Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see a dark marble floor. She lifted her head up and looked along it’s surface; her vision leading into the room. What she saw before her was a wall-less platform that seemed to be hovering in an unending void. She stood and found herself on a higher platform that led down a small staircase to a square that had three additional staircases on it. One at each side. She looked down at herself and saw that she was whole; no scars, no broken bones, and no gore hanging out. She was completely intact.
As she took a step forward towards the lower section she noticed that to her right, up that staircase sat a large throne like chair. In it sat a robed creature, its face masked in a black shroud, but it was bright, as if a great light shown within it. To her left, up that staircase, sat a pool made from the same marble the floor was constructed of, but she was unable to see what was inside of it. Across from her sat another empty platform similar to the one she had awoken on. As soon as she was in the middle of the lower section, she turned to the creature, a questioning look on her face.
It sat there, it’s head angled in a way that she could tell it had been watching her this whole time. Moments passed as she waited for it to speak, but as the being sat silent she succumb to her impatience. “I-is this the after life?” she finally asked. Her question was quite valid, after all, the last thing she could remember before this moment was a large saw blade slicing through her.
“This is what some would refer to as purgatory or limbo, but it is nothing more than the void between Heaven and Hell.” the creature spoke with a booming voice. He was loud, very loud, but it didn’t hurt her ears. She simply stood there more confused than before.
“So…I am dead right?”
“Indeed you are, Rainbow Dash. You were killed the moment that your cerebral cortex was dismembered by the Pegasus Device.” his words made her cringe. To think that she had not only been killed, but tossed into the very machine she protected; by the very man she swore loyalty to!
“Aren’t there supposed to be pearly gates or something?” she looked around, continuing to see only the dark, endless void in every direction, except the black marble floor she stood on.
“You are not ready to pass through those gates.” he said without hesitation. Her ears flopped down and a worried look came across her face.
“Does…does that mean I’m…going to Tartarus?” her voice quivered in fear.
“Not this day Rainbow Dash. You are yet to be ready to for judgment. There is still more for you to do in Equestria. You may still have a second chance.” he stood and began to walk to her. She took a step back, noticing his humanoid form to be much like Raptor’s, but taller. He approached her and ran a black gloved hand through her mane. His touch was soft and reassuring. It was gentle and kind, as if no ill will was possible from this being.
“Come with me, my little pony, and I will show you your way back.” he walked past her and towards the pool that stood above the platform it rested on. He walked up the steps with her close behind.
He motioned a hand towards the pool indicating he wanted her to look inside. She walked over to it and threw her fore-hooves over its edge in order to balance herself and see what lied within. There she could see it was not water inside, but an image. An image of two alicorn princess standing in the midst of a ruined Rainbow Factory. “Who…who blew it up?” she asked puzzled.
“Josh did.” was the simple answer from the being.
“Who’s…Josh?” he chuckled a little at her query.
“You know him, but he does not go by that name often. Usually he will call himself, Raptor.”
“What!? How’d he do that!?” she asked, now looking over the ruins intently.
“That question, I will leave for him to tell you himself.” she looked over her shoulder at him.
“Is he…dead?”
“No…but he is close…let us hope that your friends can save him in time. As for you however…” he reached down and very gently lifted her in his arms. They were comfortable and relaxing, she almost never wanted to leave their loving touch. However, he held her out over the pool and lowered her in.
The silence around the ruined factory was interrupted by only a small pop emitted by both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia coming back to reality. Their hooves made a quiet clop as they softly landed on the clouds of the lower factory. Looking up they could see clearly into the ruined upper factory. Spectra of each color slowly poured from the now damaged vats, each color pooling into a rainbow in the lower factory. The monolithic maw leaned against the wall behind it, as it had been pushed over by the blast. The cat walk that ran across the expanse bent upwards, and an unconscious Scootaloo could be seen laying on it.
