//------------------------------//
// Mar. 2015 - Hatred 
// Story: RoMS' Extravaganza 
// by RoMS 
//------------------------------//

“Stare in its eyes!” Rainbow Dash laughed with a grin stretching on her face as she pointed her hoof at the beast. “See it and laugh!”

We all stood silent, petrified as the massive… thing crawled outside the fog. Everypony did but the pale blue mare. 

Rainbow Dash stretched her forehooves and wings and rose on her hindlegs. 

“Look at the white of its eyes!” she roared. “Look at the predator lurking behind those orbs.”

The downpour rolled over the hills and forest that surrounded the vault entry in our back, blocking our way to safety.

“Then look at the reflection in those eyes and see yourself,” she snarled. “You are the predator around here. And the beast that towers you? It is the prey.”

She walked forward with that manic laughter that even the thunder and the deluge couldn’t tame.

“Maybe they have fascinated you!” Rainbow Dash cried.

The beast looked down at Rainbow Dash while she still walked, as if she was welcoming an old, dear friend.

“Maybe they have chased you!” the mare giggled. 

The beast hummed, fencing through the billowing fog with its overwhelming mass.

“Maybe they have disregarded you!” Rainbow Dash raged.

The earth quaked as the beast lifted herself on his haunches, mimicking Rainbow Dash’s stance.

“Maybe they have wronged you!” Rainbow Dash boomed.

She screamed like I had never heard. She screamed till she lacked breath, till she had made sure the world had heard her venting anger.

“DO YOU REMEMBER ME?!” she burst. “Because I do remember you!”

The monster’s claw cut through the fog, slow and encompassing us all in its shadow. Socha, [X], [X], [X], and I didn’t react. Under the unique eyes of the beast, we knew we were dead, horribly dead.

“Maybe they have wronged you,” Rainbow Dash cried, scrapping the fur and skin off her cheeks with her sharp metal hooves.

She hadn’t shouted that time. Looking at her more closely, I understood why. Tears were rolling on her face as she unbuttoned her cape, revealing hundreds of scars marring a perfect body that would put to shame all of ponykind. Around her neck stood a black chain closing on a rough black alicorn-shaped pendant. In its middle, a blood-red ruby shone bright; the same red that suddenly oozed in Rainbow Dash’s irises. 

“Do you remember me?” Rainbow Dash sobbed.

The beast’s smashing leg whistled above our head. Socha closed her eyes and whimpered, embracing me and I did the same.

“Because,” Rainbow Dash continued in barely a whisper, “I remember my children you’ve taken.”

And the world exploded.