Raptor peered over the edge of his newly found outcropping, peering into the crowed of ponies all chattering amongst one another. All of them frightened or confused. He noticed his three friends amongst them. Amid the crowed the was a circle of no pony, except one. He…or she…laid on the metallic floor in a pile of crimson that seemed to have crept from their destroyed cranium. Their body was twisted and contorted as if they had fallen a great distance and landed on their head. With disgust Raptor shook his head from the gore and looked a the stage. It was clear of anyone. Around the edge of the room stood masked guards with tasers lopped into their belts. It confounded the Human how they had such power to kill with non-lethal weapons. He checked his G36 to ensure proper functionality. After all, he needed to be ready for anything in here.
As he tried to realign his scope, one of the guards yelled out, “Attention up front!” Raptor, with all the young flyers, looked at the stage. The guard that had shouted stood at the base of the ramp that ran down under the stage. The doors on the stage nearest Raptor opened and a few more ponies walked out, all of them dressed rather officially and nice, except one. That particular one was dressed in the familiar attire of the one masking their identity.
The light brown one of the group stepped to the center of the stage and scanned the glaring crowed. Their hatred seemed to fuel his glee. Raptor tried to figure out who this was. It wasn’t Atmosphere, it’s not Velocity, so who is it? They must not have been very important as they didn’t introduce them self to the collected failures before speaking. Raptor rationalized that no one would introduce themselves to a pile of mud.
“I can assume by now you all have realized you’re not being deported. As a matter of fact, there is no deportation. You all are here, and will stay here forever. To feed an idea imagined only by the great Commander Hurricane. You see, he gave us this idea long before Discord took over the land. And after Celestia and Luna began their reign, we started this to fuel the much desired and sought after rainbows. You, mules, have been brought into the Rainbow Factory!” he smiled with glee as he held a hoof over his head towards the device behind him. “You may be mules, but you are far from useless. Don’t listen to Atmosphere should he ever get the chance to call you that again. After all, without you all, there are no rainbows to be spread across Equestria! How exciting right?”
He scanned their faces. No one spoke. No one moved. Only silent, unending hate beamed back at him. “I know it’s so exciting it leaves me speechless as well.”
“You can’t do this!” one brave pegasus bellowed from the crowed. “Celestia and Luna would never allow such torture!”
“Torture? The masked pegasus said with a laugh. The brown pony that had been speaking receded as the masked one approached the ones below.
She was doing as she was told. That’s all that ran through her mind as she began to speak. She HAD to do this, to make sure her little sister didn’t end up here. To make sure everything was right!
“This is far from torture my little ponies. You see, Celestia was tasked with the creation of rainbow’s, but after Luna was banished to the moon over one thousand years ago…” the masked pony spoke.
“That voice sure sounds familiar.” Raptor muttered to himself. He placed the crosshair of the ACOG scope over the pony’s face in an attempt at better recognizing them. He realized their eyes were familiar too, the same rose as…
“And with having to bear the burden of day and night; she passed the creation of rainbows to us pegasi.” Atmosphere watched from the camera room. He smiled at his little slave. She was obeying him to the letter. He moved a camera to the crowed and smiled at the sight of Scootaloo.
“So at first we tried to have the unicorns help us with their magic, but the rainbows were no where near as glorious as Celestia’s. So we moved on to another attempt. We tried to bounce light through water droplets, but still Celestia’s original rainbows outshined ours. Then, one day, a scientist found a note from Commander Hurricane to a lead researcher of his time. In the note dictated a way of creating Spectra, a substance found in pony magic.” the speaker paused to see if their words had any effect on the crowed. With no interruption they continued.
“You don’t even realize how we collect this Spectra, do you?” again they paused. Still no one changed from their state of impatience. They all wanted the history lesson over so that they could find out how the rest of their lives were going to go. A smile could barely be seen from under the masked pony’s cloth veil as they continued.
