“Pinkie Pie?”

The confusion in Rainbow Dash’s voice was evident, and she stared at her friend with a mixture of concern and aggravation.

“Heya, Dashie,” Pinkie waved meekly, forcing a little smile. “How’re ya doing?”

“Pinkie,” Dash furrowed her brows, and opened the front door a little wider to face her better. “Do you even know what time of night it is?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” Pinkie nodded solemnly, and it took Rainbow Dash a full beat to catch on to just how miserable she sounded. “I came by earlier and-and I guess nopony was home.”

“I have a job, you know.” Dash frowned, and Pinkie hung her head.

“I know, Dashie. Understandable if you had to leave Will on his own for a little while.”

Deep down, Rainbow Dash felt like she knew that was what Pinkie was on her doorstep for. Like she was deliberately trying to steer into the conversation without being blunt about it.

Which raised the question of since when is Pinkie Pie subtle?

“It happens,” Dash said conversationally, thinking.

“I guess you’re right,” Pinkie nodded nonchalantly. “You know, speaking of William…”

And Rainbow Dash’s hunch was right on the money.

“He’s already in bed.” Dash narrowed her eyes slightly. “And h-”

“Actually, Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie Pie rubbed her foreleg uncomfortably. “I can’t do this; I’m not good at trying to talk to somepony, being ‘roundabout’ with it. We need to talk.”

Dash sighed through her nostrils heavily, and replied “So I guessed.”

“Do you mind if I come in?” Pinkie gave her what she hoped was a winning smile.

“Are you just going to keep beating on the door if I say no?” Rainbow Dash asked dryly.

“Probably,” Pinkie admitted with a lopsided grin.

Agitatedly, Dash leaned on her hoof, putting weight on the door and opening it enough to allow her friend in. Pinkie nodded thankfully, watching the disgruntled Rainbow Dash make for another room. Pinkie waved behind her, allowing the others inside before closing the door behind her without relocking it.

“Come on, Pinkie,” Dash called quietly from the kitchen. “I’ll make us something to drink, and you can get this out of your system. I couldn’t sleep anyw-”

Dash stopped dead in her tracks as she noticed the rest of her friends standing silently behind Pinkie Pie, each and every one of them as stalwart and unmoving as the stone foundation of her ground level home.

“What’s going on?” Dash backed toward the living room suspiciously, the eyes of her friends never leaving her. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie. Applejack and Twilight. All standing still, all uncomfortably waiting for some other unfortunate soul to take the lead.

“Like I said, Dashie,” Pinkie said forlornly. “We need to talk.”

“Out,” Rainbow Dash hissed dangerously. “You – none of you – have any right to be in my house without my say so!”

The pegasus’s sudden shift in attitude seemed to throw Pinkie off enough that she couldn’t find anything to counter with, prompting Twilight to sigh heavily. Her shoulders sagged, and she shook her head.

“There’s no need for things to get out of hoof, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight reassured her, stepping past Rarity. “We’re all adults here, and we are going to resolve this issue in the manner that adults should. Responsibly.”

“That still doesn’t -!” Dash retorted, only to be cut off by Rarity.

“Just bear with us, darling,” Rarity rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner everypony can just go home.”

“Nice,” Pinkie scowled. “Real nice, Rares.”

“Some of us actually need beauty sleep, dear,” Rarity shook her head. “Have you seen me sleep deprived? Ugh, absolute beast in the mornings.”

“Aw, shucks,” Applejack poked the unicorn roughly in the side. “Ain’t like losing a little bit of sleep is gonna ruin your day that badly.”

“Thank you, Applejack,” Rarity said sarcastically. “Truly, your words of wisdom are an inspiration to us all.”

“Ladies!” Twilight snapped, immediately taking a deep breath and running a hoof through her mane in anxiety. “Look, I know everypony is under a lot of stress right now, but just try to keep it together-”

“Can somepony clue me in?” Rainbow Dash glowered at them all. “On just the little things, you know, like why you’re in my house?”

Of all of them, Fluttershy was the only one that remained silent; and upon Rainbow Dash raising her voice, she was only encouraged to make herself seem even smaller and less noticeable.

