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// Chapter 4: Wrath Coats Itself In Many Masks 
// Story: My Little Pony: Azure's Wrath 
// by The Grimm Reaper 
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	I stayed with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo for the next few days as they gave me the details relating to the Rainbow Factory. They were reluctant to reveal their personal encounter with the factory, and I was not about to let them know more than they needed to. My life was my own and the trust between us was tied together by our mutual hatred of the topic of discussion. Beyond that, we were as strangers, having heard of each other through idle gossip.
Scootaloo tended to act as a maid around the house, taking care of Rainbow Dash. She even went so far as to rub lotion over her scars, which clearly pained her. My curiosity toward those scars crept up on me, but I was not about to intrude on a matter that in the greater scheme of things, didn’t interest me. The relationship between the three of us was shaky and the slightest hint of betrayal from either of us would shatter it.
“I went to Twilight first when we made it out and she did everything in her power, short of going to Princess Celestia personally, uninvited. That unicorn you mentioned must be blocking any messages related to the factory from reaching either Princess.” Scootaloo offered me a drink as if we were in a restaurant. Still thirsty from earlier, I accepted. My knowledge of pleasantries had vanished along with my colour and personality as I failed to thank her for the drink. A failure she clearly noticed when she walked away with a slight anger to her stride.
“I still wish to talk to her. I have something I’d like her to do. Something I don’t feel I would be able to do without it turning out horribly.” Rainbow Dash seemed interested in my hint towards a personal matter.
“What’s that?” I contemplated telling her, asking myself the obvious questions. Should I tell her? Would telling her compromise the safety of my daughter? Why does she want to know? Will the factory find out?
“I want her to check up on somepony, and perhaps keep an eye out for them.” I replied.
“Who?” I said no more on the matter, which bred an uncomfortable silence. I wondered what else I could say that didn’t involve my daughter, that would also interest her. Then it came to me.
“I also hear that she’s familiar with a spirit called Discord.” it interested me to see her eyes widen in obvious fear and surprise.
“What about Discord?” Her tone suggested that she did not like him, nor the mere mention of him. I hesitated to respond. Her unease grew as I just stared, observing her discomfort. Clearly, Discord was something that was not to be reckoned with. But how did she know him? Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle. Those two names linked together brought on another little piece of gossip that interested me.
“I see now. You’re one of the Elements of Harmony, Loyalty. I never would have guessed that you were the same pony. So, you imprisoned Discord five years ago. Good, that proves you’ll be of more use than a host to a hideout.” Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves, which forced me to do the same.
“I haven’t been an element for a long time. And don’t you question my usefulness. I’ve got a lot of tricks up my sleeve that I plan to use against the Factory.” I’d hit a nerve.
“Then why have you not implemented these tricks? Unless you still work for them?” Rainbow Dash faltered.
“I-I…”
“What has stopped you from doing everything in your power to take down that Celestia forsaken place? Are you still loyal to Cloudsdale? Do you no longer care to prevent other ponies from going through what we have? What has stopped you?” I was pressing an answer I knew she didn’t want to give. Fortunately, my will to protect Bright Eyes gave me the push I needed to go where other ponies wouldn’t dare tread.
“Maybe you’re lying to Scootaloo. Perhaps you’re still with them and you’re trying to lure her and me into a false sense of security. Perhaps you’re just being cruel to Scootaloo, and you’re waiting for the right time to slit her throat.” Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate to throw a punch. Her whole body in fact. She lunged at me over the fire. We crashed on the couch and struggled against each other. I could tell she was weak, and given my scar, so was I. Tear drops hit my face as she struggled to get past my defense.
“She’s scared of that place. That’s why I haven’t carried out my plans. I can’t do it myself because she’s scared I’ll leave her alone one way or another. I can’t abandon her and I won’t.” She didn’t let up her onslaught as she spoke, but I’d dropped my defence. I allowed her to strike me as many times as she saw fit. Her punches didn’t hurt. Other than my wound, I couldn’t feel anything. I brought my eyes over to where Scootaloo had stood, frozen at the spectacle before her. Rainbow Dash stopped her attacks and looked over to her younger friend.
“Scoots.” Rainbow Dash choked. Scootaloo had tears streaming down her face, visible from the light the fire gave off.
“Does that make me a burden?” she asked, her voice choking up afterward. Rainbow Dash didn’t reply. She was as petrified as her companion. So I spoke up instead.
“No, it makes you both weak-willed.” I threw the Pegasus off of me and rose to my full height. The stitches on my wound stretched, giving me slight pain around my heart.
