//------------------------------// // The Final Confrontation...and a Final Farewell. // Story: Rainbow's Parents: The Truth // by Songbrony //------------------------------// I woke up with a searing pain surging through my skull. I tried to rub my head, but found my hooves tied to a chair. I looked around the dark room around me, trying to see where I was. "Hey!" I shouted, trying to break free of my restraints. "Let me go!" "I'm afraid I can't do that." I heard a familiar voice say. "You see, I need you in order to get her here." I groaned as I recognized her immediately. "Clarrise, I swear to Celestia, if you harm Fluttershy I will kill you." I threatened. She laughed. "Fluttershy? Why would I hurt her? After all, she's the one who tricked you into coming here." she said. "No! You did this. You're the one who hit me on the back of the head with something!" I shouted. "A frying pan to be exact. I've always wanted to do that." she said with a smile. "But no, I don't want to hurt Fluttershy. I want your mother." she said. I stopped struggling. "What?" I asked. "You're mother. She's the reason all of this started in the first place. If she and your father hadn't tried to butt into other ponies business, none of this would have happened. You could have lived your life perfectly fine without any sort of repercussions. But no. You had to butt in and prevent us from bringing the night back." she said. "It wouldn't have mattered! You wouldn't have succeeded. Ponies like you never win!" I shouted. "We may lose battles, but I will always win a war." she whispered in my ear. There was a pounding on the door. "Clarrise!!" I heard my mom shout. "Ah, it looks like she took the bait." Clarrise said. She walked behind me and as soon as my mom kicked down the door, she put a knife by my neck. "Stop right there, or I'll cut her throat right here, right now." "Clarrise, leave her out of this. She didn't do anything to you!" my mom shouted. "Oh, but she did. She stopped us from turning Fluttershy, stopped me from taking over the world, and stopped Sombra from taking over the Crystal Empire. I'd say she's done a lot." she said. "She was only a child when those things happened! And she helped save the Empire because of her friends!" my mom exclaimed. "Still doesn't change the fact that she is far from excusable of her actions." Clarrise said, rubbing the flat end of the blade across my throat. I was in a cold sweat as I felt the cold blade touch my neck. "Clarrise, you don't have to do this." I heard the Doctor say behind me. "Ah, the infamous Doctor here to save the day?" she asked sarcastically as she looked behind her. "It won't matter. I'll have what I want soon enough." "Listen, Rainbow has done you no harm. She's only done what she's been told to do." the Doctor explained. I wanted to tell him that I actually did what I wanted, not because I was being ordered but because Clarrise is a terrible awful pony, but I decided against it considering she had a knife to my throat. "Need I remind you if it weren't for her, you wouldn't have figured out who me and my husband were?" she said, pushing the knife closer to my neck. She saw the look of fear on the Doctor's face as she did so. "It's funny." she said. "Such a young pony with so much potential, lost because of her friends." She pushed the knife and drew some blood. "Firefly stay back!" the Doctor shouted. My mom must have began to move forward to subdue Clarrise. "See? I'm not afraid to kill her." Clarrise said, releasing some of the pressure from the knife. "What do you want?" my mom asked. Clarrise looked at her with a wide smile. "Oh, I thought you'd never ask." As she said that, a spear went straight through my mom's side. "Mom!!" I exclaimed in shock. She gasped in pain as she tried to pull it out. She fell to the ground, blood starting to fill her mouth. Clarrise walked over to her and kneeled in front of her. "I want you to watch me kill your daughter." "No." my mom said, barely able to speak. She coughed up blood onto Clarrise's face who just laughed. "It'll be fun." she said. "Oh, and Doctor," she said as the Doctor ran to me to untie me. "Don't even think about letting her go." After she said that, Fluttershy ran in from the shadow and held the Doctor down. "Fluttershy!" I exclaimed. What the hell is she doing? I thought. "Clarrise!" the Doctor shouted when Fluttershy finally had him held down perfectly. "What did you do to her?" "Remember that bomb that was supposed to destroy my mind control device?" she asked. "Well, I was able to salvage some of the key