“This machine behind me collects it from you.” all the young foals now looked at each other as a low murmur rose amongst them. “Now what is Spectra you may ask. It is the magical pigment that creates the color of your coat, your cutie mark, and mane and tails. It is easy to harvest, so easy this machine can do it. However there is one thing…You have to die.” a loud scream erupted from one frightened mare as she burst towards the exit. Three guards leapt into action and cut her off, cutting her out of the sky. As she skid across the metal floor a loud pop was herd from the wing she had landed on. She moaned in pain as the guards hefted her up.
Horrified Raptor aimed his gun with the intent of pulling the trigger on the masked pony. However, a loud metallic click caught his attention and he watched as a large metal chain with four cuffs lowered from the ceiling. It’s dulled surface barely reflecting the ambient light in the room. Two of the guards lifted the broken pegasus and brought her over to the chains. Curiously everyone watched to see what was going to happen.
The guards put her in the chains as the masked pony walked over and stared into her eyes. With a soft tug, the masked pony pulled their headdress from their scalp. A great shush rushed through the crowed and the pony right in front of the once masked pony stared in sheer shock.
Scootaloo nearly fell as her knees almost gave way. Orion’s jaw dropped. Raptor’s eyes became the size of Jupiter. A rainbow colored mane fell from where it had been covered and cyan fur glistened in the dull light. Rainbow Dash stood glaring at the foal with an evil glare that could kill in itself. The chains tugged and then lifted upwards, hefting the pony upwards above the monolithic maw at the rear of the room. Rainbow, as with everypony else, could not stop watching.
The chained equine stared down at the humming grinder below her. Her heart raced, her breathing erratic. Pleas for life bellowed from her jugular as she cried to not be killed. With a sudden twist, her cries were silenced as her torso twisted to far for her anatomy to handle. Blood spewed from her mouth and a rib erupted from her side. Loud whimpers emitted from her as she was lowered down towards the mouth of death. A sudden clang was heard as the cuffs opened, releasing the broken pegasus, and letting gravity to all the dirty work. She landed face first into the grinder, allowing her scream to last only for a second as it was silenced with a gurgling crunch. Everyone watched in horror, or glee depending on who’s perspective you wish to count, as her body slowly slid into the machine.
Raptor could not believe his eyes. Everything he had seen thus forth was nothing like this! Rainbow turned back to the crowed with a satisfied smile. The vats behind her came alive as fresh spectra poured into them. The meter’s on their front, clear so that one could tell what color it was, began to show how full they were. When they stopped filling the yellow was the most full. Made since, the filly had been yellow colored after all.
The failures scattered in fear. Except Orion, Scootaloo, and Aurora. They stood in the madness looking around. Scootaloo however; her eyes dug into Rainbow Dash. Above the noise of the crowed, Scootaloo let loose a shout that could not be silenced. “I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!” she screamed. Rainbow’s attention instantly dropped on the orange and purple pegasus. “After everything we have been through! You’re going to just let me die! I loved you Rainbow Dash! I loved you like a big sister! And I thought you loved me like a little sister! All of that means nothing to you!?” Scootaloo’s eyes blurred as moisture began to cover them. Tears rained down her cheeks. Even though her sight was impaired, Rainbow’s rosy orbs stood out, and she buried her hate into them. With all of her hatred, Scootaloo dug it into Rainbow’s eyes.
“I DID LOVE YOU!” Rainbow Dash shouted back, tears running down her face. “I taught you every thing I knew so that you’d PASS THAT FUCKING TEST!” she looked away, wiping away the emotion running down her cheeks. “But you failed me kid! You had it in you to pass but here you stand! I trained you every Celestia damned day to keep you out of here! I loved you so much Scootaloo, that I did EVERYTHING I COULD to keep you from here! YOU DID THIS TO YOUR FUCKING SELF!” Rainbow’s words cut into Scootaloo as if she was nothing but simple paper. Pain wrecked across her body with every shout from the rainbow colored mare. The last thing she said though, the last part of her proclamation, would kill Scootaloo.
“You’ve failed Cloudsdale kid! But you also have done more than that! YOU FAILED ME! You’re not just dead to Cloudsdale, you’re dead to me.” an evil grin stretched across Atmosphere’s face. He saw it in her face. Rainbow Dash had now broken.
