"S-Stop... stop. S-stop laughing." Rainbow giggled in her slumber, lying on one of the medical lab's beds. A cloaked figure was kneeled next to her, staring at her face from a few inches away.
"Must you get so close to her, Reaper?" Nightmare scoffed, staring down at him from the other side of the bed.
"I'm bored, so I'm trying to count the creases and wrinkles on her face. She's been laughing for the last hour or so since she got dragged in here." Reaper quirked his mouth up at the side, Scarlet resting on his back.
"And?"
"I'm up to twelve, but she keeps moving." Reaper grimaced, trying to keep his eyes on his newest target, but the crazed grin kept growing and shrinking on the mare's face as she rolled about, moaning about laughter.
"Not the creases, you imbecile."
"No, I don't know what we're gonna do with her. Scootaloo hasn't shown up yet, so we're kinda stuck. You wanna join in? It's a good way to kill time." Reaper pulled his eyes away from Rainbow's face, smirking up at his partner.
"No, I'm not going to stare at some mare's face while she sleeps," Nightmare scoffed, turning her eyes to the ceiling, "So disgraceful..."
"Ohh, my apologies, Your Highness."
"Silence yourself, 'partner'."
Reaper simply rolled his eyes, standing up. He looked about the sparsely laid hospital room, as well as its mishmash of equipment; A few machines monitoring Rainbow Dash's condition, a sink or two, curtains strewn about the place in a random order, beds placed even more randomly... all in a sickly white coloring. "I hate hospitals... but this doc really takes the cake." Reaper placed his hands on his hips, a look of disgust plaguing his expression.
"Indeed. Doesn't seem like the most well-cared for operating area." Nightmare looked around as well, sitting down on the tiled floor. "Still, hospitals are quite vital..." her hoof ran down the line of the IV drip, a light gold liquid streaming through it.
"Doesn't really change them from coffins with timers on them." Reaper shook his head and set himself down at the foot of the bed, looking over at the door. "Any idea about how these guys operate?"
"The Princess has no proprietary knowledge of the Corporation, so I don't... little troubling, that."
The giggling echoed through the room again, Rainbow tossing and turning in her bed. The blankets shifted freely under Reaper as he leaned down on his knees, listening to the mare descend into mental chaos. Her hooves flailed over her, grasping one thing while trying to strangle another, seemingly doing four or five things at once. Nightmare simply kept her eyes on the thrashing mare, like a hawk watching its prey. Just in case she tries to escape...
Reaper placed his chin on his hand, tapping his knee in boredom as his eyes turned back to Rainbow, starting to count again. "One, two, three, four... oh, stop moving, you stupid pony," he growled, feeling the urge to just grab the grinning face and hold it still so he could count. His hand twitched, eager to carry out the sub-conscious thought.
"It's a better challenge, Reaper, though I'm sure Luna doesn't approve of this behavior." Nightmare grimaced a bit, a very loud voice suddenly exploding in her mind, "In fact... she's giving me a headache about it right now." She rubbed her forehead, one of the prime battlegrounds of the voice as it threatened to tear her skull apart, ears drooping in pain.
"Right, right," Reaper grumbled, turning back to the door. "What's the plan then, partner?"
"I suspect that this 'pony' won't be missed if she were taken away right now. Only problem being how to get her out without causing a ruckus." Nightmare quirked her mouth in thought, looking at the back of Reaper's hood. The voice calmed a touch, but it still felt like bombs going off in her head.
"Nothing wrong with us cutting a path through... but something tells me you wouldn't be up to that." Reaper smirked, carrying on with his counting. One— no, one, two— oh, stop moving!
"Of course not. Even if we did get a sight of that... that dreadful machine, we aren't going to start carving a path through the factory for a way out. Silence is a virtue here." Nightmare's mouth quirked a bit as the memory of that crimson-painted behemoth silenced the voice crashing against her left temple. Then again, I can't say that machine would be very quiet in its work.
"Well, I'm waiting on a plan from ya. You, me and Luna can move quietly on our own pretty well." He looked over the walls of the hospital, frowning at the utter silence of the hall. "You'd think this place would have a lot more activity..."
"Given the operations here, they must not have a lot of staff. Makes sense that Rainbow here would go crazy."
"I think that was just from you popping up, partner." Reaper grinned as he looked over his shoulder, Nightmare's annoyed glare aimed back at him. "Oh come on, is it really so bad?"
