//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: DownFall // by Redback Spino //------------------------------// A thin thread of light in the dark. A slow, muted beeping sound. A tightness around his head. Pipsqueak slowly opened his eyes as consciousness returned. As his eyes grew accustomed to the sudden light, the blurry mess before him sharpened into the image of a new, unfamiliar room. Craning his neck, he looked down at himself, and saw a small bed, a blanket covering his prone body. To his right was a small stand, where a heart-monitor beeped monotonously, a small wire connecting it to a strap around his foreleg. When he squinted his eyes, he felt it again: that strange tightness around his skull. Reaching up with a forehoof, he touched tenderly at his temples and felt the linen wrappings of a bandage around his head. He tried to get up, to look around and explore this strange new room further, but his blankets held him down. He felt weaker than before, and every time he moved, a throb of pain coursed through his head. Any further investigation was interrupted as a door off to the left opened. Pip lay down as he watched a figure enter, their true form hidden by the shadows in the corner of the room. As they stepped closer, he saw a pale blue foreleg, followed by a pair of large, magenta eyes, and finally, a mane of many colours. “Rainbow…Dash?” He called out weakly as she slowly approached. She did not reply, but simply walked to Pip’s bedside and sat down on her haunches, her head hung low, her mane falling over her face. After a few minutes silence, she raised her head. “Hey Pipsqueak…” She muttered, giving a small smile. Pip could see the stains of dried tears that had formed tracks down her cheeks. Sniffling a bit, she spoke again, “Glad…glad to see you’re okay.” “It was an accident.” Pip said “I fell again.” The pegasus nodded “Yeah, I know…heck, everypony knows now. You’re famous, kiddo.” She added with a half-hearted chuckle. But the little colt did not smile back. “Are the doctors and the nurses angry?” Rainbow nodded “Yeah, they are pretty angry. But…not at you.” “I was trying to get more…more of those pills you wanted, so you’d be able to get some sleep and be happy.” Rainbow choked back a sob as she held her head in her forelegs. Pip could not hear clearly, but she muttered something to herself. He could discern things like “stupid” and “What was I thinking?” “So…can you…” Pipsqueak said in a voice barely above a whisper “Can you finish the story now?” She hesitated a moment, before making to get up “I really should go, I gotta…gotta let you rest.” “But I wanna hear how it ends.” Rainbow raised her head, her face an expression of defeat as fresh tears began trickling down her face, “I can’t finish the story.” Pip tried to sit up “Huh? Why not?” The pegasus shook her head “I just can’t…find somepony else to finish it for you.” “But it’s your story!” Pip reasoned. “Yeah…but right now, you really don’t…don’t wanna hear how it ends. It’s not a happy ending…” But Pip was adamant “I don’t care, I just wanna know how it ends! You promised you’d finish it!” Suddenly, Rainbow clasped Pip’s forehooves in her own “Pipsqueak, that story was just a trick, to get you to do stuff for me! I was using you, so I could get more pills!” Her outburst was punctuated by a moment of complete silence. Pipsqueak's eyes widened with shock “What?” “I just wanted you to get more pills so I could…I-I could…” But Rainbow’s words were lost in a fresh wave of muted sobbing. Her hooves slipped from Pip’s and returned to rest on the ground. She sighed deeply “You should ask somepony else. They can finish it for you. How about your pal, Nurse Redheart? She’ll tell it better…” “But she won’t know it like you do… Besides, she was a bad guy in the story!” Rainbow chuckled slightly, a genuine smile gracing her face at last “Ahh, she’s alright…She’s pretty cool in real life. And besides…Lady Redheart was just pretendin’ to love Lord Sinistar.” “You mean like your marefriend?” Pip blurted out, remembering what he saw outside the hospital that day. “…what did you…” “I saw her yesterday.” Pip recollected “She was walking past the hospital, with this other pony…” Rainbow’s smile faded “How did you know about her?” Pip shifted guiltily “I saw…I saw your photos with her. I recognised her from before, when I saw her with this other stallion outside the hospital.” A ruddy glow of anger shone