Scootaloo had to cover her mouth to contain the excitement that was building in her.
When Scootaloo woke up, she wasn't sure how much time had passed since she and her family had passed out. Thanks to Discord's veil of shadows it was impossible to tell what time it was. But the first thing she picked up on was that she could hear chatter coming from downstairs. She quietly wiggled out of the bed without waking Rainbow Dash and made her way out of the bedroom. As she began making her way towards the staircase, Scootaloo could hear silent breathing from behind her and saw Blue following her.
"Seems my curiosity isn't the only one that's been peaked, huh Scootaloo?"
"You're right Blue, I just want to see what they're talking about."
"Me too, now let's see if we can hear what they're saying."
The filly and raptor sneaked their way to the edge of the staircase, just out of sight so that nopony would see them. As they peaked over the edge, they were surprised to see that both Princess Celestia and Luna were in the living room with the rest of the Mane Six. Scootaloo remembered how Discord had said he would need an hour before he could bring the princesses to them, so she figured that she must've been out for most of that hour. They could see that both princesses were deeply worried, probably from everything they had been told.
"Are you serious? Soarin actually went and turned into a monster?"
"I'm afraid so Princess Celestia," said Twilight. "He turned into some kind of scaly abomination and was too much for Indominus to handle."
"Well, he was holding his own for a while and smashed that filthy Wonderbolt all over like a rag doll," Pinkie said.
"That is, until his body got too weak and the Wonderbolts ganged up on him," said Fluttershy.
"I can't believe they did all of that to Indominus," said Luna.
"It was too horrible watching them restrain Indominus while Soarin assaulted him," said Applebloom.
"Ah'm sorry ya had ta see that sugarcube. It was so awful. he beat Indominus so viciously we thought he was gonna die," Applejack added.
"Until Rainbow and Scootaloo got so angry that they knocked the Wonderbolts out cold, and with Twilight and their family's help, blasted those scoundrels away," said Rarity.
"But if the Wonderbolts were blasted away, then what was up with that massive light eclipsing the sky?"
"See, the Wonderbolts survived the attack and Indominus decided that it was too dangerous for us. So he made a bold and noble sacrifice by having us leave and taking them all on by himself."
"No. You can't be serious Twilight," Luna said in complete shock. "Just what was Indominus thinking? Even if by some miracle he managed to defeat all of the Wonderbolts, the Immortal Phoenix alone would've killed him in such a weakened state."
"Well, we didn't exactly see what happened, but somehow Indominus and Soarin attacked each other with enough power for the explosion to be seen and echo across Equestria."
"How is Indominus doing now?"
"He's alive, thanks to Discord. His magic was enough to heal all the damage caused by the Wonderbolts and the Immortal Phoenix," said Fluttershy.
"Wow. I'm surprised Discord. I didn't think you would go this far for anypony."
"Indominus is not just 'anypony' KK, he's the first friend I've been able to bond with on such a personal level. It's thanks to him that now I'm receiving so much attention from Fluttershy. Right now he's in a coma-like condition. Last I checked, all his vital signs were improving, but he'll need a lot of time before he makes a full recovery."
"So THAT'S why you decided to cover most of Equestria in shadows. You want to keep Indominus hidden away until he regains his full strength."
"Yes Princess, I wouldn't be doing this if Indominus's life wasn't in danger right now."
From the top of the staircase, Scootaloo and Blue were glad that the Princesses understood Discord's reason for the shadows.
"It's a good thing he and your father are such good friends, Scootaloo," Blue whispered.
"If they weren't friends, Indominus would be dead right now. We've got to repay Discord for his incredible act when this is finished," Scootaloo replied quietly.
"So, what can we do about the Wonderbolts now," asked Applejack.
"If the Wonderbolts are as strong as you all have said, then I don't know what we can do. From what we've heard, Soarin sounds more powerful that Indominus and Black Death put together. Not even the full force of the Canterlot army could take him on now. Isn't there anything you can do about this Discord?"
"I would Princess, if I hadn't already tried to beat the Immortal Phoenix and only won by Indominus being knocked out."
Everypony stared at Discord in shock, except for Fluttershy. She had already seen the confrontation and could guess that it would end badly for him if Discord were to take on Soarin.