"A bit, yes, when you're the embodiment of a Goddess' anger and jealousy."
"Hey, it makes you a great partner for Death. Better than residing over Life." A chuckle was added to his smug grin at the suggestion, pondering on it. Life is such a desk job... though seeing Nightmare Moon behind a desk, a pair of reading glasses on her? Pfff... that'd be a sight to see!
"The one thing I dread is being locked in one of Father's cells outside the universe, being forced to push pencils." Nightmare simply frowned at the prospect of such work; logistics for the universe could be left to Life and Order, she wanted absolutely no part in such nonsense. Besides, I work a scythe better than a pencil anyway.
Their eyes turned back to the door as hoofsteps echoed down the hall, the catwalks giving them proper fanfare with a loud 'clang, clang, clang'. "About time we had somepony come by. Time to hide, Reaper." Nightmare melted into the cloud below her, the last of her sentence flowing out in a hollow tone.
"Aye aye." Reaper nodded and grinned as he hopped off the bed and sank through the cloud floor, the top of Scarlet's handle passing through just as a pony walked in from the catwalk outside. A coat as red as new blood clashed against the white of his labcoat, a grey mane carrying a sense of aged wisdom, however matted and stained it was. The stale scent of formaldehyde and cleaning solution clung to him like a disease, but his expression held its cold, business-like scowl, experienced golden eyes turning to his patient.
"And so, we meet again, Miss Dash," he mumbled as his hooves quickly drew him to the thrashing mare, her blanket flailing about. His eyes moved over the needle stuck in her wrist, thankful that one of the helping hooves suggested three layers of medical tape; any less, and that needle would have been flung out faster than a cloud from one of the Factory's vents. His eyes remained locked on the numerous wires leading to different parts of Rainbow's head and chest as he reached out and grabbed a medical chart, looking it over. "Only twenty minutes, and your condition's degraded this much... perhaps Red Line is right in his decision." His eyes only grew more cold as they quested upward to the IV, filled with a potent painkiller that was supposed to keep her still and calm.
Another failure of the R&D department, it seemed. "Not sure why all our drugs have to be prepared in-house... it's an absurd notion. Our record is clean enough to still demand supplies from the civilian market, though demand would likely attract suspicion. I suppose it helps, however..." he mumbled, moving around to the other side of the crazy lady's bed, the golden spheres never leaving their target. "It is a sufficient amount. I should let her wake up first, however... hm."
His mouth quirked upward slightly as he looked back at the thrasher beside him, pondering on how to wake her up. Pull out her IV, the pain from the shock treatment comes back, she wakes up... but squeeze the bag, and she never has a chance to fight back... nice and clean. But it leaves a lot of questions. His hoof scratched at the light stubble of his chin, honestly considering whether or not to just follow through on his General Manager's orders immediately.
Two sets of eyes observed the doctor, careful not to disturb the clouds around them as their target reached out to the needle stuck in Rainbow's wrist, gently gripping it. He only had time to give it a light tug before the mare lurched up into a sitting position, grin vanishing into a horrified scowl, eyes snapped open to their widest, and a terrible screech tore through her throat, "Pinkie Pie!!! NOOOO!!!" She was immediately grabbed by the doctor and pressed back down onto the bed as her thrashing began anew, even getting a few hits in on her attacker's jaw.
"Calm down, Miss Dash! It's me, Dr. Atmosphere! Calm yourself!!" He shouted, trying to raise his voice over her mad screaming. She was lost in some delusion, eyes whipping about to invisible terrors as she fought to keep him, the room, everything away from her. Hyperventilation quickly took over as her imagination completely took over. "Oh, curses!" He grunted, taking another mighty punch to the jaw with a loud crack. His eyes quickly whipped to the IV, its golden liquid a greater savior than his own leg strength at the moment, and he quickly reached out with his teeth.
A squeeze of the bag brought the mare back under control as the rushing adrenaline brought the painkiller through her system, her breaths still coming short and ragged. The magenta orbs locked on her attacker, pinpricks perceiving him as barely a ghost. "W-W-Who-What-W-Where—"
"You're in the medical bay, Miss Dash. Now please, calm down." Atmosphere kept a tight grip on her as the flailing finally calmed down, Dash's breathing falling back under her control.
"D-Doc...?"
"Yes, Dr. Atmosphere. You're in a safe place now, so if you would mind not punching me in the face anymore...?"
