Rainbow Dash
[One Week Earlier]
Boom!
Oh, goddess, why all the noise? First this morning, and now this. I try to roll over and go back to sleep.
Boom!
What the hell is that? It’s even louder now… My back aches, and my stump is tingling. Something is… wrong… I push my face out of my pillow, and try to open my eyes, but the sunlight is too bright right now. What is it, midday? I shouldn’t be up right now.
“Ugh… Scoot, what the hell are you doing?” I call out as I rub the sand out of my eyes.
BOOM!!!
The very ground shook, and my eyes shot open. We’re on the fourth floor. If I grab her and jump out the window, we can get away from anything. What’s going on? Is it a villain? Do I need to kill somepony? Or wait… oh shit, is today Sunday!? My door swings open and Scootaloo runs in looking like she just saw a ghost.
“Rainbow, there’s something outside! It’s huge, and there are heroes fighting it! It’s like half as tall as the Empire building! We need to get out of here!” Damn it. Of all the things to forget about… Darkness suddenly enveloped the window, followed by the sound of something large moving fast. The hair on my neck sticks straight up and without my consent, my powers activate. I grab Scoot and push with my blood and my wing as hard as I can away from my bed. We shoot through the hall all the way to the front door, A sharp pain shoots through my stump as we crash with my back in the way. The door caves in, and just as I look up, my room comes crashing down as a giant black claw tears through it. Well, fuck.
“Run! I need to grab something, get to the back of the building, now!” My scared little sister just stared at me like I was the monster. Crap! She’s in shock. I smacked her across the back of the head. “Move!” Finally, her hooves were on the floor. The massive arm started to move again and it looked like it was going to tear through another piece of this building. Shit!
I started up my powers and flew to what was left of my closet as quickly as possible. Luckily, since my closet was closer toward the interior of the building, my costume was still in tact and my sword untouched by the destruction. Using my blood, I scooped up everything and started putting it on as I made a run for Scootaloo. I never really wanted her to find out about all this, but I guess there isn’t much of a choice now, is there? Coat, helm, boots, and cloak all on, I drew my sword with my wing and used my blood to fly through the halls. I caught Scoot with my blood wing and threw her on my back. The roof started to cave in as the monster’s claw sank through the building as if it were a hot knife and butter. This isn’t gonna feel good.
I cut down the first door I saw and raced for the back window. Most of the walls had come down now, and only seconds were left before everything fell apart. Glass, brick, steel, cement, wood, and dust all tumbling down around me. I lowered my head and launched for the window. The whole of the complex destroyed, we managed to get out unscathed. I turned back to look at what had just destroyed my home. A big black creature that looked almost like its body was made of liquid, the thing that just ran through my bed I thought was a claw was its foot. It towered over the building I lived in, the side of its hip being as tall as what was left of the roof I used to live under. It was crouched at the moment, looking like it was trying to swat flies with each claw.
A gun fired at its face, a small crack appeared in its big white plague-doctor looking mask, then it turned to look toward the shooter. No way… There was the mare in the coat and hat with the big gun, probably a block away, shooting at this thing with some kind of rifle. Is that bigger than the one she shot at me with? The shaking body on my back brought my attention where it was supposed to be, and I took to the alleyways below, darting in the opposite direction. I flew as fast as I could to get away from the city. Should I take her to my safe house in the woods? If she’s there, then she’ll get all pissy with me, but whatever. Scoot needs a safe place to stay, and if nopony says anything, then she doesn’t have to know about all this shit. Damn it! Why did this have to happen today?
“Hey, are you here?” I called out into the dark cabin. The air was musty, like the place had been undisturbed for months, maybe longer. Nopony answered my call, so I walked a few steps into the darkness and pulled the hanging light switch. The dull yellow light illuminated the small living room, and everything was as it should be. The old, dusty red couch, the dark green patterned rug, the intricately carved wooden chairs, the CRT TV that could probably fit in at a museum these days. The oval coffee table, and finally, the blood stained blanket sitting on that old brown rocking chair. I let out a thankful sigh that she wasn’t around and relaxed for a second, letting my blood flow back into my body.
“Rainbow?” I heard the small voice on my back say. I sheathed my sword, and took off my helmet to look at my terrified little sister. Her little magenta eyes carried a range of emotions that went from fear to confusion. I set her down on the couch, her eyes focused on my floating blood the entire time, and I took a seat on my old blanket in the rocking chair.