"It's true girls, I was a witness to that fight. Discord fought Indominus to a standstill in that battle, and only won by overtaxing himself and the Immortal Phoenix."
"Fluttershy's right, if Soarin is stronger than even Indominus, then there's a good chance he might do more than just overtax me. Most of my chaos magic was useless against Indominus, and only raw power managed to beat him. Soarin would come at me with full force and I wouldn't stand a chance. That Wonderbolt could....kill me."
Upon hearing Discord's answer, Scootaloo and Blue looked at each other with horrified looks.
"Blue, we've got to tell Tyrannosaurus and the girls about this."
"Agreed, this is big news." The raptor and pegasus quietly slinked back to the bedroom to tell T-Rex and the other raptors what they'd heard.
"Are you serious Blue," Delta said after the velociraptor and Scootaloo told them what they had overheard. They were speaking quietly because Rainbow and Indominus were still sleeping.
"I'm afraid so sister, this situation is worse than we thought."
"If not even Discord can do anything about Soarin, then our brother really is the only one who can stop him.," said T-Rex.
"But there has to be something we can do to help," said Charlie. "We can't just sit here and wait for the Wonderbolts to come knock down our door and take our brother."
The dinosaurs starting thinking of any way that they could contribute to improving their brother's situation. Unfortunately this was one situation that was as Twilight had said, 'way over their heads.' Scootaloo thought back to everything Rainbow and Indominus had ever told her regarding the situation, when she faintly remembered something Indominus had said one night. It had been the night when he had gone through that brutal rampage.
"My Dashie, you've gone through too much suffering already. These bullies have hurt you for the last time, so I have made my decision. I will find them, and kill them all. I won't let anypony hurt you ever again." Then a brilliant idea popped into Scootaloo's mind.
"Cloudsdale! We can go to Cloudsdale and cut off the Wonderbolts' supply of formulas." The dinosaurs all turned to look at Scootaloo with surprised expressions.
"That's, actually a smart idea Scootaloo," Blue said.
"Yeah, we cut off the supply and the Wonderbolts can't become giants anymore," said Echo.
"Not only that, but Soarin won't be able to have anymore of those formulas with Indominus's DNA thrown into the mix," Delta added.
"Well Scootaloo, with smarts like that you could give Indominus a run for his money." Scootaloo blushed at T-Rex's compliment.
"Aw come on Rexy, I'm not that smart. I just have a really good memory."
"Still, it's pretty smart in my eyes," T-Rex said as he licked the side of her face.
Now that Scootaloo and the dinosaurs knew what they could do to help Indominus, they just had to make sure that nopony figured it out. Scootaloo turned to Armored Lizard, the Battleguards and Garoozis.
"You boys aren't gonna tell anypony about this, will you?" The monsters all shook their heads. Despite seeing her for the first time, Indominus had told them plenty about his family. So they knew to trust anypony related to Indominus.
"Maybe they won't, but I'm a big blabbermouth." Scootaloo and the dinosaurs turned around sharply when Discord appeared behind them in a flash of light.
"Wha- how much of that did you hear?"
"I'm the lord of chaos silly filly, I'm capable of doing anything, even hearing secret plans on trying to help Indominus. But don't worry Scootaloo, I'm not going to spill this to the others."
Scootaloo was completely dumbfounded that Discord was willing to help so much.
"I don't understand Discord, why are you going through so much just to help us? I thought you only wanted to cause mischief and chaos for others."
"While I do love my chaos, the reason why is because your father is the second creature in this entire world to change me for the better. He and Fluttershy are the only ones to give me a chance in this world when everypony else saw me as nothing but a creature of pure chaos. I got to bond with them and learned about what they like and in turn, I got to have a unique day with each of them. Whether it was enjoying a tea party with Fluttershy or tearing apart monsters with Indominus, I loved every moment of being with them. Plus, your father helped me develop my relationship with Fluttershy, so I'm willing to do what I can to make it up to him for all that he's done."
"Wow, that was more deep than the advice you gave him at his wedding, Discord," said T-Rex. "I say we let him give us any help that he has. You girls agree?"
"We agree Rexy," all four raptors said in unison.
