IMPORTANT NOTE: Read 'Mare in the Wheelchair' before reading this chapter! Or else you won't get what's happening!
Link: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/54793/Mare-in-the-Wheelchair
"Oh. Hey guys." Magnum said as Shining Armor, Scootaloo, Vinyl Scratch and a small squad of royal guards caught up to her.
"We're a bit late... But I guess you could say reinforcements are here." Shining Armor said sheepishly, peering at the small group of ponies behind him. "Where's Rainbow?"
"She's trying to find Dainty. She should've found her by now." Magnum said, continuing at her slow pace towards the battlefield. She was in no hurry at all.
"You let her go find Dainty alone!? You know that's exactly what Val wants, right? How could you let her go alone!?" Shining Armor asked incredulously.
"She's Rainbow Dash." Magnum shrugged. "What can't she handle?"
"Herself, at times." Scootaloo pointed out.
*
The world flashed around her again, and Nightshade was high up in the dark skies, turning towards the ground as her wings brushed against the air.
Teleporting meant she was one for stealth combat. And with that, usually means smaller and somewhat deadlier weapons. Built into her battle armor were a few compartments, inside storing small knives with various modifications. All are double edged and delicately weighted, some rigged with explosives, others with an EMP or coated in poison. Or there were just the normal ones that were meant for cutting throats.
She drew a knife with a flash, and in the same motion sent it flying into the battlefield.
The night wind blew, changing its course slightly. It spun through the air, the flat blade slicing through the wind. It landed perfectly between a science faction pony's eyes, sliding through the skull and destroying his brain.
Nightshade blinked, teleporting right next to the dead stallion, his body still in the process of falling. She reached to her side, grabbing hold of the knife. The stallion's body kept falling, ripping itself away from the knife.
She saw a stream of bullets traveling towards her, but she was out of harm's way in the blink of an eye. Before the stallion that pulled the trigger knew it, he already took a knife to the back of the neck. Another turned around, a surprised expression on his face as he spotted his downed squad mate.
Nightshade threw the dead body at him, blocking out the the bullets fired from the rifle. The body fell, and before the stallion could fire again he took a flying knife to the skull.
There was another squad of robot ponies coming in, jetpacks flaring and sending them high up into the sky. Nightshade used the crowd and chaos below as cover, drawing an EMP knife and throwing it in less than a second. It lodged itself into the robot's neck, severing hydraulics and cutting wires. With a bright burst, a small electric explosion swept over the squad and fried them entirely. They clattered to the ground, jetpacks failing and all systems shutting off.
Nightshade blinked again, now on top of one of the offline spotlight towers. There were no lights illuminating the battle, and the only light source came from the rifles' muzzle flares and the bright purple flashes of lightning as the bat ponies used the shadow claws mounted on their front hooves.
She could see two light spots dancing in the distance, one blue and the other orange. She tilted her head to one side- is that the famed DJ? What the hay is she doing here?
Vinyl Scratch leaped down from the edge of the crater, dropping down onto the catwalks and swinging down onto the lower levels. An orange pegasus with a purple short cut mane followed her. Curious, Nightshade followed them.
*
"Orbital strike is almost ready. Satellites are all in place." Shining Armor said. "We'll have this base demolished in no time. Just need you guys to dispose of anything that might cause a nuclear reaction or something. Our scanners have detected some key chemicals, so do dispose of those when you get in. Otherwise... Magnum will be baby sitting you guys."
The royal guards smirked, and Magnum was utterly unimpressed.
"You idiots- don't bother with the fight, just get in and take out those chemicals. Careful not to set them off." Magnum said, waving a hoof and leading the squad on. "Let's go!"
*
"Glad you could make it." Val said, walking down the stairs.
"Where's Dainty?" Rainbow growled.
"Watching." Val said simply, taking a step onto the stadium and stopping still, the remnants of her hoofsteps echoing down the stadium walls.
"I'm tired of playing your games." Rainbow took out the cleaver.