through in Rainbow’s eyes “I see…” Clover twisted the focus knob of his telescope as it hovered in front of his eye. From the tall tower the bandits had taken position atop, he could see over the high walls of Sinistar’s palace, and onto the roof of the keep, where he could see two figures sitting together. “Lord Sinistar…with Lady Redheart?!” He lowered the telescope from his eye “The little colt was right. She really has gone over to Sinistar’s side.” From behind him, he could hear the swilling of a half-full flask as the Black Bandit angrily took a swig of water “We don’t need her. I never should have trusted her.” She lowered her head as she muttered darkly “You give a filly your heart, and all she’s after is your money. My bet is that she’ll leave him for a richer pony soon.” Napalm returned from his vantage point at the parapet of the tower “Well, I still don’t like it. Without the Mystic, plus your little brother, that gives us six ponies, against a whole fortress?! It’s suicide, I tell you!” Taking another swig, the Black Bandit stood up; pistols cocked and ready “We’re goin’ in.” Without another word, she sped down the stairs to the bottom of the tower, the other bandits following close behind, reading their own weapons of cold steel and black powder. The Paladin brought up the rear, Pipsqueak the little bandit just in front. “Hey, Paladin?” Pipsqueak asked “What’s suicide?” Pausing for a moment, the silent Paladin raised a forehoof and drew it across his neck. Pip gulped; he understood completely. As they reached the base of the tower, they crossed the first courtyard, hugging close to the walls. Clover came to a stop as the others galloped by Letting his hat fall to the ground, he wiped a handkerchief across his sweating brow. But as he gazed skyward, wishing for a single drop of rain, there came a chittering and squeaking from the ground. As he turned to follow the sound, he saw a white form hopping away from the wall, into the courtyard. “Bumpkin? Bumpkin, come back!” Abandoning the planned route to the palace keep, Cover sped off after the white rabbit, as it scampered into a gardened cloister, the centre of which held a tall column holding a statue of a dragon resting atop it. “Please, Bumpkin, com back! This really isn’t the time!” Cried lover, as the other bandits heard his cries and followed in hot pursuit. But the rabbit would not listen, clambering up the pillar, until he was resting on the foot of the stone dragon. Clover could see him reaching out with his paws at something fluttering in the air before him. He reached out with both paws, and grabbed it! Suddenly, there was a peace-shattering bang from the high walls, and the white form fell limply from the pillar. “BUMPKIN!” Rushing to the base of the pillar, Clover knelt down by the broken form of Bumpkin, blood trickling from a small bullet-wound in the chest. “Bumpkin…Oh Celestia, Bumpkin...What were you thinking? I’m so sorry…” As he cradled the tiny limp form in his forelegs, the rabbit’s arms came unclasped, releasing a tiny thing. A butterfly, wings as dark a blue as the night sky. “…Equestriana Exotica…Impossible…” Clover’s eyes grew wide with amazement as the butterfly flapped up into the sky “You found it…it’s so beautiful. Oh Bumpkin, you magnificent rabbit, you…” But as he looked down at the rabbit, he could see that Bumpkin had breathed his last. Looking skyward, tears covering his face, Clover screamed to the heavens in anguish and sorrow. His scream was long and loud, long and loud enough to alert every griffon guard within the palace to come rushing into the cloister. Thinking not for their bereaved comrade, the bandits took to their hooves, running back towards the walls. But Clover remained, stripping off his massive fur coat of red and white and black. Silently, and ignoring the armoured guards who now stood before him, muskets at the ready, he draped the coat over the body of his dearest friend. He stood tall, face screwed up with rage and sorrow as he faced down the barrels of the muskets. “Go on, shoot you animals!” The griffons obeyed, raising their muskets and taking aim. “They’ll pay you well for the hide of Clover the Clever.” Four talons squeezed four triggers. Clover fell backwards, two bullets in his chest, one in his neck and one betwixt the eyes. “And so Clover and Bumpkin died. But at least…at least they finally got their butterfly.” The now depleted bandits scaled