Twilight stood outside the the palace with her brother and friends and with another pony by their side, who was now wearing a magical collar on his neck.
“Twilight, is that really necessary?” Rainbow asked, looking down at the purple magic keeping Blaze in a collar.
“I’m not taking any chances, especially with this stallion,” she whispered to her friend, but Blaze’s ears perked as he heard them.
Blaze just shook his head and rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, too. He was happy to help them, now that his little brother was safe. His little brother came running up to him and held him on his leg, looking up with worried eyes. Blaze sighed and he patted Light’s head gently, “Don’t worry, Light, I’ll be fine with these ponies,” he reassured Light.
Light looked at the others with caution, though when his eyes fell on Twilight, she could see a flash of anger in his eyes.
Twilight could feel her stomach twist slightly when Light looked at her, feeling like she was the bad pony now and kidnapping the only family Light had. Twilight turned her head away and faced her brother. “We should go now before it’s too late.”
Shining nodded and he placed his helmet on his head; his battle armor was now set. “Right.”
Blaze then looked at Light with stern eyes, “Listen to me, now. Light, you stay with Scootaloo at all times. Got it memorized?” he asked, placing a hoof on his shoulder.
“Yeah...”
Blaze decided to hug his brother right then and there. “C’mon! I’ll be back before you know it!” he said as Light held onto him. He noticed the mares were looking at the pair with moist eyes; save Twilight, who could not look at them. He swore he saw a tear escaping her eye, though Blaze just shrugged it off and let go of Light, turning and moving towards Twilight and the others.
As soon as they were away from the castle grounds, Twilight looked at Blaze, who was surprisingly calm, even with a magic collar on him. “I’m sorry,” she said to him.
Blaze turned to her, slightly surprised at her words. “Sorry?” he asked her, thinking he misheard her words.
“I’m sorry I had to do that in front of your little brother,” she said, slightly lowering her head in apology.
“So long as he’s safe, I don’t really care what happens to me, hey?”
This time it was Twilight’s turn to be surprised at his words, “Excuse me?” she asked in a harsh whisper.
“You’re excused.”
Twilight huffed at his answer, “I’m serious! Why would you consider your own life with so little regard?”
“I do consider my life with some importance, but my little brother’s life is way more important to me than my own. I’m sure you feel the same way with your boy.”
Twilight kicked the ground awkwardly. “Yeah, I do... but it seems strange, coming from a member of the group that kidnapped him.”
“I was never really a member of that group more than I had to be,” the stallion pointed out. “At any rate, let’s keep going. There’s no telling what Bloodwing’s doing with Spike.”
“Let me go!” Spike demanded as Black dragged him by his tail. He dug his claws into the ground, trying to get some sort of grip, but it proved futile. “Let me go, I have rights, I...”
At that point, a swift hoof crashed on the dragon’s head, causing him to cry out in pain.
“An appropriate response, Black,” Bloodwing commended. He turned back to Spike. “You have no right to be free. You’re a fake, a tool! Your purpose is to serve the one who uses you.”
“W-what do you mean?” Spike said, feeling timid.
“I mean, you are nothing but a construct of Twilight Sparkle’s magic. I wanted to study the phenomenon, but that fool Celestia was attached to you.” He snorted in derision. “Foolish creature. An immortal like her should know that love is a mere fleeting feeling.”
“Th-that’s not true,” Spike defended weakly. “That’s how...”
Another hoof silenced him. “Tools should not contradict their masters. Put him in.”
Spike, his vision blurred from the blow, couldn’t see where he was being placed. He did hear the sound of a lock closing, though. When his vision finally cleared, he saw that he was in a glass orb, placed inside a giant machine.
And he knew whatever the machine did, he knew that he was exactly where he did NOT want to be.
“It’s a shame losing Subject 10, but what I extracted out of her fast-forwarded my research tenfold. Unfortunately, I need a good deal of power to push my plans forward before Celestia can shut me down... which is why I have you.”
Spike gulped. “What do you mean?”
Bloodwing just smiled at Spike and he turned his attention to Black. “If you would do the honours?”
