The Rainbow family has thousands of family members in its history, but Rainbow Dash is going to find out something she never even knew, something her parents never told her. She had a brother. Looks like she isn't a lone child, after all.
NOTE: Highly advised that you read All Rainbow and No Colour first, otherwise you will be very, very lost and confused as to what is happening.
The Rainbow family has thousands of family members in its history, but Rainbow Dash is going to find out something she never even knew, something her parents never told her. She had a brother. Looks like she isn't a lone child, after all.
Where has he been all her life? Where did he go and why did he leave? Only time will answer her questions.
The morning sun shined down gloriously upon Sweet Apple Acres as the farm pony, Applejack began her daily routine of apple bucking for the monthly harvest, ready to sell the delectable and juicy fruits to the town ponies.
Applejack stood outside, inhaling the crisp, cold morning breeze as her blonde mane drifted softly with it. She had her hat tilted on the back of her head as she looked up at the blue morning's sky, adorned with fluffy and puffy, white clouds that drifted aimlessly with the winds.
''Lovely morning to go buckin'.'' she smiled to herself as she stepped off of the porch of the farmhouse and trotted towards the apple orchard, still looking up at the sky when she couldn't help but hear a noise in the distance catch her attention and cause her ear to twitch as it picked it up.
A flap of what sounded like wings could be heard from a distance. Applejack raised her head, scanning the skies for the source of the noise when she heard a scream from above. She turned her head again to face what appeared to be a stallion.
She couldn't tell who it was due to lack of visibility, but knew something was wrong and about to happen.
The sound of wings became increasingly louder as he slowly emerged from the sky and even closer to the farmland as he flew at a low altitude. He seemed to be flying shakily as he came close enough for Applejack to get a better view of the mysterious figure, and she could identify what appeared to be a damaged or hurt wing.
Within moments, the figure of the stallion contacted with the trees upon a failed attempt at landing, and he was hit by branch after branch, the appendages of the trees collapsing with loud, splitting cracks and crackles of wood as he collided with them, a plume of leaves being thrown up and scattered about in his wake before planting his muzzle in the ground.
Applejack gasped as she witnessed the painful drop and struggle and ran over to where he landed, ready to offer any aid she could provide.
As she got closer, she could clearly see him. His coat was a colour similar to Rainbow Dash's but only a touch lighter, at an off-white shade. His mane was made up of all the colours of the rainbow whilst his cutie mark was a white cloud with pretty rainbow coloured lightning streaks striking from it, aimed in every direction as the colours shined luminously.
''Hey! Ya'll alright? Need a hoof?'' she asked in a concerned tone.
He grunted painfully as he picked his muzzle out of the dirt, giving his head a soft shake to loosen any bits of dirt and muck that may have been thrown into his mane. He blinked his emerald eyes a couple of times before directing his gaze towards the farmpony with a sheepish smile.
Applejack gave a small smile, too, thankful that he wasn't hurt. She held a hoof out to him in offer to help him out the dirt, to which he thankfully accepted.
As he got back on all fours, he retracted his wings back to his sides, only to cringe in pain as he held a hoof up to his left, aching wing, able to feel that something wasn't quite right with it. Applejack winced as her eyes landed on a few raised patches of skin and fur on his wing, clearly where his bones popped out of place or were fractured during his fall.
The stallion cringed, looking towards his crippled wing. ''Ow.'' He said through gritted teeth, his voice low and he turned back to face Applejack.
''Looks like ya wing's broken.'' She said softly and concernedly. ''Does anythin' else feel broken or injured?'' She asked worriedly, her voice soft and measured.
''N-No, no, I think I'm good.'' He said, his voice holding a shiver as he spoke, due to the pain running through his nerves, but he tried to toughen it out. ''Sorry about...that.'' He looked behind him guiltily, his eyes landing on the damaged and dismembered trees.
''Don't worry yourself, it wasn't yer fault.'' Applejack said. She looked over his features. ''What's your name, anyway? Ah don't think Ah've ever met ya'll before, but ya look mighty familiar.''
That caught his attention. ''Um...how so, if I may ask?'' He inquired, almost cautiously and curiously.
''Rainbow mane, light blue coat and pegasus wings.'' Applejack pointed to each of his features as she said them.
''Y-Yes...? I don't really see how this relates to anything, miss, but my name may have some interest to you.'' The stallion said with a raised brow. ''I'm Rainbow Strike.'' He said, a soft smile upon his lips and he held out a hoof towards the farmpony.
''Rainbow Strike?'' Her eyes went wide with shock and surprise. ''Rainbow Dash has a brother?'' She said out loud, raising her own brow and tapping her chin in thought. ''Why didn't she ever say anything? Ah didn't even know she had any siblings.''
Strike sighed sadly. ''About that.'' He started slowly. ''She never knew me, and we've never personally met. As a matter of fact, I've not been back home since thirteen years ago.'' He said, his voice dowsed in sadness. ''It's a long story, and I came back to town to meet her.'' He lied partially. Well, not really, but it wasn't like he was in a position to come out all at once with her past to this mare, was he?
''Now, hold on a minute! Ya'll may look the same as Dash, but ya sure don't have no proof of how to confirm your identity!'' She objected, narrowing her eyes at him. ''Ah jus' happen to be friends with Rainbow Dash, an' of all the days Ah've known her, not once has she said to me that she has a brother, an' now ya'll just up and fall outta the sky? Plainly out of the blue?'' She eyed him suspiciously. ''So, prove it.''
He backed up at her piercing glare, his brain sending all forms of warning signs, telling him he should leave. ''M-My...my mane? It's only inherited by my family, by which I mean mine and Dash's family...and I...'' He paused, inhaling a long, deep breath and then exhaling through his nostrils. ''Look, I don't hold anything against you for feeling this way, given the almost other-worldly circumstances, but I swear, I am a family member of Dash's. You can at least have my word on that one. I'm no spy or anything of the sort, and I only came back to town to meet her, and perhaps find my parents.'' He said honest-heartedly.
Applejack scanned him up and down for a moment, suspiciously gazing him in the eyes. ''Right. Fine, Rainbow Strike,'' she said slowly. ''Ah believe ya. For now.'' She said with a snap. ''Don't go ahead and break my trust while ya have it.''
Strike edged back another pace or two. ''Y-Yeah. Sure thing, miss.''
''Mah name's Applejack.'' She held out a hoof and he raised his own, sharing a bump.
Rainbow Strike carried on his way towards Ponyville from Sweet Apple Acres, contemplating his surroundings as he trotted down the trail. From what he knew, not a single thing had changed since he left, well, not to mention more animals than usual and more of a nice climate. Apart from that, he couldn't even remember what Ponyville looked like, weather it had changed or was the same, he wasn't sure of it, but he will found out soon enough.
Only one thing crossed his mind as he was nearing the town: would Rainbow Dash freak out? Would she think its a joke? Would she think he was crazy?
No. It would be noticeable enough that he had a rainbow mane, just like the rest of the family, after all, it was a family trait that ran in the family for centuries, so why wouldn't she know he was related? He really did hope she knew it when they see each other.
'*heavy sigh* Celestia, I hope she doesn't freak out when she knows the truth...'
Finally after minutes of trotting down the long, muddy trail, he found Ponyville. From what he could tell now he was closer, it looked as though nothing had changed in the past 13 years of going 'missing' from home.
He looked around as he slowly walked into the town, far enough that he wasn't unnoticeable to any of the towns residents. One thing caught Strikes attention as he walked along: residents were all glaring at him, wondering if he was related to Rainbow Dash, if he was a long lost family member or somepony else who just had their hair dyed to look like it was a rainbow mane, but little did they know, he was for real.
He simply ignored them, moving along until a certain pink pony with a fluffy, ping tail that was just a tad darker than her fur stopped him in his tracks, giving a big, friendly grin.
'Hey, Rainbow's dad! Whatcha doing in town? Are you going to the shop, to the bakery, or maybe to the...'
Strike shoved his hoof over her mouth, stopping her in mid-sentence, just to stop her talking any further. What was it with ponies confusing him with his dad? They looked nothing alike! (Apart from the rainbow mane and tail)
'Stop...just stop right there, alright?' He released his hoof from Pinkies mouth, leaving her cute, blue eyes frozen on his own gleaming green eyes.
'I'm not my dad, I'm his son and Rainbow Dash's brother. Who are you and what do you want? I just want to find her, so make it quick...please.'
Upon saying that, her jaw literally dropped. Her eyes unfroze and looked at him in excitement. Oh, Celestia, he knew where this was going...
'You're...Rainbow's....brother?!' She bounced in excitement, barely containing her joy as Strike rolled his large green eyes at the annoying party pony.
'Jesus! Do you ever shut up? Try keeping your voice down!' Strike growled at Pinkie through gritted teeth, causing her to stop her playful bouncing, all emotions erased from her face and being replaced with a saddened frown.
'If you must know, I'm looking for my sister. Do you know where she is?' He asked glumly.
'Oh...Rainbow? Ummm...I think she's at home in Cloudsdale. I haven't seen her in a while today...' Pinkie spoke sadly, upset by his attitude toward her.
'Look, sorry about that...its just that I can't risk any talk about me being spread around town...if that happens then....' Strike stopped himself, before he spilled the beans about the truth of the past. 'I mean...forget what I said...It meant nothing!' He spoke almost immediately.
'Oh..okie dokie lokie. Well, if you were looking for Rainbow, she should be at her house, just on the outskirts of Ponyville, or knowing her, up in a tree sleeping as usual. By the way I'm Pinkie Pie.'
'Wait...Pinkie?' Rainbow Strike tapped his chin a few times as he tried to think of where he'd heard that name before. He was sure he knew somepony by the name of 'Pie' but where?
'Pinkie Pie, huh? I remember that name, now. I used to know your mother. She was such a nice pony.' He gave Pinkie Pie a smile that was almost as bright as his eyes that seemed to shine with the sun light.
'You knew my mother?! Mother Pie has been gone for years! How could you know her?'
Rainbow Strike gave out a long sigh through his nostrils as he glared back at Pinkie.
'It was 13 years ago, Pinkie. I assume it was before you were born? She used to foal sit for me when my mum and dad went out. I really loved her. She was just so nice, even in the times when a kid would misbehave.'
'Wait...' Pinkie began but was stopped by Strike.
'Look, I gotta go, Pinkie, maybe we can talk later about this? I really need to find Rainbow Dash.' And in an instant he trotted off, not giving a chance for Pinkie to say anything else.
'Phew! Glad to not be stuck with her...she was driving me crazy...' He quietly said to himself as he tiredly walked onward to continue the search for Rainbow Dash.
He walked past the mayors office and the Golden Oaks Library and as he was about to turn the corner, he heard two voices, one a beautiful feminine voice that sounded sweet, and a masculine voice that sounded threatening and tough. He stopped and peered around the corner and saw another rainbow maned Pegasus with a cyan coat and beautiful magenta eyes and a white cloud that had a rainbow lightning strike shooting from it.
The other pony, however had a white coat with a leather hunting vest. His mane and tail were black, along with a shabby mustache and a pair of sunglasses with a dark purple tint and his cutie mark had a six-shooter with a lasso surrounding it.
Him and the mare seemed to be arguing, but at the same time the stallion appeared to be threatening the mare.
Rainbow Strike could only think of one thing as he spotted the beautiful cyan mare being threatened by the stallion.
'I said, where is Rainbow Strike?! This is the last time I'll ask 'nicely'!' The stallion demanded as he continued to scream at Rainbow Dash who shown no fear towards his threats.
'I told you once, and I will only say it once: I don't know anypony called Rainbow Strike!' Rainbow shouted back, but to no avail, she just made him even angrier.
'Don't make me use this!' He snarled as he pulled out a lasso with a bundle of extra, small whips on the end of it, whacking it on the floor that created an ear-aching crack in the air.
Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the stallion as she slammed her hoof on the floor. 'You wouldn't dare!'
'Wouldn't I?!' He shouted back as he raised the large whip in the air, ready to strike Rainbow in the face but stopped as another stallion shouted at him from the side.
'Hey! Leave her alone!' Rainbow Strike yelled at the top of his lungs as he trotted toward the stallion with an angry expression.
The stallions mouth dropped, as did Rainbow's as she saw his bravery. 'Well, well, well. There you are, Rainbow Strike. I've been looking for you.' He snarled angrily.
'Nice to see you too, Whipper. How's your sad, little life been?' Strike said sourly as he met Whipper's golden eyes.
'You know, I expected better from you. Picking on a lady for little ol' me. Your pathetic.'
Whipper took off his sunglasses and put them in the pocket of his hunting vest. 'Pathetic? You always were a stallion of stupid vocabulary. Especially since you are the pathetic one for leaving your old life of crime and running off, not taking punishment like a good gentlemen should.'
'Seriously? You call me pathetic for running off from the gang to go back to my original life after you personally killed my marefriend?' Rainbow Strike began. 'Well, its about time I got you back for you little 'deed'.'
Strike raised his hoof and slammed it into Whipper's muzzle, causing it to create a sickening crunch and groan of pain from Whipper as blood ran from his nostrils.
'You mother bucker!' Whipper shouted as he raised his whip and cracked it at Rainbow Strike's face, barely missing it as he dodged the incoming cluster of small extra whips, giving Strike the chance to smack him under his eye, instantly bruising it in a dark black and blue shade, fazing Whipper a little bit.
'Urgh...! Good to see you still have a strong and fast reflex...not bad for a murderer!' Whipper grunted.
Strike growled back at him with a sharp look in his eyes. 'I'M. NOT. A. MURDERER!.'
Strike bucked Whipper in the chest, cutting off his wind and grabbed his whip then slashed him in the side, causing him to scream in agony worse than before and blood dripping from the cut.
'Argh! You bucker!' 'Fine! I'll leave your little marefriend alone, but I'll be back for you with the rest of the gang, just you wait!'
Strike tossed the whip back to Whipper who picked it up and gave one last angry growl before running off out of town, leaving Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Strike on their own with each other.
'That's it, run ya faggot!' Strike yelled at Whipper as he retreated and then looked at Rainbow Dash.
'You okay? Do you mind telling me what all that was about?' He calmly asked her as he looked at her beautiful magenta eyes.
She sighed through her nostrils, trying to find her voice. 'He comes up to me asking if I knew a pony called Rainbow Strike and I told him 'No.' but he thinks I was lying so the bucker tried to beat me!' 'But, hey, I gotta say, I've never seen another pony stand up to a pony tougher than that before. Thanks.'
Rainbow smiled thankfully at Rainbow Strike who was looking at the floor with his ears down flat on his head along with a tear dripping out his eye that didn't go unnoticed by Rainbow's sharp eyes.
'Hey, what's wrong? You okay?' She trotted up to Strike and placed a hoof on his back.
'He's one of the guys who I used to hang around with...the one who killed my marefriend a few years back. I'm never going to forget what he'd done.'
'He's gone now. You'll be okay, he can't do any harm to you anymore.' Rainbow Dash said reassuringly as Rainbow Strike raised his head to face the cyan mare's eyes.
'Who are you anyway? I'm Rainbow Strike.' He gave a weak grin, to which Rainbow returned. 'Rainbow Dash. Why? You heard of me?' She was now fully smiling at the stallion who was smiling back at her.
'Actually, I have. You're my sister.' Strike spoke quietly but happily.
'Wait, WHAT?!' She beamed at him. 'I don't have a brother!'
