Act VI Epilogue: Scars
The pounding at the door went ignored for the second day in a row.
Rainbow Dash didn’t even seem to notice. She just laid on her couch, staring off into the unseen distance.
“Not this time, Rainbow!” came the country drawl of Applejack. “Ah’m comin’ in!”
With a strong kick, the front door of the grounded cloud house was bucked from the wall.
“Get out,” Rainbow groaned, her voice haggard.
Applejack ignored her and moved to stand in front of the pegasus. The smell of whiskey and body odor assaulted her nose.
“Land sakes, girl,” Applejack said, covering her snout. “What in the world has gotten into you? Don’t ya know what today is?”
“I’m not going,” Rainbow declared. “I don’t deserve to go.”
“What the hay are you talkin’ about? ‘Course you should go.”
“It’s my fault, AJ.” Rainbow said, her voice cracking and her eyes moistening. “If I was just a little faster, I... I could have saved her... both of-Gah!.”
Rainbow reeled back, clutching her nose where Applejack’s hoof smacked it.
“Can that cow hock, right now!” Applejack seethed. “You really are dense sometimes, you know that. You’re gonna get up, get yourself clean, and you’re going to Pumpkin’s funeral, because you’re the reason her’s is the only one.”
“B-but I maimed Aurora!” Rainbow cried. “I took her leg!”
“You told us what happened, and all things considered, no pony blamed you for that, either.” Applejack pushed an empty bottle away so she could sit down. “Midnight, Twilight, even Aurora; not one of ‘em blame you. She looked like a monster, and you were protecting the foals.”
“No, I was looking for revenge. If I just focused on getting the foals out like I should have, Aurora would have killed that siren and went back to normal. She already forgot about everything else she did, so she wouldn’t even lose any sleep over it.” Rainbow laid back down on the couch, legs curled beneath her. “Instead, I sent them to the tower alone so I could run off like a stupid filly.
Rainbow glared at Applejack. “I don’t care if they don’t blame me, because I do.”
“And this is gonna make it better?” Applejack asked, her voice accusing. “You know how many times she asked about you today day? She’s scared for you. She knows you’re beatin’ yourself up over this. She already lost a friend. You want her to lose an aunt?”
Rainbow slumped down, tears falling freely. “No, but... I can’t remember ever feeling so alone. With what I did, being here with Scootaloo in the hospital and Discord buried under tons of rubble, probably dead... I can’t stand it.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “Every time I close my eyes I see it...”
“Aurora-”
“Not Aurora!” Rainbow yelled, her face twisting into one of pure rage. “The siren! As much as I hate myself for hurting Aurora, I know it’s more the siren’s fault than mine.”
Rainbow’s expression fell. “What haunts me the most is that... I enjoyed killing her. It felt good. So good, I purposely drew it out as long as I could. I could have just as easily knocker her out and taken her prisoner, but I didn’t. I murdered her.
“I let Pumpkin die, I hurt Aurora, and I tortured a pony to death.” Rainbow wiped away a tear. “I deserve to be in prison, but instead, ponies want to call me a hero and give me medals.”
“Rainbow, Ah don’t care who ya are, even you could’a never hoped to be fast enough to save that filly,” Applejack said, scooting closer to Rainbow. “So there’s nothin’ to beat yourself up over there.
“Now, Ah ain’t gonna lie, you did act stupid and reckless, and you shouldn’t’ve gone after the siren when you had the foals to look out for. And the way you killed the siren was not becomin’ of an officer.
“Knowin’ you, it’ll make you feel better to know Midnight requested the Princess to assign a Royal Guard captain to figure out what to do about that.”
Rainbow sighed. It actually did. She didn’t want to be let off scot free. What kind of message would that send if she did?
“Besides,” Applejack said, suddenly looking solemn. “We’re all sufferin’.”
Rainbow winced. “Still no word?”
Applejack shook her head. “No, but Ah know she’s alive. Ah can feel it.”
Rainbow got off her couch and stood next to AJ, placing a comforting hoof on her whithers. “We’ll find her, AJ. That, or she’ll find us after clobbering whoever took her.”
Applejack chuckled a little at that. “Yeah, she’s a strong young mare. Besides, Sweetie’s trackin’ her down. Ah know if anypony can figure out where Applebloom is, it’s her.”
“Darn right,” Rainbow said, more cheerfully that she had felt since they returned early in the morning the day before. “Now come on. We have ponies we need to be strong for.”
She jumped to her hooves and rushed to the bathroom.
AJ smiled. “There’s the Dash Ah know.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Midnight sat between the two beds that held his loved ones. They had arrived early yesterday morning, with Twilight being admitted for severe magical exhaustion, and Aurora going straight into surgery.
He knew there was little hope of saving her leg, but it was still crushing to see his little girl hurt like she was.
Twilight had come to a couple times, but he didn’t think she was aware enough to remember anything that was said.
“Daddy?” Came the weak, groggy voice of Aurora.