“With pleasure, sir.”
Yellow jumped in between the two of them, “What about me?! Can I please do it, sir?” she pleaded to Bloodwing, shedding crocodile tears in an attempt to win him over.
Bloodwing just sighed and facehoofed in annoyance at his subordinate, “Fine... Just do it, would you?”
Spike saw Yellow skipping over to a lever on the opposite side of the room, and saw her rubbing her hooves in glee as she took hold of it and pulled it down dramatically. The machine started to power up, and all the lights began to glow. The glass orb Spike was in suddenly started filling up with a weird red liquid. It was sticky and smelled horrible. When the liquid rose to the level of his knees, he started to bang on the glass orb as hard as he could; but it was no use. No matter how hard he hit the orb, it would not crack. He then inhaled air, intending to blow fire at it, but he was submerged in the liquid before he could exhale. He could see Yellow smiling smugly at him, and when she flicked a switch on the wall, electricity flowed the orb, sending an excruciating pain through Spike’s body. He screamed as the pain quickly became too much for him.
Through the dark spots appearing at the edge of his quickly blurring vision, he noticed another glass orb next to him filling up with a purple substance and starting to glow brightly. He noticed Bloodwing laughing like a mad pony as he caressed the orb gently, as though it were alive.
“So close we are now! So close we are now to becoming gods!”
Spike could tell that they were all laughing like it was their birthdays, and he could see Bloodwing walking up to him wearing a sadistic smile on his face. “Soon you will become part of greatness itself~”
Scootaloo was eating well for the first time in days. A spread was placed out on the table before her friends and Light, full of food she had only dreamed of. Having lived off gruel, and living on what she could find in the streets before that, getting to eat good food was heavenly.
She wasn’t the only one. It was clear that Light hadn’t been fed the best either, and was eating good food for the first time since becoming Bloodwing’s prisoner. He was giving little care to table manners, though nopony minded.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie were absolutely happy to see their friend again, but were surprised by her added horn feature, as well as the presence of the colt that came in with her. A few minutes later, though, Scootaloo was finished eating, and was lost in deep thoughts of why they wanted Spike.
“Ya alright there, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked her friend, walking up and taking the seat next to her.
Sighing, the orange pegasus poked her horn. “I have a horn growing out of my forehead and Spike’s trapped in that horrible place because of me. What do you think?”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Light tried to assure her between bites of sugar bread. “Bloodwing would have done those horrible things no matter what.”
Sweetie shifted a little. “Did Bloodwing ever do anything to you? You know, try and give you a horn or something?”
The colt shook his head. “It was part of the deal Bloodwing had with my brother. He kept it that much, at least.” He sighed. “My brother’s really not bad, honest.”
“I know... he treated me better than anypony else there...” Scootaloo said sadly. “Do you think the others are okay?”
“Mah sister’s the strongest mare in Equestria, Twi’s the most powerful unicorn, and Rainbow Dash is the fastest pegasus. With Red an’ the others, they’ll handle Bloodwing no problem.”
“His name’s Blaze,” Light corrected forcefully.
“Right, sorry,” Apple Bloom apologized.
“I still don’t get why the Princess isn’t handling this herself,” Light said, stuffing another cupcake into his mouth.
“We told you, the Princess doesn’t like to get involved if it isn’t somepony like Discord,” Sweetie explained. “These guys are just mortal ponies. I heard her say something about needing the Elements to get experience. She’s still watching, and she said she’d come down if...”
“It won’t happen,” the earth pony cut her off. “Mah sister can handle anythin’.”
Scootaloo pawed at her food a bit before looking up resolutely. “...I’m going back.”
The other foals looked at her incredulously. “What?”
“I can’t let Rainbow Dash and Spike get hurt because of me. I’m going back.”
Sweetie Belle looked at her friend as though she were insane. “But if you go back there, those ponies might catch and hurt you again!” she shouted to her friend, coming close with fearful eyes.
Scootaloo looked down on the floor, avoiding the gaze from Sweetie’s eyes. “I know, but I have to do something,” she said. She looked up to face her friends, who looked at her with concern. “Look, I’ll be out real quick; I have to do this alone and-”
“You’re not going alone.”