A form began to appear in the mist directly above the princesses. Slowly it became more clear as it drew out of the ceiling. The form was that of a human. Raptor surrounded by a purple energy swirling and twisting, was falling towards them. Both princesses watched as he slowly went past them. Sure of the clouds catching him, neither stopped his decent. However, as he began to pass through the cloud floor Celestia picked him up with her magic and sat him on a metal panel that had fallen from the factory above. She sat him down slowly, ensuring it would hold his weight. Once he was secure, she released him.
Astonished, the princesses few up to the factory to investigate what they were seeing. “Is it possible, “ Luna gawked, “that Raptor did this?”
“It is very likely, sister. He is powerful, but even I did not know he was capable of this alone.” She landed on the catwalk near Scootaloo and leaned down to check on her. She was still breathing, despite the amount of blood loss. “What has happened here?” she looked around and noticed Hide leaning against the wall on the floor of the upper factory. She flew down to him and checked his vitals. He was still alive, but unconscious too.
“Sister!” Luna called out. Celestia turned and saw that her sibling was across the room. She lifted up and flew over to her.
“What is it Luna?” she asked. The mare of the night pointed at the pile of bodies that sat before them. Celestia’s ears dropped at the sight of so many children slain for a cause she did not know. Their broken bodies had been piled against the wall by the blast.
A cough was heard from deep in what was left of the pit. Both sisters turned and saw a young lavender pegasus climbing up the broken metal. Luna jumped forward and helped her with her magic.
“What is your name child?” Luna asked as she used her magic to place the filly on her back.
“I…I’m Rising Wind, ma’am.” she said through a cough and her voice was weak. Luna flew to the lower factory and sat the injured pony there.
“Can you tell me…” Celestia landed next to them looking down at the young pegasus with concern. “us…what happened here?”
“We…we failed our flight tests and were brought here. They…they…oh Celestia they were going to turn us into rainbows!” the filly fell face first into the clouds she was laying on and began to cry. Her hooves overlapped her snout as her body shook with each sob.
“It is okay dear one, you are safe now.” Celestia said, placing a comforting hoof on Rising Wind’s shoulder. “Did you see who was in charge?”
“Ye-ah…Rainbow Dash…” Celestia and Luna looked at each other shocked. “…but they killed her and turned her into rainbows. That…that made somepony…uh…Atmosphere…in charge.”
“Do you remember what he looked like?” Luna asked, laying in front of the filly to try and calm her some.
“He had red fur and a white mane. I couldn‘t see his cutie mark because it‘s hidden by his lab coat.” she said, looking up at Luna, sadness still present in her blood shot eyes.
“I just saw him…” Celestia said as she turned to fly back up to the upper factory. However, something caught her eye.
As the spectra pooled together, a loud plop was heard and then a round, grey stone could be seen floating amidst it. The colors of the spectra around the stone were more vibrant and streaked great color in long bands extending like fingers. Celestia walked over to the pool and looked at the stone intently. The question streaking through her mind simply asked, “Why is the stone floating?” As it spun, she found out why.
On its surface sat a lighting bolt much like Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. Celestia looked at it with a smile, she knew what to do. “Luna, I need your assistance please.” Luna patted Rising Wind on the shoulder and then walked over to her sister. Before either could speak Cloudsdale emergency crews began to fly up into the building and immediately began taking care of the dead, dying, or injured.
There were ponies strewn all around the factory floor. All injured in some way, and in some cases, fatally. One pony was bleeding from her snout and ears, her scalp crushed. The medic simply closed the pony’s eyes. One was buried under a piece of metal, he was pulled out and found to be alive, but unconscious. Celestia and Luna watched the commotion for a moment before the mare of day drew her sister’s attention to the stone.
“Do you recognize that?” Celestia asked. Luna peered intently at the floating rock and when she saw the cutie mark she recognized it.
“That looks like the Element of Loyalty stone I…crushed…when I was Nightmare Moon.” Luna said slightly embarrassed.
“Indeed it is, and do you see the strands of magic about this rainbow pool?” Luna’s vision danced across the vibrant hues.