"S-Sorry, ju-just, um... you l-looked like a m-monster," she stuttered, sweat pouring down her forehead, betraying the calm in her half-closed eyes. "Kinda... h-hard to breathe, though..."
"That would be the painkiller, Kastra." Atmosphere sighed, finally letting go and dropping his hooves to the floor.
"That... n-new stuff, right?" Rainbow groaned, bringing her forehooves up to her chest, the legs barely functioning. Atmosphere grimaced at the sight; pushed too much in, too quickly... this would create some problems.
"Yes. We had to test it on somepony, and you're always at the top of the subjects list. But that's not what I'm here to speak with you about," he spoke with a gruff tone, eyes turning back to Rainbow's face. She flopped her head onto its side, one eye managing to look back at him.
"What's up...?"
"Sir Red Line called me to his office about forty minutes ago to speak about your sudden outburst, and seeing Nightmare Moon. The drug used to keep you calm in this line of work is by no means experimental, so this outburst was attributed to mental instability." His brow fell slightly, "And mentally unstable employees must be handled properly."
"Wh- m-mentally unstable? I'm-I'm not crazy...!" Rainbow tried to raise her voice, but her lungs barely moved as she felt her body shutting down, part by part...
"You saw a ghost, Rainbow Dash. You've been reporting these sightings for the past two years now, and we've constantly related them to your quota gatherings, as the ghosts did match the descriptions of ponies that were killed. But this prospect is a new one, one that was brought on by sheer paranoia."
"S-So?"
"So? Rainbow, you're seeing things that have absolutely no relation to your work! You're going crazy!" Atmosphere's voice built in its assault, his expression degrading into one of anger, "You've always had problems working here, and it's a shocker to me that you've lasted this long."
"This l- no..."
"Rainbow Dash, Floor Manager of Spectra Production... heh." Atmosphere chuckled, a slight grin growing through his burning emotions at dismissing such a grandiose employee, "Never thought your career... would end like this, did you?"
"Y- H-He c-can't be firing..."
"He did. Rainbow Dash, by order of General Manager Red Line, with advisory from Head of Medical, Doctor Stratis Atmosphere... you are being let go."
"No! Y-You can't!"
"You've lead a stellar career here, my friend. It's a pain to see you go..."
Rainbow's eyes widened as her heart started to race, beating past the numbing effect of the Kastra dose. She watched the red hooves move up towards the pouch containing her calming liquid, threatening to cast the rest of it into her system... He's-he's gonna OD me! He's gonna kill me right here!!! She tried moving her legs, but the panicked dose by the doctor became her undoing; she could barely feel her chest expanding with each crazed breath, let alone her legs. "Please... d-don't do this... I-I don't wanna die..."
"Employees with your condition have only one way to be fired. Otherwise, it becomes a security and privacy risk for us... and our work is far too important to have close-minded individuals like the Royal Guard shutting our operations down." His eyes locked with hers, a spark of sympathy lit behind them, "I truly am sorry it had to end this way... but the death of your friend was obviously too much. And if you were released, you would break down and tell somepony the whole story... doesn't matter if they believe you or not. Those words will reach somepony who does believe it."
Rainbow's heart sank as the hooves made it to the IV bag, the reality of the few seconds left in her future hitting her like an angry pegasus to the chest. Her eyes shut hard as tears raced down to the bed under her, begging that these last few seconds become years... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die... I-I wanna see them again... Pinkie, Twilight, AJ, F-Fluttershy, Rarity... somepony, help me...
As if answering her prayers, another sinking feeling hit her... the kind she usually felt when diving through the air. "Huh...?"
"What the!?" Atmosphere shouted, Rainbow's eyes opening to see his figure disappearing, replaced quickly by white clouds... they raced past her at ever-increasing speed, growing darker as lightning struck between them.
"Am I... dead? Does an overdose kill somepony that quick?" She whispered as the bed fell away from under her, crashing into an open room off to her left. But the noise registered as a light 'pop' in her mind, the question of whether she was falling to Tartarus or not taking up all the room in her head. I'm falling... definitely falling... can't move my wings. Maybe somepony decided to 'fire' me with the ground... who would ask about a pegasus killing herself by making a mistake in her flight? Heh. Smart thinking, 'boss'. She smiled lightly as she pulled her head back into a nosedive, looking down through the racing clouds at... the green fields below?
