recliner, looking at all of them expectantly, as a father waiting for an explanation. Since Applejack had taken the lead on the conversation before, it seemed everypony expected her to take the lead once again.

Applejack however was not really sure what to say, or where to even begin. But clearing her throat, she tried. "I don't know how much Rainbow told you, but-"

"Everything." Bow cut in, silencing Applejack instantly. "She told us everything.. She told us about Shadow, he being the Ranger, about her involvement, what happened at the Starlight Festival, and... How he was arrested." At that last part he looked at Twilight, his eyes a bit harder that time, making Twilight shrink a bit in her seat.

"She came in last night.." Windy continued, walking into the room with a tray on her back. Rarity quickly stood up and helped hoofing out cups. "I've never seen my little girl so upset.. Took us a long time to get her to explain what was going on.." Closing her eyes, she took a moment to compose herself. "She cried for a long time before she finally fell asleep.."

By instinct, all of them wanted to go up there and hug Rainbow, to tell her everything was going to be alright, but they also knew it was better to let her rest and calm down before any such attempts were made. Twilight wanted to make it up to Rainbow, to apologize and explain herself, but she was not stupid enough to try it right now.

"I want to understand.." Bow said firmly. "We've heard Rainbow's side of the story, now I want you to tell us what is going on.."

Twilight knew it was her turn to speak, and so she said. "Everything Rainbow has told you about Shadow is true, but, the part of me telling about him, and who he was.. It isn't like you think.." Taking a deep breath, Twilight got ready to explain all over what happened. "As you must know, the Ranger was being seen as a criminal.. A vigilante without regard for the law.. So, after he took down the gang's leader, after everything.. I told my brother, who is a captain of the Royal Guard everything.. I did it because I thought it would close the case on the Ranger, give Shadow and Rainbow an official ending without fearing arrest.."

Twilight looked down, feeling tears in her eyes. "I really had no idea they would barge in on him, arrest him.. I thought it would be a simple matter..."

"Have you spoken to your brother?" Bow asked.

Twilight nodded a little. "He says it's out of his hooves.. I even spoke to Princess Celestia, and she says she won't interfere before he has had his fair trial."

Windy frowned. "They are putting him on trial?"

Twilight nodded again. "Most likely, when he received his judgement he can formally receive a pardon from the princess.. But that depends on what princess Celestia thinks of the matter after the trial.." Silence fell upon the room, the mood was bitter, and everypony drained to the core.

Rarity spoke up this time, trying to make some more simple conversation. "So.. Did you ever meet Shadow?"

Windy smiled slightly, seeming happy for the subject change. "Yes, we did.. Our Rainbow brought him over for dinner." she put a hoof to her mouth and giggled. "Both of them were very nervous."

Bow chuckled. "Although no one will ever be good enough for Rainbow." He said with a playful twinkle in his eyes. "That colt comes darn close.." They all shared a small laugh, except for Twilight who simply felt worse for what she had done, for what she had ruined.

Still, she needed to fix this. "I will do what I can.." She said, making them all look at her. "I'll find a way to get Shadow out, and-"

"Mom?" A raspy voice called from upstairs. Every pony froze and held their breath as they heard hoof steps coming down the stairs. "Mom, do we have any..." Rainbow appeared in the doorway to the living room. "Oh.. It's you guys.." Rainbow's eyes were red, she looked exhausted and her mane was a mess, well, more so than usual.

"Howdy, Rainbow.." Applejack said a bit nervously.

Rainbow sighed. "Hey guys, sorry for just taking off, but I just couldn't be in the same room as..." Her eyes narrowed, then grew wide as she realized Twilight was in the room as well. "What are you doing here?" She bit out, glaring.

Twilight stepped forward. "Rainbow, please.. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I promise I'll do everything I can to set things right and get Shadow out. I promise tha-"

"No." Rainbow interrupted, glaring at her so called friend.

"W-what..?" Twilight felt that single word sting worse than she imagined.

Rainbow did not care if she hurt Twilight's feelings in this moment, she was the element of loyalty and so, having one of her best friends going behind her back, causing her coltfriend to be arrested like a common criminal, ruining a moment that was supposed to be the happiest one in her life... That hurt worse than she could ever imagine.

"I don't care why you did it, Twilight." Rainbow began, looking firm, ignoring her friend's worried looks. "You did it without talking to us first, because once again, Twilight Sparkle knows what is best for all of pony kind, once again, Twilight has to be the good student and write her report straight away! You couldn't even give us a day, Twilight.. Not even a single night to rest.. You just decided what was best, like you always do.."

Were her words unfair? Perhaps, but they were spoken in rage. To Rainbow, no amount of good arguments, logical decision making or even good intentions would soften the blow of loosing Shadow. Their night was ruined and his life was now in danger, no amount of explanations or apologies could fix that.

Twilight could see that, and it only made her look down at the floor, tears once again filling her eyes as she sobbed. "I'm.. I'm so sorry, R-Rainbow..."

If Rainbow could, she would probably cry as well, not because she felt sorry for Twilight, but because she had betrayed their friendship and they were in all of this mess. "I'm not the one in danger, Twilight." Rainbow said, almost coldly, a tone none of them were used to, but Twilight just took it. "I'm not ready to forgive you Twilight, not sure I'll ever be ready.. But if you're really sorry, you can help find a way to get Shadow out.."

With nothing else to hope for, Twilight nodded, wiping away her tears. "I will do all that I can.."