Scootaloo swayed, her heart shattered, her mind numb. The truth now out for her to see. Rainbow Dash was a monster and she hated her. Orion lifted a wing to catch the nearly collapsing Scootaloo. This angered Rainbow Dash as she shouted orders to a guard next to her. After the guard lifted up and flew down towards the three, Rainbow let out yet another verbal assault. “YOU CAN’T HAVE HAPPINESS! YOU CAN’T HAVE COMFORT! TAKE HIM!”
With an abrasive swing, the guard knocked Scootaloo off of Orion and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Come with me NOW!” the guard yelled. Frightened into compliance, Orion flew up to the stage with the guard. Scootaloo sat up, rubbing her face as she watched the guard shackle her special somepony. Rainbow Dash walked up to him and looked deep into his soul. “You are her’s and she is yours. So you are the first to die of you two.” she said with a malefic grin.
“No” Raptor muttered to himself. He aimed his rifle at the chain that loomed over Orion. The dot in his scope placed right in line with the chain
The signal started in his cerebral cortex and within moments had traveled down Raptor’s spine, split off at his shoulder following the main nerve that ran along his humorous, past his ulna and into his carpals. There it branched to the phalange belonging to his trigger finger. The Lumbrical muscle tightened and the trigger in the weapon pulled back. This released the sear allowing the hammer to push forward hitting the back of the bolt. This then pushed the bolt’s internal hammer forward striking the bullet’s primer. A spark burst inside the powder igniting it. The excessive force from this eruption caused the mouth to release the bullet and propel it down the rifled barrel. The hazel colored bullet traveled in a spiral as the gasses continued to push it forward. Erupting from the flash at the end of the gun’s muzzle, the bullet streaked across the open air.
Raptor closed his eyes, he didn’t want to see this miss. He knew his scope had been knocked off it’s setting, but he had fixed it! However, he had aimed just above Orion’s skull in order to ensure that with revealing himself it would surprise Rainbow Dash and maybe give him an advantage. Unfortunately, mistakes do happen, and the shot was very far.
The bullet outran the waive of noise following behind it, cutting through oxygen molecules and leaving in its wake a vacuum just to reach its mark. A loud thud was heard. A thud that sickened Raptor. It was the wrong noise. The metal projectile cut through flesh, then broke bone. It cut through grey matter and tore a hole through more bone. It sliced the flesh out of its way and continued, only being stopped by a metal grate. Gore splattered across the floor as the bullet’s vacuum had pulled torn biomaterial with it.
The chained rippled as Orion’s head ripped backwards, blood spewing. He lurched and then was limp, swaying as the kinetic energy caused by his death rippled through his metallic binds.
Rainbow Dash jumped from his now motionless form and looked up at the outcropping she had so many times watched from. Raptor opened his eyes to see Orion’s corpse in the binds. He cussed and stood, knowing full well that everyone was aware of his presence. Scootaloo stared at her once living colt-friend. Dread made her collapse where she stood, unable to bear everything that had happened in the past few moments.
Raptor aimed his gun at Rainbow Dash’s skull. “Let them go Rainbow Dash!” he shouted.
“You killed him.” she stated, slightly irritated. “Now we can’t use this pile of shit!”
“Release them Rainbow or I’ll kill you too!”
“Oh really? She looked at a few guards and made a nod towards the Human. “I knew you were going to be trouble as soon as I saw you Raptor. I didn’t know that you’d kill though.” he didn’t say anything. His eyes, stayed on the swinging, lifeless body of Orion. He had killed him. He had killed ANOTHER innocent. How!? He looked at the incoming pegasi threatening him. Quickly he aimed through the scope at the closest to him. His finger pulled in and the gun fired once more. The bullet went right to where he had aimed.
“HOW DID I MISS! HOW DID I KILL ORION! THE SCOPE IS ON TARGET!” erupted through his mind as he shot down the other two guards that had been coming towards him. All three shots went where he wanted them to. Anger blistered inside him, not at anyone else, but at himself. Once again he had taken the life of someone who didn’t have to die, and once again it was on ACCADENT!