'Well, actually, you do. You never knew me until now because I left long before you were born. I was told about you from a mail pony. I have no idea how he got my address or anything, but he handed me a letter and when I opened it, I saw it was from an anonymous source and I recognized the names at the top: Fire Fly and Spectrum Streak, and then your name, Rainbow Dash.'
'It was a notification about your birth as far as I know, so I came back after all those years to finally meet you, but like usual, chaos finds me first before I find it.'
Rainbow's jaw dropped. How could it be possible?! How come she never heard of this? Why? It looked like their parents had some explanation to tell her.
'How come I never heard of any of this, Strike? Its hard to believe that you came out of nowhere and tell me that your my brother. Mum and Dad never told me about a brother. It was just me!'
Rainbow Strike sighed again. 'Rainbow...you must understand. I've been gone for 13 years. That's long before you were born, so you never knew me and I never knew about you until I got that letter from about 4 years ago.'
Rainbow Dash stared at him in disbelief at what she was hearing, not knowing what to say, let alone not knowing all of this.
'Rainbow, we should go back home so our parents can tell you about it. I'm sure you'll understand.' Rainbow Strike smiled at her. 'Do they still live in Cloudsdale? You do know don't you?'
Dash looked into his green eyes. 'Can you fly? Because they are in Cloudsdale.' She said with a raised brow.
Rainbow streak looked back at the floor and sighed once more. 'No, unfortunately. My left wing broke when I crash landed at Sweet Apple Acres. I won't be flying again for a few weeks.' He rolled his eyes.
Rainbow looked slightly worried about him. Wondering what would happen if he was crippled temporarily and if that stallion called Whipper comes back for him with his friends. They would most likely either drag him off after beating him severely or just kill him.
'Look, I'm sure I could carry you to my place outside of Cloudsdale and Ponyville, but you better get your wing fixed sooner than later. Who knows what would happen to you if that guy comes back with his buddies for you?'
Rainbow Dash flew up towards her cloud palace with Rainbow Strike in her hooves, and to her surprise, he was lighter than she'd expect him to be.
As she reached the porch of her house, she set Strike's hooves on the floor and let him go, landing next to him with a smile on her face. 'Well, here we are. You can crash at my place for a while, if you want, or at least until that wing heals up.'
Strike looked at her with a smile of his own. 'Thanks for the help of getting me up here, Rainbow. Sorry you had to do that. But I promise I'll tell you everything about what happened as soon as we get back home to mum and dad. I doubt they'd recognize me at all after all this time.'
'It's alright. We'll see them tomorrow and explain it all, you I mean.' She opened the dark blue doors to her palace and let him inside. The walls were a soft blue tone that looked just as much like Rainbow Strikes coat, just a bit lighter. The floor was made from layers of soft cloud, made especially for cloud houses, after all, it was a cloud palace.
'Oh, Celestia...how do you afford a place such as this, sis?' Rainbow Strike asked quietly as he took in the beautiful surroundings of his sister's house. 'It's just so beautiful...'
Rainbow smiled back at him. 'Work, Strike. Work. I'm on cloud busting duty and weather duty. I organize the teams in Ponyville and since I'm the fastest, I'm in charge of pretty much anything around here Pegasus wise.'
'You know, for a little sister you aren't doing bad for yourself. That's a huge accomplishment.'
He saw Rainbow blush a hue of light red at his comment. 'Thanks, Strike. That's sweet.' She motioned for him to sit down on the couch next to her as she sat herself down, waiting for him. In a few seconds, Rainbow Strike was beside her.
'Strike? If its not too much trouble...Where was you all our lives?' She faced Rainbow Strike, who was surprisingly crying. 'Strike? What's wrong? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.' Rainbow placed her hoof around his neck and hugged him to try and comfort him, in hopes he would calm down.
'Rainbow...I...No. I can't...but I have too...its just..I've only known you for like half and hour and I'm already about to tell you the truth of why I....ran away.' He wiped the stream of tears running down his eyes and cheeks away and looked at Rainbow with sore eyes.
'It was when I was 11.... I was at school and just about every time I was there, I got bullied a lot, and I mean a lot. When I was leaving to go back home, one of the hundreds of stallions who bullied me came up to me and started a brawl with me with a few of his other friends.'
'No, I can't do this...' He cried again, trying not to think about what happened that day. Rainbow stroked his mane, running her cyan hoof through it's silkyness. She quietly spoke to him in a whisper. 'It's okay, Strike. It can't of been that bad.'
But none the less, he continued his story, despite his crying.
'Reluctantly, I managed to knock down one of the 3 friends out cold, but minutes later, the one who started it smashed in my nose with his hoof, breaking it and blood poured everywhere. The pain was so strong it made me fall down into the 2nd friend's arms.'
'He held me while the other one threw punches at my face, making me bleed and become bruised until my skin was blackened from the oncoming blows. The only thing I remember is getting knocked out as some other fillies and colts cheered him on,but eventually left me,leaving blood running down my torn face and lips, until mum and dad found me.'
'I woke up in hospital the next morning, with mum and dad at my side. it was just so horrible what they told me...'
Rainbow nudged his side. 'Strike? What did they tell you..?'
'They...they told me that after I got knocked out, the one who assaulted me attacked one of my other friends, the one I was closest to....and he...he....he....killed him..'
Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped longer than ponily possible as she took in what Rainbow Strike had told her, who was now in a crying mess.
'They killed your friend?! How?! Why?!' She could feel herself wanting to cry inside over sympathy for her long lost brother.
'The same they did to me...just that when he was awake, he snapped both his wings and headbutted his jaw, breaking it so he couldn't scream when he threw him off of the edge of the cloud. It was the horriblest thing I've ever had to hear in my entire life...I wish it was me who they killed, not him! I could barely stand up for myself, but now, when I see that retch again, I swear I'm going to do what he did!'
Strike's tears began to boil as he felt the anger from that day reignite inside of him. 'It ALL MY FAULT!!'
'Even after all of that, it still carried on. I was in hospital for weeks that seemed like months and when I did get back in school for once, it endlessly got to me, everyday, every living second and hour was a living hell for me to even bear, and so one night, I left a note on my desk in my bedroom 13 years ago, like I said and put some of my valuables in my saddle bag and took off from my window in the middle of the night, going to wherever I could start anew, but unfortunately, I found some town full of crime and poverty that I soon became part of in a gang.'
Rainbow Dash began to look worried about his past and its affect on him at this moment. She hugged him slightly tighter as he tried to resist and stroke his mane. 'Strike! Please, please calm down! They can't hurt you anymore! They're gone!'
Strike broke away from her grasp, pushing her chest away with his hoof and looking her dead in the eyes. 'You don't understand, Rainbow. You just don't. They only took me on because of my relentless speed and stealth abilities. It seemed to fit me for a theft-type criminal. Because of that, I ended up getting tons of bits for what I took and that one certain mare and me met at a bar and eventually got together. Of course until Whipper murdered her.'
Rainbow Strike kept his gaze on Rainbow Dash's now frightened eyes. He knew what that look was, and he knew it all too well to know it was a bad thing. She had gotten the wrong impression of him or has she?
'Rainbow...seriously, please stop that. You asked me about it so I told you.' Strike looked worried and sad as he eyed his sister who at this point couldn't think of what to say.
'I-I-I-Is this true...?' She quietly asked, stuttering as she tried to find her voice.
'Every little bit.'
'Oh, Celestia...look, I may not of known you long, but we gotta do something about this. All I wanna do is help you now that I know what happened to you.'
'Sis, I wish I could do something about it, but believe me, I just can't. There is no going back from what I've done and there never will be.'
A Tour Around The Weather Factory With Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash was with her brother, showing him around Cloudsdale and what he had missed in the past years. The first place they went was down the cloud streets towards the weather factory. To Rainbow Strike, nothing had changed, it was pretty much all the same apart from a different floor layout to expand the workplace of the industry to fit more employees to do the job.
They both trotted into the factory and into the cloakroom that had pearl white coats and white construction hats to match. Rainbow put some on herself, carefully slipping her wings through the slots in the sides and handed another pair to Rainbow Strike to put on.
'Here, Strike. Put these on so I can show you around the factory. You can't enter without one.' Rainbow Strike stared at the pair of work clothes and took them in his hooves. 'Okay.' He spoke dully as he placed the medium weighted helmet on his head and put on the suit, placing his right wing through the wing slot and when he tried to slide the left one through, his pain reignited, sending a groan of pain through gritted teeth.
'Ow! Oh, my Celestia, that hurt!' He ceased to put his wing through the slot and instead, just kept it underneath the suit's material.
Rainbow Dash looked at her brother in worry and placed her hoof on his shoulder. 'Hey, be careful with your wing. Keep it under your suit to keep it safe.'
Strike looked at Rainbow with eyes full of pain. 'Ugh...I'm okay. Don't worry about it. I'm fine.' He looked at the white suit, feeling its tightness around his wing. The force of the strength on his wing only made the pain grow worse, so he unbuttoned the coat and threw it off
'You know what? I think I don't need the suit...' Dash raised a brow at him. 'Well...don't get that wing hurt anymore than it already is. This place is dangerous, you know.'
'I know. I've been in here before with my school for a trip once. I know about all the dangers.' He smiled glumly at Rainbow who just gave him a weak smile back.
After they were ready, they both walked into the work area and Dash and Strikes first stop was the rainbow factory. Upon entry of the enormous, metal walled and fluffy floored room, Strike immediately knew what was in it. After all, he did know quite a lot when he was 11, including how the rainbows were produced and made from the machines and how the flowing river was tended to by the engineers.
'Hey, Rainbow? They say rainbows aren't known for their flavour, right? Well, watch this...' Strike walked next to the side of the pool of rainbows with Dash at his side and scooped his hoof into the runny liquid. It was very runny and the temperature was cool, and as he retracted his hoof, it was coated in a rainbow pattern. He then opened his mouth and stuck his full hoof into it, licking off the rainbow substance, and in seconds, his face lit red and flashed all the colours of the rainbow. Green,red,purple,yellow,orange,blue, followed by a pant for breath as he opened his mouth again, trying to breathe as steam exited his mouth and turned into vapor.
'Doesn't effect me at all!' He laughed, as did Rainbow Dash at his face when he licked the liquid. As they laughed together for the first time, a familiar, masculine voice was heard from behind Rainbow Dash. As she turned around, she saw Dumbbell and Hoops.
Both of them looked at the two siblings and laughed. 'Look, Hoops, its our old friend, Rainbow Crash! So, what ya been up to? Gotten kicked out of any flying schools lately?' He said mockingly.
Rainbow Dash and Strike looked back at them, anger and unamusement plastered on their faces. 'I didn't get kicked out. I quit.' She spat back in utter annoyance of the two bullies. She surely can't stand them, and by Strikes expression, neither could he. Just the way they acted towards his sister.
'You leave her alone, or you'll have me to deal with.' Strike threateningly said to the two friends, catching their attention.
'What are you gonna do? You Rainbow Crashes lil' brother, awe...sticking up for your big sister there, baby?' Hoops said as mockingly as he could towards Strike and Rainbow, only making him angrier.
'Little? Look who's talking. For you information, I'm 24, and you are nothing but a worthless scum bag who has no right in judging my sister, so if I were you, I'd back off before you make me do something you'll regret making me do.'
Rainbow Dash admired how her brother handled situations as she stared at his green, emerald eyes, blushing a dim red. Strike kept his gaze fixed on the two friends, who were not even offended by his obligation (or so it seemed).
'Well? What's it going to be? Are you going to back off, or do I have to knock you into next week?' Strike finally asked, growing impatient for a response from Hoops and Dumbbell.
Dumbbell pushed Strike in the side, backing him to the edge of the rainbow river, only making his anger come back to him, wanting to make him fight.
'C'mon, little baby, stand up for your girl!' Hoops mocked as he gripped a hoof at Strikes neck, that was nocked off moments later from Strike headbutting his nose with his forehead, sounding a loud crack, followed by blood. He swung some punches repeatedly at Hoops chest, knocking the wind out of him as he let out a series of grunts, but soon enough, when he was knocked out of commission, Strike pushed him into the rainbow river, where his coat was dyed all the colours of the rainbow, making him look like a clown.
'Never start with my sister, you little shit! I warned you once, if I'll have to do it again, I'll see that you go to the hospital!'
Rainbow Dash looked at her brother, stunned by the acts that just took place in front of her. No pony has ever stood up for her like that before, especially to Hoops and Dumbbell. She blushed a hue of red as she looked at him and placed a hoof on his shoulder as she looked directly into his emerald eyes.
'Wow...No pony has ever stood up like that for me before...That was amazing, thank you.' She leaned in and kissed his cheek, making Strike blush a heavy red, causing Rainbow to giggle.
'That's alright, sis. No pony walks all over my sister like that.' He smiled at Rainbow who gladly returned the smile. 'Thanks, big brother. So, do you want to go and see the room where snow is made?'
'Sure, I'd like that, Rainbow.'
Without saying anything else, they trotted together side by side into the winter room, which was of course, at the very top of the factory.
On the way to the top, Strike was thinking about Rainbow. The only things he could think of is the things that reminded him of his marefriend and what she was like. Rainbow's personality and attitude was just about the same, which was the reason he loved her; that spunky way she'd be when they were together, and her mane....the prettiest shade of yellow and orange he had ever laid eyes upon. By Celestia, he sure did miss her, but he also knew, that deep down he loved her endlessly, even if she was murdered, she would never leave his heart and mind.
But the most beautiful thing was Rainbow's eyes. They were just like his marefriends, just a lovely yellow and not magenta. Every time he'd look into those eyes, he would find himself lost in her soul and feel like he was in heaven.
If only he could be with her once more, just to see her adorable face and to tell her he loved her, but before that happened, Whipper got there before him, now he would never have the chance to say how he truly felt to her personally.
In a matter of minutes, the couple got to the top of the factory and opened a giant metal door that was in the style of a freezer that had the words 'Snow Room' written on it in a bold, Italic gold font. Strike opened the door for them to enter the room, and as they did, it was the same as the other room: Large metal walls and a very fluffy floor, only this time there were small tables with mounted magnifying glasses hanging firmly above snowflakes, along with some already made snowflakes hanging from the ceiling of the room by thin but strong industrial ropes.
The workers and engineers were also just as themed as the room. They had white construction hats with earmuffs and cotton hoof gloves along with the white worker coats that had a thicker look than the rest of the other jackets worn by different workers around the factory.
Each of them were at a table, inspecting and checking if the snowflake was perfect or needed to be repaired while the others made sure the ready ones on the ceiling were stored away for winter in the industrial-size freezer in the back of the room. The room itself had to be at least -5 degrees, making both Rainbow and Strike shiver, seeing as they had no winter suits.
As Rainbow stood beside Strike, she noticed a familiar looking pony. He had a rainbow mane, parts only showing through the side of the helmet, along with his tail and he had a purple tinted coat. It was her dad. At the sight of her dad, she tapped Strike on the shoulder and pointed a hoof at him.
'Strike? That's Dad.' She whispered to him. Strike looked to where she was pointing and saw that it indeed was their Dad. He didn't know what to think, nor did Rainbow. Instead they both stood in silence, Strike nearly crying from seeing him after all them years ago. He looked just the same as when he left home. He turned his head to Rainbow, making it quickly apparent he didn't want him to know that his little Strikey came home. It would certainly be embarrassing to make a scene in front of all his co-workers, let alone his daughter.