“So… You can probably guess that I haven’t told you a few things,” I said, scratching at the scar under my right eye. Scootaloo just blinked.
“I uh… well, yeah, there’s that, but… I mean, that’s just the beginning. What was that thing that destroyed our apartment? Are you a Power Pony? What is this place? Why do you have that costume? I… what is going on?”
“Let’s see… A monster, yes, the place where I grew up, it’s for work, and we’re hiding out to avoid being casualties in that monster fight that I assume is still going on.” When I wasn't trying to hide something, I usually just gave it to her straight. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
“Okay, I guess that’s kind of what I wanted to hear, but… can I get some more details about all this? Did we just lose our home? Why is there a monster in the city? Like… ugh, what’s going on?” she groaned.
“Scoot, I’m gonna be completely honest with you here, it’s probably better that you don’t know.” She lowered her eyebrows at me.
“Really!? Are you going to do this to me again!? You never tell me why you always come home covered in bruises, you ignore me when I ask about your job, I had to forge your signature to get into junior guard, and you wouldn’t even explain why you wouldn’t let me join in the first place! Tell me what’s going on Rainbow! Or is that even you name? Because apparently, I don’t know anything about you!” I sighed. A distraction would be nice right about now.
“I guess… I should start from the beginning then. We’re going to be here for a while, I hope you know.” The sound of hooves on wood floor caught my attention.
“Mmm, I’d beg to differ.” And there she is. A pegasus mare with a white coat about as bright as the sun walked into the living room of the cabin from somewhere, likely far down below. She had a range of colors in her mane from blue to yellow, not unlike my own, but hers was more of a gradient than several distinct colors like mine, and eyes that were ice blue-gray from iris to pupil.
“Hey there Blindness, good to know that you’re here,” I said sarcastically. Her ears moved to my voice, followed by her head painted with an angry smile.
“Same to you, Wings. What are you doing here? More importantly, what is she doing here?” Brightness asked in a harsh tone. I sighed.
“I know I forgot, but in case you did too, today is Sunday. The Sunday.” And if you hadn’t been working me so hard yesterday, I probably wouldn’t have forgotten!
“Well, maybe if you did a better job in the first place, I wouldn’t have to make you do it over again. And no, I didn’t forget. Why did you come here?” She asked in her pointed tone.
“Our apartment was in the middle of being destroyed and I didn’t have a whole lot of time to plan what I was going to do.”
“And you came to my house first? What if one of his drones followed you? Do you know how screwed everypony would be if he found us out!?” she said sharply.
“I know, trust me. But I don’t think anypony saw me, either side for that matter. We were the only ones in the building to begin with. There weren’t even cars on the road. Manehattan was a ghost town, save for those guys fighting that thing.” I laid my legs across the arm of the chair and let myself relax a little.
“Um…”
“Could you tell if they were doing well? Or did you ignore that too, since you seem to be forgetting about your duties today.” I scowled at her.
“I was kind of in a hurry trying to make sure we didn’t die. They weren’t real high on my priority list.” She tilted her head.
“Excuse me…”
“Then maybe, you should get back there and do your job, hmm?” she said, her voice like ice.
“And maybe you should make sure your brother is doing well! How long has it been since you took care of him? Years? Maybe he’s under a piece of rubble out there, splattered on the road!” Anger flared in Brightness' face, but Scootaloo beat her to the yelling.
“Hey!” Huh. Yeah, probably should've paid attention to her sooner. “Who is this? Why are you guys fighting? Why won’t anypony tell me what’s going on!” she moaned. I looked at Scoot, then at Brightness.
“Your call chief.” Brightness rolled her eyes and then huffed.
“Very well. I will fill her in. You get out there and do your job. I cannot believe you slept in today, of all days,” she scoffed.
“Yeah, me neither. I’ll be back. She’ll take good care of you, so don’t worry. Later.” I grabbed my helmet and waved to the confused Scootaloo, then took off, thankful to get out of explaining all that. It’s gonna be a long day.