Making a hole like this isn't possible, though... and making a trap door sys— Her thought was cut off by a sudden shout, two pegasi breaking their close formation as she raced through a catwalk... cleanly cut in two. This isn't a trap door! Somepony dug out a tunnel leading straight to the ground!! Her eyes turned back from the quickly-speeding-away catwalk back to the ground above—, er, below her, feeling a chill race down her spine. Black mist crept along beside her, moving quite quickly despite the random breaks and cracks in the thunderclouds around her; the only way the mist could even be seen was by the stars lit inside it...
"Well, that was a close call, wasn't it?" A voice moved into her mind, a sickly-smug mare's voice... one that chimed with a myriad of bells.
"N-N-Nightmare Moon?" Rainbow mumbled, screaming it inside her head.
"Yes indeed, my little 'pony'... like the tunnel I made?"
"You did... this?"
"Mmhmm. Wasn't that difficult... just had to expand my magic all the way to the bottom foundation, then evaporate it. Nothing beyond the Princess of the Night, wouldn't you agree?" A light giggle followed, bouncing around in Rainbow's stalled body and mind.
"Why...? W-Why are you...? A-Are you g-gonna kill me?"
"Kill you? Oh please. A murderer like you isn't even worth the effort." The mist flew out of the hole alongside Rainbow as the blue sky greeted them, starting their four thousand foot descent to the fields of Equestria, the fields that would become the pegasus' grave... "I gave you a way out."
"Way... out?"
"Yes. I granted you a path of escape, but I wish for something in return."
"I'm a dead mare anyway... so if you want me to do something, then hope it's something I can do in twenty seconds."
A new voice came to Rainbow in a scoff, something that crushed down on her heart like a weight, "Humph. Never thought I'd see you give up so quick."
"S... S-Scootaloo...? Is that you?"
"Yeah. Or did you suddenly forget the name of your student?" Two violet eyes appeared in front of Rainbow, an orange head and purple mane coalescing out of thin air around them, glaring bloody murder into her own eyes.
"Wh-What is this...? You're dead... y-you can't talk to me..."
"I can... though I'm having a lot of difficulty not just strangling the life out of you." The head moved back, pulling the ghostly body of Scootaloo away from Rainbow. "There's something I want you to do."
"What...? W-Why would I do something for you, failure?" Rainbow growled, feeling her wings and legs starting to wake up again; the rush of her blood must be processing it quicker than the Doc thought it would... the cold air tore past her as the green landscape drew closer.
"If you don't..." Nightmare spoke up, "Then I get to deal with you. And I have a lot more time to do what I wish than you believe."
"I want you to save yourself, Rainbow." Scootaloo folded her forelegs, wings open in a small delta to control her descent.
"Save myself...? What, you don't want your hero to die?"
"Oh, trust me. You're nothing but a piece of trash to me now... but you dying here? It'd leave a lot more hearts hurt than just mine." Scootaloo intensified her glare, "All those friends of yours...? Just like you took me from mine, you'd be taking yourself from yours. Some 'loyal' friend you turned out to be."
"Hey! I'm loyal! And I'm not dead yet!" Rainbow shouted, her wings slowly folding outward. Her roar of effort came far easier than the wings' cooperation, the muscles seeming to riot against her control, demanding that the ground steal everything away from her before the painkiller wore off.
She's gonna make it. No way she'd let her friends down like this... just vanish off the face of the earth... Scootaloo bit her lip, feeling her guts boil as the two pegasi plummeted to the ground, simply watching Rainbow's crazed efforts. Every scream set her stomach on fire, every twitch of her wings brought more heat to her mind, but that same hope of survival was latched to her... the hope that Rainbow would do the right thing before she met her end as well. Her eyes lifted towards the sprawling green, only coming closer, her hope starting to lose its grip in the screaming wind around them.
"C'mon wings, work! Work!" Rainbow demanded, screamed at the top of her lungs, her wings only barely registering their master's command. They spread further and further, panic firing through her as her eyes rose to the ground, her grave speeding to greet her in a bloody farewell. The adrenaline forced her system to work faster and faster, her nervous system firing signal after signal, oxygen pumping into the muscles as they were forced open.
"It's not enough. Darn it, think...!" She hissed, still pressing on her shoulder blades to work the wings. How do I get my wings working!? I'm nose diving, so it's gonna put me in a glide, but if I flipped over— that's it! Her eyes snapped back open, and on a prayer, flicked her head back. The force set her body perpendicular with her descent, and the force of the wind pushed her wings open the rest of the way. Hope surged through her as her wings forced her descent slower and slower.