With the commotion Raptor had started, Aurora shook Scootaloo awake. “Scootaloo, we have to do something. They’re going to kill us! I’m sorry about Orion, and Rainbow Dash, but we HAVE TO GO!” Scootaloo looked around and saw that not only were the guards distracted by Raptor as three more gun shots resonated through the room, but so were the fillies and colts around them. A brazen idea came to Scootaloo, and she jumped to her hooves.
“Everypony! CLEAR! FLY! FALL! COMPLEATE!” she yelled as she opened her wings. At first only the ponies around her complied, their wings opening as well. Like wildfire however, all of them were eventually ready. “GO!” she shouted. With a full flap upwards Scootaloo pushed off the ground followed by all of the failures around her. Aurora even had managed to get lift off. The few pegasi that seemed to not beable to fly bull rushed the guards nearest the door.
With great surprise all of the guards lifted into the air to try and stop the out of control foals. “GET RAPTOR! KILL HIM!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she leapt into the air, cutting down a low flying pony as she did so.
Raptor was astonished by the sudden flurry of flying ponies in the air. The sizzling and crack of tasers going off resounded through the room followed shortly by the thud of a failure dropping out of the sky to meet death. However the guards were suffering losses as well. Some of the ponies had turned and fought their captors, punching and kicking them till a wing was broken and the guards were the ones suffering gravity’s merciless grip.
The few guards that had heard Rainbow Dash’s order to attack the only Human present bolted for him. Raptor ticked the switch on the G36 from singe fire to full auto. Holding the trigger down only long enough to let three or four rounds burst from the barrel he dropped his attackers from the sky. However as he took aim on one, another swooped from his left and tackled him, making him toss his gun across the outcropping. The pony sat on top of him, holding him down. He made a swing at the ponies face, but all it did was shake it off and grin with evil glee at him. A simple swing wasn’t going to do anything to these well muscled horses. Sacrificing some of his spirit energy, Raptor balled a fist and swung again. The energy at the end of his hand added enough force to twist the pony’s head sideways as if he had been punched by somepony as strong as him.
This caused the pegasus to get up and stumble backwards. When he had collected himself he found a barrel pointed at his face. He was about to make a move, but the bullet was faster. Gore spread across the bullet hole planted into the metal wall behind the pegasus and he collapsed.
Raptor reloaded, certain that there was only one or two bullets left in that magazine. As he slammed the new clip into place another guard took the opportunity to swoop in and slam into the Human. This made Raptor drop the gun again. Instead of pining him to the outcropping’s surface however this pegasus had grabbed Raptor in his fore-arms and started flying upwards, probably with the intent of dropping him.
Scootaloo and Aurora bolted for the door that Raptor had come in from the catwalk. Scootaloo slammed the button to open the door, but it was unresponsive, merely making an audible denial beep. The catwalk shook and they spun around to see Rainbow Dash there breaking a foals neck across the guardrail. The pony’s head pushed back across the rail unnaturally as blood erupted from her mouth and then throat as it tore, covering her murderer with crimson. Rainbow released the limp pegasus and let her crumple to the catwalk’s surface. With a simple and careless shove, the pony was pushed over the edge, landing with a sickening crack. Satisfied with her work, Rainbow Dash turned her maddened attention to Aurora Dawn and Scootaloo.
She got one hoof step before more of the failures dove at her, trying to stop her. One of the failures landed near the two and looked a them. “This was a great idea, whoever you are! Get that door open! We’ll hold her off!” he yelled.
“But she’ll-” Aurora started.
“Rainbow Dash is the better rainbow to die of!” he then turned and joined the others. Rainbow Dash was tearing through them. Her superior skills destroying them with every swing.
Raptor struggled against the grip of the pegasus holding him. He managed to squeeze free an arm and reared it back. The hue of spirit energy formed around his fist and then was brought forward into the ponies face. The strike knocked him cold, making him release Raptor and curl up. As their ascent ended and the moment of weightlessness took hold, Raptor grabbed the pony and opened his wings. The air caught and he was able to glide the fleshy glider towards the commotion happening on the catwalk. As he approached, he realized that at his current rate of decent there was no possible way he would make it to the catwalk and would most likely slam hard into the ground. So he waited for the perfect moment.