"What do you have in mind Discord," Scootaloo asked.
"I'll just give you all a simple addition to your bodies that will make it easier to sneak around Cloudsdale without being noticed. I mean, how did all of you expect to get around a city of clouds without being spotted?" The dinos and Scootaloo all had embarrassed looks on their faces. "I'll be giving each of you Indominus's ability to camouflage your skin, his ability to sense heat signatures and the location of where the formulas are being made."
"Wow. Thank you Discord, I can't thank you enough for this."
"Just remember kiddo, even a creature of pure chaos is capable of being noble when he needs to be."
Discord conjured up six balls of magic, each one containing the abilities and location of the formulas. Scootaloo was stumped on who the last ball was for, until Discord called in one of the monsters. Garoozis moved away from his window as Red-Eyes flew into the bedroom.
"Red-Eyes will be your escort to Cloudsdale, guys. I know that all of you are strong, but I'm not about to let anything happen to the filly that asked Indominus to be her father. He would try to kill me if he found out I let his daughter go into Cloudsdale without backup."
"That's fine with us Discord, the more eyes and teeth, the better our chances are," said Delta. The six of them swallowed their orbs and flew out the window once the location entered their minds.
Scootaloo led the way through the darkness in a T formation they had made so none of them would get separated. Scootaloo took the lead with T-Rex behind her, Delta, Charlie, Echo and Red-Eyes on opposite sides of him for mutual protection and Blue bringing up the rear. While the idea was brilliant, Scootaloo was learning just how hard it was flying in pitch black sky. Flying through the layers of shadows was a lot harder than they thought. Red-Eyes blended into the darkness so well that it was nearly impossible for Scootaloo or the dinosaurs to see him, except for his glowing red eyes. Luckily they could see each other's heat signatures clear as day and that made it easier for them to stick together. Unfortunately, it couldn't help them spot the city of clouds that was right at the very end of the darkness.
Scootaloo was the first to exit the sea of darkness and found herself plowing through the clouds and ending up in a backyard. The dinosaurs and dragon stopped just underneath the clouds before they plowed into the same spot as Scootaloo.
"Hey Scootaloo, you alright," T-Rex called out.
Scootaloo was trying to shake the daze from her head when she saw two ponies coming out of the house in front of the backyard that her head was sticking out of.
"Are you ok kid," the stallion asked.
"I think so-" Scootaloo stopped herself when she got a better look at the stallion standing over her.
Although his mane and tail were rather short, they were the exact same color as Rainbow's. His cutie mark even had a rainbow with a horseshoe in front of it. When the mare stood next to him, Scootaloo's eyes went wide in surprise and sheer delight as the realization overwhelmed her.
"Y-you're.....you're.....RAINBOW DASH'S PARENTS!!"
Scootaloo jumped out of the clouds and was squealing in ultimate happiness from the discovery she had made. In fact, she was squealing so loud that the dinosaurs were hurting from the volume in her voice.
"Honey, what's going on?"
"I don't know, but I think you just made it worse."
"Scootaloo! WHAT'S GOING ON UP THERE!?"
The volume of T-Rex's voice actually overpowered Scootaloo's squealing and got her to quiet down.
"Oh, sorry. It's just that....you're Rainbow Dash's parents, and I never imagined I'd get to meet you."
Rainbow's parents felt obliged to tell the eager filly who they were after seeing her ecstatic behavior.
"Bow Hothoof-"
"and Windy Whistles-"
"at your service."
Scootaloo had to cover her mouth to contain the excitement that was building in her.
"It's such an honor to meet you two. Your daughter has been a huge inspiration to me and helped me out so much in life. I wish I had time to tell you everything, but she could really use your support right now."
"What's wrong with our Rainbow Dash," Bow asked.
"She's going through a tough time after nearly losing Indominus Rex." When Windy and Bow reacted with confused expressions on their faces, Scootaloo couldn't understand. "Wait, do neither of you know that your daughter is married to one of the Guardians of Equestria?"
"OUR DAUGHTER IS MARRIED!?"