The ground met her seconds later with a massive impact, the shock crushing her legs, and her belly followed soon after her muscles surrendered to the impact. "Agh!!" The breath shot from her lungs as her belly landed, still not quite slow enough to beg a soft landing. C'mon, Rainbow, y-you've suffered harder crashes than this. Get up... she bared her teeth as her legs moved, the Kastra starting to fade as her joints lit up. Her wings complained as they creaked, falling slack at her sides, but her system functioned as it should. "There... your hero survived, Scootaloo."
Scootaloo touched down softly in front of Rainbow, a polar opposite to the mare's injured and torn body. Gauze hung off her body in ripped strands, exposing patches of missing fur and flesh, blood pouring from freshly opened wounds on her legs and head. The only thing that still remotely looked like Rainbow Dash were her two eyes, the same beautiful eyes burrowing back into the pegasus' before her.
"Not yet, you haven't," Scootaloo calmly spoke, her words riding on silk compared to the ravaged road of Rainbow's voice.
"Whadya mean? I survived this. I survived the Factory, your death, everything up to this point! I even survived Atmosphere trying to kill me!" Rainbow took a step toward Scootaloo before her view was cut off by a black mist, coalescing into the shape of a pony. "Oh, crud..."
"Ladies, if we might take this somewhere else?" The mist moved where a mouth might be, two draconic emerald eyes turning upward. "And you may want to back away."
"Why?" Rainbow looked up as well, seeing a falling figure, black cloak fluttering in the wind. She jumped back as Reaper came in and crashed onto the ground, wind flaring out under him.
"That." Nightmare calmly moved back, half her body still flowing on a breeze. "So, Reaper, what's the plan?"
"I was thinking about that on my way down. Seems little Miss Dash here has a couple suitors." Reaper grinned as he looked up, standing up. "So we've got a few minutes before they come down here to check the impact out."
"Must be coming to check if I'm really dead." Rainbow frowned, eyes on the massive city high above, locked on the tiny dot of the tunnel she fell from. "What a surprise they'll get when they arrive..."
"Really dead?" Scootaloo raised her eyebrow, staring at Rainbow. "Guess they don't want you around anymore, huh?"
"That ain't the half of it. Not like it matters much to me, anyway. You challenged me to survive, and I did, so I'm outta here." Rainbow grunted as she turned, limping a bit to the beat of the cricking from her left foreleg. Stupid leg's busted...
"You haven't survived just yet, Rainbow..." Scootaloo looked over at Nightmare, wincing a bit at the sight of the primal terror, "Um... t-that is you, isn't it, Princess Luna?"
"She's here, yes, but I'm in control right now, child. I bear you no ill will, however, so you've nothing to fear. Seems you have something in plan for our 'friend' here, however," Nightmare spoke as her eyes turned back to the last of the rainbow-colored hairs of Dash's tail.
"Yeah. I can't go back to my friends and tell them what happened... so Dash is gonna do that for me."
The sky blue pegasus stopped dead in her tracks, eyes locked on one of the few trees in the clearing. "What'd you say...?"
"I said, you're gonna tell them what happened, Rainbow. I wasn't talking about surviving this fall..." Scootaloo got to her hooves, moving toward the hero she once respected as the greatest pegasus in the world, "I wasn't talking about the Factory, or that red psychopath, or me." Dash felt every step as Scootaloo drew closer, her ears falling further and further, "I wasn't talking about injuries, or killing anypony..."
The orange pegasus smiled as she leaned in to Rainbow's ear, the frigid air of death creeping over the bare flesh of the one who survived their altercation, "I was talking..."
"About your friends."
A vision flared in Rainbow's vision, her friends staring back at her. Rarity in absolute disgust, Twilight in shock, Applejack in disbelief, Fluttershy praying that she was lying, and Pinkie... Pinkie with the saddest look on her face that Rainbow could imagine. Her pupils shrank as the terror of confessing to her friends ripped through her heart, her lip quivered as she listened to their retorts.
"H-How could you, Rainbow Dash...?" Rarity would say, recoiling in a sickened instinct to get away.
"You... k-killed them?" Twilight would whisper, her hind legs surrendering as the weight of the world came down on her shoulders.