“Okay. Okay,” Twilight huffed. “This is hard enough without everypony at each other’s throats. Rainbow Dash, I really, really am sorry about this.”

Dash rolled her hoof expectantly through the air, wings ruffling in frustration.

“Gee, Twilight Sparkle confronting me like a criminal in my own home. Again.”

The unicorn cleared her throat again, and finally stutteringly asked “Rainbow Dash, have you… have you hurt William?”

Dash was on the verge of another brash reply, and the words seemed to stick in her throat on the way out when she was caught completely off guard. She coughed in surprise, and her magenta eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

“What?” she spluttered incredulously.

“I’m serious, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said sourly. “I have attained sufficient evidence to believe that William has suffered a-abuse.”

Twilight almost stumbled over the last word, so unfamiliar and uncomfortable with such a word as she was. It even had an unpleasant name.

Rainbow Dash opened and closed her mouth several times, struggling to speak through her disbelief. She glanced around at her friend’s uneasy stares in both horror and disgust, none of them except Pinkie Pie holding her gaze for more than a second.

“Are-are you out of your fucking minds?!” Dash breathed, offended.

“Dashie, I think – I know that Will’s been hurt bad,” Pinkie said sadly. “I think –”

“No!” Rainbow Dash said loudly, mortified. “No, no no no! Listen-listen to me, I would never, ever hurt William! I-I could never hurt him like that, I love him!”

Rarity shifted in discomfort beside Applejack, who muttered something inaudible about not having any real reason to get involved. If anything, Fluttershy only attempted to blend into the wallpaper with spectacular failure.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began softly. “We all know the things that you’ve been through, and, well… is it possible that you might have attempted to reenact-”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” Dash blurted in revulsion, her voice beginning to crack. “Do you-do any of you really think that I would ever hurt somepony, let alone my own colt like that?”

“You aren’t incapable of hurting somepony, Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie Pie stated coldly. “Nopony really is.”

Applejack blanched at her friend’s unexpected outburst.

“Dadgum, Pinkie,” the cowpony eyed her warily. “That was an awful dark thing t’say.”

“Don’t give me that,” Pinkie Pie frowned, her mane slowly going flatter and flatter. “You sound just like Twilight.”

“Ladies!” the unicorn barked again, causing them all to flinch. Twilight cleared her throat loudly, focusing their attention.

Twilight exercised her deep breathing routine, desperately trying to stay in control of the situation.

“Look, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight explained slowly. “This entire scenario is going to be utterly pointless if nopony is cooperative; and if anything, we’re all on the same side here.”

“YOU JUST ACCUSED ME OF ABUSING MY SON!”

Twilight cringed, and said testily “I’m sorry that there’s no delicate way to put it, Dash.”

“Oh, so now I need to have it put delicately to me, huh? Is that it?” Rainbow Dash spat angrily, her glare burning a hole in Twilight. Before she could bare the full brunt of her wrath to the unicorn, Pinkie Pie stepped between them.

“Easy there, pumpkin pair,” Pinkie said guardedly, keeping close watch on the two of them. “Twi’s right, Dashie. Will does show a lot of signs of being hurt, and you being so antagonistic isn’t helping anypony. Especially not Will,” she added, and Rainbow Dash backed down guiltily.

There was an inaudible sigh of relief from the majority of them as the tension in the room slowly began rescinding, but the cold, awkward silence remained.

“The fact of the matter is,” Twilight began uneasily. “William is not in a good position right now, not if there’s any fear at all that you might begin to… relapse.”

“It’s not fair!” Dash stamped her hoof against the floor angrily. “You don’t have the right to just-just take him away from me!”

“We all knew that this was only temporary, and-and... Dashie, this is as much for William’s good as it is for yours,” Pinkie said unhappily. “It’s obvious that something is still wrong, and from what he’s told me, your looking after him isn’t helping either one of you at all.”

“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said huffily. “She’s right; and this intervention is technically more for his sake than it is for yours. What he needs right now is a healthy, familial environment.”

“Like I can’t give that to him?” Rainbow Dash heaved in distress. “I-I’m his mother, he needs me!”