“That…that’s magic?” Luna asked looking back up at her sister.
“Yes. I believe that that spell you and I have been working on, could now be put to practice.”
“But Tia, we have not perfected that spell, what if….what if I mess it up…” Celestia smiled at her sister with reassurance.
“You will do fine, but this will require our full concentration. Are you ready?” Luna nodded and both alicorn sisters pointed their horns at the stone.
Both horns lit, their magic auras surrounding the tips. A beam leapt from their horns and surrounded the Element of Loyalty. It began to lift into the air as drops of rainbow slid off and splashed back into the pool. The magic hues of the princesses danced and fought for predominance as the stone began to glow. The sisters’ hooves slowly began to push into the clouds as their magic auras intensified and sparks began to burst from their horns.
The regal sisters gritted their teeth as they concentrated as much magic into the orb as possible. Suddenly the magical hues in the spectra began to bounce, and then lift out of the rainbow pool. The colors began to dance around the orb into a spiral until a complete flow of magic surrounded the orb. The rainbow colored fluid encased the Element and then slowly widened outwards. The hue sphere, covered by the princesses magic, slowly began to morph in shape. A hoof could be seen, then a snout, an ear, another ear, a tail. The rainbow colors began to recede as cyan colored fur appeared in their wake. The rainbow fluid receded into a tail and mane, where strands of hair took place of the liquid. Rainbow Dash’s body was now glowing from being held up by Celestia and Luna’s magic. Celestia opened an eye and saw what they had done, but the spell was not complete just yet.
The rainbow liquid receded along her back, making wings that were already stretched out. Once fully formed they curled and then flapped once. Rainbow Dash’s chest expanded with one large breath as her eyes shot wide.
“H-hey!” she yelled out. “What’s going on!?” Celestia and Luna’s magic stopped and Rainbow almost fell, but she caught herself with her fully open wings. With a low poof, she landed on the clouds softly.
“Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?” Celestia asked. The cyan mare looked down at her pristine body and then back up with a perpetually confused look.
“I…guess so. But didn’t I-” she looked behind her and saw the Pegasus Device in shambles. “Oh wow, who did that!?” she asked completely astonished at the destruction.
“We believe that is the work of Raptor.” Luna said looking down at the completely unconscious Human on a nearby metal panel.
“He used so much power, that he blew off even Twilight’s spell that had him capable of walking on clouds.” Celestia said as all three of them examined him. “He stopped this madness.” Celestia looked up into then upper factory as she spoke. “Nearly at the cost of his life.”
She turned to a nearby group of medics that were checking a pony that was sitting against a broken cloud pillar. “Come here one of you, please.” a female pegasus lifted up and flew over to them. “Can you please take Raptor to Ponyville Regional. I know they’re not familiar with Human anatomy, but please tell them to do what they can to ensure he lives.”
“Yes ma’am.” the medic said as she turned to the Human.
The medic checked Raptor, or at least tried to check him. she looked at him slightly unsure of how to check that he was alive other than his slow, burdened breaths. She waved a few of her compatriots over to help her. One of them carried a gurney on his back. They put a mask over his face to help his breathing, surprisingly enough the snout shaped plastic still worked as his breathing became clearer. They lifted him up onto the gurney and carried him to Ponyville.
“Well, Rainbow Dash is alive again?” yelled a voice from in the upper factory. All three mares looked from the medics flying away to where the shouting had come from. There, they saw Dr. Hide Atmosphere standing on the catwalk, Scootaloo hanging from one of his hooves.
“Put her down!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
“Oh? Why? Just a few moments ago you were going to kill her. Maybe I should finish where you started.” he turned the unconscious filly to where her closed eyes met his. An evil grin spread across his face as malicious thoughts flowed through his mind.
“I’ll have one more rainbow, Rainbow Dash! And this little filly is going to give it to me.”
“Atmosphere!” yelled Celestia. He looked away from Scootaloo and down upon the royal alicorn, his malicious grin fading to an annoyed frown. “Release her and come down here at once! You are going to tell me everything about what has been going on here!”