Scootaloo turned to Light, who looked at her with a straight face as he walked up to her side. “I’m coming with you. I need to make sure my older brother is safe.”
Scootaloo gave him a deadpan look and just shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’ll just slow things down.”
Light glowered at Scootaloo and stomped his hoof, “Do you even know how to get back to that place?” he challenged. Only silence greeted him, and he smiled wryly. “I didn’t think so. Whether you like it or not, I’m coming with you, ok?”
Scootaloo sighed and she facehoofed, but, unused to her new appendage, ended up hitting her horn instead, sending a small jolt of pain through her head. She let out a groan and began to rub it soothingly. “Ow! Fine... let’s just go already.”
Suddenly, she was trapped in a hug from both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Both fillies looked up at her with doleful eyes as their lips quivered slightly.
“Just be careful, ok?”
“Yeah, don’t get caught again, ya hear?”
Scootaloo smiled warmly at her friends’ words and she closed her eyes slowly, nodding with a muffled ‘yes’ coming from her lips. She slowly opened it and her eyes were slightly moist from the experience. “I’ll be right back.” she said softly as she wormed her way out of the hug and walked towards the window.
Both Sweetie and Apple Bloom turned to Light and gave a stern look that turned to friendliness. “Keep her safe, ok?” Sweetie Belle told Light.
“I will.”
“It’s right down this alley,” Blaze noted, with Shining Armor and the Bearers of the Elements right behind him.
“This is the place, alright,” Rainbow noted. “We pull this lamp here.” She did so, revealing the secret entrance.
“We’d better expect a welcoming committee,” Shining Armor noted. “They’ve probably noticed they’re missing prisoners by now, so they’ll know we were back.”
“Assuming they haven’t moved already,” Twilight said sadly.
“I doubt it,” Blaze assured her. “There’s far too much important stuff here for him to move. Besides, I know all the hideouts, we’d find them again soon anyway.”
“I just wish we had time to figure out what to do about Black,” Applejack noted as they begin to descend the steps. “You said we should go in knowing everything about our opponent, Twi.”
“There’s no telling what Bloodwing is going to do with Spike’s energy,” Twilight pointed out. “There’s... there’s more than... one... life...”
Blaze put a hoof on her shoulder. “He’ll be fine if we hurry,” he said. “Leave Black to me, I know how to deal with...”
At that point, the halls brightened up. The ponies jumped, each looking around in surprise.
“What’s going on?” Fluttershy whimpered.
“It’s Bloodwing,” Blaze spat. “He’s practically inviting us in.”
“So whatever he was planning, he’s finished with it,” Shining said. “There’s nothing for us to do but go in and try to take it out.”
“The main lab is this way,” Blaze noted, leading the seven others down the hallways, through the twists and turns of the lab.
They stopped at an entrance with two iron doors with no lock on the outside. Blaze looked at the door from each side frantically and slammed his hoof against it, to no effect.
“This is not good,” he said out loud, with the others looking even more worried than before.
Shining approached him and glared at him. “You worked here! You must know how to open these doors!” he shouted out to Blaze.
Blaze looked flatly at Shining, then looked back at the door before him. “I did work here and that’s how I know. The only lock is on the inside. This is like a panic room for Bloodwing.” he told Shining. Still frantically thinking, he decided to fly up the door and look through the gaps.
Applejack walked forward from the group. “So yer saying there’s no way of opening this here door?” she asked Blaze, leaning in to get a better look at the iron door before her.
Blaze landed and shook his head in defeat, “Not unless we have explosives here, which I doubt anypony brought with-”
“Move aside.”
Blaze’s ears perked up and he turned to be greeted by a very angry-looking Twilight, whose horn was glowing brightly and dangerously. Remembering his first encounter with the mare, he quickly followed the others in standing back a respectable distance away from Twilight.