Seconds seemed like hours of hell as he waited for gravity’s hold to pull him into the right position. Then as his mental calculations moved him into action, he put a foot into the Pegasus’s chest and pushed hard. He reached out with his arms as far as he could, hoping, praying. As soon as cold metal slammed into his palms he clenched tight on the guardrail, gritting his teeth as his knees slammed hard into the actual catwalk. Taking a moment, he collected himself and then pulled onto the crossway.
Now that he could look around he saw that he stood between Scootaloo and Aurora, who were vigorously bucking at the metal door, and Rainbow Dash as she tore through what little remained of the failures that dared oppose her. He stood there, watching her maddened stare never leave him. No…not him. He followed her eyes and saw that they were locked on Scootaloo. When he turned back he saw Rainbow crack a failure’s spine in half as she slammed him across the railing. He yelled out in pain and then she rolled him over it. He tried to open his wings, but he had become paralyzed, and simply crashed to the floor below like so many others. Nothing but Raptor stood between her and her desired target.
“Move” she snapped at him. She didn’t attack. She simply stood there, glaring now at him, her one obstacle.
“No Rainbow. This can end here. This can stop now!” She looked around a the flurry of guards and failures fighting amongst each other. The sound of tasers ripping through the air along with the pounding thuds of hooves on metal.
“This is all I have. All that I care for now. Nothing else matters.” she said calmly. “Now get the fuck out of my way.”
“Not going to happen” Raptor said as he drew his swords. He readied himself for anything, putting himself in the position he always did. The sword in his right hand next to his head, pointed outwards in front of him, the other held out perpendicular to himself, ready to parry any attack. She shook her head and looked behind her. Guards had started to line up, ready to assist her. He looked around and noticed there were much less fighting. The failures were losing.
“If you won’t move on your own, I’ll just make you then. Kill him.” the guards hopped over her and rushed Raptor. The catwalk was to thin for more than one, so they came at him single file. The first pony to him met his left blade swinging back handed across his throat. Gore poured out as he fell face first to the deck. Raptor stepped back. The second one simply stepped over his fallen comrade and lifted a hoof in order to make an attack. This left his chest open, which met a sword slicing into it, right to his heart. Raptor stepped back to avoid this one’s plummet. A third flew over the other two with both hooves extended forward in hopes that a kamikaze style attack would do anything. Raptor simply ducked, shoved both blades deep into his chest and let his momentum carry him limply over the edge of the catwalk.
Now they flew around and came at him from all sides, no longer sticking to the direct approach. He slid spirit energy down the blades as they flew and ran at him. The blades became aglow with energy as he swung them outwards. The energy leapt out, extending his cutting distance a good ways. This tore down the one running at him and one flying in from his left. He brought his right sword around and cut down the pony flying at him from that direction. This distraction allowed another one to get in close and slam Raptor in the chest. The impact tossed him backwards onto his back.
Quickly he stood and buried his blade into the pony’s chest as he had attempted to smash in his skull. This pony fell sideways, twisting the hilt out of Raptor’s hand. The guard fell over the guardrail, sword in tow. He turned his attention to the group of guards slowly walking towards him. Tossing the blade in his left hand to his right, he held it up near his head, as he had done with the other one. This time his fist was stuck out where his off hand sword had been.
Again they rushed in. That’s all they could do. Yes some tried to use their tasers to parry his sword swings, but a spirit energy endowed fist would knock them backwards and allow him to sink the blade into their flesh anyway.
Finally, after many deaths to guards, no more charged him. They simply stood behind Rainbow Dash, unmoving. She looked over her shoulder at them and glared. Raptor stood there, huffing, he felt drained. He had used more spirit energy than he intended. How could he not though, without the use of spirit energy his attacks would mean nothing to these ponies.
Weakly, he stood at the ready. Waiting for anypony to come at him. Scootaloo and Aurora, while still bucking at the well dented door, watched in awe at the power of this warrior before them. Single handedly he had stopped at least fourteen guards. This was enough waiting for Rainbow Dash, he was in her way and she could no longer take it.
