Guys...There's something that's been bothering me lately.
The longest story I've ever written is 60 chapters long, and this fic just went past 30 chapters, and there are still a lot of things that're supposed to happen. This is my first MLP fic, and I really want to make it great, but I'm terrified that its length will cause people to lose interest completely.
I'm telling you; there's still a long way to go. Pls bear with me until the very end. I promise to make the journey there as memorable as possible.
Thanks for hearing me out.
CHAPTER 33
A SCARLET APOLOGY
The whole of Ponyville was stretched out before Scar as he perched himself on top of town hall. It was only then that he realized just how wonderful a town it truly was. In one corner, he saw a trio of earth pony mares selling some daffodils to an earth pony stallion. At another end, he saw another trio, this time of fillies rising around in a wagon.
It was a beautiful town filled with wonderful ponies, ponies who had no idea that they were in danger of being wiped off the face of the Earth. It was for that reason that he and Ironhead traveled to search of the source of the Light in Ponyville. It was for that reason that he spent countless exhausting hours searching for that source.
It was for that reason that he betrayed the mare who had inspired him, the mare that had given him his dream, the mare that he loved.
"Oh Rainbow..." Scar muttered sadly. The guilt of hurting her, of betraying her was just crushing. The only thing that was anywhere near as strong as his guilt was his resolve to make things right. And with that burning resolve coursing through him he spread his wings and took to the sky's.
Now the only problem was looking for her. Let's see...She's should be at work by now which means she's slacking off somewhere...he mused as he flew around. He flew upwards and scanned the surrounding clouds for a napping Rainbow, but she wasn't there.
Sighing, he flew around trying to spot anything from a rainbow trail to a flash of blue, but nothing came up for the first several minutes. As he was about to move someplace else to search for her, he caught a glimpse of movement below him; looking down, he saw the remnants of what was definitely a rainbow trail.
Orange eyes wide, he looked to his left and saw a blue shape slowly shrink in the distance; he could almost make out a rainbow tail behind it. Excited, he readied himself to go after her, he stopped once again held back by the fear of being rejected. He gave a loud, frustrated sigh; rejection or not, she deserved a proper apology.
By the time he had made the decision to follow her, Dash was already out of sight. Nevertheless, he flew in the direction she was heading keeping an eye out for her. When she was nowhere in sight, he flew lower hoping to at least get an idea to where she was going.
As he did so, he saw a lake slowly come into his sights. He had seen the lake before during his earlier searches in Ponyville but had not really approached it. This time, he flew in closer and, to his delight, spotted her at the other end of the lake relaxing on a recliner, a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes.
Nervous but determined, Scar flew low and skimmed the surface of the lake, its waters lapping at his speed. When he was about a quarter of the way across, Rainbow looked up and saw something coming at her. Raising her shades, she saw that it was a rapidly approaching scarlet blur.
"Rain-"
Ba-dump!
He was in the middle of the lake when it happened. He felt a powerful beat resonating from within his chest. As his eyes widened, he felt his muscles and more importantly his wings suddenly weaken. As he flailed his wobbly legs about, he began an uncontrolled decent into the lake below.
"OW!" He struck the surface of the lake and bounced off it only to smack against it again. "OW!" Another bounce and another smack. "OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!"
Scar eventually slowed down and crashed several feet away from the shore, going about two feet under water. For some reason, his whole body felt strangely weak and sluggish; the water seemed thicker and trying to drag him down to the bottom. Panicking, he swam upwards and broke through the surface. Panting heavily, he quickly paddled to shore and pulled himself out of the lake.
Wh...What the hell was that?! he screamed in his head while panting in exhaustion. He lifter his forelegs and was surprised to find that his strength had returned as mysteriously as it had vanished. He raised his head and parted a bit of his mane that was in the way of his eyes to gaze at the now calm lake and found nothing out of the ordinary.
As he pondered on what could've caused the sudden sensation, he became aware of a presence behind him. Gulping, he slowly turned and saw a surprised and irritated pegasus mare glaring at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah...Uh...H-Hi Rainbow..."