Twilight concentrated her magic to the brink, and when her horn was glowing red, she released the magic within it. It shot with great velocity towards the door, which exploded on impact, creating a slight tremor from the force released from the magic. When the dust cleared, the pathway was open to them and three ponies stood on the opposite side. The three ponies looked surprised and horrified at the sight of Twilight Sparkle’s rage, which was only amplified when she saw the glass orb containing her son Spike. She noticed he was floating there lifelessly, and she turned to Bloodwing and marched towards him slowly.
“So you’re Bloodwing, I presume?” she asked him in a rather relaxed tone, though her voice was so cold that her words sent shivers up the listeners’ spines.
Bloodwing gulped and smiled delightfully at the mare before him, “Why yes, I am. Twilight Sparkle, here in my presence. I remember when you were a filly, seeing you achieve the one thing I was researching my whole life!” he joyfully shrieked at her, but he was met with only cold eyes. “You ascended! At the mere age of twelve, you did something that was thought to be impossible! You became a creator, though flawed in your creation,” he added as an aside as he walked towards the glass orb Spike was in. “This construct you created carries so much magic in it you can’t possibly imagine! Do you realize that with this, I can finally finish my research to elevate ponies to become alicorns! Or even create life itself and-”
“Give. Me. Back. My. Son!”
“Oh, come now,” the pegasus chastised. “Surely a mare of magic like yourself can see...”
Twilight didn’t let him finish. She fired her strongest blast of magic straight at Bloodwing, hoping to end it right here and now.
Sadly, Black was too fast. In a split second he was between his employer and his attacker, his newly acquired horn getting a workout as it summoned a shield around the two of them. The former earth pony buckled and strained, but he managed to block the attack successfully.
“Now, see? Just like Celestia, you let those frivolous emotions get in the way of progress. Not that she matters anymore. Before long, she won’t be anything special.”
“I think you’re forgetting something,” Shining Armor pointed out. “There’s eight of us versus three of you. It won’t be a problem.”
“Au Contraire, Captain Armor,” the scientist tsked. “My soldiers have been upgraded in more ways than one. Show them.”
Smiling with unrepentant sadism, Black lit up his horn. What came out was lightning that was pitch black, the surreal attack flying forward and causing the group to scatter.
Twilight and Pinkie were the first to react. Going off of pure instinct and only thinking of her son that was trapped behind the obstacles, she threw out attack after attack, hoping to find a chink in the armor. No such luck; Black blocked each one with ease.
Pinkie had her Party Cannon out and ready, but before she could fire, Applejack stopped her. “Stick to th’ plan, remember?”
“Ohh, right,” the earth pony chuckled, moving her aim toward Yellow.
Black, meanwhile, was caught off guard by Shining Armor barreling into him and tackling him to the ground. Black threw magic wildly, but the few attacks that connected were negated by Shining’s own defensive magic.
Now free of her obstacle, Twilight ran toward Bloodwing, shrieking like a madpony at her hated enemy.
“No, Twilight!” Blaze called. “Wait!”
And then, suddenly, she couldn’t move.
“Now see?” Bloodwing said sadly. “Look at what I’ve done just because you rushed in.”
Twilight stood still in place, unable to move a single muscle at all. Only her eyes could move, and they looked around frantically. Suddenly, she felt her hind legs bend to a kneel and her legs buckle in place. She tried to move her head, but was unsuccessful in doing so.
“Twily?!” Shining Armor shouted out to his sister, but he could not do anything for her at the moment since he was preoccupied with a hostile alicorn.
Twilight saw Bloodwing walk slowly up to her, and he raised a hoof in the air slowly. Her body was pulled up into the air, levitating in place. No magic aura surrounded her, yet it felt she was being pulled by invisible strings, and the puppeteer was standing before her, smiling sadistically.
“I assume you figured out what my ability is, right?” he asked her, but he was met with only a glare from Twilight. “My ability is to control blood, my blood and my enemies’ blood,” he said nonchalantly. As he moved his hoof through the air, Twilight’s body followed it. “Marvellous, isn’t it? So many years of research went into this, and with your help, I can finally achieve what I always wanted. Ascension, my dear child... ascension will bring me closer to knowing everything and performing anything that even those old hags couldn’t-”
Rainbow kicked him hard in the face as she came flying in, sending Bloodwing flying and releasing Twilight from his grasp. Rainbow caught Twilight before she collided with the floor, and gently placed her on the ground. She then turned her attention to Bloodwing who was dusting himself off from the attack on him, “You talk way too much, even by my standards,” Rainbow growled as she moved to stand next to Twilight, crouched and ready to fight the threat before her.
