Mistress Do Well: Reparation
by milesprower06

Root of the Problem

"I thought you'd be the one to come to with this, because you solved Apple Bloom's cutie pox."

"For the cutie pox I did have a cure,
But this is beyond me, of that I am sure.
To cutie pox this simply cannot compare,
What Rainbow has is inner despair.
Cutie marks are magic, this much is true,
The conflict inside makes her unsure what to do."

Twilight turned to Rainbow, who was standing next to her in Zecora's hut in the Everfree Forest.

"Conflict inside...? Rainbow, what's wrong?"

Rainbow remained silent, unsure of how to tell her. Twilight wasn't about to accept this.

"The mark of who you are has changed before our eyes, and you don't want to tell me why? If you're hurting inside, I want to help you."

"You want to help me hurt Rarity? After what you already did to her? Because that's the problem, Twilight. I don't know if I can let this go. If I find her... I don't know what I'm going to do. Amnesia or not. She has not paid for what she did. All of you scattered. The damage done to our friendships was punishment enough for you. But we still don't know why she took such pleasure in it, why after everything fell apart and I was long gone, why she still came to the library and dared to fight you for Fluttershy."

So that's what had Rainbow so confused. But it was to such a degree that her cutie mark was being altered? It was quite appropriate at the very least; from what Rainbow just told her, she had a storm of conflict brewing inside her.

"Rainbow, if you found her, she's not going to have any idea who you are. How are you going to solve that?"

"I'm still working on that part."

"Rainbow Dash, a decision you must make.
Your mental health is what's at stake.
But whatever it is you decide to do,
Just make sure to be true to you."

"Zecora's right. There is magic behind the cutie mark. Depending on what you decide to do, your cutie mark may end up changing permanently. But know this..." Twilight paused, coming up and putting a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.

"No matter what you decide, I will support it. Even after that insanity in the library, I still wished her dead for a decent amount of time. So I can certainly understand your anger."

Rainbow nodded.

"Thanks anyway, Zecora." She said, turning to the door.

Twilight likewise gave Zecora her gratitude, and joined Rainbow outside her hut.

"So now what do we do?" Twilight asked her.

Rainbow thought for a moment, and then came up with her next plan.

"There's only one I can think of talking to that might know... And wouldn't mind going around the Princesses. I'll be back. Meet you at the library!"

With that, Rainbow took off into the sky, leaving Twilight to make the return walk to Ponyville alone.

Fluttershy was just about to begin feeding her animals their midday meals when there was a frantic knock on her front door. She set down her current bag of feed and went to answer it.

"Hi there, Rainbow. Oh goodness! What's happened to your cutie mark?"

"Don't worry about it. Listen, I'd like to talk to Discord. Is he here?"

Rainbow heard the air pop behind her accompanying a flash.

"No, but I'm here." He announced, now standing directly behind the cyan pegasus.

"I meant here in the general area."

"Oh, well you simply must be more specific. I love what you've done with your cutie mark, by the way."

"Whatever, I need to talk to you, alone."

"Now, what would you have to talk to me about that our little Fluttershy couldn't hear?"

"I'm not in the mood for games."

Fluttershy stepped in, wanting to diffuse any potential meltdowns.

"I'm sure Rainbow has something important to talk to you about, and I want to respect her privacy."

"If you insist, Fluttershy. We still on for our tea party later?"

"Wouldn't miss it. Applejack's coming too."

With another snap of his eagle claw, he and Rainbow vanished from Fluttershy's front walk. A moment later, they rematerialized in the branches of Golden Oaks Library.

"Now, what can I do for you, Rainbow? No doubt it has to do with your cutie mark there. You always did have a lot of pride in your butt tattoo." Discord asked, snapping his bear claw, and began snacking on the pages of a book that had warped from one of the shelves below.

"Rarity. I want to know where she is. I figured you would know."

"Why? Didn't you bury her a couple weeks ago?"

"Are you in on this too?"