“Does he need you, or do you need him?” Pinkie Pie asked her quietly, the sadness evident on her features. Dash was nearly on the verge of tears, pulling desperately at her multihued mane in misery.

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight tried to offer her a hoof in reconciliation, which the pegasus only shrugged off. “It will only be long enough to ensure that the both of you are… are okay. And he’ll be very close by; maybe with somepony familiar like the Apple family –”

Applejack immediately snorted, and said “I done told you once, Twi, I done told you a hundred times, I don’t want that-that thing that close to my family!”

“Don’t you dare talk that way about my son!” Dash growled viciously, butting heads with the earth pony.

“Ain’t my fault that thing’s unnatural-”

“Shut up, Applejack!”

“-And if anything, you should be yellin’ at Discord – this was all his fault in the first place!”

“You leave Discord out of this!”

Applejack eventually backed down, warily watching the infuriated pegasus. Vainly hoping to avoid making a bigger ruckus than she already had, Twilight turned pleadingly to the only other unicorn in the room.

“Maybe Rarity…?” she started in exasperation, only for her friend to shake her head intently.

“I’m sorry, darling, but I’ve already got my hooves full with Sweetie Belle over the summer, and I just don’t think that I have the proper room and board, and I’ve got my business to think of –”

It was obvious that Rarity was thinking up excuse after excuse, and Twilight furrowed her brows in frustration as she thought.

“You-he can’t just be taken away from me,” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked, and she found it difficult to stand. “He’s mine, don’t you get that?”

Fluttershy, who had up until this point been completely silent, finally spoke.

“Hasn’t anypony realized just how loud you all are?”

Every head in the room slowly swiveled in her direction, but it was Rainbow Dash to think of it first.

She barreled down the hall, her friends close in tow; but by the time she pried open William’s door and discovered it barren as cold air blew in through the bedroom window, it was already far too late.

William was already long gone.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no…!” Rainbow Dash hyperventilated, pulling out thin tufts of her mane. “No, no, no!”

“Everypony just stay calm,” Twilight insisted nervously as Dash checked under the bed.

“Where are you, Will? William?!”

“He’s not here!” Pinkie said in distress, stepping over a small piece of cloth with the emblem of the Cutie Mark Crusaders on it and peering out the window.

“Evidently, dear,” Rarity huffed drolly. “Thank goodness we have your keen observational skills!”

“Maybe if you’d try looking for him instead of looking down on everypony else, we might find him before tomorrow!” Applejack scolded the unicorn loudly.

“William, where are you?”

“Oh, don’t you take that tone with me, missy!” Rarity retorted coldly. “You’re the one who didn’t want anything to do with the thing!”

“Yeah, well, neither did you!” Applejack bellowed in her face. It was only a matter of seconds before the entire room was filled with shouting, arguing, crying ponies, each panicking for their own reasons; and the noise only grew louder with every passing moment.

“William, please come out!”

“Can everypony calm down please?”

“YOU AIN’T GOT THE RIGHT TO BE TALKING DOWN TO NOPONY!”

“♪Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty…!♫”

“Perhaps if somepony weren’t such an uncivilized brute, I wouldn’t have to be!”

“STOP IT!” Fluttershy screamed, clasping her hooves over her ears and nearly collapsing to the floor. “Stop it, all of you, stop it!”

The butter colored pegasus wiped her eyes, forcing herself to remain as stoic as she possibly could as her friends all fell silent, staring at her in shock.

“Just look at yourselves!” Fluttershy scolded bitterly. “One tough situation, and everypony loses their minds! You all ought to feel ashamed of yourselves!”

Somehow, without even raising her voice above the level that it was already at, she managed to bludgeon them all into quiet submission within a matter of moments – and not a single one of them failed to hang their heads shamefacedly. Fluttershy was on a roll, however, and did not relent.

“Is it hardly any wonder that the poor colt ran away?” Fluttershy asked them all accusingly, looking around the room slowly. “Everypony calling him ‘thing’ instead of ‘him’, fighting over who has to take him-” she held her gaze on Applejack and Rarity the longest on this part, “-and not even bothering to treat William like he was any more than… than a common animal!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t think that she had seen her friend this flustered in ages, and for the strangest reason, she couldn’t quite seem to meet her eyes.