When I arrived back at the scene, the battle was already over, and there was nothing but destruction left in the city. At least, that’s what I thought until Persona showed up on a screen not too far away. It looked like the eyes of his mask were focused on something, which was a little unsettling. I moved close enough to hear what was being said, and then I saw all six of those guys standing together. Only one of them looked hurt as far as I could tell, but I didn’t recognize her. That guy in the armor was back from the fight with Knots, that piece of shit. There was that speedy mare, and the other one who looks like a slut, and finally… Applebloom’s sister, Marevelous Red. Applejack.
“I’ll answer one of those questions, as that was your promised reward, but for free, I will tell you that lives are simply part of the collateral. How many could Sachiel kill? Any number of ponies, especially those who didn’t expect him. And when the next of my kaiju come, they too will have the power to end lives in the blink of an eye. But that is for next week and the future ahead of us. For now, you may ask. One question; barring my identity or location. You have until twelve forty-five to decide.” The mask said.
This prick. If I didn’t know that killing you would just make everything worse, I would have done it months ago. I can only wonder what she’s gonna ask him. Hmm… do her ears keep flicking toward her team mates? I suppose that means they can communicate silently. That would definitely explain how they managed to work together so well at the harbor. But then again, she’s… also really good at it. Even back when I worked with Brightness, her orders nearly got me shot or stabbed on several occasions. Marevelous on the other hoof…
“When are these monsters gonna show up? And Ah mean at what time of what day will each monster show up?” Marevelous asked. Huh. Not bad, that’s something we didn’t even know.
“Again, you impress me. You do not ask for yourselves, but for your city. You six are exemplary. When the clock strikes noon on the day the goddess rested, my kaiju will make their grand entrances, followed by an announcement from yours truly. I will proceed any battle and appear every time you win to answer one more question. Well done, heroes. Until we meet again~” Cocky bastard! Ugh, every time he opens his mouth, I just want to punch him! The screen cut out, and Persona was gone.
“Well, Ah guess that’s all there is ta that. Let’s head back before ponies start makin’ their way ta what’s left of this place,” Marevelous addressed her comrades.
“Yeah, we should probably get her home pretty quick. This doesn’t look too good,” the stallion said pointing at the… centurion? Her wing, I mean.
“Oh my. I know I certainly won’t be able to fix that. She’s not one to do so, but I hope her mother doesn’t throw a fit when she sees this,” the slutty unicorn said. Actually, don’t I know that voice? Her mane looks familiar too…
“All aboard the Goose train!” the fast one said. The mistress looking mare seems to be the only one who has any part of her body really showing. Well, that and those with wings. Can’t really fly if your wings are taped up. Unless you don’t use them, or it in my case. Speaking of, there’s that sniper mare again. I can’t believe that’s what she turned into after all these years. I knew the Beast was always there, but she used to be so sweet and quiet. What happened? When the time comes, I’ll have to ask. Somepony turned the centurion my way and now I noticed she had a horn. What the hell? Does that thing work? Is it a mutation? Or are the wings a mutation? That’s… that’s really weird. Why do I feel like it’s familiar? They all gathered around the lunar guard, and then suddenly they just kind of… ‘blinked’ into nothingness, like they were never there.
Oh right. He can do that. He popped from place to place all the time in the harbor fight. He’s also almost as strong as Applejack is… it’s almost like… he has two powers… I decided to look through the rubble of our apartment to see if anything was left. There really wasn’t much, but after some digging, I at least managed to find that our phones were saved by those crazy expensive cases I bought not too long ago. It helps that my alarm from this morning was still running from not being deactivated. Which really means that I hit snooze, or just outright slept through it for three hours. Nice going Rainbow. I kept looking to see if anything else made it through, but there was pretty much nothing but broken glass and destroyed tech all around.
Well. At least I have property damage insurance. The stuff we lost can be replaced, but finding a new place to live in Manehattan is going to be… rather difficult at best. Ugh, and this is all after I finally managed to get us out of the south district last year! I don’t want to go back to our shitty apartment again… maybe we can crash with Brightness until we get a new place… Oh, the paperwork is going to be hell. As if my day job wasn’t bad enough about that in the first place. Goddess damn it.
“Hey, I’m back!” I called out once I entered the safe house. I set my helmet down and took off my mask. No response. That’s weird. I wonder if they went back to Tin? I felt around my head for that thin line of Brightness’ power that keeps us connected and tried to contact her.