"What are you going to do? Are you planning on rescuing the filly?" Val sighed. "Don't interrupt her learning. She needs to learn how to stand up for herself."
"Says the mare that's still alive because she has robotics to rely on."
"And you live on your lungs, your heart, your body.... Same thing for me. Just slightly different." Val waved a hoof impatiently.
"What were you before? Because you're a monster- that's what you are now."
"I guess I wasn't a monster back then." Val shrugged. "Things change. Times change. Lies are pulled, to make those with truthful hearts blind. In the end, the liars win with the blinded still believing them. But then the blinded can still stand, they can still see through the lies. I know I did."
"You make yourself sound innocent." Rainbow held the cleaver tight in a hoof, itching to run it through the mare that stood before her.
"I was." Val said. "My parents lied to me. So what did I do? I killed them. Why would I leave them be?" her expression darkened. "They left me to die, Dash. And I doubt you'd ever understand."
"I don't." Rainbow admitted. "But no parent would ever do that, that I know."
There was a blur of movement, and Val had launched a punch into Rainbow's chest. She went flying back, her cleaver clattering away. She groaned, slowly getting up. Val was there again, and slammed her into the wall.
"But they did." Val growled, nose to nose with Rainbow.
Rainbow stared into her eyes, unwavering. For a moment she thought she saw the one organic eye water, but Val blinked and the glint was gone.
"They left me on a roof top, to kill myself!" Val yelled at Rainbow's face. "I had a disease. It would've killed me eventually, and they decided they didn't want me anymore. I depended on them all my life. And they threw me aside."
Rainbow didn't reply. She didn't believe Val- yet. But after all, the craziest psychos seemed to have the worst of pasts- like Neon.
"So I did jump. And then they saved me. What didn't kill me made me stronger- the disease turned out to amplify my brain power at the end; and they made me their leader." Val tightened her grip around Rainbow's neck, and she gasped, struggling to break the cold metallic fingers away. "I'm going to teach this world what it was like-"
Val threw Rainbow onto the floor, and she skid several meters. "-My way."
Rainbow's mind clicked. She knew that story... From somewhere. She remembered reading about something similar in the Manehatten newspaper, even before receiving the Twilight contract that kicked everything off. Yes... Way before that.
"Blithy?" Rainbow slowly got to her hooves. That was the name.
Val froze. "So you have heard."
Rainbow nodded slowly.
"Then you know how much I give a damn about this world!" Val yelled, swinging a punch down at Rainbow.
Rainbow blocked it, but was forced to her knees as Val pressed down.
"You killed your parents?" Rainbow asked.
"And they deserved every bit of it." Val growled, kicking Rainbow in the side and sending her skidding across the floor.
"You blinded fool!" Rainbow yelled, getting to her hooves. She remembered those two adult ponies, both crying their hearts out as the news agency attempted to interview them.
"They decided to leave me behind! They could've easily stayed with me!" Val yelled, charging at Rainbow.
"So you killed them? DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THEY REALLY LOVED YOU!!??" Rainbow swung the punch, fueled by anger. She could feel the demon inside her purring.
"THEY DIDN'T!!" Val met the punch with her own fist. Their swings collided, cracking loudly.
"DID YOU SEE THEM AFTER THEY THOUGHT YOU DIED!!!??" Rainbow tackled Val to the ground.
"I WAS LEFT TO KILL MYSELF!!" Val yelled, shoving Rainbow away.
"YOU'RE GOING TO BLAME THEM!?" Rainbow stumbled up, her heart burning with fury. "DID YOU KNOW THEY SPENT THE LAST OF THEIR SAVINGS TO GET YOU THAT GODDAMN WHEELCHAIR?? DID YOU KNOW THAT THEY STARVED FOR THREE DAYS JUST SO YOU COULD HAVE A DECENT MEAL ALL TO YOURSELF!!??"
"LIES!!! THEY NEVER CARED!!" Val yelled, punching Rainbow across the jaw.
The blue pegasus turned violently, but didn't fall.