Rainbow's parents had definitely heard of the dinosaurs defeating Black Death, but they didn't know that she was married, nor did they know what Indominus even looked like. This was too odd for Scootaloo to understand, why didn't Rainbow Dash tell her own parents that she was married to the very hybrid that won her heart? She couldn't wrap her mind around the matter, but now she had a change in plans that she needed to have addressed with the dinosaurs.
"Oh dear this is wonderful. Finally, Rainbow has met a stallion that can keep up with her awesomeness," said Windy.
"Alright Scootaloo, if Rainbow Dash needs support, we'll give her as much support as she needs."
"Perfect, just give me one minute."
Rainbow's parents waited while Scootaloo ducked back into the clouds to let the dinosaurs know what was going on.
"What was that all about, Scootaloo,"Rexy said in confusion.
"Sorry, but I just met Rainbow's parents. I can't believe that I actually got to meet the ponies that raised the hero that is now my mom. But somehow, Rainbow didn't tell either of them about any of you, and if they saw you now, it might scare them too much."
"What are you trying to say Scootaloo?"
"What I'm saying, Blue, is that you guys go on and take care of the formula supply while I take Rainbow's parents back home to give her some comfort and support. After what she's been through, I'd say she could use some family love herself."
"Are you sure you'll be ok going back on your own?"
"You worry too much T-Rex," Scootaloo said as she lightly kissed his nose. "I'll have Rainbow's parents with me so I won't be alone. Besides, all of you taught me everything I know about fighting. I can hold my own if any Wonderbolts happen to cross me."
Neither of the dinosaurs were too keen on having Scootaloo go back in the darkness, but they knew there was no changing her mind once she stuck with it. They trusted the young pegasus knew what she was doing and agreed to carry out the mission without her. While Scootaloo guided Windy and Bow back to the clouddominium, the dinosaurs tapped into their new camouflage ability and continued through Cloudsdale to find the source of the formulas. Now that their scales were the same color as the clouds, nopony could see them as they walked through the city in search of the formulas.
None of them uttered a single word at the risk of giving away their positions and their footsteps were silent the entire way. As they rounded a corner, the dinosaurs and Red-Eyes spotted a rather tall building floating beside the weather factory. It was adjacent to the main building and the dinosaurs' heat sensing could see multiple bodies moving about inside and handling materials. It definitely seemed like the ideal place to manufacture formulas, so the group flew in closer for a better look. When they were close to it, Red-Eyes flew up to one of the buildings and was astounded by what he found inside.
There were about twenty ponies in all mixing together materials in vials, whiteboards with calculations and measurements, and conveyor belts that were moving filled bottles along. Right in front of the dragon was indeed where all the formulas were being produced for the Wonderbolts. But what confirmed his suspicions was one white board that had a strand of DNA drawn on it and many different named components to it. It was a drawing of Indominus's DNA with everything that made him what he was.
"So, is the next shipment ready for delivery," one of the worker ponies asked.
"Just about. Once these formulas are delivered, the Wonderbolts will end that wretched monster and his pitiful family for good."
Red-Eyes flew over to T-Rex and the raptor squad with bitter rage in his eyes.
"What did you see, Red-Eyes?"
"This is definitely the building, T-Rex. They're whipping up another batch of the formula right now. So how are we going to do this?"
"Simple, we go in there, destroy every last ounce of their work and kill every pony in sight," said Blue in a stern tone.
"Just what I wanted to hear. Now let's go shred apart some rats."
The raptors flew over towards the entrance to the building while Red-Eyes and T-Rex took up positions on either of the windows. They needed to be ready in case any of the ponies inside tried to make a break for freedom. Once the raptors were inside the building, they went along the wall still camouflaged to see if they could spot a switch to block the entrance. Charlie spotted a lever further along the wall and made her way towards it. The young raptor grabbed the lever with her mouth and pulled down on it, causing the entrance to shut behind the raptor squad.
The ponies started to wonder what was going on until Charlie revealed herself and tore the lever out of the wall, trapping them inside. The raptor squad revealed themselves too and began roaring at the pegasi.
"This is what you ponies get for trying to kill our family! NOW DIE!!"
