A note before we get started. I used the red coloring for Equish (spoken english) as it was a language spoken in minority. As, yes, Rainbow will be returning to Equestria soon, Demosian (spoken latin) will be spoken less, I will be swapping the two around, as to make my job easier and for other reasons. So, from now on:
"This"=Equish (English)
"This"=Demosian (Latin)

Just so you know for the future. Now, on with the show!

Edit: The chapter has undergone a serious re-write. Any quotes in the comments or references to events in this chapter that no longer match up with the current chapter are due to this re-write. Thank you for your understanding, and have a nice day.

Rainbow followed the Pede as she headed along the via principalis, back towards the Principia. As she did so, she thought of why they were there. She had figured that to them at least, it was an open and shut case when it came to her. So, what were they doing here?

“What’s your name, Decurion?”, she asked the soldier.

He straightened up, “Decurion Pyrite, Praetor.”

“Well, Pyrite”, she said. “What do you think of them?”

“The prisoners?” When she nodded, he replied, “Well, they’re an odd bunch. Bunch of misfits, seems like. I really have no idea what three of them are, anyway.”

As they entered the office, she said, “Well, trust me. They’re more than just odd. The yellow one in particular. Ungrateful, spiteful bitches.” She saw four Pedes outside of her office when a thought occurred to her. A contubernium had five members, including the Decurion. “Decurion. Did you leave them unsupervised in my office?”

His eyes widened in alarm, and he saluted and bowed his head. “M-my apologies, Praetor. I, I figured that they couldn’t leave, so I-”

“It’s ok. Just, next time be more careful. Stay outside and if I say so, come inside,” she said.

“Yes, Praetor”, he said.

He pushed past the pedes as they stiffened in salute, pushing past them and opening the door. As she did so, she heard Twilight squeak in surprise and drop the book held in her magic aura. She looked over the others, noting their looks of horror. She walked over and picked up the book. “Lord Severus's guide to Insects, Invertebrates, and Arachnids. An interesting choice, Twilight. Although, next time ask before looking at my property.”

She set the book back on the shelf, before turning to walk around them. As she did so, she took a moment to really get a good look at them. Unlike her, they hadn’t changed a bit since she had last seen them. She supposed that was to be expected, considering none of them had been in a war or anything; at least, to her knowledge. And judging by their shocked and horrified looks, she guessed they had expected more or less the same thing. Pinkie, in particular, looked sad, and at the same time the most scared. She finally made her way around them, turning around sharply and sitting back in her seat.

Before she could even lean back, Rarity asked, voice full of stunned horror, “Darling. What happened to you?”

She shrugged. “A few battle scars, but most of them are from other things.”

“Other things?”, Shining Armor asks. “What other things?”

“I fail to see how that’s any of your concern. Now, let’s get down to business. Why are you here?”, she asks.

They seemed to shuffle amongst themselves, clearly uncomfortable. Whether it was the chains that linked them to one another, or how she looked, or a combination of both, she didn’t know. Finally, Fluttershy stepped closer to her, waited for the rattle of chains to die down, and said softly, “We need your help.”

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow, and asked, “Care to explain?”

Rainbow leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples and sighing. She said, “So, let me get this straight. You exiled me. After several years, you were invaded by a race of shapeshifting bug-like ponies called Changelings. You’ve been pushed back to a place called the Crystal Empire, which is a city made of crystals and was lost in some alternate dimension for the past thousand years. Now, after months of looking for me, you’ve come here to try and convince me to help you reclaim the home I was exiled from. I’ve got that right?”

“Well, not the way we put it, but yeah!”, Pinkie said.

Rainbow burst out laughing.

“We’re not kidding!”, Shining barked. She just kept laughing.

After a few seconds, she calmed down. “Oh. You gotta admit, if it wasn’t done to you, it’d be pretty funny.” After she finally fully calmed down, she said, “Sorry, but I can’t help you.”