"I haven't the faintest clue what you mean. Perhaps you can enlighten me as to what you're talking about."

"Rarity is alive. She woke from her coma the night I came back. She's amnesiac, and Luna took her somewhere, and I want to know where."

"And I can't imagine why you'd want to know that. Have you still not gotten over your little three-day getaway? Care to share any details you want to get off your chest?"

Rainbow had already had enough.

"I'm not sure. Maybe instead you'd like some details on what she did to Fluttershy."

Rainbow had done the impossible, and struck a draconequus nerve, as evidenced by his lack of sudden, witty, trolling reply.

"What, wouldn't that just make fine conversation over tea? Or maybe now you know that I'm not fucking around. Rarity. Now."

Discord's silence lasted all of three seconds.

"Oh fine. If you really mean business, I'll give you what you want, but I'll only give it to you my way. You remember my way, don't you?"

With that, Discord left his branch, and started snaking through the branches around Rainbow.

"If you want to pull the purple mane out of the hat, then the golden noose can help you with that."

There was another flash, and he was gone, leaving Rainbow in the treetop.

"Purple mane out of the hat...? Golden noose?"

Rainbow sat in the tree, pondering Discord's riddle, knowing that it couldn't be taken literally, quite like when he was first released from stone. They had all believed the 'twists and turns' he referred to was the castle garden labyrinth. In a way it was, but it was only to distract them from the true location.

She flew down from the tree, and walked into the library.

"Hey Twilight!" she called out.

"Feeling any better, hun?" Twilight asked, coming downstairs from reading a book.

"I've got a riddle. Compliments of Discord. It's where Rarity is."

"Are you sure he's just not trying to screw with you?"

"I think I persuaded him to play fair."

"Alright, what is it?"

"If you want to pull the purple mane out of the hat, then the golden noose can help you with that."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin, pondering Discord's words.

"Purple mane out of the hat... Purple mane out of the hat... Odd way of describing a hat... Goes on the head, the mane in the hat..."

Rainbow facehoofed.

"Manehattan..." They groaned simultaneously.

"So if that's where she is, what about the 'golden noose'?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow's eyes widened, and the light bulb turned on above her head.

'Deep down, you know how to solve this. You just need to find it, and then do it.'

"That's it!" She exclaimed, and ran down to the basement.

"What's it?" Twilight asked, galloping after her. By the time she got to the stairs, Rainbow was already in her chest, digging through it. When she was halfway down, Rainbow came up with her item of choice, and moved too fast for Twilight to catch a glimpse of it.

"Be right back!" she said, wings spread, zooming past Twilight back up the stairs.

"What are you doing?" The alicorn called, running after her. She caught the last bit of Rainbow's tail leaving the front door, and got outside just in time to see her bolting across the sky to the west. Knowing that she had absolutely no chance of catching her, flying was still faster than her full gallop, so she did her best to follow the fading rainbow trail over the Everfree Forest, finally coming to a stop at the Castle of the Two Sisters.

There was a stone stairway going down into the chasm around the castle. She cautiously made her way down, as the very last remnants of a rainbow came down here.

"Rainbow? Rainbow??" She called. She kept looking around until she came to a cave in the inner wall of the chasm. Slowly stepping towards it, she saw Rainbow come out, with a shimmering gold item in her hoof. She ran towards her marefriend, who was staring determinedly at the object.

"I said I'd be right back." Rainbow told her as Twilight came to a stop. Her eyes widened at what her marefriend held.

The Element of Generosity.

Twilight recalled that during the investigation over a year ago, she went to check on the Elements, and the gems were no longer set in the gold necklace bands. She peered into the cave, and saw a shimmering tree. The six most prominent branches had their Elements on the very tips. All but one.

The diamond.

"What are you going to do?" She cautiously asked the cyan pegasus, who had not taken her eyes off of the necklace that now had the amethyst gem reset in the piece of jewelry.

"Be a true true friend."