"Rainbow... y-you're kiddin'... right?" Applejack would suggest, as if in prayer that what she heard wasn't true, that it couldn't be true.
"Oh please, Celestia, let this be a lie... please, please, please..." Fluttershy would sob, hooves together in prayer to whatever deity she could think of.
And Pinkie would simply sit there, mane still puffed up... the last bastion as her coat lost its lustre, and her tail lost its fluff. And she'd simply stare at Rainbow, the silence between them as loud as river rapids, every wave slamming into Rainbow harder than the last. The silence would last for an eternity, everypony's eyes on her, until she finally mustered up the strength to utter a few words, barely any louder than the sobbing pegasus beside her.
"Why, Rainbow...? They were just kids... th-they can't h-have fun... i-if t-they're dead..." Pinkie's tears would fall like bombshells as she finally broke down, all of them gathering in a group hug to support each other. Every eye would turn on Rainbow, judging her, questioning her, damning her to the deepest pits of Tartarus. The eyes burned with a fire she'd only ever felt when staring down an angry dragon, fire spreading across her body as they spoke.
"Murderer," Rarity spat out, trying to console her friend.
"Monster!" Twilight screeched, putting herself between Rainbow and the rest of the group.
"Don't even know why I wanted t' deny what you did as the truth." AJ simply glared at Rainbow, the force of it blowing away her wings.
Fluttershy simply cried onto Pinkie's shoulder, "Why!? They were all kids! T-They never even had a chance to live!"
The four mares would wail in their sorrow and prayers for the lost as Twilight's horn glowed, her eyes turning white from the power surging through her. Her teeth bared as the ground shattered under her, rage fueling her magic to the point of cracking her horn. "Demons like you have no place in Equestria!!"
And with a flash of light...
"AHHHHHHH!!!!" Rainbow screamed, falling to the ground with a loud thud. Her hooves flailed as she tried to put out the fire, her entire body being obliterated by the raw magic fired from Twilight. She fought and fought, thousands of judging eyes appearing above her, all calling her 'murderer', 'monster', 'abomination', 'evil'...
'Traitor.'
With the final word running through her heart like a dagger, she froze, gaze locked on the eyes that called her such a thing. The violet in them shone like two Suns in the sky, the typhoon of darkness swirling around Rainbow giving way to show an orange body and head, violet mane hanging just over one of the eyes...
"You've gotta survive that, Rainbow. That's my demand," the eyes said, the voice immediately familiar to Rainbow. She wanted to strike out against the eyes, the voice, she wanted to run, she wanted to just bury herself underground and die... but her body wouldn't respond. Nothing would pull her from that glare, the light of her mission. Nothing would stop the wailing screams of a thousand children in her ears, a horrific banshee's cry as each of them were committed to the superfluous need for rainbows. Nothing would stop her heart from burning under the glares of the seven giants above her, Scootaloo, the other Elements, and Luna, all assembled around her like monoliths.
"Confess to them... and bring the entire system down," Luna and Scootaloo spoke at the same time, their voices mixing into something warped.
"B-But... I can't betray t-the Flock..."
"What good is Loyalty, if it isn't devoted to something that seeks the good of the entire country, Rainbow Dash?" Luna asked, leering down into Dash's forehead.
"L-Loyalty... m-my L-Loyalty is t-to pegasi, to Cloudsdale!" Rainbow forced her lungs to work, having to take over for her seized body automation.
"Was it not once to Equestria?" The Princess raised her eyebrow, the towering ponies all digging into the tiny pony between them.
"It-it w-was... b-but—"
"Then did you not betray Equestria by beginning this?"
"I-I had no choice!" Rainbow's tears finally began to flow, the agony becoming far too much, "I couldn't choose between Equestria and my home city when they came to me! T-They wanted my Sonic Rainboom, but I couldn't do it!! I just c-couldn't do it!!"
"So... the mighty, Invincible Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, has been reduced to a mere weapon for use by a corrupt corporation?" Luna shook her head, her sigh a heavy hurricane that crushed Dash into the ground, "Pathetic."
"I... I-I c-can't..." Dash squeaked, curling up into a ball, "I can't confess to them... t-they'll hate me... n-nopony b-but them l-loves me..."
"I did..." Scootaloo whispered, her glare weakening to a simple, pitying stare, "I respected you as a hero, Rainbow. When you offered to help me learn flying for my entrance exam into school, I was ecstatic... our training was hard, and you were a rough coach, but I thought we connected."