'Rainbow...*sniffle* I-I can't let him see me...not yet..I'm not ready for it.' He said in a sniveling cry.
Rainbow Dash gave him a small hug and looked into his green eyes that now glistened and sparkled with tears.
'Ok...I won't force you to see him if your not ready. Lets go back to my place.'
Rainbow Strike had been living with Rainbow Dash for about a week now, despite his attitude at times, she knew what had happened to him and understood with great reason that he had a right to be like that. Normally, he would be sat downstairs on the couch while Rainbow Dash was out, leaving him on his own. Her house was actually kind of pretty and more cozy than he expected, and it certainly helped him sleep through the night, including during storms and bad weather conditions. The best part however was that his wing had fully healed and he was able to fly in the skies once more.
During some point of day, him and Rainbow Dash went into the back of the palace and shew off their flying skills and stunts they had learned through the years since their bodies adapted well enough in order for them to use their wings. And Rainbow Strike, being an ex-criminal, was substantially a better and faster flyer than Rainbow Dash. She didn't like knowing she was slower, and it did annoy her a bit, but at the same time amazed her. But the most interesting part of the day is when they shown each other what their cutie marks were for, and as usual, Rainbow Dash was first to show off.
She leaped into the air at a tremendous speed and when she reached an altitude to where she was nothing but a cyan dot in the sights of Rainbow Strike, she dove downwards, picking up speed faster and faster. She came more visibly into view as she was nearing the palace, and a cone of faint rainbow surrounded her body in the shape of an arrow, and he could clearly see her skin around her face was being pulled back and heated from the friction as she still picked up a very very high speed rate, and then 'BOOM!'.
A circle of rainbows bright enough to burn your eyes blasted from behind her, shooting her like she was an arrow in a crossbow, making her speed become insanely fast, faster than Strike could go if he was to do that stunt, which he could of, and as Rainbow Dash flew faster, a thick trail of rainbows followed behind her, emitting from her tail and mane as she flew onward. Minutes after flying in the sky, Rainbow Dash touched down on the edge of the platform of the cloud and skidded towards Rainbow Strike as she halted to a stop.
'Wow, Sis. That was impressive.' Strike commented at his sister's performance with a smile spread on his face.
'Yeah, I'm pretty awesome! Lets see you try and beat that, Strike!' She smirked gleefully at Strike with a challenging look, to which he did back.
'Lets see if that can top this!' Strike flapped his wings and shot off the cloudy surface with a sound of electricity passing through his wings, creating a large whisp of wind that shot through Rainbow's mane as she looked up at her airborne brother who was no higher than she was in seconds. He looked at her from above to see her staring right back and he shouted. 'Alright, Rainbow! Get ready for this!'
He jolted left and right and down, blasting in sharp turns that left a trail of rainbow coloured lightning behind in his wake. When he was done sky patterning, he finished it and when he flew back far enough, he admired his work. It was a lighting bolt created fully out of rainbow lightning, making Strike smile at his work as he yelled once more to his younger sister. 'Now for the finale!' He blasted his way downwards, aiming his left leg down as he kept the other one up, picking up speed the harder and faster he flapped his wings, along with the adrenaline that kept him going. As soon as Rainbow Strike got fast enough, like Rainbow Dash, a dim light of rainbows began to fire from his leg and body like dancing fire and eventually, it sparked and grew brighter, and when his speed was great enough, he was too, blasted at an insane speed, creating behind him a giant rainbow coloured lighting strike that made Dash cover her eyes with a hoof as the bright light's radius grew bigger and spread further around Cloudsdale to a point where it would be impossible for everypony to not see it.
Loud electricity like sounds emitted from Strike's rainbow lightning strike as he flew away, creating a smaller version of it from his tail as he traveled back up towards Rainbow Dash's cloud palace with a big smirk on his face as he landed in front of her.
He was panting heavily as he looked at Rainbow, who's jaw was now dropped in amazement of what she had witnessed. She stuttered and hesitated as she tried to find her voice.
'That was....indescribably, undeniably, unquestionably AWESOME!' Rainbow chimed as she praised Strike like a fan girl asking for an autograph. Strike laughed to himself at Rainbow's facial expression as she cheered. He walked over to her and nuzzled her cheek. 'Ha. Thanks, Rainbow. You really are an awesome sister. You're 40% cooler than anyone else I've met in my lifetime, you know that?' Strike said as he kissed her cheek with a soft touch, causing Rainbow to blush a deep red.
'Awe. I love you, Strike. You're a better brother than I could of imagined, and I'm glad to be your sister.' She hugged him tightly, Strike hugging her back as he wrapped his hooves around her back and rubbed his cheek into her mane as Rainbow did the same.
Rainbow looked at him, gazing into his green eyes as she did so and she finally spoke. 'Strike, lets go upstairs, I want to show you something I think you'd like.' Rainbow Strike looked at her in confusion at what she had said and looked back at her beautiful magenta eyes. 'Like what?' He replied softly as he raised a brow slightly. 'You'll see. Race you there!'
Before Strike had the chance to respond, Rainbow had already blasted off up the stairs to her bedroom, Strike quickly following behind her, following the rainbow pattern to her location that was left from her tail. He followed it into her bedroom, which was far beyond what he imagined. It was bright blue like the rest of her house, along with a bed frame made customly by Rainbow Dash herself, and her bed sheets were a nice and soft sky blue with her cutie mark sown into it. All around her room were Wonderbolt pictures - some of her with the crew and some with Spitfire, including a signed picture of Spitfire that Rainbow had encased in a small glass case and displayed. And sat on the foot of the bed was Rainbow Dash. She was holding a case that appeared to be in the shape of an instrument, a guitar.
Strike hovered over to Dash and sat beside her quietly. 'Is this what you wanted to show me?' He asked softly, catching her attention. 'Yes. It's what I found in our parents house a while back. Since I found it, I tried to play it, but I'm not good with guitars, just as I'm not good at cooking.' She looked at the guitar case again and pushed it onto Strikes lap. 'Here.'
Strike looked at the case for a moment. It was black and slightly dusty, and on the casing, there was a name stitched into it in gold. It read 'Rainbolt.'. When he read the name, he instantly knew it was his Dad's. As he unzipped it, he gently folded the lid of the case back and saw the guitar. It was jet-black, just like the case and had a rainbow coloured top. It was an electric guitar. It had a note breaker still attached to it, along with the chords still intact and strongly tuned - Overall it was in very good condition and very greatly preserved.
Strike pulled it out of the case gently and held it in his hooves. He looked at it once again, and it fit him perfectly. 'Rainbow, you said you couldn't play? Watch this.'
He pulled the chords and created chimes in the form of a rock and roll song and played it loudly to create the rythm and began singing.
After he finished singing, he looked at Rainbow who looked back in awe at his skills at the guitar, with amazement in her eyes.
'Oh, my Celestia! How did you learn to play like that?' She clapped her hooves. Strike gave her a smile. 'I learnt how to play after I quit being a criminal and did something with my life. I created a band and earned myself some money that I ended up losing. Took me years to learn to get the songs just right.'
'Here, want me to show you?' Rainbow giggled and blushed a candy red as she looked at the instrument. Dash was joined on the bed with Strike and sat close to her, asking her to sit in front of him so he could show her how to get the chords just right, so she sat in front of him and placed her hooves gently on the chords and Strike placed his hooves on her hooves and moved them to the chords to teach her how to play the song he played.
Strike decided it was about time to meet Rainbow's friends in Ponyville, so he and Rainbow Dash took to the skies for their destination. Rainbow insisted that he met Twilight first, but the only thing that seemed to cross Strike's mind was not to get too close to one another.
He may not have been around for too long, knowing that those criminal friends of his from the past claimed they were coming back, undoubtedly to kill him and possibly the rest of his family, including Rainbow.
The thought itself was dreadful. He just loved her too much to let her go, even if they were long distance from knowing each other to truly call themselves siblings, but nothing could change what they mean to one another.
The small town of Ponyville soon came into view. Rainbow looked at Strike to tell him the first place they were going to go to. “Strike! We should really go and see Twilight first if you want to get to know the others, she can tell you more about them before we meet them.”
Strike nodded with a large smirk. “Race ya to the bottom, Dash!”
Rainbow's lips held a challenging smile of her own. “You're so on!”
They flapped their wings harder and harder until they turned into a blur and sped up, Strike was getting a head start with no delay as he looked over his shoulder at Dash who was way behind, but soon enough caught up to him. They were then side to side, flying at an equal speed, yet still trying to go faster.
“You know, Strike, I'm not called 'Rainbow Dash' for a no reason!” She taunted at her brother as she gave another smirk and tried to flap harder and when she greater wing force than Strike, she blasted unbelievably fast straight past Strike, leaving him in awe as he watched her become less in his sight of visibility.
“Whoa,” He whispered in amazement. “let’s see if she can top this!”
He flapped his wings as hard as he could and darted off faster than Dash. In seconds the rainbow cone of lightning formed around his two front hooves he had stretched out in front of his face and then... 'BOOM!'
Rainbow strikes of lightning emitted from the tips of his tail and mane as he moved just as fast as lightning and directly past Rainbow Dash who was near the ground already, but Strike got there before her.
“See you at the bottom, Rainbow!”
Rainbow's eyes widened in disbelief as he blasted past her, leaving her mouth agape. “Whoa.'' She whispered to herself. ''That. Is. Crazy.”
Nearing the ground of Ponyville, Strike couldn't stop in time to land safely and before he knew it, he darted past the Golden Oaks Library sign and demolished the wall as he went through it and downed pretty much every bookshelf in his wake, Rainbow Dash coming in soon after.
She worriedly flew to where Strike was lying in a pile of books and scooped the books off of him and pulled him out, thankfully seeing he wasn't hurt.
“Seriously, Strike, what is it with you and ramming into walls?” Rainbow chuckled as Strike shook his head and began rubbing it with a hoof.
“'I'm called 'Strike' for a reason, you know?” He smiled back at Rainbow who was now laughing with him.
At that moment, Twilight came in from the basement of the library upon hearing the loud thumping noises of hundreds of thousands of books falling to the floor from Strike's entry through the demolished wall.
“GAH!'' Twilight exclaimed, shocked at the state of her usually well-maintained library and alphabetized bookshelves. ''Rainbow, I thought we were through this little problem of crash landing years ago! How did you manage to-“ Twilight paused as she noticed a second pony next to Rainbow Dash, with the same looks and mane with a lighter shade of cyan for a coat.
Her angry expression soon transformed into a look of wonder as she kept her purple eyes locked onto Strike's emerald green eyes.
“Rainbow? Who's this? I'm sure I haven't seen him around before.''
“Oh, right. Twilight, this is my brother, Rainbow Strike. He's just come back to town not long ago” Strike looked towards Twilight and right into her eyes as he inspected her. He actually thought she was pretty cute, especially for a unicorn. He walked up to her and stuck out a front hoof which Twilight placed her own into.
“Nice to meet you, Rainbow Strike. I'm Twilight Sparkle.” She smiled at him as she looked deeper into his eyes. It surely was rare to meet members of Rainbow's family, especially since they all mostly live in Cloudsdale and mostly stay up in the clouds, apart from Rainbow Dash who only ever goes to her cloud palace when she isn't working as a weather pony for the weather team.
“Nice to meet you, Twilight. Sorry about the shelves.” He looked to Twilight with an apologetic smile but he could still clearly see that she was quite annoyed by the mess surrounding her once tidy and clean floor. Now it looked more like a book-dump, or more specifically a tramp's idea of a bookshelf.
“That's okay, don't worry about it, Strike.” Twilight said, trying to hide her annoyance. She glanced at the wall where Strike had crashed through and rolled her eyes as she let out a quiet grunt and looked back to Strike.
“So, where did you go if you've been gone for a while?”
“Oh, I just felt like leaving town to go someplace else” Strike lied with a ghost of a smile, trying to look as convincing as he could, even if Twilight knew that it wasn't the case from that look in his eyes.
“Right,” Twilight spoke slowly and panned her head to Rainbow. “So I don't suppose Rainbow Dash wanted you to meet her friends? Is that why you are here?”
“That would be correct.”
“Well, you've met me, so that's out of the way, so I guess the ones left to meet are Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity. If you want, I can show you where they all live and introduce you to them.”
“Applejack? I've met her already the first day I got back, but I would feel glad to see her again. I promised I'd come back and visit her, and as for Pinkie, I assume she was the pink pony with the darker pink mane?” Strike quizzically raised a brow.
“Yeah, that's right. But I'm surprised that Pinkie didn't keep you for too long, you sure she wasn't all annoying?”
“Actually, yes and no. She was nice. I did know somepony with the last name 'Pie' and that was Granny Pie, and Pinkie's her granddaughter. But anyways, we should get moving if I'm to see the others.”
“Alright, let’s go then, you two.” Rainbow announced and they left the library to head for Sweet Apple Acres.
On the way to the Apple Family farm, they bumped into the pink party pony and Fluttershy as they were turning a corner. Strike quickly recognized the mare and handed her a hoof to help her up.
“Oh my, sorry about that, Pinkie Pie! I didn't see you there!” Strike apologized and pulled her up. ''No, It's alright, Strike.'' Pinkie said as she dusted herself off.
Fluttershy, on the other hoof was staring into Strike's beautiful emerald eyes as though she's been lost in them and couldn't find her way out of their loving grasp.
“Oh, hey Twilight! Whatcha doin'?” Pinkie chimed and waved at Twilight who waved back.
“Hey Pinkie, we're just off to see Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres. What are you two doing? Just hanging out together?”
“Yeah, something like that. Right, Fluttershy?” Pinkie swiveled her body around to face Fluttershy only to see her staring into Strike's eyes like she was under a spell. “Futtershy? Helloooooo?” She waved a hoof in front of Pinkie's face, trying to snap her out of her trance.
“Huh?! Oh, sorry,I was miles away, Pinkie.” Fluttershy said quietly and softly as she blushed a hue of red when she gazed back at Rainbow Strike who gave her an awkward look upon noticing that she was staring into his eyes.
“Well,” Strike began. “since we are off to see Applejack, do you want to come along with us? It'll be nice to have a chance to hang around and get to know you better.”
Pinkie pointed a hoof to Fluttershy. “And by the way, Strike, this is my best friend Fluttershy.”
“Hey.” Fluttershy greeted softly.
“Hi, Fluttershy. I'm Rainbow Strike, nice to meet you.” He let out a hoof and shook Fluttershy's own.
*** *** ***
When the group got to Sweet Apple Acres, they walked to the farm house and knocked on the door while they patiently wait. The sound of locks behind the door where heard along with a rattle of chains and the door opened with Applejack to greet them.
“Howdy, everypony.” Applejack cheerily greeted and let them in, closing the door behind them. “So, what brings ya'll here?”
“I thought it was about time we got to know each other. I mean, when us two met, I wasn't around for long seeing as I wanted to find my sister.” Strike informed her.
“Well, that's might kind of ya, Strike. This here's our farm, like you saw the day you came and this is my family.” She pointed a hoof to her family and introduced them individually.
“This is Apple Bloom,''
“Howdy!” Apple Bloom greeted him with a warm smile and wave of her hoof.
“Granny Smith.”
“Hi!' Granny croaked from her seat in her rocking chair.
“and finally, Big Macintosh.” She pointed to the strong looking bulk of red that was her big brother.
“Eeyup.” He replied simply with a smile of his own.