"YOU NEVER SAW THEM FOR YOURSELF!!" Rainbow grabbed Val's face and slammed it into the ground.
"I DIDN'T NEED TO!!" Val wrenched Rainbow's arm, slamming her into the ground as well.
"YOU KILLED THEM!!! THE ONLY PONIES THAT REALLY CARED ABOUT YOU!!" Rainbow yelled, swinging onto Val and about to swing a punch down.
She stopped when she saw something different about Val. The bloodthirsty grin wasn't there. The psychotic joy wasn't present on her face. She was crying, a single tear sliding down her face.
"Come on.... I know you still know what is right and what isn't." Rainbow dropped the hoof, however still kept Blithy pinned firmly to the ground.
Blithy looked away, and for a moment Rainbow saw that photograph in her head again. Something that had disturbed her greatly- it was the image of Blithy's dead body, half of her face blurred out as it was crushed when it hit the ground. But the other half- still intact- she had her eyes wide, staring and unable to understand the situation. There was a tear sliding down her cheek, from those big, glassy, and dead eyes.
"Damnit!" Blithy gritted her teeth, using all her strength and pushing Rainbow aside. She stood up, looking just like any other filly that had lost a beloved parent. In this case, both. "What would you know..." she whispered.
"I don't. And I should never forgive you for what you did to everypony else that died because of you. I should be disgusted..." Rainbow sighed, slumping onto the ground. When she did open her eyes, they were watery. She remembered all those days with Octavia, and those crying faces of Blithy's parents. "I should be all those things... But all I see is a little filly trying to prove herself."
"Gaaah!!" Blithy charged at Rainbow, her eye narrowed into a frown.
Rainbow didn't flinch, and the fist stopped millimeters away from her nose. Air rushed, upsetting her mane and dragging her coat along the floor. She stared Blithy down, her eyes unwavering.
Blithy sighed frustratedly, letting her arm dangle down by her side. She too slumped onto the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
Val finally broke.
*
"Last room." Magnum said, swinging into a hallway and taking up a position next to the door. The rest of the squad had spread out, disabling other chemicals that might cause excessive damage when they bombard the place.
"Ready." Starshine took a position on the opposite side of the door, clicking his rifle.
"Breach and clear. Once again, careful of those chemicals." Magnum said. "Three, two, one-"
She swung around and kicked down the door, firing two shots into a stallion's skull. The first dead in the temple, the second through the jaw.
Starshine took down the other, spraying him much less professionally with bullets.
"Clear." Magnum said after a quick survey.
They were in a huge laboratory, the ceiling at least seven meters above them. There were six huge glass tubes with a green liquid running through them, shown by the bubbles. They were lit up by lights from below, and the only light source in the dark lab. Wires ran across the ground, scattered and un-sorted.
"Shuck. How the hay are we supposed to dispose of this?" Magnum looked up at the huge glass cylinders.
"I know how I'm going to dispose of you." Starshine said.
Magnum turned around, and saw Starshine raise his rifle. She dived to her right as Starshine pulled the trigger.
She managed to get behind one of the glass tubes, which turned out to be a stupid idea as a bullet went through the glass and flew past her. A stream of the acidic liquid squirted out into her eyes along with several glass shards.
Magnum screamed, falling back and desperately rubbing her eyes, trying to get rid of the acid that was burning through her cornea.
Starshine laughed.
Magnum stopped trying to clear her eyes. It was no use. She tried opening her eyes, but saw nothing. She couldn't believe it- she blinked several times, but still no vision.
She was blind.
She pounded the floor, staring with her blind eyes and desperate for them to come back online. Then a sudden pain filled her left side as she felt a hoof slam into her, and she tumbled across the room.
"You bastard. I'm glad you're getting this slow death. Now that you're blind... This could last a while." Magnum could hear the grin in Starshine's voice.
"So... You were the traitor all along..." Magnum stared at the floor. At least she thought that was the floor.