Bloodwing stood there, aggravation showing on his face as he frowned at the pegasus before him. The one side of his mouth was bleeding slightly, with a slight bruise quickly forming from the kick. He let out a grin and proceeded to lick the side of his cheek that had blood on it.
“How disgusting!” Rarity shouted in horror as she rushed to her friends’ aid.
Bloodwing began to chuckle slightly, before it turned to mad laughter. “Ah, yes. Rainbow Dash. Primary provider of the Subjects. Your role is done, little filly,” he said to her mockingly.
Rainbow stood there in confusion as she raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean? What subjects? You mean Scootaloo?”
“Subject Ten especially, yes. You were such a good genetic base for it, but she’s obsolete now. And quite frankly, so are you.”
At that moment Yellow, tired of just watching, decided to act. She grabbed her rival from behind and began surging electricity through herself, intent on frying her opponent.
But Rainbow Dash was ready this time. She brought her front knee down onto Yellow’s stomach, catching her off guard and knocking the wind out of her. Before Yellow had had a chance to recover, the cyan mare drove a hoof across her face.
Yellow recovered quickly and flew up. Rainbow Dash followed her up, not letting her get away a second time. Fluttershy, though scared, followed as well. Seeing this, Yellow shot lightning out of both of her front hooves, hoping to shock them both. The pair dodged, and Rainbow Dash flew forward, striking Yellow from behind and sending her up, crashing into the ceiling.
Gulping, Fluttershy looked to the ground. “Um, Blaze, could you give us a hoof... um, if you don’t mind...?”
“I’ve got a score to settle,” the pegasus noted, lighting up his fire. He then shot a blaze directly at Bloodwing. The scientist moved, jumping into the air. Quickly calculating his trajectory, Twilight fired another magical blast. This one had a true aim; it struck Bloodwing in the chest, sending him back into the wall.
With their hated enemy down, Twilight began running for the machine, while Blaze channeled all his might into flames aimed at the scientist.
Twilight made it halfway to the machine before she was stopped again, her body moving against itself. She was forced to turn and light up her horn, which pointed straight at Blaze.
Twilight couldn’t even call out and warn him as the shot fired.
It hit Blaze, catching him completely off guard as he fell forward. Bloodwing got up, slightly hurt from the magic attack that came from Twilight.
“You think that I’d allow my own creations to hurt me? I know how to summon magic shielding as well. I’m not as advanced as Shining Armor, but I get the job done.”
Blaze just smirked at Bloodwing. “Well, you didn’t create me, now, did you? You just tampered with me and got me into a contract,” he said to Bloodwing, and in the blink of an eye he appeared before him. “Which is now null and void!” Before Bloodwing could react, Blaze took hold of Bloodwing and decided to use what knowledge he had on hoof-to-hoof combat on him. “Go, Twilight! I’ll keep him busy!” he shouted to Twilight as he continued to fight Bloodwing with all he had.
Twilight ran up to the machine Spike was trapped in, and started using her magic on it. The machine started to glow in a purple aura but it suddenly shocked her and sent her skidding on the floor. “Magic repulsion?!” she asked herself out loud, and noticed Spike’s body being shocked more in the orb in he was in. Before she could react, she saw another orb containing a purple glowing substance and began to panic. She got up on the floor and frantically ran up the machine again.
“You better pay attention to your enemies, bitch!”
Twilight head shot up to the sound of Yellow, flying at her with lightning speed. Before she could reach the distraught Twilight, she was met by Rainbow Dash, who tackled her hard and they both crashed through a wooden door. Rarity and Applejack ran after them into the room, hoping to help Rainbow against the electric mayhem.