“And Strike, Before I forget, you dropped your saddle bag when you crashed on the farm. Here ya are.” Applejack picked up Strike's cobalt coloured saddle bag that had his cutie mark stitched onto it from the corner of the room and handed it to him.
“Thanks, Applejack. I was wondering what happened to it when I realized I lost it in mid-flight.” Strike thanked gladly, earning a bow of the hat from Applejack in acknowledgement.
Strike unstrapped the left saddle and flipped the lid back then reached in and pulled something out. It was a picture of him and a beautiful yellow mare with yellow eyes and a lovely mane that looked the same as Vinyl Scratches, only consisting of orange and yellow. They were both hugging each other and the mare was nuzzling Strike's cheek. On the back of the picture was three words that read ''Strike and Remedy''.
Strike whispered quiet enough so no other pony could hear him. “Celestia, I miss her.”
He put the picture back and took something else out and looked hardly at the object in his hooves. It was a sheath made from brown leather and had a massive bowie-style knife inside of it. Strike pulled back the pin and pulled the blade out. The knife was indeed a bowie, and was customized.
The guard of the knife was a shiny, polished brass piece that was cut in a rectangle shape and the handle was a polished wood that shined with the light. On the handle, Strike's gang name was carved into it - 'Striker'. The blade, however, was shiny, but had blood splattered all over it's front tip, causing the ponies and Strike to flinch.
Strike immediately shoved it back into the sheath and tucked it back into the bag, hiding it under the old things inside.
“I-I really didn't need to see that.” Strike whimpered, scared by the memory it gave him. The blood on it was still fresh. He remembers who it was from perfectly. It belonged to one of the gang members he killed the day he returned. The one they called Torcher, the Element of Arson. He even remembers what a crazy bastard he was.
“W-W-Was that blood on your knife?” Rainbow cautiously asked Strike.
Strike only nodded slowly in response to her question. ''I really was hoping you wouldn't see that.'' His face held a sad expression.
All of them looked at Strike with worry plastered on their faces. Wondering what he had a knife for, all apart from Apple Bloom who was too young to even know what was going on.
“Applejack?” Strike asked in a quiet tone.
“Yeah?”
“Where did you find my bag, anyway? I didn't even feel it slip from my body.”
“I found it hangin' on a tree branch in ma orchard, so I took it in, thinking it was yours.”
“Thanks, Applejack. So, listen, from what I know there are 6 of you altogether, but there are five currently here. Who's the other friend?”
“That'd be Rarity. She's a mighty good clothes designer and creator. Heck, she even worked with a pony called Photo Finish before and presented a line of new fashion to her and she loved them so much, she offered her a job for being a model.”
“Wow. That's impressive. So, where can we find Rarity?”
“She'll be in her boutique in Ponyville. If ya'll plan to go and see it, I wouldn't disturb her if she's working. She goes wilder than anything if she's interrupted.”
“Thanks for the warning Applejack. I'll go see her at some point later on.”
After being at Sweet Apple Acres with Rainbow's friends, Strike had learned about what they do for a living and found out most about their personality. Pinkie told him about her job at Sugarcube Corner and some of her stories from the past, including the one when the donkey called Doodle came into town and how she befriended him. Twilight told him about what else? Books and magic and of course, how she once used to be before finding friendship for the others. Applejack on the over hoof told him about how the Apple Family brews and harvests apples for the markets and what they had been through in the years, earning laughs and giggles from the family and her friends at the memories, even Strike on some parts. Fluttershy didn't say much, and unusually, she couldn't stop staring deeply into Strike's green eyes. The others, including Strike even noticed it at times, and every time they'd turn their attention to her, she would instantly stop.
Strike found all of their stories interesting, but the only thing flowing in his mind is how they would all react when he tells his. Just the though of their reactions and who they'd take him for made him scared, not to mention petrified. He even had a nightmare about it once, and from that night, he still couldn't forget it. It was where he told them about it and in the end, they thought he was an uncontrollable fiend who likes to-no, loves to murder for fun and entertainment with his gang friends. That dream was permanently burned to his mind, rendering it unforgettable.
Before leaving the farm, Strike asked if Applejack wanted to tag along with them, to which she agreed, and then the group of friends went for Rarities boutique to meet her. As they walked they told Strike some more about who they were and Strike even told them things about himself, stuff that mattered.
'Hey, Dash?' Strike looked over to Dash who was hovering beside him.
'Yeah, Strike?'
'About this thing, I...I dunno if I should tell you all, let alone our parents. I don't know what they'll even think of me.' He kept his voice quiet so the others behind him and Dash couldn't hear.
'Well....Strike...that's your choice. If you don't want to tell us you don't have to. Your free to not tell us about it if you don't want to.'
'I know, but at some point, your all going to need to know the truth anyway. I just have a very bad feeling they - and you - will get the wrong impression of me. I mean, I'm not a gang member anymore, and I'm definitely not a killer or a thief.'
As they talked quietly so the rest wouldn't hear them, Applejack took notice about their whispering.
'Hey, what are them two whispering about?' Applejack nudged Twilight's shoulder and motioned her hoof over to Rainbow and Strike.
'Hmm. I dunno, AJ. Think they're talking about something they aren't telling us?'
'Huh. I dunno, Twi. Looks like something other than that. S'pose they're just making up for lost time?'
Before they had another chance to talk, they had already arrived at the boutique. Rainbow Dash looked at Strike for a mere second and pushed the purple door open, the door hitting and ringing the bell that let out a welcoming chime as she came in, only to see Rarity talking to...her parents? Her mother had a pink coat and a beautifully combed mane and two blue lightning bolts on her flanks. Her dad had a light purple-tinted coat and golden eyes, and his cutie mark had a shooting star with a trail of rainbow coming out of it coloured in red, yellow and blue.
'Dashie!' Firefly said happily as she trotted up to her with a smile and hugged Rainbow warmfully. 'I've not seen you in ages!'
'He.' Dash chuckled softly. 'Hi, Mum. What are you doing here?'
At the question, Firefly looked down at the floor in silence and looked back up to Rainbow's magenta eyes with a happy yet saddened look.
'Well, Dashie...you see, we came here to browse Rarities selection of formal and bridal clothing because we were...going to get married in a few months time and thought it would be best to get the things we need now before it's too late. Sorry for not telling you, Sweetheart.'
Dash froze for a second and trying to find her voice, she began to mumble and stutter.
'W-W-What?!' She yelled out of shock. 'Married?! You and Dad?!'
Firefly looked up to her daughter and placed her hooves to Dash's cheeks. ''Rainbow.'' She stated sweetly. ''Calm down, please. It's not for a few months yet.''
''Um...Mum?''
''Yes, Sweetheart?''
''T-There's somepony you need to talk to since you're here already...'' Dash looked over to the door of the boutique and shouted enough that Strike could hear. ''Strike! They're here, you can come in now!''
At that name, her mum and dad froze. Strike? They both thought. Did they just hear Rainbow say ''Strike''?. Their thoughts were ended as a certain pony entered through the door, confirming who they were thinking of.
''STRIKEY?!'' Both of them exclaimed out of shock.
''Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad.'' He said quietly and nervously as he gave a wave to his parents whom he hadn't seen for as long as he could remember.
''Strike?! Huh?! How?! I thought we'd never see you again for as long as we'd live! When did you get here?!'' Firefly yelled.
''Mum.'' Is all he said before charging into her sweet, pink hooves for a hug along with Rainbolt.
Tears were forming in both of their parents eyes as they hugged him like they never had before. It had been years since they'd seen one another, and he could already tell they were gonna be slapping all kinds of questions at him when they had the chance.
''Where have you been all this time?! We'd thought you were dead after all these years! You scared me and your father dead!''
''Mum...Um.'' He hesitated as he pulled out of the hug and stared at his mother's deep and cute purple eyes.
''What is it, Strikey? You seem like your troubled...Everything okay?''
''If you and all of you want to know, I think it would be best that we went to the library first so I can tell you all without having to repeat it...''
Once All of the ponies were together at Twilight's library, they went downstairs and sat together in a circle to listen to Strike's story. All of them were eager to hear where he'd been and why he'd gone off, not to mention what he's been doing while he was gone. The ponies sat together quietly, while Strike was finding where he should start with his story of the past. The only thing that bothered him at this moment is what will they all think of him once he's told them. Would they hate him? Think he's a monster? Or would they think he was just as cruel hearted as the gang his was in? Nonetheless, he knew he had to tell them.
His mother and father were sat next to him and Rainbow, Fire Fly on Dash's side and Rainbolt on Strikes'. He took in a dee breath and sighed through his nostrils as he was about to speak.
Strike looked at them all, including his parents and Rainbow with a look of sadness in his eyes. 'You are really going to hate me once I tell you this...Especially you, Mum and Dad. You raised me to be perfect, but you're going to be disappointed, maybe even mortified.' Rainbow looked at Strike and placed her hoof on his back and gently rubbed up and down. 'Strike, we won't hate you for what happened, no matter how terrible, I promise.' She smiled at him, but all Strike did is still hold his frown and expression, knowing that wasn't going to be the truth of the matter.
'Okay...I guess it all started when I first left home as an 11 year old and flew off into the hillside and past the sight of view from Cloudsdale, I don't suppose you two got my note?' He looked up at his Mum and Dad who nodded shly, letting him know so he could continue with his story. 'I flew off from Ponyville and far to the edge of Equestria, and well...I found a medium sized settlement called Stockholm, the one town I will never forget for what it did to my life and how it changed me and my personality.'
'I entered it after what seemed like months and flew into the streets were I instantly saw nothing but crime, grime, burning and smoke, and above all than worse, crime scenes and bloodshed. It was more than a massacre by the look of it, to me it was a blood bath, and because of all of that, I tightened the strap on my saddlebag, trying to keep my things safe and staying cautious of the dangers around me.' 'I trotted down the debris covered paths, and before long, I ended up in a firefight between two of the gangs; one of them being the one I became a part of, The Elements of Crime.'
Rarity interrupted, curious of what that meant. 'Excuse me, Darling, what was that? The Elements of Crime? What are those?'
Strike could easily tell she and the rest wantd to know what that meant, especially his parents.'Well...It was technically all the elements that make up crime. For an example, for my insanely fast speed, I became the Element of Speed. It means as a crime maker, you gotta get things done fast and effectively, Whipper saw I was perfect for that sort of stuff, so he and the rest took me on.' 'Not surprisingly, Whipper was the Element of Cruelty. Suits him just right, especially for what he did to my marefriend...the rotten sod. He was just a murderer and a fiend.' Strike said sourly as he recollected what Whipper was like in the past.
'So, moving on. When I got into the middle of it, I was partly walking to my death and dreadful future as a crime lord. Swarms of bullets were flying everywhere, and again, before I knew it, even more bullets came by me and splattered one of the Elements of Crimes heads and I was completely covered in blood and bits of brain mixed with even more gore than I could of imagined. As his body fell, Whipper turned his head and saw me drenched in his friend's blood.' 'He stopped firing his machine gun and came towards me and knelt down to my level. Celestia...I was in for it now...'
'You lost, colt? What's somepony like you doing here anyway? Run away from home to find a new meaning of life?' 'Whipper said to me, but christ, did he smell as though he had a few shots of whiskey too many. I'm surprised he wasn't drunk.' Strike scoffed at remembering that moment. Oh, how could I forget?
'I simply nodded as a response and he gave me a smug look. I already knew something was up with that look he was giving me, and knew it wasn't going to be good either what was about to happen next.'
'The next thing, he asked me if I had no parents around in town, to which I shook my head, and oddly enough, he seemed kinda pleased with my answer and once the fight ended, which left behind nothing but bits of guts and blood pools everwhere, he and the gang took me back to their hideout, the shithole that I won't ever forget anything about other than the fact that it had a bunch of weapons lying around in crates and racks, just as well as their gang jackets hanging on pegs on the walls. The place practically smelt of nothing but beer and blood.'
Fire Fly was already looking shocked at Strike's story, even before the actual bad parts. 'Strikey...you didn't...actually do anything bad did you? Like...something you shouldn't of done?' His mother spoke quietly and softly as she looked at Rainbow Strike who had his head hung down in shame. 'Yes...I did. But it wasn't my fault, that ass of a criminal forced me to do it! You actually think I wanted to do something as bad as that?! I didn't want any part of it!' Strike cried as he held his hooves to his eyes, shocking everypony in the room at his outburst. He could already feel tears of regret coming to his eyes as a wave of sympathy came over the other ponies in the room.
'I should of just stayed at home...Then none of this would of happened! For all I know, they could be plotting to kill me now! I just don't care about it anymore!'
'STRIKE! Calm the buck down, will ya? Nopony will kill you!' Rainbow reassured as she looked into his pained and watery eyes.
'Rainbow, you don't understand. None of you understand what they are like! They have more technology than we have down here, which means they have more links and witnesses to our whereabouts, and Whipper already knows where I am, even you, Rainbow! Remember? He was threatening you for my location, and I got nopony else to blame than myself for coming back here and dragging this hell with me...'
'Now Strike, that isn't true.' Fluttershy told him, but Strike still objected to believe it. 'You all have no idea what they actually did to me, though. You have no idea what they are all capable of!'
'Well...what did they do to you?' Fluttershy quietly asked, worry filling her cute voice.
'I was trained in the way of initiation, also created by Whipper, and honestly, it hurt a lot to do what it had in it. The sick stallion was more of a mass murderer! When I was 14, he sent me into a room alone with a mare strapped into an electric chair, consequently, I knew her...it was Granny Pie.'
Pinkie Pie's ears shot up as she heard her gran's name. 'WHAT?!?!' She yelled as loud as she could out of shock and terror.
'Pinkie...I really, really didn't want any part of this. I didn't want to do anything to her...You gotta believe me, I'm not a mass murderer.' Strike said with guilt flooding his voice as he looked at the disgusted pink mare. 'You...Killed Granny..?!' Pinkie sobbed as she stared at Strike with tears flowing freely from her eyes.
'I was forced to do it...One of the other gang members, Slash was also in the room too. He's the Element of Brutality, and I knew the meaning of that once he shown me what I had to do. He's the one who set up the devices in the room in the first place.' Strike began as Pinkie cried openly, being comforted by Applejack. 'Every time I'd reject the motion to activate the power switch to the electricity or other machinery, Slasher would stab me in the hoof until I did, until he got bored and forced my hoof to the switch. According to the gang, it was to prove I was tough enough to be apart of the criminal world and join them in the life of crime, and personally and honestly, I really, really hated the feeling. Wasn't worth doing.'
Applejack looked as though she couldn't take anymore, same as Pinkie who was now soaked in tears. 'Pinkie? C'mon, les'just go upstairs. You okay with that?' Applejack asked, earning a broken nod from the even more broken mare, and without saying anything, they both went upstairs and out of the room.
'That's what I mean when I say I ain't proud of what I've done. You probably must think I'm terrible. I don't blame you for thinking that of me.' Strike quietly deadpanned as he again hung his head low with tears dripping from his eyes.
Rainbolt looked at his son, as did Fire Fly and Rainbow. Rainbolt caresed Strike's mane with his hoof as Dash wrapped her hoof around him in a warm embrace. Fire Fly on the other hand looked just as broken herself as she was crying over what had become of their perfect son. Why did he choose to become a criminal in the first place? Why didn't he back out of the idea?
'Dad, Rainbow, Mum...I'm just sorry for all I put you through. You...you just don't know much about why I chose this path and not a good one, like you always thought of me as. I'm just...so,so,so sorry for what I did..' Strike cried in his regretful sorrow as he hugged his parents and Rainbow tightly.