Midnight was by her side in an instant. “Shh, don’t sit up. You’re still hurt. Do you remember waking up before?”
“A little, but it’s fuzzy.”
“That’s the medicine the doctor gave you so you wouldn’t hurt. It’ll wear off soon.”
Tears welled up in the filly’s eyes as she looked down at the stump of her leg. “That monster... she hurt Pumpkin and I got mad... and... and... Rainbow was there. Did Auntie Rainbow hurt me?”
Midnight grit his teeth. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t her fault. He had to repeat this mantra to himself, and not for the first time.
“It was the bad fish-mare’s fault, not Rainbow Dash’s.”
The rational part of his mind knew it wasn’t Rainbow’s fault. He read her report several times, and knew she acted, in part at least, to protect the foals from a perceived threat.
Another part of him, though, wants nothing more than to hurt the one that hurt his precious little angel. He wanted to rip her legs off and beat her with them.
That was why he asked the princess to assign someone else to determine a course of action for her. He didn’t believe he could remain unbiased.
“Wh-what about Pumpkin? Is she okay?” Aurora asked.
Midnight’s very soul ached at the desperation on Aurora’s face.
Still, he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her, not about something like this. So, he climbed up into the bed beside her and wrapped his hooves around her. “I’m so sorry, baby. She didn’t make it.”
“No... No, she’s going to be okay, right?” Aurora said, her young mind trying to cope with the news. “She’s just really hurt, but she’ll wake up, won’t she?”
Midnight held her just a little tighter. “No, Aurora, she’s gone.”
Midnight could only hold her as she let out all her grief and pain, staining his coat with her tears.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Ponyville had seen its fair share of disasters. Monster attacks, dangerous Everfree weather, evil villains, they had seen it all. In those disasters, there had even been a few fatalities.
Never had one taken the life of one so young.
Rainbow’s gaze scanned the crowd. Most of the adult ponies were crying, but remained rather calm. The only real exception was Cheerlie, who was leaning against Redheart, bawling her eyes out, and Cup Cake.
The rotund mare held her son tightly as they both cried into each other. Carrot, though, was trying to remain strong for them.
Rainbow found a new respect for the stallion. She could see in his eyes he wanted to break down, but somehow he kept it together. He stayed strong for his family despite losing his child.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Midnight walk into the chapel, followed by a wheelchair bound Aurora flanked by a pair of nurses.
Midnight glanced at her and immediately tore his eyes away.
Rainbow took a step toward him, intent on apologizing, but a firm hoof stopped her.
“Not yet, sugarcube,” AJ warned. “Give him time.”
Rainbow watched the filly roll up to the coffin at the end of the room and break down in tears.
“I... I need some air,” Rainbow said as she made her way to the door.
Once outside, she took off, putting as much distance between herself and that depressing place as she could.
So high above the rest of the world, she let her own tears go, allowing the wind to brush them away as they fell.
It blurred her vision and muddled her senses, but she didn’t care. She needed to let it out.
Eventually, her body began to ache. She chided herself for not letting herself get any proper rest since they got back.
She could barely make out anything through her tear obstructed sight, so she just drifted toward the nearest blur, landing on the roof.
She spent a few minutes getting herself under control before she realized where she was. It was another place she had been avoiding; The hospital.
So many foals were here, all of whom looked at her like a hero and it tore her up.
The last thing she wanted was to run into one of them on their way home only to hear the praise she didn’t feel she deserved. So instead, she flew around the building until she found the window to Scootaloo’s room.
Quietly and carefully, Rainbow let herself into the room. She let herself collapse onto the chair beside the bed, letting out a sigh.
She looked over Scootaloo’s sleeping form. “I think I envy you, right now. Things have been hard the last couple days, with so many of us hurt or missing.”
Rainbow rested her chin on the arm of the chair. “I hope you’re dreaming about something happy.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Whirling, swirling images flashed through her head. Images of an army marching through a bizarre landscape.
Sitting by a hospital bed as a green mare lay within with a tired smile and a cloth-wrapped bundle.
Standing by an alter with that same mare and a brown stallion with darker speckles.
Huddling close to those same two on a cold winter night.
All these scenes flash before her in a blur. She could barely make out much of anything, until one scene...
She sat there, tapping her hoof as she watched her boss argue with the others.
It was always the same. Every time these meetings would crop up, it would devolve into a shouting match with each of them making completely unreasonable demands.
“It’s like watching a schoolyard squabble, isn’t it?”
She was startled by the sudden voice beside her.
She turned to see a light brown stallion, coat spotted with patched that gave him his name.
“What else is new?” Asked a light green unicorn mare with a dark green mane.
“Their clothes,” she replied, snarkily, getting a chuckle out of the other two.
She had seen those two at previous meetings, but she had never spoken to them.
She wondered why. They seemed like nice, intelligent ponies.
Well, she was going to change that.
She smiled and held out a hoof. “You know, I don’t think any of us have properly introduced ourselves,” she said. “My name is...”