“Hey, are you two around?” I said aloud to nopony in particular. Silence in the dusty old cabin, until finally…
“We went to get lunch. I figured that there are some parts of your story you’d rather tell yourself, so I’ve only filled her in on our relationship. She doesn’t know about the plan, and she doesn’t know what happens if we fail.” I took a moment to rub at my temples.
“I can’t believe you’re going to make me do it.”
“Don’t you lie to me. You know better than that. Besides, from what she’s said, she thinks she’s the one who needs to protect you. At least up till now. Seeing you in action was quite the shock from what I can tell. How you’ve managed to hide your physical prowess for four years is just short of amazing to me.” I took a seat in the rocking chair and followed that with a deep sigh.
“That doesn’t surprise me. But you’ve probably looked around in her head by now, you know what she’s been through! She was way worse off than I was when you found me, and that’s saying something! I was missing a limb after all. I thought that if she felt like there was somepony in the world who needed her, then maybe… she’d get better. I mean, she did, so I guess it worked but… I didn’t want to take that away.” I sat in silence for a few minutes, then my ears twitched. The sound of a small hoof clacked against the wood floor, and then… there she stood.
“You did all that… just for me?” she said, her voice wavering. You mother f- I couldn’t finish my curse before Scootaloo ran and jumped on me. “You dumb ass! Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth yourself instead of going around behind my back all this time? I never cared about what was wrong with you or that we had the same problems, I just wanted to be with you! You were the only pony… who ever cared to look at me like I was more than trash on the street…” I let myself relax and sank into the chair as we sat together, her warm tears falling on my neck. The bitch herself took a seat on the couch across from us and just sat there staring at us with that stupid smile of hers. Were it not for the shaking little orange pegasus in my lap, I would’ve punched the smug off her face, but in the end I just sat still until Scootaloo finished.
“You okay kid?” She sniffed hard and nodded.
“I-I think so.” She picked herself up and rubbed at her eyes. “So… what happens next? The apartment is gone, isn’t it?” I nodded.
“Unfortunately. These managed to survive unscathed, somehow, but that’s about it.” I gave her her phone, then business mode kicked in, and I started listing off my report to Brightness. “The city is pretty fucked up where the fight happened, but somehow, they managed to keep it to one specific area on the south east side. Oh you know what else? It looked like the entire substation for this part of the city was half melted, so I think that something must’ve happened over there too. Even if we could go back to our apartment, we wouldn’t have any power.”
“Well. Crap.” Scoot said.
“Hmm… I suppose that means it was either Sachiel or Ramiel who was sent out first. Could you tell based on what you saw?” Brightness asked.
“No, but I doubt it was Ramiel. Nothing but that substation was melted, and it didn't look like there were any burns anywhere, so that monster is still in his pocket. This all looked like physical damage, save for that one substation, so I’d say it was Sachiel’s doing. I suppose you’ll know tomorrow when one of them isn’t there.”
“Uh… guys? You should probably see this,” Scootaloo interrupted. She’d had her phone turned on for a little while and it looked like she’d opened a video from somewhere… and all those guys from earlier were fighting that monster I saw. I quickly grabbed the phone out of her hooves to get a closer look.
“My, these heroes certainly seem to put up a good fight! Yet at the same time, my kaiju has no mercy to spare for them! The battle seems to be going in his favor at the moment! Sachiel has launched himself into the sky, he seems to have taken notice of his two ranged attackers and is preparing to swat them like flies! What’s this? The entire cast of heroes has blinked from their original positions and now have grouped up out of Sachiel’s reach! How interesting! One of these heroes must have some kind of power that lets them all teleport simultaneously. Very interesting indeed… and how does Sachiel react? Ah, my dear viewers, you are in for a treat! Sachiel just so happens to have a special composition! If you watch closely from this clip earlier, you can see that Marevelous’ first attack on him causes the ooze that covers his body to spray outward, and simply recollect where the damage was done. Because of this, Sachiel has an ability where he can absorb energy that is applied to his skin! I can only wonder if our heroes can figure this out before he does something to turn the tables!”
“Son of a bitch...” I mumbled.
