Chapter 5
Whatsit All About?
Twilight awoke to another foul odor. However, this odor was familiar. She would smell it whenever she would send Spike, her library assistant, to get books that were high up or in other secluded places. A loud huffing noise followed suit after the stench. Twilight pressed her eyelids together more, hoping that Spike wouldn't try to wake her up. She had a hard day yesterday and didn't really want to deal with the world today. A fast tempo of thumping echoed up the stairs. Soon, Spike was next to Twilight, letting her smell his foul odor of sweat and the loud huffing and puffing of his breathing more acutely.
Spike gently shook her, trying to wake her up, saying, "Twilight, you need to wake up right now."
Twilight groaned and rolled over in the covers and murmured, "Ugh. Five more minutes. I had a rough day yesterday. Leave me alone."
Spike shook her more forcefully this time. "Twilight, you need to wake up right now."
Twilight sat up and looked at her assistant straight in the eye. "What could possibly need my attention right now?"
Spike, humbled by Twilight's small burst of annoyance, backed away a step and softly spoke, "Rainbow Dash is gone."
"What?"
"Rainbow Dash is gone, along with Soarin, and their kid."
Twilight froze for a moment. "What?!"
~~~
Rainbow Dash and her family were fleeing from Ponyville. After a day of quick recuperation by Rainbow Dash, the night before they had took flight towards Canterlot. From there they would continue on to live in the mountains until they got a written agreement from Twilight Sparkle that she would do nothing to their foal. Without being able to see that happening in the five days they had left before Twilight would take him away, they decided to flee to secure their newborn's security.
They were stopped along a river somewhere in between Ponyville and Canterlot. Several breaks in their flight were necessary for Rainbow Dash, and Soarin was tired to from carrying their colt. They chewed on berries grudgingly, Rainbow Dash being the most annoyed, and prepared to take flight again when they heard a loud pulse of energy south of them. A dome of magic emanated from Twilight's horn, which they could tell because of the purple glow of the energy. It travelled towards them for a small time, and then quickly dissipated.
"What was that?" Rainbow asked her husband.
"A search spell, I think. Twilight's looking for us." He looked up at Canterlot to gauge their distance left to go. "We have to get moving quickly if we're going to reach Canterlot by noon."
"If Twilight finds us I don't know what I'll do to her for making us do this." She spat out a hunk of boysenberry and unfurled her wings. "She's going to ruin us, I tell you." After stretching, the small family took flight once more, headed north towards Canterlot.
~~~
Twilight took deep and heavy breaths. She stood on all fours on top of the Smokey Mountain where the Mane Six had been earlier to deal with the dragon. Behind her was her large hot-air balloon, which contained the rest of the Mane Six, minus Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy, however, was standing in front of the balloon, tied by a rope to the basket along with several other pegasi that Twilight had rallied to the cause.
From up here, Twilight could see a large radius around her. Surely from up here, if she put enough power behind her search spell, she would be able to locate Rainbow Dash. She focused on that image strongly in her head, Rainbow Dash's image. She took another deep breath as she released small amounts of energy into her horn with each breath. With each passing moment, the aura surrounding her horn grew and grew until it was the size of a pillar of fire emanating from her forehead. With great muster, she propelled the magical energy forwards in all directions.
The purple wave of mana zoomed out in front of her. She span around on her hoof to see if the spell had been powerful enough. She turned three times and was about to give up hope when off in the distance her wave of magic found what she was looking for. A white dot burned clearly through everything in her way. She knew where Rainbow Dash was. She proudly proclaimed that they were headed north and hopped in the balloon. She quickly but gently urged Fluttershy and the other pegasi to lead the way, and they set off towards the dot that was burning in Twilight's eyes.
~~~
Rainbow Dash and Soarin were panicking now. The foal on Soarin's back had no idea what his parents were discussing, but it didn't sound fun. He made it so they couldn't talk anymore, but they just shouted over his cries. This displeased him, so he cried more. His parents continued screaming to one another while they were flying through the air.
"Twilight's gonna find us! She's going to take him away!" Rainbow Dash was crying, partly from the wind, but mostly from the realization that came along with the wave of magic that passed through her not long before.
