A monster cannot feel remorse. Soarin thought deeply as he continued to walk down the hallway of the cloud house. A monster cannot feel remorse. That can't be true can it?
Can it?
Soarin stopped moving as he mulled over his thoughts "Sorry Derpy, but my feelings have gone long ago. I got rid of them to become what I am now."
"Why need them?" He mumbled somberly.
However, only a second later did he hear the sound of laughter coming from behind a nearby room; the purest sound of innocence he had truly heard in a long time.
Soarin walked up to the closed door of the room where the sounds of unexpected happiness can be heard, his mind gone from deep thinking to curiosity. Soarin shook his head, wanting to get rid of any lingering thoughts his mind refused to stop thinking of. The stallion sighed heavily as touched the door with his hoof. The only ponies that deserve feelings are those who are innocent enough to need them.
Soarin opened the cloud door and walked in, watching the pure image of two ponies playing. Scootaloo, and her new unicorn friend Dinky, were playing around with a small glass ball. In the sphere was a blue-colored liquid as it was being held up by Dinky's magic.
"Do it again." Asked Scootaloo happily as she eyed the floating ball.
"Ok, watch carefully." Dinky replied as she closed her eyes and concentrated on the sphere, and only a second later the blue fluid changed to red, then to green, then to gold, and then to purple.
"Wow how did you do that?" Inquired the amazed pegasus as she examined the sphere up closely.
"It's a called a magic flux ball. The stuff inside this ball can change color if a unicorn, like me, wants it to. All you need is a bit of magic and a little concentration." Explained Dinky.
"Really?"
"Yeah really."
Soarin couldn't help but crack a smile at what he was seeing; Scootaloo, the young mare who he saved from near-death by the hooves of her once closet companion, was now smiling and being cheerful with her new friend.
"If they can feel, why can't you?" Asked a sincere voice, which shocked the unsuspecting stallion. As he turned his head round, he saw Derpy standing right next to him.
"How did you-"
"I overheard." She interrupted him in a deadpanned tone. "You always said I was the best at stealth."
The stallion looked away from the mare nervously.
"Why? Why did you say you have no feelings? The two girls over there do, you can see it on there faces." She said as she looked at the two ponies with her mismatched eyes.
"Because they haven't attacked others, have they?" He said to her in a emotionless tone as he stared at her with his own cold eyes. "I thought not." He said as he shook his head.
Walking past her Soarin made his way to the two young ponies. "How's it going you two?" He asked them in a friendly tone, unbeknownst to them he was smile just a facade.
"Oh great uncle Soar." Dinky exclaimed suddenly as she jumped and hugged the stallion. "I was just showing Scoots here my magic flux ball."
"That's good to know." He chuckled to her as he rubbed her mane playfully, before looking towards the other young mare. As he looked at Scootaloo his expression dropped as his smile turned neutral.
"Hey Scootaloo, is something the matter?" He asked her worriedly, a question that she obviously was not expecting as she almost jumped when he asked.
"What, no." She replied in an almost defendant manner.
"Come me with." He ordered her in a deadpanned tone, pointed towards a door with his hoof.
"Why?"
"Come." Soarin said simply as he urged her out of the door, following behind her as they moved to the open door, the same one through which Soarin had entered.
"What are you doing?" Derpy inquired to Soarin as he brushed past her, looking at him with worried eyes.
"The same thing you'd do with your own daughter." He answered cryptically as he closed the door behind him, leaving a befuddled pegasus mare staring at where he once was.
"Where is Soar going with Scoots?" Dinky said to her mother.
"What?" Derpy blinked. "Oh don't worry." She said to reassured her child "He's just doing what he needs to do." She finished as she smiled, as if she now figured out what he had meant.
Scootaloo was walking behind Soarin as they made their way down the hall. She didn't, however, dare look at him, for fear that she did something wrong.
"This is far enough." Soarin unexpectedly announced as he stopped moving and turned around.
"Far enough for what?" Scootaloo asked apprehensively.
"Far enough for privacy." Soarin stated in a blank expression. "Now tell me, what's on your mind?"
"Th-there is nothing on my mind." Scootaloo answered rather quickly. "Why do you ask that?"
Sighing heavily, the stallion looked the orange pegasus dead in her eyes. "Kid, I can tell it in your eyes. There's a hundred questions you wanna ask, and you can't bottle them up. You will never continue until your mind is at rest."
Now it was Scootaloo's turn to sigh, as she looked down at the cloud floor. "I don't know where to start. There's too many to even think about, let alone say."
"Where would you like to start?" He asked her. "There's has to be one question you want to ask now?"
"Well...." Scootaloo mumbled as she scratched the back of her head. "How about 'why are you and her doing this' then?"
Upon hearing this, Soarin closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, as if relaxing and concentrating hard. As he exhaled, he opened his eyes and looked straight at the orange pegasus. "Being a Wonderbolt had it's perks. You pay was good, there was a respectable amount of holiday time and there was also a number of other miscellaneous benefits. And one of them was accidentally finding out about the factories."
"Wait?" Scootaloo said in shock. "You mean that, the Wonderbolts know about the Rainbow Factory?"
"No." Soarin said simply as he shook his head. "I doubted even Spitfire knew about it. Only I knew about the factory. And honestly, do you think anybody would believe me if I told you. I might have been a Wonderbolt then, but that doesn't make what I say any more tangible then the next pony."
"But...but...how did you know about it then?"
"As I said, by accident. It was just when I was looking through some paperwork late one night, and I came across something that just didn't seem right in my mind. I didn't recall back then about large machines needed for the Rainbow Factory. I had thought all work was done by pegasi, not engines. So after a some time snooping around, well, let's just say everything I used to knew about the factory was wrong. So I quit my job, and, well, the rest you know."
"Oh." Said Scootaloo out loud, mulling over the answer Soarin said. "Well, what about Derpy then? Why is she with you? Last time I had remembered she was just a postmare."
Soarin blinked at this statement, his face apparently showing regret from what he was about to say. "Derpy's reason," he started to say, "is not a happy one. Actually her story explains why were partners. In our job, of course, she's already married."
"Yes." Scootaloo wished to continue.
"While I was trying to figure out more about the factory odd purchases, early back when I found out about it, I managed to talk to one of the workers there at one point. Managed to do so when he was away from the factory and alone . And by talk, I mean literally cornered him for him to tell me everything he knew. And he did."
"And he broke down when I forced him to tell me. He told me everything, and I mean everything: the true purpose of the factory, the ponies who were behind it, and even that if he ever tried to quit he would become their next victim, alongside her most closet friend." He finished somberly.
"His most closet friend?" Scootaloo asked skeptically.
"Yes. The stallion who was told me everything was Derpy's own brother."