components. It doesn't work on a broad network like the other device, but this one is much more precise and accurate. So accurate, that I have full control over anypony I choose. "How?" he asked, as I tried again to get out of the chair. "I was able to use the helmet and repair its damaged cerebral industrial grid. In doing so, I made it possible for me to take a pony with the same blood type as myself and cause them to do whatever I wish." she explained. "Think of it as a much more advanced blood control." "But that's just like hypnosis." he said. "Exactly. I'm not forcing her to do something that her survival instinct will prevent her from doing. She is following my simple commands that will keep her safe and still complete her objective." She turned to me. "You have no idea how painstaking it was to try and get into her head. She's weak and pathetic, but she has a strong mind. It's not easy for one pony to crack it." "So you freed King Sombra and had him help you." I said, glaring at her. "Wow you are smarter than you look." she said. "I figured it would be a good thing for both of us. He wants the Crystal Ponies, I want Fluttershy's mind, and if he had successfully taken the Empire, then we would be able to rid the place of happiness, love, light, and bring every pony to eternal suffering if they disobeyed us." "You're a monster." my mom breathed out. "All you do is cause suffering. When you can't have something you have to hurt others to make yourself feel better." She spit out more blood. "And you're the biggest monster of them all. I feel sorry for you." Clarrise walked over to my mom with an angry look. "I want so badly to kill you right now. But I know it'll be so much sweeter to have you watch your daughter lose her life to my hoof." she said, getting up and walking back to me. She moved the chair closer to my mom. I was near tears right now, both from watching what she did to my mom, and knowing that I was about to die. Not a peaceful easy death, but death from a monster. "Keep those eyes open, or I'll make her suffer." There was a crash through a window as a grey figure flew through the room. It knocked Clarrise down and slammed into Fluttershy. I heard it land behind me and felt it start to untie me. "Go!" Derpy shouted. I ran over to my mom and picked her up. I tried to pull the spear out as she screamed in pain, but was punched in the side as Clarrise recovered. She lunged at me and grabbed me. She pulled me into a head lock and held a knife to my neck. "Enough!" she shouted. Everypony had stopped what they were doing and stared at us. "I have had enough of this. Firefly, say good bye to your daughter." She raised the knife, ready to stab my throat. Before she could stab me, however, Fluttershy was zooming towards us. "No!!" she screeched. It must have caught her off guard because her grip faltered and I broke free, kicking her as hard as I could. She flew back as Fluttershy rocketed past me. It was hard to see, but I heard a lot of hitting, screaming, and words I thought I would never hear out of Fluttershy's mouth. The Doctor rushed past me and pulled Fluttershy off of her mother. "Fluttershy, stop!" he exclaimed. "This isn't you!" "She needs to die!!" I heard her shout. "Fluttershy! For all that is good and holy back off!" the Doctor shouted back. "She's not worth your time and energy!" He was able to throw her at me and I caught her and held her in a tight embrace. She began to sob heavily into my chest. She gripped me, trying to hold onto something that she could make sense of. "I'm here Fluttershy. I'm here." I whispered to her. She held me tighter and continued to sob. "She...she deserves it." she whimpered in between breaths. "She for...forced me." she stammered "It's okay, Fluttershy, you're fine now." I said reassuringly. I looked at the Doctor. "Is she dead?" "No, but Fluttershy really gave her a beating." he said. "All that pent up anger, all that rage she kept inside, was finally let loose after she saw you being threatened." he said, turning to look at me. "She saved your life." Does this mean I can kill her? I thought. I didn't voice it since Fluttershy was still bawling into me, and she had every right to. After all she's been through, I let her cry. I looked over to my mom and saw her looking at me with a smile. "You okay, mom?" I asked. She simply nodded her head. "So you'll live right?" She shook her head no. "This wound is fatal. I've already lost too much blood." she said. I looked at Fluttershy who seemed to have stopped crying a little bit. Derpy walked over to