A short beat followed. "I was busy y'know." Rainbow said pointing at her recliner. "Busy napping yeah, but what're you doing here?"
Crap; this isn't how I planned this! Scar quickly stood up and, still dripping wet, bowed his head. "Rainbow...I...I'm sorry OK?" he said meekly. "I-I didn't mean to-"
"To what?! Take advantage of me?! Be my friend then turn on me?!" Scar flinched with every sentence. "Seriously what kind of pony does that?!"
"I...I didn't want to do any of that; I swear." Scar reasoned.
Rainbow huffed and crossed her forelegs. "Yeah well, you still did it didn't you?" Scar wilted a little. "Huh, I thought so."
Scar looked at her pleadingly. "Rainbow...I...I...I didn't know about the Elements until after I showed up. I didn't mean to chase Twilight around town like that. Rainbow...I swear I didn't mean to hurt you..."
He did sound sincere, but that still didn't change what he did. "Oh you did more that that huh? I-I trusted you Scar! I thought you were my friend!"
"I am your friend Rainbow." he reasoned. "You can still trust me..."
"Pfft...I thought I could..."
"Rainbow, I was trying to keep you safe." he reasoned. "You gotta understand that that's all I ever wanted."
"Safe? Safe?! If anything, I should be safe from somepony like you!" she said sharply. "You leave me and my friends alone you hear?!"
Hearing that coming from his idol, his hero, his inspiration broke the colt's heart. "B-but-but-"
Unfortunately, she had no intention of hearing any more. Sighting frustratingly, she tossed her sunglasses onto her recliner and spread her wings. "R-Rainbow! Wait!" Without another word to him, she took off leaving the damp pegasus all alone.
"W-Wait!" Scar quickly spread his own wings, sending off droplets of water, and took flight as well. The wind rushing past him dried him off and cooled him as he soared towards his crush. "Rainbow!"
"Ugh..." The latter looked over her shoulder and confirmed that Scar was chasing her. She turned away and put up an extra burst of speed sending her high above the clouds. Scar narrowed his eyes and put his on burst as he followed her up there.
"Rainbow, wait! Just hear me out please!" Scar cried out chasing after her again. Rainbow dipped back down below the clouds, but Scar managed to follow her. He flapped even faster slowly shortening the distance between them.
Thinking fast, Rainbow swerved to the right and headed into Ponyville with Scar hot on her heels. They reaced through the marketing district before making a left and speeding down another street. Ponies gasped and jumped away as blue and red blurs rushed past them. Rainbow made a sharp turn to the right and headed into and alley before heading back up.
Scar still followed her the whole time and was slowly catching up. Hmm...Pretty good I'll admit...she thought as she sped away from him. Still not as good as me though...
She angrily shook her head almost forgetting that she was still mad at him. Being the Element of Loyalty meant that trust was very important to her. Scar had taken the trust she gave him, and he repaid it by chasing her friend around, demanding where the Elements of Harmony were. How could he possibly justify betraying her like that?
"Rainbow!" Scar's shout snapped her out of her thoughts. She twisted and flew backwards seeing him slowly close in on her. She swerved to the right and dove into a cluster of clouds, but Scar burst through them and continued following her. Growling a little, Rainbow quickly stopped and flew in his direction.
Scar saw the oncoming Rainbow and swerved to the right to avoid a collision. As he stopped and regained his bearings, Rainbow quickly sped off into the distance. Determined and persistent to the end, Scar continued after her. Knowing that she would eventually tire herself out and slow down; he only hoped that she would before he did.
Unfortunately for him, Dash was anything but tired. She looked back and saw him coming at her once again; she had tried everything, but nothing seemed to shake her pursuer off.
Well...not everything...
Grinning a little, she slowly came to a stop. As she caught her breath, Scar sped up and closed in on her wanting to just talk things out between them. "R-Rainbow-"
She flashed him a grin and narrowed her eyes. "If you thought that was fast, check this out."
Without further ado, she bolted right past him at speeds he couldn't even imagine. Shaking his head, Scar turned and flew after her intending to catch up. She seemed to be flying faster than she did earlier leaving Scar in awe of her speed. This was the true extent of her talents; he doubted he could even reach that kind of speed on his own.