Strike's heart was literally broken at this point. He already knew the meaning of loss and pain, and unfortunately, now did Pinkie also. What he felt like inside was indescribeable.
'It's all okay now, Strikey. It's okay...' Rainbolt reassured Strike, but he only cried more, so did Rainbow Dash.
'Strike, It's okay. Your life was just as bad as it was when you were living here, remember? Your friend and school?' Dash sobbed as Strike perked his ears and looked at her sweet, magenta eyes. 'M-My friend who was murdered..? That was nothing like my life of crime. I just didn't want to do anything like that, I don't know why I even accepted becoming a member and going through initiation..If I didn't, maybe Granny Pie would still be alive and nothing would of happened to her...'
They all held each other close as they all cried, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight nearly crying openly themselves as they took in what happened in his past. They all couldn't help but be sorry for him, even if he did do bad from what was right.
'I just wish there was some way of making things right, but now, I know there isn't any way possible to make up for the bad things and mistakes I've done.'
'Strikey, don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you, I promise. Your still my son and nothing can change that. Not even if you became something you hate or becoming a crime lord.' Fire Fly said as she kissed Strike's fore head and petted his rainbow mane.
'Well...*clears throat* should we go back upstairs, or is there anything else we should know?' Twilight calmly asked Strike, catching his attention for a brief moment and tried to think about it, weather if he wanted to tell it or not.
'Yes there is more..But listen, it isn't as gruesome as the first part, it's the start of where I became a band member and met my now dead marefriend. I promise it isn't a story full of murder, are you okay with that?' He looked back at Twilight who nodded her head along with the others, telling him they approve of hearing it. 'Alright, good. Should we get Applejack and Pinkie back down here? I hope she's alright about earlier.'
'Oh, right. I'll go see where they are.' Twilight pulled herself onto all fours and trotted up the steps of the basement and entered the main room of the library, where her voice was still audible to those who were still in the basement. 'Applejack? Pinkie? Where are you?' She called out but got no answer. The room was even more silent than a library should be, which worried Twilight a little bit. Where was they? Did they leave? Are they outside? First she poked her head outside for a quick peek, but didn't see them, just the usual residents of Ponyville trotting around with each other. Next she checked upstairs, but had no luck there either, so she checked the bathroom, and there she saw them. Pinkie was still crying hard and had a box of tissues beside her, along with Applejack who was stroking her mane gingerly as she tried to comfort her. She couldn't blame her for the way she was, neither could Applejack. Hearing that your friends brother did something terrible to somepony she loved dearly practically tore her heart to a shower of confetti. Twilight sat beside her and hugged her.
'Pinkie? Are you alright? You look terrible.' Twilight asked in a concerned tone as she placed a hoof to Pinkie's shoulder. Pinkie glanced up to her, meeting her worry-filled purple eyes with her own sore eyes from all the crying and looked back down with a short sigh.
'No, Twilight. I'm not alright...Granny Pie was like a second mother to me, and what Strike said...he admitted that he killed her! How could he do something so horrible? Especially to Granny Pie?' She looked back up to Twilight with a tear sliding down her face. 'Pinkie...I know you're upset about it, heartbroken, even, but Strike said that he was forced to do it. He wanted no part of it, that pony called Slash made him do it. I'm sure he's more than sorry about what happened that day. Believe me.' 'Now, will you come back downstairs with us? Strike is about to tell us about after he left the crime life and moved on.'
'Twilight, I can't. I just want to go back home. I don't want to hear anymore of that dreadful life he once lived.'
Twilight came back down the stairs of the library, Applejack and Pinkie not behind her. She went to where the rest of her friends were sitting and took her place in the circle, looking down at the floor all the way.
''Twilight? Are you okay? You don't look too good.'' A concerned Fluttershy asked as she put a hoof to her shoulder.
''Yeah...I'm fine. Don't worry about me.'' Twilight replied dryly.
Strike sat there, looking at Twilight, immediately sensing something is wrong.
''Twilight. You sure you're okay? Because you sure as hay don't look it.'' He asked her, his voice still a little broken from crying and horrid memories.
''They just won't come down.'' Twilight told them. ''But still, you never told us exactly why you left home. Did something happen to you?'' She raised a brow at Strike, her easily noticing the bullets of sweat coming down his forehead.
''Do you...really want to know the reason I left? For real?'' He asked slowly and cautiously.
''Well...yeah. I guess.''
''Fine. As long as you know, I don't have to worry or think about it anymore. Whats done is done.''
''Even though I'm not comfortable with this topic, you still want to know, so...fine. I'll tell you about it.''
At his words, all the ponies in the room looked at him with cautious yet curious eyes, including Rainbolt and Firefly and Rainbow Dash.
''First off, I left because I was ridiculed mercilessly for it day in day out, not to mention that those pricks of a bully killed my friend and almost killed me, and I don't know why. Maybe because he hated my talent and I could always do things better than him?''
''Well anyways, to the part that I should really tell you. I was at Stockholm with my marefriend and the Elements of Crime at a bar where we were all just relaxing and talking about some plan. The reason my marefriend was there is because I introduced them, but now I wish I didn't. They are just cruel and heartless excuses of a pony. However, the plan involved me...typical, like always...and we heard a shipment was coming in by Pegasus delivery and my job in this was to get some explosives and my gun and take the cargo by any means necessary. And no, I'm not the violent type, so don't even go there...''
Strike took a quick glance at Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy who flinched a bit at his gaze.
''I'll be honest with you all, like I always have: I didn't want to do this, but I had no choice. If the person got the supplies to do it, he does it or suffers consequences, and I knew what they were...thats what the one of those rooms I went in during initiation was about. Electrocution.''
Strike wiped a stray tear from his eye with a hoof. Rainbow Dash rubbed his back with her own cyan hoof.
''I did what I was supposed to do. Went to a weapon shop, bought what I needed to get whatever those heartless killers wanted then did the job for them, as they were too lazy to see fit.'' Strike continued. ''I went flying between Stockholm and Cloudsdale, and when I did...I...planted the C4 explosive inside the carriage after I took what was important and detonated it. There were flames and bits of shrapnel everywhere. The two ponies who were flying it to Stockholm for a shipment,I let go. I didn't want to kill them.''
''Strike?'' Rainbow said softly. ''You can stop telling us if you want. You don't have to tell us about it.''
''I know, sis. I know that I've done bad and made a lot of mistakes, and I want to make things right. And it is only right you know about it as friends and family.''
Strike hugged Rainbow, Rainbow gladly returning the friendly embrace.
''So...um..Strike?'' Fluttershy asked quietly in her sweet voice. ''You...mentioned you had a marefriend?''
''Yeah, I did.''
''Well...what happened to her? You told us that she's dead.''
''Yeah...S-She is..'' Strike responded with a sad tone.
''Do you want to talk about it, dear?'' Rarity asked, feeling a little guilty about asking it.
''Well...alright.''
''About 6 weeks after the heist on the carriage, I started to lose my good side and I honestly nearly went mad with my life decision. Apparently, Whipper and Slash were saying how useless and soft I was with their gang as a member, and one day when I got back to my penthouse, I called to see if she was there, but got no response from her. I just assumed she went off somewhere and when I got into the next room, I literally died.''
Everyone gasped, including Rainbow.
''What happened when you got in the next room?'' Dash asked, curious like the rest of the group.
''I..I..I found her...l-lying in...a pool of blood; her own blood...'' Strike began to break as his voice cracked. ''She...She had knife marks, bruises and open wounds covering her. She was barely conscious, and by time I rushed with her to hospital...she died by my side...''
Everypony in the room was crying now, moved by his story and tragic loss. Rainbow caressed his back while Firefly had tears crawling down her face, Rainbolt's expression the same.
''What was she called?'' Twilight asked with a sad curiosity.
''Rainbow!'' Strike yelled as loud as he could as he ran after her as the Elements of Crime carried her off with them.
''Strike! Help! Stop them!'' She cried back as the blood trickled down her face from her forehead.
Rainbow stuck out her hoof to Strike who before he got her, got shot in the back with a shotgun.
''AGH! Rainbow...No..''
''AHHH!'' Strike shot up in bed, cold bullets of sweat climbing down his face as he panted heavily.
He climbed out of his bed and went to Rainbow's room, cracking open the door slightly to peek in only to see Rainbow sleeping and breathing softly under her covers. Strike exhaled quietly in relief through his nostrils and closed the door again to let her sleep in peace.
''Just a dream...phew...just a dream..'' Strike shivered as he dreaded the thought of losing his younger sister. As an elder brother, it was his responsibility to look after her when he was around. Strike went into the kitchen and turned on the faucet, running cold water into the basin. He dipped his hooves in the cool liquid and splashed it into his face and rubbed it around. As he did so, he heard a noise behind him that sounded like hooves clapping on the soft cloud layer.
''Strike?''
Strike jumped around with a quiet scream only to see it was Rainbow Dash with a bedraggled mane and pale black bags under her eyes. Her magenta eyes shone beautifully in the moonlight. It actually reminded him of Remedy when he'd see her eyes glisten with the moon.
''Celestia! You scared me!''
''Sorry about that, Strike. You okay? You don't look too good..'' She went up to Strike and placed a hoof to his shoulder, looking deep into his eyes as she did so.
''No, Rainbow...'' He sighed deeply through his nostrils. ''Nothing's alright. Just...''
''Just what?'' She asked cutely.
''..Nightmares...'' He stated tiredly and quietly.
''Nightmares? At your age? You're 24..''
''Rainbow, I know I'm 24, you're 22. I'm pretty sure at your age you had nightmares. It's just ever since I left Stockholm to come back home I've been experiencing horrors mostly every night for like 6 years. Since Remedy was murdered.''
''Strike, I don't like it when you're like this.'' Dash said with concern.
''Dash, I'm your older brother, it's my responsibility to protect you, especially if those murderers come back to town like he said he would. He'd kill everyone just to find us. Me mostly, but then he'd come after you. I don't want to see that happen, Rainbow. I've lost too much, I don't want to lose my sister.''
Dash hugged him in reassurance and kissed him on his cheek and looked directly in his emerald eyes.
''Listen to me. Nopony is going to kill me or you. No matter what.''
In the early morning, Strike was sat on the porch of Rainbow's cloud palace with Rainbolt's old guitar, playing to himself along with the chirping birds as Celestia risen up the sun over the horizon. He was playing a sad, jazzy tune as he plucked at the strings slowly and gently.
''That's the way, oh that's the way our pony's are. When I was young like you. He ain't gone long, as he shines on in our hearts, and just so we know, right where you are, Celestia lets the light outlive the star. The light we see in the stars at night, they're there all day, but they are lost in the sunlight. Just so we know right where you are, Celestia lets the light outlive the star.''
He sung quietly, still being audible to Rainbow Dash inside the house if she were awake. He stopped plucking the strings and placed the guitar down on the porch step next to him as he looked at the rising sun over the mountains in the horizon and said aloud.
''Rest in peace, my love.'' He wiped a stray tear from his eye and was about to get up. As he got to his hooves and turned to the door, Rainbow was stood in the doorway. She looked at him in awe, a tear of pride in the corner of her eye.
''That was beautiful...'' Is all Rainbow said, earning a weak smile from Strike.
''Thanks, Rainbow. I thought you were in bed?''
''Nah. I'm always up at 6 in the morning. What was that you were playing?''
''The light outlives the star.''
''By?''
''By me.''
''You wrote that?'' She asked in awe.
''Yeah. I performed it on one of the tours with the band I was part of. Earned myself quite a few bits in those tours, too.''
He picked the guitar back up and put it back in the casing it came with, zipping it up to ensure it's safe to carry and threw it on his back, strapping it around his body.
''Hey, Rainbow?''
''Yeah, Strike?''
''Is Pinkie doing alright after I told you guys everything?''
Rainbow tapped her chin with a hoof, trying to think, but couldn't think about it.
''I dunno. I haven't seen her since we all heard your story. She's probably okay and back at work at Sugarcube Corner. Wan't me to go see later?''
''Nah, I'll go myself. I need to apologize to her about...you know...''
''Oh, of course. Just be careful, brother, okay?'' She wrapped her hooves around Strike, nuzzling his cheek.
''Don't worry, I will.''
As noon passed, Strike was down at Ponyville just outside of Sugarcube Corner, going to see Pinkie Pie so he can check on her. He opened the door and saw the place was empty, apart from one pony near the counter who had a pretty pink mane, a royal blue coat and green-bead-earrings dangling from the lower half of her ear. Her eyes were a glistening purple, much like Firefly's.
''Can I help you?'' She asked Strike in a sweet, inviting voice.
''Oh, Hi. I thought this place was empty. Do you work here?''
''Yeah. I'm Mrs.Cake. I run this sweet shop with my husband.''
''I see. Does Pinkie Pie work here? I'm trying to find her.''
''Pinkie? Hmm. No, can't say I have seen Pinkie. Come to think of it, I've not seen her since yesterday. She was meant to come in for work today, but as you can see she hasn't turned up yet. I hope she's okay.''
''Pinkie's not here? I thought she'd be here all the time, seeing as it is a candy shop.''
''That's what I thought too.'' She laughed. ''But she's not here. I don't know where she could be.''
''She's definitely not here? Well, thanks for your time, Mrs.Cake. I best go look for her. If I find her, I'll tell her that you were expecting her to be at work.''
He shook Mrs.Cake's hoof and left the candy shop, out to begin the search for Pinkie Pie.
''Pinkie Pie, where could you be?''
''Pinkie, calm down will ya? Whats wrong?'' Rainbow said calmly as she tried to calm down her friend who was sobbing and barely containing any of her hot, streaming tears.
''He...he...he killed Granny Pie!'' Pinkie cried. ''He killed my granny!''
''Pinkie, he said he was sorry. He never wanted to hurt her! He told us about it, remember?''
''He's a murderer! MURDERER!''
''He's not a murderer, Pinkie.'' Dash helplessly reassured as she passed Pinkie some tissues. ''He was forced to do it, he told us so.''
''Rainbow...Why do you trust him so easily? He told you he's been gone 13 years and claims your his sister! Why would you trust him? He's never seen you before in his life! He could be one of them!''
Rainbow froze. Why would Pinkie think that? She may have a point, but why would she think so horrible of her brother?
''Pinkie...how...how could you think that? He has evidence of it, and how could he not be my brother when my parents know him? He's my brother, and I know he may of done bad things, but I assure you, he never meant any of it.'' Rainbow defended Strike.
''Rainbow...why don't you talk with him? He may not be telling you everything...''
Pinkie Pie may be stubborn at times like these, but she did have a point. Strike did come back on short notice and was acting kind of weird, himself saying it was for a good reason, but was it..was it to earn her trust? It may be about time to have another chat with him. Not to find out the truth, but for both their and their friends sake.
Rainbow Strike was searching up and down the streets of Ponyville when he came across to the park near the bottom of the town. The grass was lush and thick, the trees all had birds chirping in them with their young, but what caught his eye the most was something pink coloured behind some shrubs. Curiously, Strike approached it, and as he got closer, he could easily make out what looked like a rainbow mane, obviously Rainbow Dash's, seeing as he and her were the only ones who had that mane in Ponyville, with the exception of their dad's. He noticed that the pink colour he saw was none other than Pinkie Pie. He eyes were glistening with tears and her cheeks were also wet. Just seeing her like that made him feel sad too. He trotted past the shrubs and farther towards them to the point where he not unnototiceable to them, causing Rainbow to turn her head.