me and took Fluttershy from me, nodding to my mom. I walked over to her and held her hoof. "Rainbow Nicole Dash." she said. She never used my full name. Never. It brought tears to my eyes. "You are a strong, brave, a loyal pony. You've always been somepony others can rely on when they need you. When Fluttershy was a fiily, you helped her by being her friend. When her parents put her down, you brought her back up. When you were at that dance and nopony wanted to be with Fluttershy, you stepped up and stood by her." She had a coughing fit and spat up more blood than I thought could come out of one's mouth. I sniffled. "But I'm not loyal!" I exclaimed. "I wasn't with you when you needed me. I wasn't able to help you when you needed me most." She shook her head. "No, Rainbow Dash. I'm glad you weren't with me during these past years. I missed you and your brother more than anything else in the world. There were days where I would give anything just to see both of your faces one more time. But I knew if I did that, then I would be putting you two in greater risk than I could ever allow." she explained. "Besides, Fluttershy needed you more than I did. Without you, do you think she would have been able to last this long?" I thought about it and she was right. My mom was a kick flank pony and knew how to handle herself. Fluttershy wasn't like that usually needed me to watch out for her. "She loves you more than herself." my mom said. "But what about you?" I asked. "You didn't have anypony after dad..." I couldn't finish the sentence since I began to cry again. "I did have somepony to fight for. You and Felix." she said, very weak. I sobbed. I was losing her. "Please mom, don't..." I stammered off. She took took my face in her hoof and looked me in the eyes smiling. "You're father and I were proud to call you our daughter. Always remember, that no matter what happens to you, we will always be with you." she said, barely audible. "Mom..." I said, sobbing, letting the tears fall freely from my face. I felt her hoof go limp as she let out a breath. "No...No, mom!" I exclaimed. "Don't go! Please! Don't leave me!!" I hugged her body, sobbing fiercely into her coat. "Don't leave me." I said, muffled by her bloodstained coat. "I need you." I whispered. "I can't go on knowing that you aren't here, somewhere in the world with me." Another burst of tears exploded from my eyes as I felt her body grow cold. "Rainbow..." the Doctor said. "Shut up!!" I shouted. "Go away! All of you! Just go away!" I cried out, hugging my mom tighter to me. It was quiet as none of them said a word. Then, slowly, one by one, I heard them leave, and the sound of Clarrise's unconscious body being drug against the floor. I cried into my mom's chest, as I laid my head down over her heart. It wasn't beating. Her body was getting colder and colder as I held her there. I looked at her face, her lifeless eyes staring at nothing. "Please. Mom, if you can hear me, please. I need you. More than you know or ever knew. I wasn't fighting just for Fluttershy. I was fighting for you. I was fighting to see you again. I never got a chance to say it, but I needed you more than Fluttershy needed me. Knowing that you were alive somewhere, was what kept me going. Please...Don't go." I whimpered. I put my head in her chest, not caring that it was covered with her blood. "She was a great pony." I heard the Doctor say behind me. "I told you to go!" I shouted at him. "I know." he said, walking up to me. "But I figured you should have something." He placed a pendant next to me and looked at my mom. "She was a very talented mare. Nothing seemed to faze her. You were just like her in many ways. Fast, loyal, persistent, a bit pushy, but always, always caring about her friends and family." he said. I looked at the pendant and picked it up, sniffing. I opened it up and saw a photo of me and Felix when we were babies. "It was your mother's. She always had it with her on her journeys. When she returned, she gave it to me for safe keeping." he said. I stared at it, looking at the one thing my mom kept close to her heart. "I know it doesn't bring her back. But...I want you to know she loved you very much. And nopony will ever love you the same as she did." I looked to him and saw a few tears falling from his eyes. I turned back to my mom and closed her eyes. "I love you mom." I said. I turned to the Doctor and hugged him tightly, crying into his shoulder. "It's okay. It's okay." he whispered to me. I held the pendant tight against his back as we both cried at the loss of my mom.