Blue and her girls lunged at the scattering pegasi, pinning four of them to the ground and began slashing, biting and tearing away at their hides. The pegasi tried desperately in vain to knock the raptors away, but flailing their hooves at them only gave the dinosaurs more attack targets. Echo grabbed one hoof in her mouth and pulled on it so hard that she tore the limb right out of its socket. As the pony screamed in agony, the velociraptor clamped down on his face, crushing it in her jaws and tearing it away. Seeing the mangled and bleeding face was too much and caused two pegasi to lunge towards Echo, which was a fatal mistake.
The raptor looked up from her dead victim at the lunging ponies and fired one blast from her mouth. Neither of the pegasus could get out of the way in time as the blast instantly incinerated their bodies. Charlie followed up on her kill by tearing out her victim's throat and scraping one of her sickle claws right down the pony's body. Delta just tore and bit away at her victim until the pony was nothing but a mess of blood and guts. Blue was attacking with every weapon she could use, biting at the pony's neck, slashing up his body with her sickle claws and tearing him to pieces. The gore and gruesome slaughter was too much for any of the fourteen remaining ponies to handle, and they made a break for the windows, a fatal mistake.
Red-Eyes burst through the window he had been watching and pinned four ponies to the ground, right in the middle of where Blue and her girls were savagely killing their targets. The ten other pegasi were heading for the opposite window when Tyrannosaurus burst through it roaring and his jaws wide open. Five unfortunate pegasi were killed on the spot once he closed his enormous mouth on them. The remaining five had stopped just short of T-Rex's mouth and managed to avoid being crushed. The sickening sound of bones being crunched and the sight of the spewing blood and guts overwhelmed them, and the ponies went for the roof as their only way out.
Red-Eyes was too preoccupied with slashing and tearing apart the four ponies he had pinned to notice. As Blue and Delta gave chase after the fleeing ponies, Red-Eyes bit down on the upper halves of two pegasi and tore them away from the rest of their bodies. He crushed the third pegasus with his claws alone, and grabbed the final one in his mouth. As he watched the raptors giving chase, he fired a fire blast up at the fleeing ponies, frying the one in his mouth in the process. The blast caught up with the ponies as it went past Blue and Delta, it managed to kill two of them and slowed down a third for the raptors to catch him, but the last two ponies broke through the roof. But they didn't make it even two feet into the sky as a massive threat blocked their bid for freedom.
In all the commotion, they had failed to notice Tyrannosaurus had already anticipated their escape and had already beaten them to the top of the building. He had a deadly glare in his eyes as he bore down on the terrified ponies.
"This is for my brother," Tyrannosaurus said before he bellowed out a roar that could be heard all across Cloudsdale.
Everypony looked up to see Tyrannosaurus roaring down on the building. His roar packed so much force that it sent the last two pegasi careening back the way they came, and slammed them into the ground. The raptor squad and Red-Eyes instantly scattered as Tyrannosaurus came down through the roof and slammed his foot down on both ponies, crushing the lower halves of their bodies. He stared savagely at the helpless ponies, blood oozing out of his mouth from his last kill.
"You shouldn't have helped those Wonderbolts in trying to kill us. We're very dangerous animals, and those that try to kill us, will receive bitter hell. Make sure to give my regards to Black Death when you see him!"
Tyrannosaurus clamped down on their heads, tore their bodies in half with tremendous force and swallowed the dead pegasi in one gulp. The dinosaurs and Red-Eyes all bellowed massive roars throughout the building, they had killed the pegasi that made the formulas. Now there was only one last task to take care of.
"Now everyone. DESTROY EVERYTHING!!"
The pegasi outside heard terrible roars and explosions going on inside the building. None of them knew what to make of it and were horrified when they watched the whole compound erupt into an explosion of fire and red energy. Nopony could get close enough because the intensity of the fire was too hot, and no one knew that the dinosaurs and Red-Eyes had slipped out underneath the building and back into the sea of shadows. The group made a beeline for Rainbow's home, satisfied that they had succeeded in destroying the Wonderbolts' supply of formulas.
What they didn't know was that prior to their attack, one last shipment of the formulas had already been sent to the Wonderbolt compound. Now the pegasi only had enough formula for one final confrontation, but it would be the last fight they would get with the dinosaurs. With Indominus's life hanging in the balance, there wouldn't be anymore chances.