"It'll be fine, Dashie," Soarin consoled. "We'll just split up. She only was looking for you, so we'll just split up, okay? It'll be a while before they catch up with us, so I'll take him to the mountain we decided on, and you go to Canterlot. I'll stay at the mountain until you get her to agree that she won't do anything, and then we can meet up again, okay?" Rainbow Dash nodded, biting her lip. Soarin said his final goodbyes to her and then turned sharply to the right, where a beam of light struck him in the ribs.
He was knocked forwards, letting the small foal fall off his back. He staggered to regain his balance, but then he noticed his only child falling to his death. He turned and saw the balloon being pulled furiously quickly by multiple pegasi with Twilight driving them forward. It had been Twilight that struck him with a bolt of magic. Soarin panicked and turned back to his son, but Rainbow Dash was already diving down to catch him.
She raced downwards as quickly as she's ever gone before. Both her hooves were in front of her now, causing a tear to appear before her in the air. Tears welled in her eyes and flew past behind her. Her foal was in sight again, but he was still very far away. He was falling towards a ledge overlooking a large drop. He would land on the ledge, but that would still kill him. She had to save him before he reached the bottom. She sped up, fueled by motherly love, despite her recent pregnancy and lack of flying for the past several months. A slight rainbow coned around her as she reached closer and closer to the sound barrier.
She and the rainbow cone sped towards the foal with much more speed now, but not enough. She reached her baby colt as it reached the ground. The wave of a rainbow that signified a sonic rainboom blew out in all directions, rippling across the rocky surface of the ledge. She bounced off the earth, foal in hand, and kept bouncing right up to the edge of the cliff. A crater was left where the sonic rainboom had occured, one filled with color. Cracks appeared in the rock next to Rainbow Dash as she clutched her newborn tightly, refusing to believe what she knew was true.
Soarin quickly sped down to the ground, but a safe distance away from the large crack in the ground near Rainbow Dash. Twilight and her balloon party also landed near Soarin. Twilight hopped out and trotted forwards and then realized the crack and scooted backwards. Rainbow Dash was crying.
"Rainbow Dash," called Twilight, "back away from the ledge. Everything's going to be fine if you just back away from the edge."
Rainbow Dash looked up from the crumpled pony in her hooves. "Everything's going to be fine? Everything's going to be fine?! My only foal is dead, Twilight! He's dead! You killed him!"
"I'm deeply sorry, Rainbow. I had no intention of ending his-"
"Sorry? You're sorry?! I don't care if you're sorry! He's dead! Look at what you've done!" Rainbow Dash held out her dead foal. The blue coat was smeared with blood. His dark, rainbow mane was splattered with drops of blood and tears. His eyes were closed. Several legs were bent out of shape. Rainbow Dash herself could hardly move on account of her broken foreleg. She still managed to clutch the colt in her arms, still crying.
"Rainbow Dash, it'll be fine. Just calm down. Come with me and-"
"No! Come with you and do what? Have another foal for you experiments? Never! Never again! I won't let you!" The crack became larger. "You treated me like a slave, Twilight! I won't let you do that to anypony else!"
"Dashie," Soarin cooed, " come here. Get away from the edge. Please. Dashie..."
"I'm sorry, Soarin. I can't. If I survive Twilight will just use me again. She can't be trusted."
"That won't happen, Rainbow Dash. You can trust me."
"I trusted you when you said a week! You said a week! You said it wouldn't hurt! You said you'd only have him for a day! You said all these things, and they were all wrong!" The crack grew.
"Dashie..." Soarin was crying now.
"I won't let you do to anypony else what you did to me, Twilight. And I'll make sure of it." Rainbow Dash stood up now, standing on three feet to avoid pain to her broken leg. The crack grew once more. "Never again."
"Rainbow Dash!"
"Rainbow Dash..."
"Goodbye, Soarin." The fracture snapped at the edge of the cliff. The rocks tumbled down the side and cascaded to the bottom of the drop. Rainbow Dash died instantly when she hit the bottom. The ground and rocks tore through her body like paper, sending bits of blood everywhere. Soarin broke down, crying on the edge of where his wife just died. Twilight also began to cry, horrified at what she'd done. The rest of the ponies in the balloon stood with absolute horror and shock. Some of them also began to cry.
So dies the nameless foal of Rainbow Dash.
So dies the first and last slave of Equestria.
THE END