“Am I? I don’t know Celestia. Maybe you should open your eyes for a change and look around you. This factory was intended for one use and one use only.” his maddening stare came back, but this time it was directed at Celestia. “Making rainbows.” he let out a low laugh as he turned and looked at Scootaloo again. “The failures….oh how much they’ve provided for us over the past one thousand years. After you sent your sister away, and gave us the burden of creating rainbows, we had to develop something.” his malefic grin returned to the sisters below, but this time it seemed as if he was focusing on Luna. “Thank you, Nightmare Moon. Would it have not been for you, Commander Hurricane’s ingenious idea for these degenerates would have never seen the light of day.” Luna looked away, her ears folded down as she bit her lip.
“Though…Celestia…you take the cake. Your failure as a princess is quite evident. You had to send a HUMAN to stop me! You couldn’t even get that fat, cake eating flank of yours off that throne to come and stop me.”
“Enough Atmosphere! Come down here! You’re under arrest.” Celestia sneered.
“Arrest? I’ve done nothing wrong! All I’ve done is do what I was ordered, what all of us were ordered…by you. We’ve been creating rainbows for Equestria!”
“When I gave you that order, Atmosphere, this is not what I intended for you to do!” Celestia’s anger was becoming ever present.
“Wait…Celestia…if you want to arrest somepony…why don’t you arrest the supposed Element of Loyalty right next to you.” Atmosphere said in a psychotic tone. His free hoof pointed at Rainbow Dash, who had been standing there with a glare on her face the whole time. “She is as guilty as me! After all, just before this place was blown apart, she was going to kill this here filly!” Atmosphere shook Scootaloo, indicating she was who he was talking about.
“I…I…” Rainbow said, her head drooping in shame. “I was going to…” she admitted to both Celestia and Luna.
“SEE!” atmosphere exclaimed. “She admits to her claims of murder!”
“But you are a murderer too Atmosphere!” Rainbow yelled up at him.
“Am I? My hooves are clean of rainbows Dashie. I never once did anything to any of these foals.” he made a smug grin as he looked at Scootaloo. His free hoof came over and began to caress her broken cheek bone. “She is a beautiful mare.” he said softly. “It would be a shame to destroy her even further.”
He looked down at Rainbow Dash, a mad glare across her face again. “What do you say Rainbow Dash? Should I end her for you, since you’re to fucking scared to do it yourself. I mean, it’s ONLY your little sister. She apparently doesn’t mean anything to you.” he pulled his hoof away and readied it to strike.
Scootaloo was broken; torn; destroyed, but she was not dead. Her heavy breathing rushed onto Atmosphere as he readied to end her existence. Nothing came from the three mares standing in the factory below. Hide questioned to himself why none of them moved; why none of them spoke. He shrugged it off and brought his hoof inwards.
A rainbow colored eruption exploded across the lower factory floor, blowing some of the bodies away and scattering some of the clouds. The Sonic-Rainboom effected the sisters very little as a rainbow streaked upwards and collided with Dr. Atmosphere.
Rainbow Dash found herself leaning against the wall of the upper factory. Her breathing was erratic as she looked down and could see her rear hooves barely on a broken piece of metal. Her mind was numb, every inhale echoing throughout her conscious. The world around her seemed to have stopped.
Each breath brought with it a different smell into her nostrils. First it was broken metal, then followed by the smell of blood. As she continued to stare at her hind legs a crimson drop fell from her left outstretched arm. Another crimson droplet fell from the crook in her elbow, causing her to look up at that hoof.
Raptor opened his eyes to see the black marble room hovering in the void. He sighed and stood up from the platform he was on. “Ah back here again.” he said as he walked down the steps into the middle of the room. He glanced at the throne and saw no one there. Turning around he noticed that the being was standing up from leaning into the water pool. Upon noticing the being, he knelt down to one knee.
“Arise, Josh.” he said and Raptor stood back up.