''Strike?'' Rainbow gasped softly as she looked into his emerald eyes, not once breaking contact. ''Everything alright?''
''Rainbow. Pinkie.'' Is all he said flatly. ''I've actually been looking for you both. I've been around town, going up and down and couldn't find you, so I went to Sugarcube Corner and ran into Mrs.Cake. And well...she wasn't too pleased Pinkie didn't show up to work today.''
At that, Pinkie's eyes went wide. ''Oh, my gosh! I forgot I had to work today! See ya, Rainbow!'' And in an instant Pinkie was off, not giving either of them a chance to respond to her immediate leave.
Now it was just them. Sister and brother, alone.
''What?'' Rainbow asked softly, herself looking quite sad.
''Rainbow...I can't help but notice you look sad...is everything alright?''
''Ok. Fine. Nothing's alright. Strike, we need to talk.''
''About what?'' Strike raised a brow.
''Me and Pinkie have been talking, and...''
''And what? Is she alright?''
''No, Strike, she's not.'' She sounded more serious. ''Because of you telling us where you were the past years, and said you killed Granny Pie, she thinks you're one of them.''
At that statement, Strike's eyes went wide and his mouth fell agape.
''She what? Thinks I'm one of them? Those...murderers?'' His tone went sad. ''Rainbow, I'm not! I'm not a murderer, I never was!''
''Strike...''
''Just...don't...alright? Don't ''Strike'' me...I knew it was a mistake coming back...I'm a fucking monster! I should of just stayed back in Stockholm!''
''Wait, what?! You're not serious, are you?''
Without response, Strike took to the skies and flew off into the distance, Rainbow watching for a moment before taking off after him. For an older brother, he surely was quite fast, even for her. She chased after him, not once taking her gaze off of his body shape in the distance.
''Strike! Stop! Please stop!'' Rainbow called out to him, trying to get his attention to make him stop, but he simply ignored her. ''Strike!? STRIKE!''
He turned his head, looking at her as he continued flying forward. ''Leave me alone! Don't follow me, Rainbow!''
''Just stop! Please stop, Strike!''
''I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!'' He yelled fiercly, shaking his own voice box, causing Rainbow to freeze, and in an instant, Strike darted downwards, aiming for the forest below him, going insanely fast, disappearing from Rainbow's sight.
''Strike!'' Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs, right before charging after him, soon dropping into the damp forest. Underneath all the thick trees surrounding her, it made it harder for her to see in the darkness it created. She couldn't see Rainbow Strike anywhere.
''Strike?'' Rainbow called out, but got no response. ''Strike, I know you can hear me. This isn't funny.''
Then she heard something. Something that sounded like faint crying in the distance, catching her attention almost immediately. Rainbow cautiously approached the noise, taking cover behind a tree and peeked around the corner, to only see Rainbow Strike slumped against a tree, crying and covering his eyes.
Rainbow quietly trotted toward him, trying not to make any noise as she did so, however, he did notice her presence, but pretended not to know. Within a few moments, Rainbow was beside him, thinking about what to say. Before she could speak, Strike said something first.
''Just...L-Leave me alone, R-Rainbow.'' He whimpered, not once looking at her. ''You'd be b-better o-off not knowing m-me.''
Rainbow could only tell what he was feeling, making herself want to cry.
''No. No, I won't.'' Dash reassured. ''You're my brother, and I won't let anything happen to you. I can't leave you like this, Strike.'' She rubbed his back with a hoof.
''Don't.'' Strike responded in a cracked, sad tone. ''Rainbow, I should of just stayed home when I was 11, then maybe none of this would of happened. Whipper was going to try to kill you for information on me, because you're my sister. He went for you because we're easy to pick out because of our mane colour. Only our family have it. If he ever hurt you, I couldn't ever find it in me to forgive myself.''
''Don't worry about me, big brother. I can take care of myself.'' She smiled at him, yet still maintaining her sad look.
Strike looked back, his emerald eyes glistening from his tears. Rainbow held his hooves with hers and leaned in to hug him tightly, rubbing her cheek into his mane. It did seem to comfort him, however. It's the first time in a very long time he has ever felt this comfortable that made him feel a little warmer inside.
''I love you, Strike. Remember that. I don't ever want to lose you.'' Dash told him with a loving smile, along with a kiss to his cheek.
''Love you too, Rainbow. I wouldn't ever want to lose you, either.'' He returned the kiss with a soft peck to her cheek.
''Rainbow?''
''Strike?''
''I just want you to know something.''
''What is it?''
''You're the best sister I could ever ask for, and I mean that.'' Strike smiled at his sister, who smiled back with a tear rolling down her left cheek.
''Why are you crying?'' Strike asked her in wonder.
''It's just...you...you're just so sweet...''
''Rainbow, I also think that you are sweet. You're pretty, you're smart and funny, and you're just like me; fearless.''
''Strike? Hold me.''
Strike cuddled with Rainbow, resting his chin on her head, Rainbow soon becoming relaxed. She rested her head on his leg as he caressed her back with a hoof as he planted a gentle kiss to her forehead.
''I'll never leave you, Rainbow. Never. That's a promise.''
In the early morning back at Rainbow's mansion, Strike was already awake, looking through his old saddle bag, going through his memories of the past. In the left side, he kept his most valuable, yet haunting memories. And in the right saddle bag, he kept something he never wanted to look upon again. Or at least, he thought he didn't. He sat on Rainbow's couch, pulling out his things one by one and lying them down on the glass table in front of him. He put them together in lines. First was his knife, then his old pistol, followed by his picture of him and Remedy. He smiled at it for a long time, resisting the urge to stop staring into her beautiful eyes. Every time he'd gaze upon those wonderful yellow eyes, he seemed to drift off into a seventh heaven, his mind lost in thoughts that he thought left his mind years ago when they first started dating.
The other half of his saddlebag that remained closed, he wanted to wait until Rainbow got back from her weather patrol job. And even though she wasn't going to take long, mostly due to her being a speed demon, he already was starting to miss her. He just hoped she'd be fine when she was at work, and Strike knew about all of that, seeing as he had a small job doing it with his father so long ago when he was just a colt helping him in the weather factory. Strike got up, focusing on a small picture, hanging on the puffy wall to the right of the couch. He got up, slowly trotting towards it and saw who it was. It was Rainbow Dash, as a 9-year-old filly. (or at least he thought so from her looks). Her mane was scruffed up and beautifully shiny, her eyes shimmered like gems and the only difference of now was that on her flank, her cutie mark wasn't there. Strike thought she looked beautiful.
He walked away, now going for and out the balcony door of the mansion, looking over the massive balcony on the side of the house, watching the gorgeous day go by. The sky only had a few clouds in it today, letting most of the sun come out with its inviting heat and just close enough to see, Strike saw what he identified as a small weather team patrol, checking the skies clouds for tomorrows weather pattern. He didn't see one spec of rainbow with cyan, however. Should she be up there? Is she in a different squad? Where was she? For some random reason, he thought that something was up, and he couldn't help but not escape the thought. It haunted him for a while, sending him into a very minor worry mode. Could it be....?
No, Strike! Of course she's alright. She's tough, she can handle herself. Stop worrying about her, she'll be fine.
I know, but I don't like this one bit. At the least, I want nothing more for her other than to be safe
She WILL be safe, Strike! You worry too much...
No, I don't. Those murderers I've met threatened that they would come back! Don't you think I have a right to be upset about her?
Yes, you do. But you are overreacting to it. Calm down, will ya?
How can I calm down? The only thing I want to see is my sister right now. I just want to make sure she is safe.
She IS safe, Strike. Stop doubting yourself.
But she's not. I can feel it going through my body, something telling me she is in danger.
''Strike! Strike! Are you up there?!'' A familiar, feminine voice called from a distance, catching his attention.
He went onto the porch of the mansion, looking down to see a sad, yet worried looking Twilight.
''Twilight? What are-''
''Just get down here! Hurry!''
Twilight cut him off, catching him a little off guard at her attitude (and frustration). Without saying anything else, Strike jumped from the porch, diving down and flailing his wings just before he was a few feet above ground and landed next to Twilight, now face to face with her. He gave her a confused look, but her look said that something was wrong and whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
''Twilight, what's wrong?''
''I-I-It's about Rainbow, Strike! S-She's nowhere to be found! She's missing!''
Strike froze, not knowing what he could say to what his ears had just heard. Missing? Rainbow? Rainbow is missing? How so? When?
''Wait...WHAT?! What do you mean Rainbow is ''missing''?''
''She was meant to be on patrol with the weather team, but the team said she didn't arrive to lead them with the weather plans a-a-a-and....and...''
Strike put his hoof to her shoulder, stopping her from talking at his touch.
''Twilight...when did this happen,exactly? When did Dashie go missing?''
''Just before she took off to do her job! Some of her team said they saw a few stallions catch her and take her off!''
''Stallions...any specific details?''
''N-No...just that they looked really tough and very mad.''
''Shit...'' Strike muttered under his breath. ''Twilight...I-I...I gotta go...''
And in an instant, Strike blasted into the sky, not giving her a chance to respond and dashing back into Dash's house. He quickly glided over to the table that held his belongings on it and grabbed his sheathed knife, strapping it around his body and under his wing. He knew what he had to do, but he had to do it before it was too late. For Rainbow's sake. He flew out of the mansion, back to the ground where Twilight was still standing and Strike could clearly see a few tears dripping out of her eyes, as much as she could see them trickling down his own face.
''Twilight, I think you should tell the others. Now. Don't follow me, I'm gonna get her back.''
And then Strike flew off into the sky, to the one place he knew they would take her, and Strike could already feel himself inside burning intensely with guilt. This was his fault, the fault that caused his parents the same pain he can now feel, but maybe, and just maybe things must stay the way they are. If he didn't come back to Ponyville, maybe this wouldn't of happened. This was his own fault, and he'd be damned if something happened to his younger sister.
Rainbow awoke in a small room that was dimly lit and smelled of old sacks and blood. She tried to move, but found out moments later that she was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, a small bowl-shaped light hanging above her head by a chain. The room was very empty, however. There was no windows or decoration other than the light above her head and a rotten wooden door at the far left side of the room. Her head ached and her limbs hurt from the tight ropes restraining them down to the chair.
''H-Hello?'' She called, her voice echoing around the room. ''Can anypony hear me?''
Just then, a series of clicks were heard at the door and it swung open, a slightly familiar, older stallion walking in followed by another stallion. The first one, she could only make out his color but not any specific details, and the other one, she had never met.
''Well, well, well. Look who's awake.'' A very familiar voice said, coming closer into view, causing Dash to gasp.
''You!''
''Ha! Who were you expecting? Your lousy brother? Well, don't worry, he'll more than likely be here soon enough to ''save'' you.''
''W-What do you want with me?! What do you have against my brother?!''
The other stallion came closer looking at her with his deathly stare. His eyes were red and his mane was black, same as his coat.
''Its not what we have against him, my dear, but more what we are gonna do to him.'' He snarled in an almost demonic voice.
''So you just kidnapped me to lure him here? Why couldn't you just get him?''
''Enough with the questions! Gah! When Striker gets here, the fun can begin! But for now, lights out!''
The stallion with the red eyes brought up the bat with a smirk and laughed evilly as he brought it down on Dash's head, sounding a loud, dull thud throughout the room, knocking Rainbow out of consciousness and into darkness.
Stockholm was were they had taken his sister, and he was going back there. That place filled with poverty and sin; where he was raised as a killer - a gang member - something he wasn't meant to be. During the flight there, he couldn't help but be forced to think of the horrific memories that it made come flood back to him. The murder of Granny Pie, the initiation, the blood being spilled, the crime around him, the deaths... he just didn't want to think about it.
The more time he spent flying, the more time those thugs he used to call his ''family'' could be hurting her. Or worse. Going over the poverty-filled excuse of a town, he noted that it was still the same the day he left. On the streets he could visibly see criminals doing raids and shooting one another, spilling blood along paths and dirt roads. Even the stench of the settlement was able to be smelled from the altitude he was flying at; that strong stench of booze mixed with the smell of death and blood. It was just inescapable. He knew it would haunt him forever.
Landing down in the streets just outside of the warehouse his gang used, Strike prepared himself. All he had was the knife in his holster and nothing else aside from it. Not even his pistol. He mentally slapped himself for not taking it.
Well done, Strike! What if you lose the knife? What then? You're screwed!
He took the knife from its sheathe and looked at it, the dry blood making him cringe. He remembered who it was from and why he did it - to escape the hellhole he was now back in; the place in which he learned to become a criminal in. He didn't regret it, although killing felt so wrong to him, and he knew it was the wrong thing to do, but he didn't see a way around it. He looked at the handle, seeing his gang name carved into the wood.
Striker.
To say the least he hated the name. He wanted no part in their sick little gang. He just wanted to be with his parents. Just staring at the name made him scowl in disgust. Staring at the name in silence before putting the knife in his mouth, he snarled,
''I'll never be one of you murdering scumbags.''
*** *** ***
The warehouse was just as Strike remembered it: Dark with the strong scent of whiskey and blood. He trotted through it wearily, knife in his mouth at the ready. He took his time getting through, not wanting to get caught and killed before getting to his sister. Although he knew that he was a good fighter, the thought of killing made him cringe and send chills down his spine.
In the room were tables laden with empty and half-empty whiskey bottles, some on the floor and smashed and some intact. Cigarettes litter the floor, mixing in the the spilled beer and pockets of blood.
''Rainbow? Can you hear me?'' Strike whispered softly through the knife in his mouth, only getting the silence around him as an answer. ''Rainbow?''
''Striker? That you?'' A deep, masculine voice called out from the depths of the warehouse in the dark. ''What are you doing here?''
Strike froze. He looked around him, seeing nothing, making him feel weary, a chill running down his spine. ''Hello?'' Strike asked softly before hearing hoofsteps behind him and then a young buck emerged from the shadows. His mane was styled in a way similar to Strike's own and was colored a rich hue of indigo, and his coat was a jet black. Around his body was a black cloak, the hood covering his eyes. He withdrew the hood, revealing a pair of midnight blue eyes staring back into Strike's, making him step back a bit.
''Midnight?''
''Hello, Striker. Mind telling me what you're doing back here?'' He asked him, keeping his eyes locked on Strike's green ones.
''Midnight...I...I...'' Strike stammered, unable to find his voice, ''I...I'm looking for my sister. Where is she?''
''Ah, you mean Rainbow Dash, don't you? Hate to break it to you, Striker, but she's unavailable right now. She's a bit 'busy' at the moment.'' He chuckled evilly.
''What the hell have you done to her?'' Strike shouted at him, his blood beginning to boil. ''Where is she?!''
He smirked at him, drawing a large combat knife from a holster strapped to his side. ''I wouldn't start anything if I were you, Striker. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you little sister now, would we?''
''I swear, if you hurt her, I will cut your fucking head off!'' Strike yelled at him, drawing closer to Midnight.
''Honestly, Striker-''
''STOP CALLING ME THAT!'' He snapped at him, ''My name is NOT 'Striker', its Rainbow Strike! That life is behind me now, and if you keep calling me that, you best sign you death warrant, because I will rip you head off with my bear hooves, damn you!''
''Ah, you still have it in you, Striker. Your attitude hasn't faltered one bit.''
''If you don't tell me what you've done with my sister, I swear I'm going to kill you! Last chance!''