“Did any of you once – even once – bother to ask him what he wanted?” Fluttershy asked softly, her voice so quiet that she could barely be heard. But hear her they did, and not one of them had a ready answer.

“No.” Fluttershy filled the silence. “No, you didn’t. Not a single one of you even bothered to ask William how he felt. Did you, Rainbow Dash?” she asked just as Dash tried to lift her head without crying, only to stare wateringly at the floor as her vision was blurred with hot tears again.

“Really, Fluttershy – ” Twilight tried to speak uncomfortably, her voice weak. She was cut off before she could properly defend herself, though.

“And you!” Fluttershy stepped forward menacingly, which was far more threateningly than Twilight ever would have anticipated even though she stayed just as quiet as before. “Gathering up everypony in the middle of the night when you knew that nopony else wanted to do this, just so that you can fuel your sense of social justice!”

Twilight stuttered and spluttered, incapable of facing her ire.

“Shame on you, Twilight Sparkle. Shame on you.”

If Twilight seemed upset by the previous events, she covered it well; but Fluttershy’s words left her shaken, and it was a long time before she even raised her head.

“I-I’m sorry.” She whispered croakily, and wiped her eyes.

“I don’t think that it’s me that you should be apologizing to,” Fluttershy patted her on the shoulder kindly. “And there will be plenty of time for that later.”

“You’re... you're right,” Twilight cleared her throat loudly, and gave herself a good shake as her determination returned. “Right now, we need to find William. Everypony split up, we’ll break off into search groups in differing sectors,” she took charge as quickly as she regained her composure.

It took them only a matter of seconds to have come to grips with the situation, but it was Pinkie Pie who stopped her friends from taking off with what was technically a very important question. Rainbow Dash was already out, no longer held back from zipping through the sky as she desperately sought William.

“Hang on…” Pinkie held Twilight from marching out the door, thinking.

“Questions are going to have to wait until after we find –” the unicorn began, only for Pinkie to shake her head.

“Just wait a second, Twi,” Pinkie frowned. “Just where would a runaway colt go to first?”

Twilight was on the verge of lecturing her over the importance of sticking to the plan for better results, but Fluttershy answered for her.

“Well, let’s see,” the pegasus said quietly. “The poor dear is probably crying his little eyes out right about now…”

This earned a round of torn and guilty looks from all around, but Fluttershy ignored them.

“And he’s probably scared, and upset, and would probably do what any foal would do – trying to find a place where he feels welcome.”

“And where would that be?” Twilight asked in exasperation.

“You don’t think he’s trying to run back to Sugarcube Corner, do you?” Pinkie inquired almost hopefully.

“Or to th’ library, maybe,” Applejack scratched her chin thoughtfully. “He’s there sometimes on Tuesdays, ain’t he?”

“Saturdays,” Rarity deadpanned. “And I think Twilight would be the one to run away to a library if something went wrong.”

Fluttershy pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance, letting out a long, drawn out and irritated sigh.

“Girls, I love you to death, but really… you’re all a bunch of idiots.”

William sniffled miserably, forehead tight against his knees as he sat against the thin wooden wall. It seemed like no matter how much he cleared his eyes, they only burned and itched more, whether he tried to ignore it or not.

He was in the process of trying to rub his eyes with his fists and maybe stop the wretched waterworks when a couple of quiet knocks came at the door to the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse. William nearly leapt out of his skin, jolting back against the wall suddenly and lightly thumping his head.

The head of Fluttershy quietly nosed her way in through the unlatched door, a look of both worry and relief on her face.

“I kind of thought that I’d find you out here,” she gave a little smile and spoke softly, and William fought harder to make himself stop crying.

“Not much of a secret headquarters then, is it?” William struggled to clear his throat, and Fluttershy nodded with a little titter.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders,” she grinned peacefully. “Most widely known secret in Ponyville.”

Neither of them spoke for a few moments, and Fluttershy only stood in the open doorway.