“FINE! I’ll kill him since you fuckers can’t!” within an instant she bolted across the catwalk. Raptor couldn’t slow his perception of time. He was tiered, to weak. All he could do was bring the sword down at the rainbow streak heading his way.
It jutted left, away from his blade and the next thing he knew a hoof was being buried into his chest. The force was enough that Rainbow lifted him into the air, hanging on her hoof. Blood spat from Raptor’s mouth as he felt his sternum crack. She let him go, allowing for gravity to take hold as she flew under him. She cupped her wings and kicked her legs back, bringing her hind legs around in a form of front flip. As he passed by, her rear legs collided with his abdomen and slammed him onto the catwalk. He coughed up blood and could feel multiple breaks along his ribs and even an arm had shattered from the impact. She landed next to him as he writhed in pain.
“That was to easy” she spat as she walked past him. As his vision faded, he saw guards approach him, and then nothing.
Scootaloo felt the door move, it was about to give way. Only a few more bucks! However, Rainbow Dash was already bearing down on them. Aurora stopped bucking and stepped forward.
“What are you doing!?” Scootaloo asked, her kicks unrelenting against her metal target. Aurora looked over her shoulder at Scootaloo and let a soft smile grace her lips.
“It was nice meeting you Scootaloo, I wish we had known each other before today.” with that she turned and barreled for Rainbow dash.
“NO! Aurora don’t!”
Rainbow slammed hoof first into Auroras chest. She had tried to make a swing at the rainbow colored mare, but she was to quick. Rainbow Dash punched Scootaloo’s friend again, slamming her to the deck. She jumped on her and planted her hooves on her chest and hindquarter, preventing any movement. In one quick motion Rainbow grabbed one of Aurora’s wings in her mouth and pulled. Flesh ripped first, then the bandages. Rainbow pulled the torn bone and muscle apart, separating wing from pony. More crimson splashed across Rainbow’s body as she spat the wing over the side of the catwalk.
“You didn’t need that anyways” Dash said as she picked up Aurora and lifted her over the rail. “Die, fucker.” a simple toss, and Aurora found herself plunging head first to the ground. She was okay with that, least it would be fast. The last thing she heard was the crack of her skull.
Rainbow turned her attention to Scootaloo. Before she could make even one hoof step in her direction however the door gave way and slammed inwards. Scootaloo hopped over the shattered door and barreled down the hall as fast as she could. Rainbow was faster, she’s always been faster.
It was silent. A very soothing silence. However Raptor couldn’t enjoy it. His chest felt as if it was closing in on itself. He could barely breath. Maybe a collapsed lung? He didn’t know. He opened his eyes and saw that he had been brought to the floor of the Rainbow Factory. He had been propped up against the wall along with seven or so other survivors of the fight. Near the stage guards were piling corpses of both sides of the fight into one big pile.
He tried to move his left arm, but it cracked and he let out a yell in pain. This drew the attention of the nearest masked guard. “So you’re alive, good. We may have use of you.” he said with a barely visible smile.
“What are you going to do? Throw me into the machine? I doubt I have any of this…spectra.”
“Maybe not, but we have other uses for pieces of shit like you.” Raptor only returned this with a deep scowl. The guard huffed and walked away.
Raptor moved, tried to see what was still working. His shoulder was definitely smashed, his femur crushed. He felt numerous torn ligaments or muscles through his legs. “Well, It’d seem these ponies are a bit tougher than I had imagined. Boy Valtor will say ‘I told you so’ when I get back.” he mumbled to himself. The pony next to him whimpered and favored a broken wing, drawing his attention. “It’d seem I’m not the only one tore up.”
Moments passed. The guards simply kept piling corpses, now in two piles. One walked over, Raptor’s gun in his mouth and sat it a mere two meters from him. The guard walked away laughing. Raptor stared at it, his tool to freedom. He raised his good arm, letting his hand open as if to grab the gun. The guard from earlier watched with amusement. Spirit energy formed around the gun and it lifted, then it fell as the energy dissipated. Raptor’s arm fell back to his side. He was done. No longer could he cast any spirit energy spells, no longer could he walk, no longer could he fight.