“So, I assume I almost died again?” he asked as the being walked past him, returning to his throne.
“Indeed. You used almost all of your spirit energy on that explosion. If it wasn’t for Celestia having caught you from falling, you would have definitely died.”
“Well, it’d seem I need to thank her when I return….supposing I’d remember anything this time.” Raptor spoke as he walked over to the pool of water. He leaned on the tub’s edge and looked in. There stood Celestia and Luna…and Rainbow Dash. “So…I’m assuming you were returning Rainbow back to the ‘land of the living’?”
“Yes.” the being responded simply. This caused Raptor to look at him with annoyed sarcasm.
“Oh c’mon, why’d you send her back?” the being stayed silent. Defeated Raptor queried something else. “Are you going to allow me to remember anything OTHER than the fact that I’ve been here this time? It is quite annoying that I forget everything till I’m up here again, then suddenly I remember all of my previous visits.”
“It is my will that you forget. Are you questioning that?” the being asked, a slight annoyed tone accompanying his voice. Raptor smiled innocently and put his hands up in defense.
“Heh, no no, I wasn’t. I’m sorry.”
He looked back at the pool and watched the three ponies. They were flying over the factory now, or what could only be assumed was the factory. It didn’t seem the same as it had been before. “So about those dreams.” he finally said, looking up at the being that was just watching him. “Why did you give them to me?”
“I was trying to warn you of your future, Josh. You are aware of the consequences of your actions correct?”
“I knew what I was doing…there was no other choice…” Raptor looked dejectedly back at the pool.
“You could have shot higher…why didn’t you?” the being tilted its head in question.
“I…you know why I did, you know everything! Why are you asking me!?” Raptor jumped up and began to pace nervously. His actions were now in question and he didn’t know how to answer for them.
“Yes, but you don’t know why you did. Did you want to kill him?”
“No…” Raptor paused and looked at the being. “You know I don’t take lives senselessly.”
“Then why did you take his?”
“I MISSED!” Raptor turned full at the being, anger ever present.
“No, you didn’t…you purposely took his life. However, you did it to stop him from suffering the same fate as the others, because you knew you couldn’t save him.” The being continued to sit there, cool and composed as Raptor’s steam boiled away.
“I…
The being stood and walked over to Raptor and looked down into the pool. He placed his finger in it and the scene changed to nurses laying Raptor’s body in a hospital bed. “They moved you to Ponyville. That is where I will send you back to.” he said.
“Will I rememb-” the being snapped his head abruptly, cutting Raptor off. “Never mind.”
“Keep in mind you will be in immense amounts of pain upon your return, and…not everyone down there will be happy with you.”
“Why not? I destroyed the factory.” he said as he looked at the nurses mulling over his body.
“You have killed.” was the simple and dry response from the being.
“Oh…that…” Raptor said looking up at the beings mask. “Will she ever forgive me?”
“You will have to ask her that yourself.”
“Hmmm…Then I had best go find out.” he lifted himself over the tube’s edge, letting a foot hang into the pool.
“Before you go back there is one thing I will permit you to remember.” the being stated. Raptor paused, sitting on the edge of the pool. “Just know that there’s more to this. You’re not done yet. There are things behind these recent events in Equestria that are far larger than just this Rainbow Factory.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, a confused look on his face.
“Go.” with a nod Raptor rolled into the pool.
Gurgling and choking noises brought Scootaloo to reality as she found herself hanging over the edge of the catwalk. Painfully she rolled away from its edge and looked at where the drowning noise was coming from. At first she couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing, but after a second glance, she knew she was staring at cyan fur and rainbow colored hair.
Rainbow Dash watched the blood flow down her hoof from Atmosphere’s throat. He twitched and pawed at her arm to try and dislodge it from his jugular. His burdened breathing did nothing more but suck blood down into his lungs as he squirmed for life. Rainbow moved her hoof and felt metal. She had pushed her hoof all the way through his neck, somehow missing his spine and pinned him against the wall. The sight did nothing but make her smile.