“Um, I know I’m not really a super important member of your ‘top secret special organization’, but do you mind if I come in out of the cold for a tiny bit?”

“I was just leaving,” William shook his head swiftly and wearily huddled closer to himself.

“Where to, if I may be so bold to ask?” the pegasus pried gently.

The boy only shrugged without looking at her.

After a couple of seconds, Fluttershy said “You know, everypony is awfully worried about where you ran off to.”

She held the wooden door wide open, beckoning him forward.

“Really?” William crossed his arms coldly as a bitter look etched onto his face. “Because that’s not what it sounded like.”

Fluttershy sighed sadly, bridging the distance between them slowly and giving him a little hug with the tips of her wings. He flinched, but she only sat down beside him.

“I know, Will.”

“My name is William.”

“I know, William,” Fluttershy nodded softly, a little smile tugging at her lips, but it quickly faded. “And I know that it must have sounded pretty bad.”

He only pulled his legs up to his chest again, his face losing all expression.

“… Nobody wants me. It doesn’t matter where I go, nobody really wants me.”

“That’s not true,” Fluttershy rebuked him tenderly. “Not even a little bit.”

William only extended a hand facing upward toward the direction that they had both come from, a furrowed and hostile scowl coming forth.

Fluttershy bit her lower lip, and exhaled slowly.

“Will, it’s-it’s not that nopony wants you around.”

“Again. Sure doesn’t sound like that.”

She only sighed more heavily, and lightly placed a pale yellow wing over his shoulder.

“They’re just scared, William.”

He blinked at the unexpected reply, thinking.

“… Why?” William asked in confusion, a little hurt.

Fluttershy only shook her head, and said “Ponies are always going to be a little afraid of what they don’t really understand, Will. It’s equine nature.”

“But I-I didn’t do anything…” he pulled at his fingers despondently, as if he could wrest the idea itself away. “Did… did I? Why would anyone fear me? I’m a perfectly reasonable fellow!”

She began to retort that the ‘reasonable fellow’ had run away on multiple accounts, but bit her lip once again.

Fluttershy repositioned her wing behind him, giving him a careful little hug before she pulled away to face him properly. She took a deep breath, fortifying her resolve.

“It’s not so much you that they’re afraid of…”

“No,” William shook his head slowly. “It’s… my father… isn’t it, Miss Fluttershy?”

“Discord is –”

“Don’t give me that.”

She blinked in surprise at his sudden shift, and was so disturbed by the immediate change that she had to force herself to stay still. It was as if his whole being had become… colder. He could have radiated chill, and Fluttershy strained not to shiver at the look he was giving her with those frigid, pale eyes.

There was something wrong with his eyes.

She felt a shudder ripple up her spine, and she internally shook herself as she struggled to speak. William was all too glad to cut her off, though.

“I know that you know something,” he said quietly, the icy tone leaving his voice as he looked away. “It seems like everyone but me does. And before you deny it,” William glared at her again, but the cruel look had long since been replaced with a sad one. “Before you do, I do hope that you take into consideration that I am not some blithering incompetent fool. I retain the capacity to theorize, you know.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“I had already suspected that Miss Dash knew something of my biological parents beforehand, but those were merely suspicions. It seemed like far too much of a coincidence when Miss Pie nearly suffered cardiac arrest after I asked her, and it took me but a short time to differentiate between my intended question and her reaction. And to top it off Scootaloo – Scootaloo, of all people – even meddled about, curious about my biological parents, which was just the icing on the cake.”

Fluttershy didn’t honestly know how to react to his small tirade, and he huffed tiredly as he rubbed his eyes with his little fists again. It tore at Fluttershy’s heart to see another in so much distress, and she chose her words carefully.

“… Yes. It’s true,” she replied softly. “There’s an awful lot that you haven’t been told.”

“Why?” he asked, the despair creeping into his voice once again as he looked pleadingly at her. “Why? Am I truly so untrustworthy? Have I unknowingly done something to alienate myself or draw ire?”

Fluttershy shook her head again slowly, and said “No, Will. It’s because nopony wants to see you get hurt.”

