//------------------------------// // Awoken // Story: End of the Rainbow (Factory) // by alexanderhunt88 //------------------------------// Huh? Where am I? Scootaloo weakly opened her eyes to take in her surroundings, her body faint; and was surely surprised by what she saw: She was in a room, a bed to be more precise. She could see that she was in a cloud house (which was easily identifiable by the house being made out of clouds). As she looked around the room she could see it was somepony's bedroom; a closet stood on the side opposite her bed, clothes littered the floor untidily and simple desk sat near her bed. Posters unkempt stuck to the walls, stuck up in a random fashion. A door faced her, opposite her bed. Scootaloo tried to stand up from her bed; she needed to move, but quickly found herself falling back down as a painful surge ran across her body. Scootaloo quenched her body as she lay back down. Ow. That hurt. Scootaloo stroked her chest to help relive the pain she just felt over the covers, but the then felt a strange feeling from underneath. She pulled up the covers to relieve that her chest was covered in bandages. Where did these come from? They weren't here before. Wait. Where am I? The pegasus pony remembered. An odd time to remember, it would seem, but she remembered nonetheless. She remembered it all. She remembered too much. She had to stop thinking just to collect her thoughts. She remembered what happened to her before; captured, and ready to be killed by the bone pony she admired: Rainbow Dash. Why did she do that? That wasn't the Rainbow Dash I knew- she couldn't be, but, she was. Why? Why Why Why Why Why Scootaloo, awakening from her shocking memory, realised she was crying, hugging, the pillow she rested her head on. "No" she assured herself quietly "No. No more crying, Scootaloo, she betrayed your trust, don't cry for her." And yet, she sadly still was. "Go away, you stupid tears" she berated to her eyes. "Stop thinking about her brain, I need to think about the rest of what happened. I need to know." As suddenly as it appeared, it stopped. Her thoughts on Dash were gone, leaving her to think about what she wanted to think about. Scootaloo then closed her eyes allowing her to be perfectly alone with herself. As she thought back, it didn't take her long to remember how she was saved; that was the thing she wanted to know about. She remembered almost perfectly the sight of a mysterious, armored pegasus swooping down the factory from out of nowhere, and him yelling, no, ordering, Scootaloo to be released. This was a memory she would not soon forget. Who...was he? And why did he...help me? She remembered how he took out those three guards in one go; with just a swipe from his wings. And his name: Soar Soar. That name. Who was he. Could that be his real name. No, couldn't be, it's seems too short for a name. But it seems so familiar, like i've heard it somewhere before. The rest of the guards came next, and, just like before, he took them down without any problems. Just, how was he able to...wait... Her That other pony. The mare that appeared behind her. Her name; Ditz Ditz, the pony that took out Rainbow Dash without anypony even knowing she was there. Scootaloo wondered how she was able to sneak into the factory. The stallion crashed in, so maybe she snuck in when all the commotion was turned to him. Or maybe she was in the factory the whole time. That was not the only thing she remembered clearly about her, Scootaloo remembered how she acted so Kind She was acting so motherly. So gentle. She took out...her... in one go, like a fully trained Celestia guard, but she was as soft as a mother to her daughter. She was so...off. She, perhaps, treated Scootaloo in that short time than, anypony else did in the whole time Scootaloo was in the factory. She even "cried" Scootaloo realised She cried. For me. No. She cried fro everypony. Everypony who fell victim to that...Celestia forsaken place. She cried for everypony who died. "I got saved" Scootaloo said to herself "by a badass...and a mother" "What?" Scootaloo, though not contempt on removing from her thoughts what she had just realised, when back to her memories. Then more guards came; there was yelling, and then they escaped. Ditz carried me out, and the pony was- Scootaloo's eyes opened suddenly, trembling with fear, as she realised what Soar had done Soar was.