//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Imperfect // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 7 Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to find she was laying at the bottom of the stairs of the Ponyville Library, a surge of panic filled the pegasi mare; her flash had ended with her in the air. Rainbow Dash was fine here and now... but if her future consciousness didn’t take back control of the situation quickly... Rainbow didn’t want to think about what might have happened. Her other flashes had clearly taken place after the one she’d just finished, so she had to have ended up fine. She also knew that there was still a fine line between ending up okay, and being unharmed. Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves. These flashed needed to stop, she wanted to live in one period of time all the time from now on. No more of this going back and forth between the two, nonsense. She opened the front door and stepped outside, it was mid-morning, and she looked down to the end of the High Street and discovered a sight that she was very happy to see. Vinyl Scratch and company had returned. Rainbow Dash galloped at full speed towards the unicorn and dove at her, giving her the most sincere combination of hug and tackle that either had ever seen. “Heh, I missed you too Rainbow Dash,” Vinyl said with a grin. Both mares got up and Rainbow greeted the rest of the group in turn. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t really call herself friends with any of them, but she was happy to have them back all the same. The group quickly scattered, Big Macintosh and Braeburn needed to get back to the farm. Derpy had to report in at the post office. Lyra and Bon Bon declared that they were going to get wonderful sleep in a nice comfortable bed. Trixie too needed to rest after the long journey. The kangaroo tank co-driver, Trooper Benjamin Willoughby needed to report to his commanding officer, Sergeant Tebbs. With that only Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, and were left standing in the High Street. Rainbow hugged the unicorn once again. She hadn’t heard a single bit of information about Vinyl Scratch during any of her flash forwards, she couldn’t be sure that the unicorn wasn’t destined to meet a terrible fate. “My my! Somepony clearly missed me, maybe we should get a room before anypony else starts looking,” Vinyl said with a grin. “Ha ha,” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. “You’re so funny Vinyl Scratch.” “I know right? Ain’t I grand?” Vinyl said. Rainbow smiled at her. After Pinkie Pie had lost her mind and attacked them, she needed somepony to help lighten the mood. “Come on, walk with me, I got a lot to talk to you about,” Rainbow Dash said. ... “Woah, that’s heavy stuff man,” Vinyl said frowning. The two of them were sitting in the Ponyville Library, Rainbow Dash having just given her a rundown of what she had been experiencing. Rainbow Dash nodded. “I’m not going to lie, if it wasn’t for Twilight, I would have probably gone insane trying to make sense of it.” Vinyl looked at her, a grin forming on her face. “You’re hitting that aren’t you?” Rainbow Dash turned bright red. “Well, not now... but in the future... yeah.” “Cool!” Vinyl said, grinning madly. “I would too.” Rainbow Dash gave her friend a sidelong look. “You would ‘hit’ anypony that’s currently breathing.” “This is the truth.” ... Twilight came down the stairs to find Vinyl and Rainbow Dash sitting on the sofa, she trotted over and gave Vinyl Scratch a hug. Vinyl responded by planting a kiss on Twilight’s lips. Twilight turned beat red. Vinyl grinned like a madpony. “Well dayum! Now I know why Rainbow likes you! I’m reminded of a song that goes something like ‘You gotta share, you gotta care...’ Rainbow I think you should listen to that song and learn from it.” Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash glowed red in embarrassment. Vinyl Scratch was Vinyl Scratch all right. “Stop that! There will be no late night cuddling from either of us!