He started to speak again, only to stop himself. William pondered prudently, thinking his words over.

“Regardless,” he stared at her. “I am perfectly capable of responsibly and maturely coping, and deserve to know the truth.”

“You just ran away,” Fluttershy said pointedly, and he looked away guiltily. “Again.”

“Beside the point…” William mumbled, crossing his arms again.

“And I have my own reasons for not telling you,” Fluttershy insisted. “Not just because I really am worried about what it would do to you because you’re so young, but also because I don’t think that Rainbow Dash would ever forgive me.”

“Why not?” he cocked an eyebrow suspiciously.

“That’s really not my place to say,” Fluttershy said uncomfortably. “And you aren’t mature enough.”

“Excellent,” William nodded, reclining against the wooden wall. “Then I shall continue to be ‘immature’ and refuse to leave this spot until someone tells me.”

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes, and exhaled quietly. He smirked at her smugly and wriggled his eyebrows tantalizingly, daring her to bend her will.

“That isn’t funny, William,” Fluttershy stared hard at him, and he shifted uneasily from the look. “I mean it. That kind of thing is something that I just can’t tell you.”

“Because you think I can’t handle it,” William frowned sourly.

“Because it would destroy your mother.”

He blinked again, unconsciously gawking at her.

“I’m serious, William,” Fluttershy looked directly at him sadly. “If Rainbow Dash ever found out that you knew, it would eat her up. It’s just something that you’re not allowed to know.”

William quietly took her hoof in his hands, and looked her dead in the eyes. There was no icy stare, no teary plea. Only cunning, intelligent calculation.

“Please. I need to know. Wouldn’t it be so much better to learn the truth from you now than it would be to garner bits of information on my own as I have, and potentially arrive at the wrong conclusion?”

She contemplated his logic for a few moments, mulling it over nervously. She supposed it would be worse for him in the long run if such a thing were to happen and he did indeed think the wrong thing…

But what if she only made it worse? Or what if he found out from somepony who didn’t know how to break the news delicately?

Fluttershy chewed her lip in thought, twirling one end of her long, vibrantly pink mane around her hoof. Torn as she was, William spotted his opportunity and struck while the iron was hot.

“Miss Fluttershy, perhaps learning the truth could finally allow for proper communication, and I could address the situations and issues as required instead of blindly, as I already am.”

Oh, he was a devious one.

Fluttershy was no fool; she could recognize the manipulative words at ease. But just as well, she detected the urgency behind it – the dejection and childishness in his unnaturally mature tone.

“William, you see… It all started with Discord...”

Author's Notes:

(And now, a word from our sponsors.)

I can hardly liken myself to the poetic genius of Shakespeare, nor can I claim similar intrinsic entertainment that many of his screenplays and creations hold. However, despite this unfortunate fact (or maybe because of it, I’ve been doing some thinking) I still put a lot of thought, time, and effort into what I write. I think that the same can be said of most authors – which brings me to my topic.
To all authors…

IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU.
Get that through your skulls. YES, the author is a crucial part of any story; obviously. Regardless, the author is not the most important PART of a story. Some could claim that the importance lies on the symbolism used, and on that note (SPOILERS!), it is not all that important either. Yes, it’s fine for an author to use symbolism in their story – it IS their story, after all. But it isn’t of the highest importance, and it isn’t so much about WHAT the reader takes away from the story (although that part is pretty important, but not what I’m focusing on) but IF the reader takes away anything from the story.

It’s fine for a story to have a central idea or theme, but it should also leave enough room for readers to draw their own conclusions and make what they will of it; that’s one of the things that made the works of Shakespeare so great. They could be interpreted in a lot of different ways, dissected and understood or just easily enjoyed. Again, I cannot in good conscience compare myself to one of the greatest writers of his time (kindly ignore the ‘GREATEST AUTHOR TO HAVE EVER LIVED’ shtick), but I sometimes like to pretend that the stories I create are given the worthy amount of attention and effort to develop their own characters, themes, and complexities as they progress.

TLDR: The author should spend less time patting him/herself on the back and more time ensuring that sufficient communication of emotions and ideas is properly conveyed in order to write a decent story.