“Which room do you think they would be holding Spike in, Light?” Scootaloo asked Light as they were walking through the corridors of Bloodwing’s lair. If it was not for Light being with her, she would not have known how to open the secret door to the lair, let alone find its location.
Light shrugged at the question given to him, “If my memory is right, the center lab would be the best bet. That’s where he did all those freaky experiments. At least that what my bro said,” he told Scootaloo as he frowned slightly at the memory of seeing his older brother in pain after an experiment.
Scootaloo bit her lower lip and placed a hoof on his shoulder, “Hey, I’m sure Blaze will be okay. You said he’s strong and-” Scootaloo suddenly yelped and grabbed hold of Light, hugging him and looking scared.
Light was baffled for a second before blushing madly at Scootaloo’s action. He saw Scootaloo turning to him and as they both blinked twice, she let go of him fast and both tapped a hoof awkwardly on the floor. “What was that for?” he asked her innocently.
Scootaloo turned to him, still flushing red on her face. “A spider touched me,” she said sheepishly.
“You’re afraid of spiders?” he asked, somewhat amused. “You’re an alicorn.”
“So? Spiders are still creepy and disgusting.”
Light couldn’t help but smirk. “Relax, it’s gone,” he assured. “Come on, I think it’s down this way.”
The two foals continued walking down the corridor, down the hallways, making turns at the colt’s instructions. Finally, they came to a metal door.
“This looks like it,” Light noted. “Help me get it open.”
The two foals pushed at the door. After a few moment, it came loose, slowly showing the room inside.
Scootaloo let out a scream. It took Light a second to look inside and see why.
The room held no Spike, but it was filled with tanks. Each of them was filled with a haunting green liquid. And submerged in this liquid was a pony.
Every tank had a pony. All three types were present; unicorn, pegasus, and earth ponies in equal amount. However, none of these ponies were complete.
Some were missing eyes and a jaw, others legs. One unicorn had a horn only partly grown, a pegasus only one wing. Some were still in a fetal stage, some had strange veins all over their faces, and some seemed perfectly normal.
“What the?” Scootaloo uttered.
“...Bloodwing’s failed experiments,” Light gulped. “Blaze told me about them.”
“Wh... why keep them around?” Scootaloo asked, feeling sick.
“To learn from his mistakes. That’s what Blaze told me.” He looked around the room a bit, trying to keep his stomach from ejecting its contents. “Look, there’s a desk, maybe there’s a map of the lab there.”
The two foals rushed over to find a mess of papers littering the desk. Scootaloo began rummaging through them, but Light actually took the time to read through. One particular binding of notes has the title “Project Ascension” on it, and Light read the contents out loud since Scootaloo was not engrossed in reading it.
“Experiment 1337: Failure to grow eyes and heart properly. Experiment 1338: Failure to sprout wings. Experiment 1339: Died three days after removal. Experiment 1340: Success!
“After several months, an experiment has sustained life significantly. Only the tenth to do so; I will name this one Subject 10... Scootaloo? I think that’s you.”
Scared, Scootaloo took the paper and read. “The donation from Rainbow Dash has led to the best results. Soon, I plan to add the unicorn components from one Twilight Sparkle, as well as the earth pony components from...”
And then there was a crash. Two pegasi came tumbling in the room, each one having their hooves on each other’s throats. Once they stopped rolling, Rainbow Dash ended up on top, and used her advantage to repeatedly punch Yellow’s face in as she lay on the floor, each hit echoing in the room. Before she could slam her hoof down again, she was met with the hind legs of Yellow on her gut and kicked off hard into a glass tank. The glass shattered on contact, releasing the green substance and the experiment it held. The experiment fell on Rainbow, who looked at it with disgust and horror and hastily pushed it away. She then looked around her and saw the other tanks that were in the room.
“What the buck is this place?!”
As she zoomed her head across the room, she saw a desk on the one side. She was shocked to see two familiar ponies behind the desk.
“Scootaloo! Light! What’re you two doing back here!?” she shouted out to them as she tried to rid herself of the green substance that seemed to stain her coat.
