Ascended

by BlackWing

Tragedy (11)

"Wait, what?" Claire asked in terror.

"Come on, we're mercs who operate above the law. A quitter would blow the lid off the whole operation if they went to the UN. Considering your feelings on this matter, it's not like you could just keep quiet. Nobody ever quits Vendetta, you're in it till you die, or they trust you enough to retire you. Even then, they still watch you like a hawk." Cutis explained.

"Whoa, hold up. We can't just let you kill her. For the same reason you can't have me. Sure she made some mistakes, but that's no reason why she has to die." Nightshade reasoned.

"She signed up for it. It's her own fault, now it's a problem she's gotta deal with." Mitch said, preparing to shoot. Scootaloo and the crusaders had stayed behind a little, but seeing that human pointing a gun at Claire, and also Fluttershy, she couldn't just let that happen. She didn't see her dad, because he was around the corner. She flew, and grabbed him.

"Get away from Fluttershy!" She yelled, flapping her wings, trying to throw the human off balance. Mitch grabbed her, and threw her to the ground.

"Little brat!" He yelled. He instinctively pointed the gun at her, and pulled the trigger. Nightshade saw what was happening, and tried to get in the way. He didn't make it.

*BANG*

He watched as Scootaloo fell to the ground, the bullet passing through her head. With Nightshade, he can heal wounds from a head shot, but only if he's prepared for it. In the instant it took him to react, she was already dead.

"NOOOOOOOO!" He screamed, and ran to her body.

"What the hell is the matter with you soldier!" Curtis yelled at Mitch. "You just killed a civilian, in a country that already has strained relations!"

"The kid attacked me sir!" He defended himself.

"Because you were pointing a gun at one of their own!" Mitch looked, and saw that Fluttershy had been covering Claire, trying to protect her. "We could have at least waited till we were back home!" Twilight grabbed him with her magic, ripping the weapon from him, and holding him in the air. All the other's were shocked at the turn of events, but she and Celestia were furious.

Nightshade was on his knees, clutching Scootaloo's body close to his heart. He didn't feel her heartbeat. He tried healing her wounds, but the life force just wouldn't stick. She was already dead.

"Come on. No. Nononononononono. Come on Scoots. Come on!" He said, crying, desperately trying to heal her.

"Don't die, come on, COME ON!" His plea's went unheeded, because she was already dead.

"Can't you?" Fluttershy asked.

"Even with a life to trade, her brain..... She'd be alive, but Scootaloo is gone. She'd never wake up. It's the same as being dead." Nightshade's powers allow him to repair damage, and if he's quick enough on it, can even negate damage from a brain injury. The problem is, the damage has to be reasonable to repair. For it to work, they'd have to pack her brain back into her skull, and place it just right. It just wouldn't work. Staring at Scootaloo's body, he saw that she had a smile on her face. He looked up into the sky, arms limp at his side, and screamed.

Fluttershy saw what had happened, and turned to look away, as did the rest of those who were watching. They all were crying their eyes out. Claire sat there, unmoving. She couldn't believe that Mitch, who had been with her so long, just killed an innocent kid who was trying to protect her friend.

"What's the big deal? It's just a pony, a stupid animal!" Mitch said, trying to justify his actions.

"A stupid animal? She was just as much a person as any human. Even more so because she was kind. She had hopes, dreams, friends, family, a LIFE. She had a soul. Just an animal?" His thoughts were running slowly, as he tried to comprehend what had been said. All the while, he could hear his own heart beat. It was raging against the inside of his chest, as though it were fighting to break his rib cage and rip itself out.

*Thump thump*

*Thump thump*

*Thump thump*
*Thump thump*
*Thump thump*
*Thumpthumpthumpthump*

*THUMP*

Nightshade's expression changed, from one of sorrow, to one of pure , unrelenting rage. He stood up, letting Scootaloo's body drop to the ground. He coldly walked up to the floating Mitch.

"Just an animal? What's the big deal? She was my adopted DAUGHTER!" He screamed in the soldier's face, his razor sharp jagged teeth in full view.

"Oh fu.." Was all that Mitch could say. Nightshade blinked, and his eyes were no longer blue, but green and slitted, much how they were when Nightmare possessed him. With a puff of smoke, Black Law appeared in his hand, and with a quick flick, the soldier's head rolled to the floor. The sword didn't have a drop of blood on it. Twilight released the body in shock, and Celestia scowled.

"Private Mitchell, executed in the field for disobeying orders, and prompting an international incident." The commander said coldly, as he had been used to such things. "Princess, I am truly sorry. He was one of my men, and I didn't have him under control. I.."