the stone steps to the main wall, the armoured griffons following in hot pursuit. The Black Bandit and Pipsqueak led the way, followed by Askari, the Paladin, and Napalm, who paused to hurl a lit grenade into the mass of armoured beasts. But this moment’s hesitation cost him dearly, as he stumbled to the ground. Looking down at his left hind leg, he noted grimly the fresh bullet-wound in his ankle. Looking to his companions, only the Paladin seemed to have noticed, coming to a halt. But Napalm shook his head at his voiceless friend. He was beyond help now. “The others need help more! Go on!” As the Paladin obediently sprinted after his friends, Napalm struggled to his hooves, wounded leg quivering from the strain, as he hobbled along the wall. The mass of guards closed in upon the pony, hounding him at every turn, the sheer force of number finally herding him into one of the many towers that dotted the wall. As he entered the tower, the griffon’s surrounded him, menacing him with axes and spears. They poured through the doors, cramming the small tower to capacity, with Napalm trapped in the centre. Glancing about, he saw the guards closing the doors and locking them. No way out now. He reached into his pocket for another bomb; at least he could go out with a bang. His pockets were empty, save for one thing. A tiny little device. He had hidden it all this time, and he had sworn he would never use it. “Well, no real point in worrying now.” He groaned to himself. He whipped out the tiny ball, no bigger than a grapefruit, and scraped its abrasive top against the hard, stone floor. The ball sparked, and the fuse lit in an instant. As he tossed the lit bomb into the air, the growls and snarls of the griffons tuned into shrieks of shock and terror as they scrabbled to unlock the heavy wooden doors. He grinned with grim satisfaction as the fuse reached its end. “Kaboom.” The dwindling bandits reached the base of the wall, ready to cross the bailey of the Palace, the most dangerous leg of the raid, since they would be devoid of cover. But all four fell to the ground, hugging the earth as there came from behind them an earth-shattering boom. Looking back, they saw the tower they had just left, explode in a massive fireball, scattering lumps of rock and scraps of black griffon armour hither and yon. But this moment’s halting cost them dear, as there came a hissing from above. The sun was briefly blotted out as hundreds of arrows whizzed through the air at the heroes. Ducking beneath a nearby piece of debris, the Black Bandit, the Paladin and Pip could only watch in horror as Askari slowly began more and more to resemble a pincushion, as arrow after arrow embedded itself in his back. “Askari! No!” Pip cried out as he was hoisted up onto the Paladin’s armoured back. The two galloped across the bailey, dodging arrows and musket fire as they headed straight for the walls of the keep. The Black Bandit paused a moment, looking desperately on as Askari strained to look up at his masked friend. The zebra smiled serenely, gritting through the pain now coursing through his body “It’s okay…Go on. Find Sinistar…Finish him” he said, before his eyes rolled up in his head, and his last breath left him. Rainbow sniffed loudly as she wiped the tears from her face. Pipsqueak fared no better, weeping openly as the story unfolded in all its gruesome, depressing glory “Please stop, Rainbow! Why are you…you killing them all off?” “’Cos that’s how it goes!” Rainbow choked “They weren’t good enough to take Sinistar on, and they paid for thinking they were!” “You’re lying! This isn’t how it goes! Tell it right!” He wailed. But she shook her head “How would you know?!” Up the bandits went, clinging desperately to the long, silken banner that served as an improvised climbing rope up to the roof of the keep. The two masked bandits clambered up the banner with relative ease, wrapping their hooves around it and clenching it in their teeth. But the Paladin, weighed down as he was by his heavy armour, fared worse as he struggled halfway up the banner. As the griffon guards caught up with the trio, the Black Bandit and Pipsqueak reached the top of the wall, where they heaved with all their might as they tried to pull their silent friend up. A few confident guards took to the climb themselves, clinging with their clawed hands and feet. Agonizingly slowly, they scaled the side of the keep, until the Paladin was in