Yellow looked curiously at the two foals and began to giggle uncontrollably. “Well, well... the little Subject Ten finally came back to her birthplace. Do you wanna meet your mommy?” she asked Scootaloo mockingly, and then pointed a hoof to Rainbow Dash. “Ta-da! Amazing how the one pony you idolized is the same pony who helped bring you into this world, hey? Life is just full of ironies and surprises.”
Scootaloo started hyperventilating. More memories started to overflow her mind, memories long forgotten. Memories of her being in a tank, of her being released and of her learning to walk. Each memory had the face of Bloodwing and his sick smile and how she was referred to as Subject Ten. One memory showed how she escaped, how she used what speed she had in her legs to evade Bloodwing’s henchponies. Another memory found her at a town that had the sign “Ponyville” on it and how she saw a scooter for the first time in her life, thinking it was the most amazing contraption ever, with it having the brand “Scootaloo” on it. The most prominent memory was meeting Rainbow Dash for the first time in her life.
“Say kid, what’s your name?” Rainbow asked the orange filly as she hovered about her.
“S-scootaloo.”
“Scootaloo? Like the scooters? That’s kinda cool...”
“Cool?” Scootaloo asked her curiously as she looked at the rainbow maned mare before her in awe.
Rainbow chuckled softly. “Yeah, you’re cool I’d say. Second only to me of course!”
Scootaloo turned her head sideways. “You?”
Rainbow hit her hoof on her chest proudly. “My name’s Rainbow Dash! The fastest and most awesome pegasus in all of Equestria! Soon to be the Greatest Wonderbolt of all time!” she said with pride as she flew higher, seeing Scootaloo look at her with wonder. Though when she took a closer look at Scootaloo, she noticed her ribs were showing. “Kid, you look very hungry,” she said as she lowered herself to the floor and scooped up the surprised filly and placed her onto her back. “Hold on tight, this is gonna be a fast ride!” she said to the filly as she zoomed away to the Sugarcube Corner, with Scootaloo holding her neck as she flew.
Rainbow Dash wrestled Yellow to the ground, yelling at Scootaloo. “Get out of here!” she cried. “Get to safety!”
Scootaloo didn’t respond, she was still in shock at the flood of memories.
“Hurry, before...”
Yellow began charging up, but by now Dash had learned to recognize this and quickly flew up, dodging the lightning blast. She then flew down hoof first, knocking her in the stomach. Yellow coughed, trying to catch the breath that had just been knocked out of her.
“Get out!” Rainbow Dash yelled again.
“Come on!” Light yelled, dragging Scootaloo toward the exit.
Pinkie came down through the opening Dash and Yellow had made, pushing her party cannon in front of her. She pointed it toward the recovering pegasus.
“That’s it,” Yellow growled, getting up slowly. “I am going to bucking kill...”
And then Pinkie fired.
What came out wasn’t a ball of confetti, or glitter, or even cake batter; but a strange, sticky substance that engulfed the crazed experiment. The material pinned her to the ground, much to her displeasure.
“Huh? Wh-what the?” she said, vainly struggling against her bonds. “What is this?”
“Rubber!” Pinkie cheered. “Twilight made it!”
“What?” Yellow screamed. She tried to charge and fire her lightning, but the rubber kept the attacks in check. “You little...”
But Pinkie never found out exactly what she was, as Yellow was promptly silenced by a quick hoof to the face from Rainbow Dash, which knocked her out cold. “That’s that!”
Fluttershy entered the room and shrieked softly as she clamped her hoof on her mouth to the horrors that met her eyes. She spotted Rainbow and flew over to her quickly. “Rainbow! Are you ok?” she asked meekly, eyes flicking over the numerous injuries on her friend.
Rainbow waved a hoof at her. “I’ll be fine, Shy, ok? You and Pinkie go back to Twilight and the others. I’m going to find Scootaloo and make sure she’s safe.”
“Ooh! I’m going to go with you! We can...”
“No,” the pegasus said quickly. “You need to go provide backup.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Twilight is strong, she can take care of things. She wouldn’t want us to leave those poor foals alone.”
Rainbow paused, then sighed. “Fine...but as soon as they’re safe, we get back there.”