"Shut up!" The princess yelled. To her, every life was precious. No matter what he said, it would not change the fact that one of her subjects, an innocent child, was dead. In Equestria, the punishment for that unforgivable crime was death, and it had been carried out. Claire began to cry at the sight of the dead Scootaloo, as did Fluttershy. They wailed. The young filly who's life he had saved, who he adopted, who he shared his life with. The one who he taught all he knew, who he taught to fly, who had joined the wonderbolts, was gone forever.

"Leave.... NOW!" She ordered commander Curtis, who was quick to comply. Fluttershy looked at Nightshade, carrying the terrible blade. She walked up to him, to try and comfort him.

"Nightshade?" She said weakly.

"Stay away." He said, barely audible.

"Are you okay?" She was cut off.

"STAY AWAY!" He yelled, looking at her with those green eyes. She froze in fear. He realized he was yelling at her, and dropped the sword. He blinked, and his eyes went back to normal, tears running down his face.

"Please... I need to be alone." He said, flying off as fast as he could.

"I, I'll keep an eye on him." Rainbow Dash chased after him, being the only one who could keep up. She was just as broken that her flying partner had been killed, but as the element of loyalty, she just couldn't sit there and grieve while other's were doing the same.

"Claire, you help the tank crew pack up, I'm headed back to deliver the letter, and a full report." She had quit, and didn't have to take order from him anymore, but she nodded her head. Their presence in this world had caused enough of a disturbance, and because of Mitch's short fuse and itchy trigger finger, an innocent child was now dead. When she got back, they'd kill her too. She could never see her friends or family again, they would hunt her to the ends of the earth, because she knew too much. She couldn't stay in Equestria either, she had already caused enough damage.

She said goodbye the Fluttershy, packed up her gear, put on her armor, and headed back. She passed by the house, realizing now that it was his, and saw him sitting on the roof.

"I have to go back." Nightshade said.

"What?" She asked. She looked up and saw Rainbow hiding above the clouds, watching them, probably to make sure he was okay.

"They'll never stop coming. Even with that letter, they'll just do it under cover. They'll send in spec ops who will get in, do the job, and get out, and nobody will even know till a week later. As long as I'm here, they will never stop chasing me. And when they can't get me, they'll hurt everyone else close to me. I have to go back, and I have to put an end to all of it. I have to tear my world apart at the seams, so this never happens again." He said, crying.

"What about Fluttershy?" She asked.

"I'll miss her, but I can't come back here. How can I face her now? I'm stained in blood, and this time, it's not mine. She won't want to be around me. I'm a monster now, in the truest sense of the word. He killed her, and I killed him. I got mad, and I took revenge. I HATE him, and I took it out by yelling at her." He said, his wings and hair drooping.

"She loves you, she'll forgive you in time. You did what you had to do. He killed a child, your daughter no less. He'd do it again. And even if he left Equestria and never came back, he'd kill more innocents, just on earth. All for the sake of greed." Claire was telling him his own advice, and what she had told herself countless times, except that this time, is wasn't a lie, nobody was being fooled.

"I still have to stop them from ever coming back. I have to protect this world." He reasoned.

"You leave that to me. In the mission briefing, we heard about a bunch of junk, just some planks and dirt, that came through. It obeyed the laws of our universe, but only loosely. Using it, the company we're hired out to built a gate way, allowing us to come to this world. All of the pieces of this world are stored in the same building the gate is in, as well as all the data about it. It's not saved anywhere else, because that would risk other companies getting a hold of it." She explained.

"What will you do?" He asked.

"I don't have a life anymore. As soon as I get back, they'll kill me. So, I'm gonna commit one last sin, and do something right for once. I'm gonna kill people, and a lot of them will be innocent scientists, or business men, who have families waiting for them back home. I'm gonna wipe every trace of your world from mine, that way, this will never have to happen again. I'll die, they'll get me, call me a terrorist or what ever, but death is the least I deserve after what I've done. Maybe this way, I can make amends for my past. Don't try and stop me. This is your world now. Fluttershy was willing to sacrifice her life to save mine, Scootaloo sacrificed hers to save Fluttershy. I'm gonna sacrifice mine to save this whole world. That way, you can stay here, and pick up the pieces." Claire was crying. Committing yourself to death was never easy, but she was going to die no matter what, she figured she might as well do something meaningful before she went.

Fluttershy walked up behind Nightshade as Claire walked away.

"Nightshade?" She said softly.