“Never thought I’d die because of some flying ponies.” he said as he laid his head back against the wall. “Heh, damn, guess I’m not invincible. Well, Val, I owe you a drink at that holographic bar.” Raptor’s mind drifted back to the Highrule, the ship him and D.C.R. had found in the Andromeda galaxy not to long ago. How much fun he had had on it. The ships holodeck provided endless entertainment and exercise. He then thought of his wife, how he’d never get to see her again. For a moment, he allowed himself to cry.
The ambient silence was broken as a panel from the roof broke in and then fell to the floor. Scootaloo dove down, looking up it. Instantly guards flew to her. However she didn’t move, nothing! It was if she was oblivious to her surroundings until she felt a taser in her side. The sudden electroshock to her ribs made her instantly pass out. Rainbow Dash swooped down and caught her before she could plummet to her death.
Within moments, Rainbow had Orion’s body dropped in a heap onto the stage’s surface and Scootaloo bound where he died. She reared back and smashed Scootaloo across the face, waking her up. “Now now Rainbow Dash, that may be unnecessary.” Dr. Atmosphere said walking through the double doors into the room. Rainbow Dash ignored his comment and swung again, making blood splatter from Scootaloo’s nose across the decking.
Atmosphere meandered along the line of surviving failures lined up against the wall. Upon reaching Raptor he stopped, and smiled. “So you’re the pesky Human my scouts have been telling me about.” he said, leaning down to be face to face with Raptor. He simply glared back at the red pegasus, unspeaking. “Well, since you’re here, I am suddenly curious as to how the machine will take to Human. After all, even if we can’t harvest spectra from you, at least we’ll have dealt with you. And don’t ask about what we’d tell Celestia, cover stories are our specialty.” With a suave gallop Atmosphere headed for the stage. He lifted up and landed next to Rainbow Dash. “Now what of this one? Hmm Rainbow?” he asked her.
“She’s gonna die, of course.” the cyan pegasus responded.
“Oh but of course, but you don’t want it to end just like that do you?” he smiled and turned to leave. “I’ll wait for when you’re ready, I’ll let you say goodbye to your….little sister”
Atmosphere’s words made Rainbow slam a hoof straight into Scootaloo’s snout again. Then again, and again. Blood ran down the orange filly’s face as she waited for more hits. None came as Rainbow Dash stood there huffing in anger. “Say something you little whore!” Dash shouted.
Scootaloo struggled to look up at her big sister, blinking blood out of her eyes a few times. Her gaze landed on Rainbow Dash’s eyes, hatred the only thing present in the rosy hues. “You have beautiful eyes.” she said.
“SHUT UP!” Rainbow yelled as she slammed a hoof across Scootaloo’s head again. She turned to Atmosphere who was hovering nearby and nodded. With a small smile he nodded at a camera. The chains jerked and then lifted, pulling Scootaloo towards the gaping maw. Raptor watched in sadness and anger, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop this injustice unfolding before him.
Rainbow watched intently, emotions surging through her body as memories ran through her head. Scootaloo’s first flight. Her first crash. The first time she beat Rainbow Dash’s filly record. Their first flight together. The time she took her under he wing at the Rainbow Falls under Cloudsdale. Her little sister, her only sister. Her family. Her wings opened and with tear filled vision Rainbow bolted upwards towards the chains.
In a flurry of confused emotion Rainbow tore at the chain bindings holding Scootaloo in place. “What are you doing!?” Atmosphere yelled. “STOP!” he began to fly towards the cyan mare.
“I do love you Scootaloo!” she yelled as she broke a shackle in half, freeing one of Scootaloo’s fore arms. “I’m sorry! I’m Sor-” Atmosphere slammed into her and pushed her towards the gaping maw of the machine. She hit his shoulder, making him let go of her.
She landed on it’s rim, unable to catch her balance she fell back first over the mouth of the machine. Her fore legs spread across the edge, keeping her held up as her wings tugged in tight to herself to ensure they didn’t get caught by a grinder wheel. She could not move, she was helpless.