“But that changes nothing. Like I said; I just need names. The rest is for me to do on my own.” Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo looked at me. Their trust in me was wonkier than before. I’d broken their defences and now they weren’t sure what to do with themselves. We all knew next to nothing about each other, but I had the advantage.
I towered over them as they huddled together. I could see how much they loved each other, how much they wanted to be together in whatever way they could. Like me, they had something to live for. But I could never obtain what I continued to live for. Discord had made sure of that. All I could do was make sure that the Rainbow Factory couldn’t obtain it either.
“Take me to Twilight, now.”

Ponyville was a lively place to say the least. Stallions and mares were getting together in the spring season of romance. My first thought was why this didn’t remind me of when I’d met Ocean Heart.
I received odd glances from the ponies that passed us, which came as no surprise, especially when we three were the only ones wearing hooded cloaks. We did our best to avoid the local law enforcement, coming across a few close encounters a few too many times.
“How much further is it?” I asked Rainbow Dash, Irritably. She turned to me and slammed me against the wall, doing likewise with Scootaloo before joining us. A police stallion strolled by, whistling a tune as he spun his nightstick with his unicorn magic. I held my breath, waiting for him to notice us. To my delight and surprise, he failed in that prospect.
“Cops are pretty dim in Ponyville. We’ve the lowest crime rate, so their senses aren’t as… attuned to stuff as other cops may be.”
“Attuned to stuff? What is happening to you from behind and how can we make it stop?” Rainbow Dash blushed for the first time since we’d met.
“I’m tired, leave me alone. Hiding doesn’t exactly give a girl time to exercise.” Scootaloo watched us argue with mild amusement compared to the previous day.
“Actually, I’d have thought that hiding would give you plenty of chances to exercise when running.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, taking to the air. She hovered over me.
“You wanna fight me again?” she boasted. I grinned under my hood.
“And is this the Rainbow Dash I can expect to see when I bring down the factory?” Scootaloo giggled as she grabbed her partner’s hoof and lowered her back to the ground.
“Got a problem with my real personality?” the Pegasus asked with a slightly gruff tone. I allowed a chuckle to escape me.
“Oh no, it’s quite charming. Almost makes me forget about the forest.” I walked ahead, removing my cloak. With my eyes closed, I feigned blindness as I reached a paw in front of me.
“What are you doing?” the two mares said in unison, only to be stopped as a stranger approached.
“Oh my. Good sir, are you lost? How can I assist you?” I smiled and turned my head toward the voice.
“Oh, thank you kindly, ma’am. I’m afraid I lost my helper along the way here. I was heading to the Library. I thought I might ask the local Librarian for a few books in Braille coding.” I feigned my original personality. What was once who I was seemed now to be as foreign to me as a Gryphon who didn’t eat meat.
“Oh, well let me help you good sir. I happen to be best friends with our Librarian. Her name’s Twilight Sparkle. She’s also the number one pupil of our Princess Celestia.” I smiled as she began striking up a conversation.
“Oh, I’ve heard of her. Yes, I’d hoped to meet her, actually. It involves a rather private matter.” The mare who helped me gave a rather kindly and seemingly practiced chuckle.
“I see. Well Twilight is your mare. If it’s magic related, then she’s definitely the one you want to see. She’s the most talented magician in all of Equestria. And I’m not boasting my friend, sir, oh no. Her powers could rival her brother, Shining Armour.” I chuckled as she tried to sell her friend to me.
“In any case, it’s very kind of you to help me, miss…”
“Oh, how rude of me. My name is Rarity. I’m the local seamstress here in Ponyville. If you ever need any kind of clothing for any occasion, then come and see me. I design clothes fit for Canterlot Nobility. And you, Darling, would look fabulous in something in a navy blue. I don’t often go for those colours, but I believe you’d pull it off. I’d also recommend a mane cut.” I listened with practiced interest as she regaled her fashion tips like the fashionistas in Canterlot. The probability of her originating from either there or Manehattan was very high. But to ask her such a question would not only have been imposing her personal history, but also a waste of time as in my mind, time was short.
“Well, here we are, sir. Ponyville Library. Home to Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s faithful student.” Rarity said chirpily . I opened my eyes and turned to the mare, smiling sweetly.
“Thank you ever so much, young lady. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were the so called Element of Generosity.” I remarked. I watched as she stared into my eyes with wonder.
“Generosity, not Kindness?” she mused. I grinned at her and looked her directly in the eye.