"Please don't look at me. I don't deserve you. I just killed someone. I yelled at you. I let anger and hate get the better of me, and you shouldn't be around me. I'll only bring you pain and misery." He said, turning away from her. Suddenly, he felt a hard knock on his head.

"IDIOT!" Fluttershy yelled. He just realized that she had hit him. "No matter what happens, I will always love you! None of what happened here was your fault! It's the same as if a manticore attacked town. YOU ARE NOT A MONSTER. You have always done what is best for everypony, even if we didn't know it at the time!" She looked into his tear filled eyes with her own, and hugged him.

"I couldn't do anything. I couldn't stop him. I couldn't save her! She was my daughter, and there was nothing I could do!" He sobbed, crying into her mane.

"Nopony's perfect. You did all you could. Nobody think's any less of you. You need to forgive yourself. I know what you were going to do, and I know Claire went in your place. She's a nice human, who just got lost. You promised me you'd never leave me, remember? Let her take care of it. She's strong, and will do the right thing, just as you always have."

Claire came across the tank crew, who were packing up the tents and supplies.

"Hey Claire, help us pack up so we can get out of this hellhole." He was interrupted by two soft *pew* sounds, as her silenced pistol fired, killing both of the crew members. She climbed into the tank. While she wasn't a tank operator, she knew how to drive one, from her time in the army before joining Vendetta. She switched on her radio.

"HQ, this is Bravo 1, Claire reporting. All packed up and ready for evac."

"Rodger Bravo 1." With a bright flash, the tank was gone, and all the supplies were left behind.

She looked on the screens inside the tank, hooked to armored cameras on the outside. She was in the middle of the four archway gate. She turned the turret to the control center, and fired.

"What the hell! Armor one has gone AWOL!" She heard over the radio. She loaded another round, and fired at the arches, which were what opened the gate. Then she blew a hole in the wall, and drove her 10 ton war machine out into the desert surrounding the facility. Spotting an armored jeep, she fired, blowing it up as well.

"To the driver of armor one, cease and desist immediately." Claire knew damn well that wouldn't get her out of anything. In her best mimic of HAL, she said.

"Sorry, I can't do that, Dave." She was about to die, so she figured she'd have a little fun. Driving around the base, she fired on the store house, where she knew the artifacts from Equestria would be stored. It exploded satisfyingly. She continued to drive, blowing up the various parts of the compound. More storage areas, military garages, the command center, where she knew the head of Vendetta as well as the head of the company that hired them was, along with all the data. She didn't know how far she could go, but she was going to do as much damage as possible. As she did this, she sang one of her favorite songs, very slowly.

"Daisy, Daisy,
Give me your answer do,
I'm half crazy,
All for the love of you."

She spotted another tank come out from the rubble, and shot it, causing it to explode.

"It won't be a fancy marriage,
I can't afford a carriage."

A helicopter flew overhead, aimed at her, and fired it's rockets. The tank stopped moving, completely crippled. After a couple minutes, she heard the sound on a welder. They were cutting into the tank.

"But you'd look sweet,
on the seat,
Of a bicycle built for two."

Claire was crying, she took out all the grenades she had taken from supply, and took the pins out of all of them.

"I'm sorry." She whispered softly, then turned off her radio. A flash of red light, then darkness.

The group buried Scootaloo. At the funeral was the mane six, Nightshade, the Wonderbolts, Celestia and Luna, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and most of Ponyville. Each said a few words about the filly, before moving on. Lastly, only Fluttershy and Nightshade remained.

"It's wrong. Parents should not have to bury their children." He said, nearly choking up.

"I know. This should never have happened. It shouldn't have been this way. She died trying to save me." She responded.

"I was only out for a week. Everything was so happy. We had so much to catch up on, and just like that, she's gone. She had even agreed to help plan it." He said weakly.

"Plan what?" She asked. Nightshade pulled a small black box from his pocket, and showed it to her. She opened it, to find a ring inside.

"Oh, my." Fluttershy was taken aback. Even though he had only been out a week, they loved each other, and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. He was going to ask her to marry him, and the crusaders were going to be the wedding planners. It made sense. Sweetie Belle could sing at the reception, Scootaloo and the wonderbolts could do an air show, and Applebloom could decorate the event.

"I still want to, but, after this, I think we just need some time."

Nightshade and Fluttershy sat at the grave into the long hours of the night, gazing into the sky. At the stroke of midnight, the Aurora Borealis appeared. This was unheard of, since they were not anywhere near the poles, and it was mid summer, only two weeks after the summer sun celebration. Once it passed, they looked into the sky, and watched as two new stars twinkled into existence.

"Scootaloo, Claire, I hope you'll watch over us."