"We... w-we did..." Dash whimpered, trying to look back to the filly that looked up to her.
"I still remember your face when I told you I was accepted. You had this massive, prideful grin on your face. Scruffed up my mane..."
"I... told you that you couldn't s-stop there... t-that you had to keep reaching..." Dash smirked a bit, looking back to the time she saw that gold-sealed letter. I w-was never h-happier...
"Or else I'd never achieve my dreams." Scootaloo smiled, the giants vanishing one by one as she shrank, coming closer to Rainbow's face, "You taught me to keep fighting for what I want... what I need in life, Rainbow Dash."
"Something you c-can't live life without..." Dash looked back up into the violet eyes just above her, reality leaking back in.
"But you can't keep living a lie, Dash... no matter how much it hurts."
"B-But... I've already done too much..." Dash looked away, the entire world still a bleak cloud of black to her.
"It's not too late. You can still save yourself, and bring down the other stallions and mares up there." Scootaloo whispered, pulling Rainbow up into a sitting position. The two were nearly the same height, Scootaloo having grown into a wonderful young mare. The two simply stared into each other's eyes, the magenta orbs filled with the pain of a decade of torture.
"Scootaloo... what've I done? H-How could I kill you?" Dash fought against herself, trying to maintain eye contact.
"I can't answer that. It's something you have to find yourself." Scootaloo reached out and scooped up one of Dash's forehooves, her leg surprisingly not hurting anymore. "I just hope the answer comes when you speak with your friends."
"I-I can't do that, Scootaloo. I've done this for ten years, ever since I performed my first Sonic Rainboom... I let my loyalty to Cloudsdale, to supporting their reputation against Canterlot and the Earth ponies blind me. I don't wanna drag anypony down with me..." Dash set her eyes on her cupped hoof, held between Scootaloo's own forehooves. "I can't betray them..."
"This isn't a betrayal anymore, Dash. This is justice." Scootaloo kept her eyes on Dash's, "Don't let those who died carry on in their sadness. Give them that one last spark of light..."
"Light for what, Scootaloo? What do you want me to show them?" Dash whispered, eyes set on the ground.
"Show them..." Scootaloo leaned up to Rainbow's ear, drawing her into a hug, "That there's still something good in the world... show them that they don't have to fear their home, in order to make it proud."
"Show them that everypony can redeem themselves."
Dash simply placed her chin on Scootaloo's shoulder, basking in the warmth of the hug. Even after everything I've done... didn't she want me dead? Doesn't she want revenge, or punishment for what happened to her? Her eyes closed with a sigh, her body refusing to return the hug. "Scootaloo..."
"Mm?" The two bodies didn't move, Scootaloo simply looking off into the darkness behind Dash.
"What do you want me to do?"
"... I want you to show me... that I still have a hero to look up to, Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo's eyes closed, a single tear running down her cheek, "Orion's already here with me... but I want my friends to know... I want everypony to know that this won't happen to anypony again."
"What can one pony do, though?"
"She can do as much as she can. Confess to your friends, Rainbow, and to the Princesses. Give them all a reason to look at Cloudsdale and see the evil within. Purify our home city," Scootaloo whispered, leaning back to look at Dash, "Be the hero I know you can be."
Dash blinked, simply staring into the ground before her, the swimming torrent of shadows bearing no answer for her. Can I be that hero, though? Just turn my back on Atmosphere, Red Line, Steady Wave, all of them? Just... take a dagger and put it in their backs? She squinted her eyes slightly. All this time, I've been killing pegasi because they didn't suit Cloudsdale's needs. Even though some of them were being sent to the Earthbound Camp, many were just being treated as garbage. But what about me? And Fluttershy? We never even took the exam, let alone pass it... Spitfire got out of the system, along with the rest of the Wonderbolts. Dad works with the Guard, even though he was sent off to the Camp... and Mom...
Dash took a shaky breath, smiling lightly, "Alright, Squirt. I've been killing ponies most of my life, so there's no way I'm getting out of being punished..." The smile grew into a strong grin, brow furrowing, "But I'll be Discorded before I let those other murderers get away scott-free."
"Heh. That's my Rainbow..." Scootaloo smiled, moving out of her hug and backing away into the dark. "You should wake up now, though..."
Rainbow blinked a few times, each one bringing more clarity to her surroundings...