“Wah not?”, Applejack asked, eyes narrowed.

“Well, a few reasons. First of all, there are legal matters.”

“Legal matters?”, Twilight asked.

Rainbow pulled out a small booklet from her desk, flipping through it for a few seconds. “Ah, here it is,'' she said. “Chapter four, section one, subsection eight. ‘A Pryhan soldier, of any rank, is, once assigned to a garrison posting, is under no circumstances allowed to leave unless having prior permission from their direct superior.’”

“So, you can just talk to your superior!”, Pinkie said, jumping up and down. How she did so with her chains, Rainbow had no idea. “Who is it?”

“The Legatus? Fluttershy should know him,'' Rainbow said. “She spilled wine on him last night.”

“Oh,'' Fluttershy mumbled.

Rainbow sighed, and said, “Regardless, I honestly don’t want to help you in the first place.” That got surprised looks from all of them.

“B-but why?”, Fluttershy asks.

“Pryha, especially this part of the empire, has a decent amount of Griffonian influence. A la, have a mentality of Quid-Pro-Quo. Something for something. And, right now, I’m just hearing something that sounds like a waste of my time.”

“When we reclaim Equestria,'' Twilight said. “We’ll talk to the Princesses about getting your exile rescinded. You can come home.”

“Home?,” Rainbow questioned. She hadn’t even thought of it as home in years.

The others nodded, and Pinkie said, “Yeah, Dashie! You can come back to Ponyville, and we can make cupcakes, and you can hang out with Scootaloo, and-”

While she rambled on, Rainbow considered it. She had to admit, she missed quite a few things about Ponyville, and Equestria in general. Coffee, cupcakes, her family, Scootaloo, the Wonderbolts… she then realized that was it.

Cutting off Pinkies rambling, she said, “Sounds good, but I have to pass.”

“But, cupcakes...”, Pinkie says.

“Why!?”, AJ yelled in anger. “We’ve helped you in the past, so why won’t you help us?”

“After you exiled me? After you left me to die, in the Gods know where?”, Rainbow asks.

Shining Armor said, “You attacked my wife!”

“She was acting weird!”, Rainbow protested. “She did something weird to Twilight!”

Twilight said carefully, “Rainbow. No, she didn’t. She did nothing wrong. You attacked her for no reason.”

“But I-” She protested, before snarling and sliding back in her seat. “You know what, fine! I don’t care anymore! It doesn’t matter since I’m seriously not helping.”

That seemed to draw their attention away from what they thought she had done. Pinkie said, “But Dashie-”

“Don’t ‘But Dashie’ me!”, Rainbow said. “You do realize that this isn’t protocol. If I got lucky, I’d never have to see you again.”

“Protocol, rules”, Rarity said. “Since when did these things stop you from helping your friends?”

Rainbow sighed again, leaning down in her chair, and rubbing her temples. “Did you really just say that? And you’re serious about it, aren’t you?”

Rarity look switched to a nervous one, and she said, “W-well yes. I did.”

“Ok then. One, we’re not friends. None of you did shit to help me; you didn’t even try! Two, I’m a soldier. A trained professional. You kinda have to know and follow rules and protocols. Three, I’m serious about not helping you. You’ve given me no real reason to do so. So, give me a reason to do so, and I’ll consider it,” she said.

The six of them huddled together, whispering and trying to come up with something, probably. After about two minutes, Rainbow said, “You know what, I was right. This was a waste of my time. Decurion!” As Pyrite and two of his pedes entered and her former friends turned to them, she said, “Ave. I think I’ve had enough. Take them back down to the penitentiary.”

“Ave, Praetor. Understood, Praetor”, Pyrite said, gesturing for his soldiers to grab onto the collars securing the chains in place.

Twilight said, “You can’t do this!”

“Yes, I can. Remember last night? And you do have rights. To a fair trial, and an attorney. I don’t make the law. I just enforce it.”