“Generosity and Kindness are intertwined, Rarity. I know you to be generous because you took it upon yourself to give up your time to help a pony you didn’t even know find the Library. Such a thing is akin to both aspects of Harmony.” I dropped my façade as I spoke, retaining my smile for the sake of impression. She seemed unsure about me now I had revealed my sight to her.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Not yet, Rarity. Perhaps later. I still need to know if I can trust Twilight, let alone anypony else.” I stepped through the Library, leaving the white unicorn to stir her thoughts around outside. The bell above the door gave a little jingle and I was almost immediately greeted by a lavender unicorn I knew of very well.
“Hello, welcome to Ponyville! This is the Lirbary, and I’m your humble host,–“
“Twilight Sparkle, yes, I know.” Twilight dropped her introductory acting and squinted at me as if trying to see something within my body.
“You look familiar, have I seen you around Ponyville before?” I couldn’t help but smile at the mare.
“Shining Armour spoke very highly of you, Twilight, and I can see why. I look nothing like I did last time you saw me and even then it was a passing glance as you walked by my office door.” Twilight seemed confused as she tried to piece together where she’d seen him before, yet he’d said that he looked nothing like he used to.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t see it, who are you?” she asked. I stopped smiling and looked over to one of the books in the history section. One book in particular had an image of me standing beside my whole team, Shining Armour included. An even older book showed Shining and me with another unicorn standing mischievously beside one another in the middle of another team photograph.
“I’ll never forget the way your brother acted when he told Spiral Edge and I that he had a little sister. He showed the whole team pictures of you just after you were born. He told us he took the pictures himself and he didn’t have the decency to wait until the nurses put a towel around you.” I laughed as I recalled the day. “Those were the only nude pictures I ever let my team look at inside castle grounds.” I tossed the book with the picture of the three of us during our cadet years to her. She caught it with her magic and looked upon it. She gasped and I watched as the book lost the magenta glow around it and fell to the ground.
“Sun Azure?” she asked, still unsure as to who I am.
“Got it in on, Twiley.” I replied, using her brother’s nickname to validate my story. She dropped to her haunches as she looked upon me with horror.
“What… bu… how…who did this to you?” I abandoned what remained of my old self as I approached her.
“That’s something I don’t know, but desperately want to. And I need your help Twilight. You’re the only one I can trust so far. I’ve had to manipulate my way here, and while I feel I may have an ally of interest, I still don’t trust her.”
“Who is she?” Twilight asked, gathering her notepad and quill. So she truly is dexterous to a fault.
“You know her, I believe. Rainbow Dash.” Like with the picture book, the pad and quill both joined it on the ground.
“Rainbow Dash is alive?” she asked with more calm than I would have expected from such a reaction.
“Yes, but badly scarred. She’s been living in the Everfree with Scootaloo.” Twilight exhaled with relief.
“Thank goodness. All this time I thought they’d been killed on their way home in a freak accident involving a badly timed storm. Wait, you said she was scarred… by what?” she asked.
I informed Twilight of what I knew about the Rainbow Factory. It was common knowledge that ponies possessed the colours of every rainbow, but the way I described it made it sound like the reverse which wasn’t far wrong. By the time I had finished my own story, including the burying of the mare that looked like my wife, Twilight was petrified with tears streaming down her eyes and her hoof to her face.
“To the best of my knowledge, a similar event occurred with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. We’re not very forthcoming with each other’s experiences or pasts.” Twilight shook her head, trying not to believe what I was saying, but my appearance was proof of it. I half expected her to throw me out so she could fool herself into the lie that was disbelief. I heard the door open behind me and close exactly one second later. The huff and puff of two mares, one older and the other quite young reached my ears and I knew my allies had arrived.
“That’s what I get for calling the cops in Ponyville lazy. I swear, some day when this is all over, I’m gonna teach you how to fly, Scoots.” I watched as Twilight’s eyes widened at the sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice. She tried to speak, but her voice broke before she could muster anything coherent. It almost sounded like she was in pain and was trying very hard not to cry out. I imagined Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo both looked toward us as they heard Twilight’s pitiful croaks.
“What took you?” I asked, reverting to my defensive demeanour. Suddenly, a cloak was thrown at me followed by very sarcastic words.
“Your cloak, dear!” I growled at her.
“Do you want your teeth back, Auntie?” I retorted. I heard Dash growl loudly at me before dropping the ball altogether and addressing Twilight.
“Twilight, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you I was alive. At the time I thought the workers at the factory knew where I was and that I was alive, and I was afraid to make contact with any of you in case they went after you to get me.” she said.
“Wise move.” I commented, receiving a mild look of appreciation. Twilight began to blubber like a filly before throwing herself at the cyan Pegasus, crying her heart out. I remembered the feeling when Shining Armour and I had lost our closest friend, Spiral Edge.