reach. The quickest of the guards lashed out and grabbed him by his hind leg. The Paladin bucked and kicked, but the griffon’s grip was like iron. Gazing up to his friends, who looked on from the walltop, he drew a small dagger from a hidden sheath in his armour. Smiling to the bandits, he spoke to them on word: “Up.” Saying no more, he took the dagger in his teeth and sliced clean through the rope, just above his own grip. For the briefest moment he and the guards seemed to hover in thin air, before they plummeted down from the walls of the keep. The griffons flapped their wings desperately, but the weight of their heavy armour pulled them down. The bandits looked away just in time, but could not shut out the bone-shattering crunch as one armoured stallion and four armoured griffons slammed into the ground, far below. Pip sniffled again, his tears all run out as he wept dryly. “Please…why are you killing everypony? Why does everypony have to die?” “It’s my story…” came Rainbow’s muttered reply, her voice cracked with depression and sorrow. But the little colt insisted “But it’s mine too!” Lord Sinistar stood on the roof of the keep, personally overseeing the tactics and manoeuvres of his guards. The navy blue stallion watched with a cold glam in his eyes as another platoon of griffons hurried off to carry out his orders. His grey mane, once sleek and expertly combed back, was now frazzled and messed from the stress of the situation. “And be sure to bring as many of them back alive as you can!” He barked to the guards “I want to personally deal with them myself!” “Be…My…Guest.” He whipped around as a furiously cold voice spoke from behind him. There before him was the young masked pegasus, scratched and bruised but very much alive. Beside her stood a tiny young colt, similarly dressed. As the Black Bandit raised her pistol, Sinistar took a step back. “Rainbow, wait!” But before she could fire, from the door leading below emerged the pink-haired head of Lady Redheart. “No, don’t look at her! Focus!” The brief distraction was all Sinistar needed. Taking to his hooves he ran across the walls that branched from the roof of the keep. “She’s also with Sinistar…Just like your marefriend!” “Shut up!” “She came by the hospital…she knew you were there.” Rainbow sorrowfully ignored the little colt’s pleas and continued “So the Bandit chased after Sinistar, across the walls, through the castle grounds and into the garden.” “But she didn’t come to see you. She stayed with Sinistar…” “But when the Black Bandit ran past his hiding place, Sinistar leapt out and cracked her in the face!” The Black Bandit staggered back, reeling from the ferocity of the blow, blood dribbling from her nostrils. Sinistar stepped forward, smiling nonchalantly at his wounded foe. Without any warning, he lunged out again, headbutting the Bandit in the chest. She was thrown back, her hooves stumbling to stay steady. But suddenly, the ground ran out behind her, and she fell backwards into a pond. “So she sank to the bottom of the pool…” Rainbow said between sobs. She wasn’t even trying to hold her tears back anymore “She didn’t even try to swim.” “You’re making this up!” “No I’m not!” She cried “And he was starting to sink, and he was dying…” “Rainbow, get up!” The Black Bandit could hear the muffled voice of Pip, as she thrashed about under the pool, held firmly underwater by Sinistar’s hoof planted on her chest. The world came rushing back to reality as she was hoisted back out of the water by Sinistar’s forceful hoof. “P-please, I’m…I-I’m scared.” Pip whimpered. “Oh, what a shame!” Shouted Sinistar as he struck the Bandit again and again, punching, butting, kicking. “C’mon, get up!” He pulled her up by the scruff of her neck, holding the Bandit before Pip’s weeping eyes “Look at her! Look!” “Please, get up and fight!” “I c-can’t get up!” the Bandit sobbed. The stallion shook his dying victim “I want you to see how pathetic she is! Look at her!” “Please, sister!” Pip wailed “Get up!” The Bandit struggled in his grip “I can’t get up…I’m not your sister…” Any further words were silenced as Sinistar ducked her under the water again. “Look at her! Your so-called sister is a coward, and a drug addict! A useless good-for-nothing!” “She can’t win…” Rainbow continued “That’s because our Masked Bandit’s a coward! That oath she took, that she’d kill Sinistar, she was lying!” “No, you’re lying!” “No, really! She’d crossed