“Is… is that him… commentating on the battle? Is this what they look like?” Brightness asked from her chair. I nodded, forgetting that she’d probably never seen them. Because her powers are so strong, she’s lost more and more of her eyesight over the years until finally going completely blind at twenty. She’s been legally blind for almost the entire time I’ve known her. The only way she can actually see anything these days is either by sacrificing some of her other senses and transferring all her power to her eyes which tires her out after about an hour, or use her powers to borrow the eyes of another Power Pony. It’s not unusual for me to feel her in my head whenever she thinks she needs to see something.
“It was the first thing in my email notifications… I just clicked on the application and the video just started playing… the url isn’t specifically to me, but to everypony who uses this service…” Scoot explained. Oh no.
“That means… everypony has seen this, or will see this before the day ends… I… I don’t think I can counter this. I don’t even know anypony with the skills to take down his whole network, let alone find and delete this data off billions of phones and computers across the country! This isn’t just a wrench in our plans, it’s a fucking boulder! Not only is he watching, the whole country is watching this, and they will see everything that happens for the next five weeks, if we even make it that far in the first place! Goddess damn it! We just got them on track, and now I have to restrategize and figure out how to deal with this!” Brightness slammed her hooves on the ground and made a sound that was louder than it should’ve been, causing both Scoot and I flinch. I hate it when she does that!
“Well I don’t care what you hate! We’re a little more than screwed right now!” She let out a breath and took a deep one. “We’re going to have to adjust our schedule. Prepare to make you debut next week.” I reared back.
“Next week!? Why? I don’t have anywhere for her to stay yet! If I move before then, they’re going to find her!” Brightness threw her hooves up.
“Too fucking bad! Beg for them to take her in, or find somewhere for her to be through the next week! We don’t have the time or the luxury to make mistakes, and if something happens and they need your help sooner rather than later, then you have to go!”
“How am I supposed to find somewhere in a week when a huge chunk of the city was just destroyed!? I don’t even have that kind of cash right now, let alone an idea of where to go! I’m not about to go crawling to them for this.” She crossed her hooves.
“Tough shit. I have a bad feeling about this, and he knows what he’s up against now. He’s going to send somepony he knows they’ll have trouble with next, or worse, he could just send Sahaquiel and kill everypony within miles of Manehattan! If you’re not there when he shows up, he’ll kill every last one of them, and then finding a place for Scootaloo to stay will be the least of your concerns! We cannot screw this up!” I tried to argue her point, but there was nothing I could say. I know better than anypony else what Sahaquiel is capable of, and at their level right now, that wouldn’t even be close to a difficult task for him. I slammed the chair with my hoof.
“Damn it! Fine. Stay here with her until I get back. I’m going to look everywhere I can, and If I find anything, then we’ll wait until we’re ready for this.” I moved Scoots to the couch with my blood and went after my helmet.
“And when you find nothing like we both know you will, I’ll be here planning for your debut next Sunday.” I glared at her.
“You don’t know jack shit! I’ll be back!” I grabbed the cabin door and slammed it on my way out.
“Has it always been like this between you two?” Scootaloo asked. Brightness nodded.
“For the most part. She’s hot-headed, brash, impulsive, and competitive to a fault. Oh, and she hates that I’m always right. She’ll come back in two hours fuming that she couldn’t find anything she could reasonably afford, even in the south district. However, if there’s anything I can always count on, it’s her doing what I need her to do when I need her to do it. Even if she’s upset with me, even if we’d been fighting mere moments before something dire happens, she always swoops in to my rescue without the slightest hint of hesitation. There’s been one other pony in my life who’s been so loyal, even if he needed encouragement to be that at times, as I’ve seen her. Hehe, well I suppose that’s not quite true. Seeing is rather difficult for a blind power pony, now isn’t it?” Brightness laughed.
“That’s kinda messed up.” The white pegasus nodded.
“True, but none of the three of us have had the greatest lives. I wasn’t always blind you know. Now then, why don’t we really go get some food, and I can tell you a story,” Brightness said sweetly.
“About you and Rainbow?” the filly asked, hope in her voice. Brightness shook her head.
“No, that’s something she should tell you. This is the story of the pony whom I consider my role model, and the one that your sister considers hers, even while never meeting him. He was selfless, and one who could never turn his back on a pony in need. He fought for justice, and to protect those around him. But to me, for what little time he could, he acted as a father figure, shortly after I lost mine. His name… was Citrus Root.”