Midnight just sighed, took his cloak off and threw it aside then forcefully kicked his rear legs into Strike's chest, sending him flying through the air and into a few wooden crates that collapsed when he landed on them. He laid there on the floor, struggling to get his breath back, and from that blow to his chest, he knew that something must of broken. Strike struggled to get to his hooves, and just before he could, Midnight came into view with a murderous intent in his eyes.
Midnight came forward and grabbed Strike by the shoulders, throwing him against the wall with a thud that echoed around the warehouse. Strike would of screamed, but the broken rib in his chest didn't allow it.
''Come on, Striker, I thought you were tough.'' Midnight snarled at him.
Strike got up, blade in his mouth and took a few aimless swings at him, but being as fast as he was, Midnight jumped out of the blades way, landing behind Strike, his own knife at the ready and slashing at Strike's hide. Only one slash cut into Strike, cutting horizontally across his flank. It was deep, but Strike has had worse. Quickly, he turned around and delivered a sharp blow to Midnight's side, sending him sprawling across the floor, but he quickly recovered from it.
''Just back off, Midnight! I don't want to fight you! I'm only here for my sister, not to kill a scumbag like yourself!'' Strike wheezed as he coughed up a small pocket of blood.
''Aww, giving up so soon? Come on, lets see what you're really made out of!''
Strike sighed. ''As you wish.'' Quickly, Strike raised his hoof and a small 'pop' filled the room. Midnight's eyes widened as he stared down at his chest, seeing a small hole in the middle, blood oozing from it. In seconds, he collapsed to the floor, saying one last thing before he died: ''Not...possible...''
The small gun on Strike's arm was one of his own creation, and the particular one he used is the same one that saved his ass when he was on some missions when he was an Element of Crime. The lovingly stroked the tiny barrel of the gun and gently loaded another armor-piercing round into its chamber, ready to kill the next target: Whipper.
*** *** ***
Deeper into the warehouse, Rainbow Strike made his way near the back - to the place where they'd plan raids and store their loot. However, when he got there, the room was pretty much empty. Confused, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining it, but when he opened them, it remained the same. Nothing was there. He turned around to leave, and as he went along his way, he heard a scream echo through the building. A feminine scream. Rainbow Dash's scream.
Panic coming over him, he followed the pained cries and ran to the room where it was coming from. Inside, he could hear her crying. Peaking through the rotten wood, he could see his target. Whipper was in the room, driving a knife into her left hoof and twisting it, her blood covering the floor all around the front of the chair she was strapped to. Anger overtaking Strike's mind, he forcefully beat in the door, shattering it. Stomping towards Whipper, whose attention was now all over him, he drew a knife and placed it beneath Whipper's throat. Their eyes stayed locked for what seemed like an eternity, and for some reason Strike couldn't place, Whipper smiled at him, and behind him, he saw the reflection of a black coated and red-maned buck come up with a knife, ready to slash at him, and right before he could, Strike, pulled his hoof out, and before the buck could react, he shot the small-caliber round into his eye, knocking him down without a sound.
''Well, you finally got here. How nice to see you, you traitor.'' Whipper said dully, lifting up his shades and resting them atop his head. ''Its a shame you couldn't get here earlier. The party started a couple hours ago.''
''Shut up! You're the traitor, Whipper! You turned your back on me and killed my mare! I at least have a reason to be doing this. You however don't. You kidnap my sister and then you torture her? You're sick! Only one of us are leaving here alive tonight, you murdering scumbag!''
''You think so? We'll see about that.''
As fast as he could, Whipper pushed the knife from his throat and quickly punched Strike hard in the jaw, knocking him down to the floor with a dull thud. Scrambling back to his hooves as fast as he could, Strike charged at Whipper and pushed him back-first into the wall, punching him in the face, knocking his shades from his head and shattering them as they fell to the stone floor.
They both stared at each other with hate, it clearly showing in their eyes as they fought each other, throwing punch after punch. Strike being a fair bit stronger than Whipper pushed his hooves as hard as he could into Whipper's throat, pinning him to the wall as his air supply was being cut off. He thrashed around in pain, trying to get out of Strike's grasp, but he was too strong for him to overcome. As he flailed around helplessly, he directed his rear hoof into Strike's chest, forcing him to release his hold around his windpipe. Strike coughed and hacked, blood sputtering from his mouth and running down the length of his lip and chin, dripping its way to the floor. His chest burned, and he felt like his broken rib had hit one of his lungs, making him unable to breathe properly.
Now Whipper stood over him. He just stared into Strike's pained eyes almost as if he could read them. And then he stomped a hoof onto his chest, causing him to cry out in pain as tears trickled down his cheeks. His hoof pushed down harder and harder, and for a moment, Strike thought he could feel his lung collapse...well, something seemed to give out in his body...
Strike's vision seemed to turn black in the edges of his eyes, and just before he thought he was going to die, Whipper's hoof retracted from his chest, allowing him to breathe. Forcing himself back up, Strike grabbed his knife from the floor and slashed Whipper's chest with it, making him stagger back as blood started to seep from his wound. He slashed again and again, nearly all of his strikes hitting him in the chest, but just before he could slash him and end him for good, he saw a high-voltage electronic wire on the wall, and he carefully aimed for it, throwing the knife at it and splitting the wires, causing all the lights in the room to go out and only be lit from the light coming from the doorway. Grabbing the wires, sparks rapidly zapped and nipped at Strike's hooves, and then he brought them to Whipper's neck, shocking him in a flurry of electronic sparks and zaps.
Whipper screamed for the longest time as pure agony swiped back and forth over his body, his blood curdling screams echoing all around the room and the warehouse. As he electrocuted Whipper, some of the sparks hit Strike, making unbearable pain ravage throughout every inch of his body. After what seemed to be hours, he withdrew the still sparking wires aside and fell over the same time as Whipper did. Both his and Whipper's body were smoking and their mane and tails hairs sticking up all over.
He almost didn't hear the scream of Rainbow Dash as she came up to him and tried to help his near-lifeless form up.
*** *** ***
Rainbow Strike felt like he was in a deep sleep, his body feeling strangely cozy and his mind at ease. To say the least he felt good. Better than he has in years. His body may be hurt, but he was still cozy nonetheless. His eyes fluttered open weakly, and when they were open, his vision was a little blurry, but he could make out the fact that he was laid up in a bed, a heart-monitor beeping softly next to him. His front hooves were covered securely in bandages and he had more of them wrapped around his left flank, lightly stained in blood.
When his eyes focused, he could clearly see some rather worried friends of Rainbow Dash looking down at him. Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy looked at him in the same way, if not relieved to know he was alright.
''Oh, thank Celestia, you're alright.'' Applejack sighed in utter relief as she gently hugged him along with Fluttershy and Rarity.
''Ugh. W-What happened?'' Strike said groggily.
''You were brought in some point this afternoon, and you were in pretty bad shape. I don't think I've ever seen somepony look that battered up before.''
''Wait...where's Rainbow Dash? Is she alright?'' Strike asked, upon suddenly noticing she wasn't in the room.
''Oh, yes, she's fine, darling. She's actually in another room at the moment.'' Rarity said, but paused upon seeing his saddened and worried expression. ''Is...something the matter?''
He looked down at his hooves, and softly rubbed his eyes with them before responding. ''I need to see her...''
''Don't you think that can wait? You're in bad shape, Strike.'' Fluttershy said in her usual, beautiful voice.
''No, time isn't gonna wait, Fluttershy. I need to see her.''
He pulled down the sheets and slid his way off the bed and to his hooves, but fell over as searing pain shot up his two front hooves and he fell flat on his face. The other three gasped in alarm as they watched him struggle, and then Rarity levitated him back into his bed.
''You shouldn't try and walk for a while, darling. Your hooves were burned up something bad when you were brought in. Come to think of it, how did you burn them like that?''
Strike paused a moment as he thought about it. The electronic wires that he used to electrocute Whipper. When he was shocking him, he had no idea that it was getting him too. Apparently, the sparks burned up his front hooves badly...
''I'd really rather not talk about it, Rarity. I want to forget about it.''
''But why, Strike?'' Applejack asked him quietly, ''Did...something bad happen? From what Twilight told us, you left in a hurry after she told you Rainbow was ponynapped.''
Strike visibly went a little pale at that. He sighed softly through his nostrils and looked up at Applejack's worried expression. ''Yes, Applejack. Something bad did happen, and like I said, I don't wanna talk about it, alright? Can we please just drop it?'' He said in a semi-angry-frustrated tone, taking Applejack aback.
''Strike-''
''NO! Not talking about it!''
''But-''
''No! Don't try it!''
''Strike!''
''What!? Goddammit, just drop it already will you? Gah!'' Strike huffed as he crossed his hooves.
''Simmer down a bit, would you? You sound like you're going to melt in anger, sugarcube.'' Applejack nudged his side with her muzzle.
''Look...I'm...I'm sorry about that, Applejack.'' Strike said as he pulled her in and hugged her softly. ''It just brings back awful memories.''
He looked at his hoof and saw his custom pistol was missing. ''Hey...who took my gun? I could of sworn it was on my hoof not long ago.''
''It was taken off you hooves when you were brought in, Strike. What were you doing with a gun, anyway? I didn't even know you owned one.''
''I built it myself. A stealth pistol. I took it with me when I went to get Rainbow back.''
A single tear ran along the length of his cheek and he laid back in the bed, staring at the ceiling. ''Can I be on my own a moment? I'm gonna need a little time to get over a few things...''
''Sure thing, Strike. See you tomorrow, okay?'' Applejack said with a small, sad smile as she hugged him farewell.
Once they were gone, Strike hugged himself in a small ball and cried silently, cradling his head in his bandaged hooves. When he turned on his side, he looked at the bedside table and saw a note stuck on the lamp.
Strike, Thanks for saving me. When I saw you there, not moving after I untied myself from that chair, I thought of the worst. Hopefully you will be out in the morning. I left you Dad's old guitar so you'll have something to do while you're laid up. I hate hospitals, too, so you're not alone there.
-Rainbow Dash
Leaning on the table was indeed his Dad's guitar. He picked it up in his hooves, careful not to hurt them as he held it. Gently, he plucked the strings, playing a song that he used to play for Remedy.
When morning came, Strike was up early and managed to get out of bed without falling flat on his face, despite the pain running through his front hooves. He had his Dad's guitar strapped onto his back, sealed inside its case.
Walking down the hall to the entrance, he saw Applejack who waved over to him, but upon seeing his miserable-looking expression, she came up to him to ask what was wrong, but instead he walked on.
Concerned, Applejack followed behind him, trying to keep up with his pace. She called out to him, but he seemed to ignore her and continued on his way. When he left the hospital, Applejack trotted faster and caught up with him, but he didn't acknowledge her presence. Eventually, she grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face her, but he kept his gaze on the floor. And even she noticed the tears dripping from his cheeks to the floor.
Gently, she raised his head with a hoof and Strike met her gaze. He looked heartbroken and a mess. His eyes were slightly bloodshot and his eyes were a pale black underneath, and his mane was a little messy. To say the least, he looked like he didn't get much - or any - sleep at all.
''S-Strike?'' Applejack asked softly.
Strike looked away for a split second but then hugged her close and tight, taking her by surprise.
''Strike? Hey! You okay? You seem out of it.'' Applejack felt him shake as he clung onto her like his life depended on it. After a short while, he released her and looked back into her worried emerald eyes.
''Applejack...I...I...'' He stammered, barely able to talk over the sadness in his voice, ''I...I can't stay around anymore, AJ! I-Its my fault Rainbow was taken and tortured like that!''
''Don't go talking like that, Strike! None of this was your fault! You were only looking out for your family, that's all, sugarcube.'' She reassured him as she held a hoof to his shoulder.
''I...just...miss her so much!'' Strike sobbed as he hugged Applejack again, crying on her shoulder as she rubbed his back lovingly.
''Shh, its alright, Strike. They're gone now. They can't hurt you anymore. Now, come on. We need to go see the others.''
*** *** ***
At the Golden Oaks Library, all of Rainbow's friends were there, and upon entering, Rainbow Dash's face immediately lit up as she saw Strike and she rushed up to hug him, limping on her still injured hoof that was covered in blood-smeared bandages.
As she held him, she noticed he was cold, but his expression was more than worrying. Everypony else noticed it and shared the same concerned expression as they looked at one another.
''Hey...what's wrong, Strike? You okay?''
''Rainbow...'' Strike began but stopped to look at her bandaged hoof. Looking back up into her rose eyes, he hugged her taking her aback. ''I need to tell you something. To tell you all something.''
''What is it? Are you okay?'' Twilight asked him, seeing the small tears trickle down his cheeks.
''I...I...I'm leaving Ponyville.''
His response to the statement was as he expected - Everypony exclaimed ''WHAT?!'' at the same time.
''L-L-Leaving?! Strike...y'all ain't serious are ya? Is this because of what happened at the hospital the other evening?''
''Yes. It is about yesterday. When I wanted to talk to Rainbow but couldn't walk, it was because I wanted to tell her this directly. I didn't know how you'd all react to it. I just want you to be safe.''
''But we are safe, Strike! Them criminals are all gone! You killed Whipper! Why can't you stay around? Not even for a few more days or weeks?'' Rainbow asked, tears in her own eyes.
''Because as long as I'm around, none of you are safe, even with that gang of marauders gone. Trouble always seems to find me, and with that are unwanted circumstances. I'm doing this because I love you all and the family. I'm sorry.''
Turning to leave, he was stopped by Rainbow pulling on his tail, looking back at him with pleading eyes. ''Please don't go...I...I wan't you to stay here with me. With us.''
''Just let me go, Rainbow. I'll always love you, no matter what.''
And then he left, closing the door behind him.
Rainbow and the others exchanged worried glances at each other, mostly at Rainbow who was now visibly crying.
''He's not going to go is he? I...I mean for real?'' Twilight said as she felt her eyes tear up. ''I mean...where will he go? Everyone he knows but his family are dead! He can't possibly...'' Her eyes widened in shock, drawing even more worried expressions from the others, but most of all Rainbow.
''No...he wouldn't! I-I-I've gotta stop him! He can't do this!''
And then Rainbow flew from the library, in tow with the rest of her friends.
*** *** ***
At the cemetery in Canterlot, Rainbow Strike stood at the base of a grave, planting a bouquet of roses down on a black marble stone engraved neatly, reading:
Here lies Remedy
A mare of many talents and loved by all of Equestria. Murdered on June 20th
Strike stood there for a while, reading the words engraved on his beloved's grave. It had started to become dark and the rain had picked up, drenching him and making him shiver. Although he was crying, they blended in with the rain. Beside him lay his saddlebags, and in them lay some of his possessions. The ones that mean most to him.
He pulled out the picture of him and Remedy and stared at it, caressing her cheek before kissing it softly and planting it atop her gravestone. Next he pulled out his pistol.
He looked at the name Life's Blossom engraved onto its silver-plated body. He once gave it to Remedy on her birthday. She may not of like shooting guns of any kinds, but she knew a fair bit about them. She kept it locked inside a special box of things she wanted to keep safe and remember, but on the day she was murdered, he took the chest with him as a memory of her. To this day, it remained locked, the only thing being removed was the pistol.
Thunder crashed in the sky, followed by the flash of lightning. He pointed the pistol at his head, pulling back the hammer. Strike's body shook from the cold, and he drew the gun back a few times, but before he could pull the trigger, he heard Rainbow Dash shout from behind. Turning, he could see her and her friends not far away from where he was.