her wings when she took the oath…Nothin’ but a fake!” Sinistar grinned with malicious satisfaction as he felt the struggling subside, and the Black Bandit going limp in his hooves. A wisp of blood floated through the water from the Bandit’s mouth. He was finished. “Not like she had anything left for her anyway.” The pegasus sighed. Pip shook his head “What about her brother?! What’s gonna happen to him?” “She wasn’t even his sister, either…she lied about that too.” “But he needs her…” “Ah, he’ll survive. He’s…he’s still young. Even Sinistar wouldn’t kill a foal…” “I don’t want you to die!” Rainbow was silent for a moment. She could think of no way to reply or respond. She could only look down at the pathetic, sobbing little colt who lay on the bed before her. “Nopony does. The Bandit’s got friends…I know she does. And she needs to live, so she can see them again! And so what if she only pretended to be his sister? He still wants her to live…He…he just wants her to be happy.” The colt reached out with a tiny foreleg and wiped the tears from Rainbow’s face. “Please…let her live…” He implored. The pegasus lay her head on the side of Pip’s bed, exhausted by the stress and sorrow. She could take it no longer. As a fresh flood of tars overcame her, she nodded. “Promise? And don’t cross your wings this time!” Under the water of the pond, a single bubble of air emerged from the Black Bandit’s mouth. Her eyelids fluttered a moment, and snapped open. Rainbow sat back up, opening her wings, wide and uncrossed “Promise.” The water of the pool suddenly came to life as, before his eyes, Sinistar’s enemy burst from the water with a roar of triumph. For a brief moment he stood, dumbstruck by this apparent miracle. But his thoughts were cut short with a mighty thump to the face from the Black Bandit’s left foreleg. A spray of blood shone in the air as Sinistar reeled backwards to plummet into the water, snout broken and out cold. He hit the water with a splash, and did not rise again. The Bandit leapt out of the water, rushing to comfort her terrified and weeping brother. Holding him in her forelegs, he melted into her warm, if wet, embrace. “It’s okay…it’s over now.” Hoisting the little colt onto her back, the suddenly healed Black Bandit trotted back up to the walltop, where she let Pip down and stood triumphantly, gazing over the palace. “Rainbow!” The two bandits turned, and saw Lady Redheart rushing from the keep to meet them. She came to a halt before them, scuffing the ground guiltily with a forehoof. “Rainbow, I’m sorry…you do realise, this was all just a test to see if you truly loved me, don’t you?” She could not see it, but beneath their masks, both Bandits simultaneously raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Oh, really?” Said the Black Bandit. Redheart took a step closer “We're finally free now. We can do what we want, Rainbow. We can follow our hearts now!” The Bandit smiled. Without a word, she stepped forward, as if to embrace the pink haired mare. But at the last moment, she grabbed in her teeth the golden hanging around Lady Redheart’s neck, wrenching it loose. Hanging from the chain, lead shot still embedded in the front, was the golden locket. “Huh...well, by all means.” The rainbow-haired pony said. And with a mighty “Ptooey!” she spat the locket out, sending it plummeting out of sight far below. “Follow it.” Pip nodded his approval, silent except for a small “Hmph!” Rainbow sighed a great sigh of relief, the story finally over. Wiping the last teas from her face, she felt a strange sensation, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She looked down at Pip, who smiled up at her through tears of his own. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash.” He said. “That… was a really good story.” She chuckled, the first genuine chuckle she had given in a very long time “No problem, kiddo. And thanks to you too…” He cocked his head a moment “What for?” But Rainbow just patted him on the head “Just…just thanks.” There was no real way to say why she was thanking him. It just…felt right. “We’re really a strange pair, huh?” Pip nodded, before he settled back down in his bed. Rainbow got up, quietly trotting to the door. But just as she was about to close the door behind her, she heard his voice again. “Are…Are you gonna be okay now, Rainbow Dash?” She turned back, smiling to him one more time “Well, I guess we’ll find out, eh kid?” Fin.