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Heh, your loss!” Vinyl said. They all broke out into laughter. ... Vinyl would be joining them in living at the Library. Rainbow Dash insisted that the unicorn take Pinkie Pie’s now unoccupied bed, she had grown accustomed to the sofa, or at least had reported that this was so. In reality, she rarely slept on it, due to the fact that she kept blacking out in every square centimetre of the Library but the sofa. Night had fallen; Rainbow Dash figured it was only a matter of time before she flashed forward again. She hadn’t admitted it to either of her unicorn house-mates, but she was terrified of where she was going to go next. Keep it together Rainbow Dash... Keep it together! Clearly, her worrying had had an effect; she felt her head begin to split. Her eyes became heavy, and she laid herself down on the sofa. If she was going, she was going to be comfortable while she was doing it! ... “Ah hmph da dur, hura...” Rainbow Dash found herself standing in the weather engine control room in Cloudsdale, she’d never been here before, but judging by everything she saw around her, mainly Derpy pointing the thing the Doctor had given her at a control console, told her this is where they were. Standing before her was a crème coloured Pegasus who Rainbow did not know, he was holding a cut down Kangaroo submachine gun in his teeth, and was there for difficult to understand, He picked up on this fact quickly, and spit the submachine gun out of his mouth and started over. “I locked the doors, that’ll hold them for a little while, hurry up and do what you need to do,” the Pegasus said, picking the submachine gun back up with his teeth and pointing it at the door. Rainbow Dash nodded at him, she turned to Derpy to speak, but discovered that she had her 10mm pistol in her teeth and looked away. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt some pony with it on accident. It was at this point that Rainbow realised she had never actually operated the 10mm pistol before. She figured that the Rainbow Dash who actually belonged here had used it several times, maybe she was even good with it, but she wasn’t her, not yet anyway. She put the pistol back in her bag, realising that she was just as likely to accidentally shoot Derpy or the crème Pegasus whose name she didn’t know. They heard gunfire from the hallway; it wasn’t enough to drown out the screams of the pegasi militia, standing by to defend them. Rainbow Dash understood the need for the Ponyville Pattern Sen Guns now. Ponies just weren’t built for this kind of thing, and using a pistol or a submachine gun was incredibly awkward. The outside fell silent. Rainbow Dash knew that the militia ponies were dead. The creases of the metal door began to spark; the gryphons were cutting their way through. “Derpy! I really need to hurry up!” Rainbow Dash called out. Derpy nodded at her and continued working. The crème coloured Pegasus eyed her, nodding respectfully. “Ifsh ben ah ‘onour,” he said, mouth full of submachine gun. “Likewise,” Rainbow Dash said, understanding what he said. “Got it!” Derpy said, and with that she dropped the tool the Doctor had given her in the bag. “Warning! Please evacuate the facility. Weather Engine no.2 in critical overload!” Cried an automated voice from over the loudspeakers. The gryphons cut through the door. It fell into the room, and the gryphon airborne infantry opened fire. Rainbow Dash jumped on Derpy, trying to get as low to the ground as she could. The crème coloured Pegasus hadn’t stood a chance, his body exploded in the hail of gunfire, sending blood splattering all over the room, and the two Pegasus mares. Rainbow Dash struggled to stay still, pretending to be dead, Derpy did the same. Warning! Please evacuate the facility. Weather Engine no.2 in critical overload!” cried the automated voice again. “Let’s get the hell out of here! Fucking ponies...” the gryphon leader called out, and with that, Rainbow Dash and Derpy were left alone. Rainbow opened an eye, the gryphons had indeed left. The blood covering her caused her to panic, but fortunately, she discovered that it wasn’t hers. “Are you all right?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yeah, I think so,” Derpy reported. The two ponies rose to their hooves. They needed to get out of here and the faster the better. Rainbow Dash picked up the nameless pegasi’s fallen submachine gun and put in her bag. They ran out into the next room and were forced to stop by the horrific sight before them. The bloodied remains of a dozen or so militia ponies lay scattered about the room, more blood than either of the mares had ever seen coated the metal floor and walls. The victims of gryphon hollow-point ammunition had died horribly. The sight was too much for the mares to take in, both of them vomited. Warning! Please evacuate the facility. Weather Engine no.2 in critical overload!” cried the automated voice again. It was this warning that forced them to stiffen their resolve. They needed to get out, and out now. The pegasi mares dashed for the exit, running as fast as their legs would carry them. They were 5 metres from the door when Rainbow Dash blacked out.