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Soar was...Soar was..." The words were stuck in Scootaloo's throat; she was having trouble to bring her mouth what her brain wanted to say. "Soar was...carrying...Rainbow Dash?" She remembered back to when she had escaped from the factory, and was being carried by the mare known as Ditz. As she was being carried away Scootaloo weakly, and just barely, managed to see a simple image in front of her. It was Soar. But that was not what was troubling her: It was what he had in his hooves. Blury, and almost impossible to make out, but she did indeed see a blue...blob with a small patch of multi-coloured...string coming off it. To a normal pony in her position, they would be able to figure out what that was. But to Scootaloo, she knew exactly what it was. She had only a second to look before she blacked-out, but it was all she needed. "No" Scootaloo whispered out "No!" she said "NO!!!" she screamed out loud "NONONONONONONONOOOOO!!!!" How could he? Why would he? Doesn't he know what he has done? Why didn't you just leave her there? She was... she. She's a monster. Why....take her? Scootaloo was brought out of her devastating realisation by a sudden knock on the door. "Hello. Are you awake?" Came a voice from behind the door. Tartarus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scootaloo's heart thumped so hard in her chest it felt like it would ultimately burst out. Oh no! What do I do! I'm trapped! They're gonna...wait... "Hello" the voice repeated "Yes" Scootaloo answered Why am I scared? Stupid Scootaloo she berated herself "May we come in?" the voice asked softly "Yes" Scootaloo recognised that voice: the voice of the mare that saved her. Scootaloo watched the door open, to reveal, as she was correct, the mare that saved her walked in. "Is everything okay?" She asked as she stepped in. The voice belonged to a grey pegasus with a blonde mane and a cutie mark composed of bubbles (of all things), along with a peculiar set of criss-crossing eyes. "Yes" Scootaloo said, her heart now fully calmed down as she saw the smile on the mare's face; it was the kind of smile a mother takes on when giving sympathy to her child. "Good to know" came another voice, diverting Scootaloo's eyes to another pegasus, this one coming from behind the mare. Scootaloo could see the other voice belonged to a pegasus stallion with a light blue body, dark blue mane and a winged bolt as his cutie mark. "Where...am I?" Scootaloo asked cautiously, after both of the two ponies stopped at the side of the bed. "Home" said the mare. "My home, to be exact" the stallion stated matter-of-factly. "What happened?" Scootaloo asked as she tried to sit up, but found herself being stopped by the mare's hoof as she gently pushed Scootaloo's head backed down to the pillow. "Rest" said the mare "You need it". "Don't you remember what happened?" the stallion asked quizzically. "Yes" she answered, but couldn't hold back her eyes from making tears. "Soarin!" the mare berated to him, turning her head to gaze angrily at him, before turning back to Scootaloo."Then don't" she said to her. "Sorry" the stallion, now named as Soarin, said guiltily "Didn't mean to." "Wait....Soarin? As in the Wonderbolts Soarin?" Scootaloo asked, seemingly forgetting she was crying not a moment earlier. "Yes. You know me?" Soarin asked. "You are one of the Wonderbolts. Of course I know you" excitement appearing in her voice "who doesn't?" "Well-" "Enough!" the grey mare interrupted. Before Scootaloo could interject, the mare looked straight at her, the expression on her face telling her she knew best. "You need to rest now" she said calmly "But" Scootaloo tried to ask again, "what about-" "Rest" she repeated simply Scootaloo, no longer wanting to talk back, quietly retracted herself back into the covers, signalling she was ready to sleep. At this motion, both Soarin and the unnamed mare walked out, closing the door behind them as they did so. Scootaloo was now alone to her thoughts, but she didn't want to be; everything she had remembered- the only things she could remember- had caused her nothing but pain and misery. She didn't want to think, and so she didn't now, as she almost immediately fell asleep. She was weak. And she knew it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just outside the door The two ponies left the room and walked down the hallway, not ushering a word until they were out of earshot of the young pegasus. "What do we do know" the mare asked as they walked down the corridor of the house. "The same plan thing we had from the start" Soarin replied flatly "We just was a little side-tracked, that's all" "That's all? That's all!" her voice now a barely contained anger. "You knew what the plan was, YOU were the one who thought of it!" She stopped walking. "I don't see what the problem is" Soarin stated, he too stopped walking and turned round to look at the mare. "You don't see what the problem is?" She said in an almost mocking tone. "The plan, Soarin, the plan-" "DERPY!" Soarin yelled out. The mare, now called Derpy, froze up at his yell, never before had he yelled out directly at her. He said nothing more, and continued walking down the corridor as if nothing happened. "But" Derpy ushered out, trying to think of something to stop him, but nothing came out, until she thought "What about the other her? Why did you..." she trailed off.