Still, he refused to yield. Rainbow looked over her shoulder, and saw he was still keeping up. Grinning again, she put up another burst of speed widening the distance between them once again. There was no way Scar could possibly catch up with her now, and she could tell that he knew that too. It was only a matter of time before he ran out of energy leave her alone. As the distance between them lengthened, she looked at him waiting for that to happen.
To her surprise, her burst of speed only made him more determined. The speed she was going on wasn't achievable by normal ponies, but unfortunately, Scar wasn't a normal pony. Determination in his eyes, he gave out a loud cry as his wings expanded to five times their usual size. With one powerful flap, he covered a large amount of distance between them.
Several more flaps later, he had cut the original distance between them in half. Frustrated, Rainbow looked ahead and picked up her speed. Scar saw her accelerate and did more powerful flaps sending violent winds backwards to increase his speed. In a matter of moments, he was flying right beside her, much to her surprise.
Nevertheless, she sped up even more finally grinning when she reached the speed she was aiming for, the speed at which a white shell materialized in front of her. Her eyes glanced to her right and nearly popped out of her skull when a similar shell formed in front of Scar. Keeping focused on her own actions, she picked up speed.
Excitement tingled through Scar's veins as his speed continued to rise. Not breaking his own concentration, he accelerated alongside Rainbow. Eventually, the shells around them narrowed into a cone which they flew into. As the cone narrowed, both hearts were pounding, both sets of muscles were working, both minds were thinking the same thing.
Almost there...Almost...Almost...Almost...
NO!
At the last second, Scar shrunk his wings and tucked them close. The next second, he collided with the cone and stretched it out as if it were made of rubber. He froze for a split second before being violently thrown in the opposite direction, tumbling at dizzying speeds.
As soon as he felt that he was going to throw up, he expanded his wings again and stopped himself. Eyes spinning, he held his head and groaned. Beneath his nausea was disbelief. He was so close, so close to actually doing it, the legendary technique he had practiced for days, the Sonic Rain-
BOOM!
The explosion made his head snap up just in time to see a bright flash and several rainbow arcs spread out from a certain point in the distance. As they washed over him, his eyes stopped spinning, and his jaw dropped. Seconds later, his dizziness had completely vanished, replaced by joy and awe. I actually saw a Sonic Rainboom up close!
"WHOO HOOOO!" he cried out pumping his hooves in the air and flying in merry circles. "THAT WAS AWESOME! YOU ARE THE BEST RAINBOW DASH! YOU-"
His cheering came to a halt when he spotted the rainbow trail slowly fade. Scar craned his neck and could barely make out Rainbow's figure slowly fading into the distance. Bracing himself, he flew in after her but stopped due to a sharp pain coming from his left wing. As he painfully struggled to keep himself airbown, he looked ahead; Rainbow was nowhere in sight.
His whole body sagged as he floated downwards, eventually coming to a rest on a small cloud. He stretched his aching wing out and, wincing a little, massaged it gently; there wouldn't be any more flying for him until it had rested properly. He considered himself lucky; if he had gotten that wing cramp right in the middle of performing the Sonic Rainboom, things would've been much more disastrous.
But the pain in his wing was nothing compared to the pain inside him. Sighing, he folded his wings and slumped face first into the cloud feeling nothing but painful misery.
Rainbow hated him. He let out a long groan as the thought consumed him. She hated him, would never want to see his face again, would never want to even look at him ever again. All he ever wanted was to make things right between them, to say how much he regretted betraying her. He supposed this was normal coming from the Element of Loyalty.
And what was he? Treachery incarnate according to his brother. He never believed Psych and his way of seeing them, and he tried staying true to his true self, but in the end, he betrayed Rainbow. He never considered doing such a thing to anypony especially to her, and yet, he did so. Betrayal...That wasn't him at all or was it? Was he really a traitor to the core? A a backstabber? A pony undeserving anypony's trust?
But one thing was clear however; he was a pony hated by Rainbow Dash.