The Pedes grabbed on the chains, yanking back Rarity and Pinkie Pie, beginning to lead them out. Suddenly, the two of them doing so stopped, and froze like squirrels in a spotlight. Rainbow barked, “What in Damocles name are you two doing? You have your orders, now go-” Rainbow then froze herself as she was met with what made them freeze. Fluttershy’s stare.

“Rainbow Blitz Dash!”, she yelled, placing her forelegs one Rainbows desk. “I don’t know what happened to you, but for Celestia’s sake! What’s wrong with you!? You’ve really become a bully! You yell and laugh at your friends, and-”

“You’re not my friends, you stupid bitch!”, Rainbow roared in reply. “I haven’t even seen you in over nine fucking years, and you have the gall to call me to a bully!? Fuck you!”

“You see! That’s what I mean!”, Fluttershy said. “You’re not kind! You’re leaving us to potentially die, and you-”

They were interrupted by a loud tapping on the window. Turning, they saw Depressi in the window. Rainbow stood up and walked over to the window, opened it and said, “Yes? What is it, Sport?”

“Harpoon said his dad can take us down to the Pillars! Can I go!? Please?”, he said.

Despite what was going on in her office, Rainbow managed to smile. “Sure, Sport. Just tell them you have to be back by sundown, ok?”

“Sure! Thanks, mom!”, he said and flew off.

The room was silent, save for the rattling of the chains and breathing. Twilight asked, “W-who was that?”

“My son. Depressi Tonituro”, Rainbow said.

Pinkie said, “That’s great!”

“He’s a bit… old, isn’t he?”, Rarity asked.

Rainbow snorted, before turning and pressing a hoof on her desk. She said, “I suppose.”

“Wah is that?”, Applejack asked.

“He’s not my current husband, if that’s what you're wondering,'' she said. Not really noticing Pinkies slight wilting, she continued. “He’s technically, a bastard.”

“A bastard?”, Shining asked.

Twilight explained, “Somepony born to two people who aren’t married or have any relationship.”

“Yeah. He was from some degenerate fuckstain named Dermot. I didn’t want him, but he’s become one of the best things in my life.”

“If you didn’t want him”, Fluttershy asked, all of the anger in her voice and face gone. “Then how did you have him?”

“Rape”, she simply said.

They all looked at her in renewed horror. She sighed, and continued, “Yeah. And that’s not all.” She pointed to the scars running down her face. “I got these from Dermot's boss, who did it for kicks.” She then pointed to her left eye, which was now covered with an eyepatch. “Dermot's boss also did this, with a red-hot iron spike.” Finally, she pointed to her other iron leg. “Dermot did this. Cut them off with a rusty saw after I tried to escape.” She lowered her head and sighed. “They did other shit too. Brands, knives. Hell, after they cut them off, they cooked and made me eat my own fucking forelegs.”

“Rainbow...”, Pinkie said.

Rainbow snorted. “Don’t. I’ve moved on. I don’t care. I love my son, and I make do with what I have. So, don’t.” Turning back to Pyrite, she said, “You have your orders. Get them out of my fort.”

They began to do so, this time able to do it much better thanks to their stunned nature. Before they could be lead out, however, Vexillum and a pair of his Praetorians squeezed past them into her office. “Ave, Praetor!”, he said, saluting.

“Ave, Praefect. What is it?,” she asked.

“The Caesar is here, and he wishes to speak to you.”

“What!?”, she said. She scrambled back to her desk, pulling out her Triumphators Cross medal, attaching it to her subarmalis and grabbing her helmet. “Decurion. Keep them in here. If they do anything stupid, you have my permission to do anything short of killing them to keep them under control.”

“Yes, Praetor”, he said.

“As for you”, she said to the mares and Shining. “Stay here. I told my Decurion he can kill you if you try anything funny, so behave.” She then followed Vexillum and her Praetorians out of her office, shutting the door behind her.