Pulling the gun back to his head, he closed his eyes and gently squeezed the trigger. The bullet echoed loudly through the graveyard followed by a crash of thunder. And then he dropped to the floor, blood splattering the floor.
Rainbow screamed when she saw his body collapse to the floor, and she hugged his form tightly as she sobbed uncontrollably in the cold, pouring rain. The rest of her friends joined her as they stared at his corpse in shock and disbelief of what he did.
Applejack held onto Rainbow,stroking her back, but Rainbow's eyes were fixed to her brother's corpse. The rain didn't seem to get any lighter, but even though it was loud, she could of sworn she heard the sound of a slow-playing guitar in the air, followed by a ghost-like whisper in a very familiar voice.
The following morning, Rainbow Strike was able to leave the Ponyville hospital. His hooves didn't feel any better, but at least the pain when he tried to walk subsided to a bearable level. When he left his room, he proceeded towards the exit, and upon going in that direction, he noticed Applejack in the waiting area. What she was doing there, he had no clue, but he brushed the thought off and came towards her, limping a little.
''Mornin', Strike. Feel any better?'' She asked him with a smile, to which he returned weakly.
''Yeah, I guess so. So...how come you're here? Waiting for Rainbow or something?''
''No, actually. I was jus' waiting for you. Doctor said you'd be fine ta leave early.'' She caught Strike's expression and cocked her head. ''You...er...you alright?''
''Hrmm? Uh, oh...yeah. I'm fine. Its just that I thought Rainbow would be good to leave with us. She's not still here is she?''
''She left early this morning. Don't worry about her, Strike, she's alright.'' She smiled reassuringly at him, but Applejack could see that he still looked worried about something. ''You sure you're okay?''
''Yeah. I...just wanna get outta here, AJ. I don't like hospitals...''
Applejack chuckled a little at that as they both left the hospital and trotted for the Golden Oaks Library.
Yep, he sure is the same as Rainbow Dash...
Arriving at the library, Strike and Applejack came through the door and almost immediately, Rainbow was hugging her brother tightly. He hugged her back, but then looked at her bloody, bandaged hoof and his saddened look didn't go unnoticed by the others.
''You okay, Strike? You feel cold.'' Rainbow asked as she looked at his expression.
''What is it with people asking me that today? I'm fine. Just a little tired.'' Strike said, and it was evadable that it sounded like something was wrong. He just hoped that they didn't know that. ''Rainbow...um...look, I know you're worried about me, but I assure you that I'm fine.''
''If you say so...'' Rainbow said right before Strike hugged her. Celestia he feels cold...he doesn't seem okay. Maybe we can talk about it later...something is definitely wrong with him. I just know it. Braking from the embrace, she looked into his eyes, sensing the hurt within them. She wanted to help him, she really did, but would he let her?
''Strike, can you come back with me for a while?''
''I guess I can. I left my things there and need to get them, anyway.''
''So, sorry girls, I guess I'll see you all tomorrow?'' Rainbow said as she turned to face her friends who exchanged glances.
''Sure thing, Rainbow. See you tomorrow.'' Twilight said, sounding a little disappointed.
''Great. See ya later.''
And then Strike and Rainbow flew from the library and headed back home.
Arriving back home, Rainbow and Strike sat together in the living room, next to the table that was had Strike's possessions neatly organized atop it. Rainbow cringed a little inside at some of the weapons he had. Especially that hunting knife that looked sharper than a manticor claw. Strike however just looked uncomfortable being alone with her, let alone being with her in her house.
''So what's wrong, Strike? You keep saying you're alright, but I can easily tell that you aren't. Something is eating at you, and I can tell that its bad. So what's wrong?'' She said as she placed a hoof to his shoulder and watched him fidget with his hooves uneasily as he avoided making eye contact.
''I'm not really comfortable talking about this, Rainbow. I hope you know that.'' And then he looked up at her, seeing her soft smile. He sighed loudly through his nostrils and tried to relax.
''Please, Strike? Wouldn't you feel better if you just talked about it?''
''No.'' He replied bluntly. ''Talking doesn't help you forget, I thought you knew that, Rainbow.''
She frowned at him, and he just looked away. Closing his eyes, and exhaling slowly, a faint, single tear made its way down his cheek. He rubbed it cheek with a hoof, wiping the tear off, and Rainbow placed a hoof to his shoulder.
Her voice was a soft whisper, ''This is about yesterday isn't it?'' Her response to the question was a simple, slow and sad nod from Strike. Turning to face her, she saw the tears in his eyes.
''Rainbow...I...I'm just worried about you.''
''About me? Why's that?''
''Well...look at your hoof for starters. He stabbed a knife into it and twisted it! Do you even know how painful it was to watch that be done to you? Whipper did it, and I couldn't stop him!'' He told her, taking her aback as he gripped both her shoulders with his burned ones, ignoring the pain that shot through them, ''He was gonna kill you!''
A little shocked, Rainbow struggled to find her voice. She had no idea that Strike was beating himself up over that, but why was he, anyway? She was alive and so was he, so why was he so pissed about it?
''You know, when I electrocuted Whipper, I was actually hoping that the electricity would kill me, too! My life has just been a mess since I left. We could of avoided all of this and just lived happily, but no...I had to be so stupid as to run off and bring back hell with me! Because of that, I put your friends in a tough spot, Pinkie Pie hates me and thinks I'm a murderer, and I nearly got you killed!''
''Strike!'' Rainbow nearly exclaimed as she forced herself from his grip, glaring at him. ''It isn't your fault! Why would you even say that? You wanted to die when you took down Whipper? But...why? Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?'' She asked him, looking a little hurt.
''I tried...I couldn't walk because the electricity burned my hooves to hell.'' He looked away, sniffling, ''I don't wanna lose you, Rainbow. I love you.'' Strike moped as he wiped tears from his eyes with a hoof and sniffled, turning back to Rainbow's shocked yet beautiful gaze. ''I love you, Rainbow....''
''Oh, Strike...'' She leaned down and hugged him, clinging tightly to his body, kissing his cheek. ''I love you, too.''
''...And that's why I've gotta go.''
''Wait...WHAT?! Go? Go where?!''
''Someplace. There's nothing left for me here, Rainbow. I shouldn't of come back and troubled you with any of this stuff. Its not you, alright? Its me. I screwed up, and I've gotta repay the debt for it. I gotta leave...''
He slowly picked himself off the couch and took his possessions, placing them back in his saddlebags and strapped them on, Rainbow watching him silently as her eyes started to tear up. He looked back at her, nuzzling her cheek and kissing her on the nose.
''Don't worry, Rainbow. You'll see me again someday. Right now, I have someone I need to see one last time.'' He turned, heading for the balcony of the cloud palace and opened his wings, ready to take off, but stopped as he looked back at Rainbow who was crying. It melted his heart, to say the least, and he did feel guilty for leaving her. In all the time he's been here, he has been the only part in her life that made her complete. She was happy, and seeing him go like that was destroying her. Sighing, he walked back in and picked her from the couch, holding her tight against his chest.
''S-S-Strike?'' Rainbow asked, confusedly as she looked up at him, seeing that gentle smile.
''You know what, Rainbow? I can't leave you on your own like this.''
''What do you mean?''
''I'm staying. If I leave, you'll just be lonely again. I can't do that to you.'' He said as he rubbed his cheek against hers. ''I'll tell you what, why don't you come with me for a flight to Canterlot? I've gotta go drop something off somewhere.''
She nodded, a hopeful smile on her face. Helping her up, they both took to the skies, staying side by side and heading towards Canterlot, to go to one specific place: Remedy's grave.
Strike shivered as his lower lip quivered with fear, his eyes unable to be averted from the knife held in his hand, the polished blade shining with the light of the room.
The room didn't house much apart from a few old boxes of varying sizes and an old lamp that illuminated the room in a dim light. He was all alone in the room, the only thing being heard other than the silence was his shallow breathing, each slow breath becoming seemingly slower as he thought about what he was going to do.
Knife tight in hoof, he slowly lowered the knife as sweat began to drip slowly from his forehead, cold beads that fell from his face and impacted with the floor, creating wet spoltches. The blade lightly touched Strike's chest, becoming more forceful as his grip tightened and began to ache. He clenched his eyes shut as a sharp pain was felt on his lower chest, causing him to release the knife from his hand. A spec of blood trickled down his body, landing on the floor with a 'plop' that broke the silence.
The rusty metal door to the room opened and Strike heard his name being called by the all too familiar voice of Whipper, a rather muscular brute who lead the gang that Strike was a part of.
''Hey, Strike, hurry it up, we've been looking all over for you! C'mon, we're off on a raid!'' His voice made the room vibrate, his deep voice making a twitch run down the length of Strike's spine.
''Y-Yeah, I'll be there in a moment.''
Remedy
Whipper's gang sat at a table at a bar, his accomplices, Midnight, Torcher and Slash at his sides, all as menacing or even more so than Whipper himself, especially Torcher.
Across from them sat Strike and his new girlfriend, Remedy. This was the first time they had ever met Remedy, only hearing about her occasionally from Strike. She was a beautiful Mare - a beautiful, well looked after slender body with glamorous features and soft looking, orange and dark orange contrasting hair with light yellow eyes that glistened with life.
Not much was being said and the silence of the moment made Strike's nerves itch under the stare of his collegues, Remedy even more so. Whipper had his eye on her most of the time, his next words being unpredicted as to what they may be. Strike took hint on the muscular, brute leader looking her over and it only ushered him to keep quiet.
Midnight and Slash didn't say anything besides take a few swigs of their whiskey and let the awkward silence carry on. As if the moment couldn't get any more awkward, Strike felt the hoof of Remedy gently squeeze on his own and Strike could tell that she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
Without saying a thing, Whipper got up from his seat, pulling his shades over his eyes and marched out of the door, causing both Ryan and Remedy to flinch, his three accomplices soon taking after him. Looking over to Remedy, Strike could see how rattled she was.
''Y-You okay?'' Strike asked, his own voice a little shaken. Remedy slowly turned her head, a small frown upon her lips. She didn't respond and Ryan didn't really blame her for that. Whipper can be quite terrifying and intimidating at times, enough so that Srike thought something like this might have happened when he invited them to meet her. ''I'm...I'm sorry about that, Remedy. Whipper can be like that sometimes.''
''No, it's okay, I've seen his type before.'' She turned her head away for a moment before she got up from her seat, Strike also getting to his feet. ''Let's just get out of here.''
***
Present Day
***
Strike? Rainbow Strike? Was I Rainbow Strike anymore? No. No, I wasn't. Rainbow Strike died along with my heart, the one thing that made me me. Remedy was gone, murdered by those who once were the closest thing to a family I had. She was murdered because of me. Was our relationship a mistake? Another scar to add? Love and meaning is what our relationship gave me, but it left me with a broken heart, the other half shattered to pieces, the pain being the substitute.
I had only myself to blame. This all happened because of me. Now I'm back home, my place here just being a shadow, almost as if I wasn't meant to be back. I was avoided like I was the Grim Reaper, everyone's eyes filled with pure fear at the sight of me.
Even my own sister.
Rainbow Dash assured me she did have love in her heart for me but it is now clear that she doesn't. To her, I'm now nothing. It was like whenever she looked at me, she could only see the ghost of the good that used to be within me. Could I blame her? No, I couldn't. Everyone who used to know me as a child cast me asside like a pebble under their feet. I don't belong here anymore, there is no place for me now that my old life has disappeared.
Walking through town, I hear some ponies bicker about me, whispering words of discrimination and negative comments. They would turn their heads when I looked over, ignoring me. Rainbow Dash does the same whenever I try to talk to her, pushing me aside. No matter how much I try to make conversation, she casts me away. Again, I tried and she looked away before taking to the skies in a blast, vanishing from sight, leaving me with a hanging head and tears.
Backs were turned upon me even on the hardest of times.
There is no place for me without Remedy or family.
Chords echoed through the cold, soothing winter air, their sounds going loud before disappearing into the distance. They played a slow, sad melodic tune and each chord came from the heart that once was held together by the love of one girl, a pony who changed the heart of many ponies around the world with her angelic voice and the passion that came with it.
Three fillies watched the sight as the stallion played away with his guitar as he sat on a tree stump, facing them. One was an earth pony with a rich, cream coloured coat and red mane with amber eyes that glistened with life, the second one, a pegasus, had orange fur and a scruffy purple mane with matching eyes. The last, a unicorn, had a snow-white coat and her mane was two toned with purple and pink and her eyes were a pale green.
They all watched and listened to the clear notes that drifted through the air with hearts that felt like they were being pulled, releasing a soft, sympathetic emotion from their eyes. The stream of heavenly notes were passionate and heartwarming, yet somewhat sad.
Finishing off the last set of chords, the stallion opened his eyes to reveal a pair of glistening emeralds that upon being opened allowed a tear or two to drip down his cheek. He wiped them away with a hoof while he simultaneously breathed in and slowly released a sigh from his nostrils.
Placing his instrument aside, he looked down to the three fillies with a soft smile. Noticing their tears trickling down their cheeks, the stallion slowly got to his hooves and approached them, leaning down before he wiped each of their eyes of the running fluid. Raising back to his normal height, he continued to smile warmly to the three young fillies who looked right back with smiles of their own.
''That was beautiful, Strike.'' The white unicorn commented, rubbing her eyes with her small, white hoof.
''Why, thank you, Sweetie Belle.'' Strike smiled to her. ''I'm glad you enjoyed it.''
''Yeah, you definitely have some talent with that guitar!'' The orange pegasus chimed in.
''Um...Strike?'' The final filly asked, slowly looking up to meet Strike's green eyes with her amber ones. ''What happened to her?'' She asked, catching Strike a little off guard at first to the unexpected question. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as the fillies continued to watch him with new found curiosity.
Not knowing how to respond to the question the filly asked him in a delicate way, he simply managed a smile as he placed a hoof gently on her shoulder. ''She's gone, Apple Bloom.'' He said to her softly, eliciting a small, shocked gasp from her and her two companions. ''She's gone.'' He repeated again, this time quieter than a whisper.
He turned around, approaching his guitar once more before he picked it up and placed it on his back. Upon turning back around, he could see the fillies looking at him with sad eyes. It was the orange pegasus who spoke first.
''B-But...how?'' She asked, much to Strike's sad gaze that grew deeper as he looked her back in her purple eyes.
''I can't tell you, Scootaloo. Maybe when you're all a little older enough to understand. I'm sorry.'' He exhaled a frosty breath and tried to calm his still pained heart.
It has already been a year since he moved back to Ponyville with his sister, Rainbow Dash, and through his time of being back in town, he has tried to find peace after all the heartache he has been forced to go through, yet he still finds it hard to cope without his beloved Remedy. She was the only pony that could ever truly make him feel whole.
Without her around, all he had to make him feel better was Rainbow Dash.
Strike actually smiled to himself as he recollected his thoughts on the last time he ever shared a kiss with Remedy and the time when he proposed to her and that night of the bar. However, that smile soon transformed into a deep frown as he hung his head down in sorrow after feeling those memories play through his mind like a tidal wave of emotions that yearned to be released.
With all his will-power, he forced himself to conceal his tears as he tried to calm himself by breathing in a calm manner in an attempt to keep himself in control of his emotions.
Turning back to the small fillies, he gave a left-sided smile.
''Come on, I'll walk you girls home. It's dangerous out here alone in the snow.''