Atmosphere hovered over her, a fore hoof held low above her chest as a malefic grin donned his face. “You know Rainbow Dash….this is what I wanted all along. Ever since I first met you, this is the fate I had in mind for you. However, I couldn’t outright kill you, no. Celestia and the other Elements of Harmony would suspect something if you just went missing all of a sudden. I had to wait years and years. Then I realized there would be no way I could trick you into this machine, or force you even. You are definitely stronger than me.
“However, here you sit, mere centimeters from becoming the most glorious spectra we have ever created! You see, ponies with a specific color generate more spectra of that particular color. You though, you’re every color of the rainbow! And to top it off you’re a Bearer of an Element! You HAVE to produce the most vibrant colors to ever exist!”
“So…everything. Everything you’ve done was to kill me?” she asked, her head moving between looking at the grinders below and Atmosphere’s hoof hovering just above her.
“Of course it was. You see, Scootaloo would have passed that flight test. I didn’t need that. You see your weakness is stress. Put to much stress on your mind and you’ll break. Living everyday with this horror below you broke you most of the way.” he looked up at Scootaloo and smiled. “I just had to cut that one last strand in your sanity.”
“You…You fucking bastard!”
“Hehe, with Scootaloo having trained with you for so many years, I knew that her presence here would destroy you. And…I thought right. Look at you now Rainbow Dash. Where are your friends to save you this time? You have no friends. You have no one.” he placed a hoof on her chest as tears began to stream down the back of her head. He smiled and with one shove, she couldn’t hold against it and fell.
Her scream echoed through the room until it was cut short by the machine. Raptor watched in terror as Atmosphere simply glided down to the measuring tubes of the chambers and watched vigorously. Bright vibrant colors of the rainbow seeped into the vats. They tossed and swirled with the other spectra, but never mixed. It was if there was a dancing light show in each color.
“I KNEW IT! Rainbow Dash provided the most pure, most vibrant spectra to exist.” he turned to a guard and motioned for him to come closer. “I want you to go to Ponyville and arrest Fluttershy. I don’t care what for, just bring her here. Her spectra may not be as great as Rainbow Dash’s but it will definitely be pure!” with a nod the guard bolted out of the room.
“Now as for you Scootaloo.” Atmosphere said as he hovered up to the nearly unconscious foal. “You will join your sister in Tartarus.”
“No!” Raptor yelled. “ENOUGH OF THIS!” his eyes were closed, his body limp and broken. However, something was different about him. Clouds of energy began to flow around him. Purple swirled around him, jumping from his hands to his feet. From his face to his chest. With little effort he stood, not even using a hand to help him up. A ball of energy began to form around him as he limped into the middle of the room. His eyes shot open, glowing a vibrant purple. “You won’t kill ANYONE ELSE!”
“Oh is that so?” Atmosphere said dismissively. he looked at the few guards still standing near Raptor and motioned for them to take him. One moved in, taser in mouth, ready to strike. Raptor’s head snapped to looking at his attacker and a beam of energy shot from the ball and slammed into the pony. The pegasus was pushed across the room and into the wall where he was cut in half by the energy. Three other guards tried to jump in at the same time right after that but met similar fates as the energy shred them asunder. Raptor then began to curl into a ball, his appendages tucking inward as his glowing eyes never left the curious Atmosphere. The red pegasus studied closely what Raptor was doing, unable to recognize the fact that the spirit energy ball surrounding the Human was shrinking inwards.
The ball collapsed into Raptor’s balled fists, and he stayed there. How long had he been hovering? He had taken notice that he was now a meter or two in the air, being held up by spirit energy. Looking up at Atmosphere he smiled, and opened his hands. The force was so great it blew Raptor’s arms open, and blew outwards.
The eruption tore through the metal plating around the Factory’s theater room. Broke into the cloud cover and destroyed the piping leading anywhere else. The metal walls were either bent outward or completely destroyed. The rush of energy slammed into Atmosphere and sent him tumbling out of the air. It destroyed Scootaloo’s restraints, making her plummet as well. Then…silence returned once more.