Then Starshine kicked her again, and she doubled over painfully. "You have any idea all the nuisance you caused us?"
"Glad to help." Magnum said, which resulted in another kick in the guts.
"You were the one that messed up most of our plans- Dash wouldn't have made it in if you didn't snipe the damn guards! You're paying for it now..."
Magnum's ear twitched as she heard a whoosh of air, Starshine's fist swinging around at her head. She tilted her head, feeling the hoof glide past her face.
She lashed out a kick, and felt her hoof crack satisfyingly against Starshine's leg. He yelped, and Magnum heard him crumple onto the ground in agony.
She quickly got up, and heard the clattering of his rifle as Starshine tried to get up.
She tried grabbing it, but a hoof stopped her from doing so. She then took a punch across the jaw, sending her stumbling back.
She almost completely lost her orientation, but regained her balance a second later. She heard a soft click as Starshine aimed the rifle at her. She lunged forward, one bullet hitting her in the shoulder while the others whizzed past.
She tackled Starshine, and they went skidding across the floor. She heard the rifle clatter away, out of reach of the both of them. Her shoulder stung like nothing she ever experienced. She'd never been shot before.
She could hear Starshine getting up, so she quickly swiped his hooves out from under him. She heard him groan as he fell onto the floor again.
Magnum grabbed at where she thought his head would be, but caught him around the neck instead. She slammed his head into what she thought was the wall, but was actually one of the glass cylinders, the green acid inside bubbling away.
Glass shattered, and she heard the pieces clatter to the floor. Liquid splashed onto the floor, corroding the wires.
Starshine gurgled at first, struggling to get his head out of the acid; but Magnum held him firmly in place. Eventually, after a few minutes of struggling, his body fell still. Magnum let go, backing away until her back hit the cold concrete. Starshine's body was jammed in the tube, and no more acid spilled out.
She slumped to the ground, clutching her still burning eyes.
"Damnit..." She muttered, shaking her head slowly. "Damnit..."
*
"Magnum!" Vinyl gasped when she came into the room, followed by Scootaloo.
Magnum looked up, but as expected, saw nothing but darkness.
"Shuck..." Vinyl kneeled beside the elite sniper. There was a gaping wound in her shoulder, slowly oozing with blood, and there was also blood leaking out from under her eyelids and dripping down her face.
"What happened...?" Scootaloo kneeled down too.
"Are your eyes..." Vinyl peered at the blood.
Magnum nodded.
"We better get you to a medic or something." Vinyl said.
"What happened here...?" Scootaloo looked at the dead body of a royal guard, his face completely melted away and leaving behind a shiny white skull, bobbing up and down in the current.
"I'll take her from here." there was a white flash, and Nightshade appeared behind them.
Vinyl swung around, discs buzzing. "Stay back."
"You're the famed DJ, right?" Nightshade tilted her head to one side. "Why are you here?"
"Personal reasons. Who are you?" Vinyl asked, not moving the discs away from Nightshade's throat.
"Blink Nightshade, captain of the night guards." Nightshade said without flinching at the discs that sent electric tingles down her skin.
"You better not be lying." Vinyl said, lowering the discs slightly.
"Ask Princess Luna if you have to." Nightshade said. "Also, I would have you all dead on the floor by now if I were the opposition."
Vinyl stared into those reptilian eyes for a second, then lowered the discs.
"She needs immediate medical attention." Nightshade said, laying a hoof surprisingly gently on Magnum's shoulder.
"Wait-" Magnum said, breathing heavily from the loss of blood. "Rainbow... Vinyl... Get Rainbow... Val probably found her by now..."
"I understand." Vinyl said, jaw clenched.
"Good..." Magnum said, and with a white flash both she and Nightshade were gone.
Vinyl stared at the floor where the two had been a second ago, her expression unreadable.
"Head back, Scootaloo." Vinyl said, turning and heading out.
"But-"
"Just go. I can handle Val." Vinyl said, all those words Rainbow had told her gone from her head. All she wanted now was Val's dead body.