Atmosphere choked and coughed, the muscles in his neck moving against Rainbow’s arm and spilling out more blood. His eyes began to roll back into his head as his movements slowed and then came to a halt. He went completely limp, all of his weight being put onto Rainbow’s arm. She slid her appendage from his throat with a sickening pop and let his corpse fall from the crevice. When it landed on the floor below it made a crunch that would churn stomachs.
Scootaloo ignored the fact that Atmosphere had fallen past her, or the fact that every inch of her body was in pain. All she cared about was the fact that her sister was now gliding to her, alive. With metallic clops, Rainbow Dash landed in front of the bleeding Scootaloo. She was laying on her side, blood running from her nose and cheek where Rainbow had repeatedly pummeled her. One of her eyes had already began to blacken, and the other was swollen closed.
Rainbow Dash knelt down and looked into Scootaloo’s good eye. “I’m so, so sorry for all of this, Scoots.” she said as Celestia and Luna joined them on the catwalk. With the nod of her head, Celestia ordered medics over to them. Scootaloo peered back into Rainbow’s rosy orbs, tears streaming from both eyes.
The salty liquid pride burned her wounds, but she didn’t care. She was so happy to see Rainbow Dash alive. All Scootaloo could do was cry in happiness. “I-…I saw you die.” Scootaloo choked out.
“I did. Celestia and Luna revived me.” Rainbow said, as she sat down and lifted her little sister into her arms.
“I…I…uh…I forgive you Rainbow…” Scootaloo appeared to be falling into unconsciousness as her eyes were constantly drifting from Rainbow’s. she would shake, and then return to looking at her sister.
“Stay awake!” Rainbow yelled.
The medics swooped in, the cyan pony’s shout making them move more hastily. “Please Mrs. Dash, we must take her.” the stallion medic said. She used her wings to help lift herself upwards and carefully place Scootaloo on the gurney.
“I love you…Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo said as her optical orb rolled backwards into her skull.
“Scootaloo!” the cyan mare yelled.
“She’s alive, Mrs. Dash, but we need to get her to intensive care right now. She might have internal bleeding.” the medic insisted. Rainbow flapped her wings in order to move back and get out of the way. The two medics took the gurney and flew away, Rainbow watching with dark wet streaks running down her cheeks.
“Rainbow Dash.” Celestia said, laying a comforting wing over the Bearer of Loyalty. “They have instructions to take any survivors to Ponyville Regional. That is where Scootaloo is being taken and where Raptor was taken as well.”
Celestia stepped away from the pegasus and looked up at the broken and crumbling Pegasus Device. It leaned precariously against the back wall of the room. The outside sunlight overrode the one amber light that had survived the blast. The Device’s monolithic and bloody maw sat bent and twisted, the wall it leaned against the only thing keeping it from falling in on itself. The broken vats at its base continued to leak a now slower stream of spectra onto the floor below.
“I still don’t know what this did Rainbow Dash.” she said, her vision continuing to gaze upon the twisted structure. Rainbow looked up at the machinery and sighed.
“We would drop them into the top.” she said, pointing with a slightly shaking hoof at the crimson mouth. “It would….would grind them up…and…harvest the magical spectra from their bodies.” the cyan mare sat, her body leaning against one of the bent railings that still remained on the catwalk, tears continuing to stream from her eyes.
“Sister.” Celestia said, looking up at Luna.
“Yes?”
“Have you recovered enough from our previous expense of magic to assist me once more?”
“I have. What is it you wish to do?” Luna responded curiously. With anger on her face Celestia stood erect and looked at the crumbling Pegasus Device.
“Help me destroy this piece of shit.” her horn began to glow as a rush of yellow magic began to flow up and down the spiraling shaft. Ignoring her sisters rash verbiage, Luna lit her horn as well.
“What spell sister?” she asked.
“The most destructive one you and I have practiced since your return.” Celestia said through gritted teeth.
“But that will blow out the wall.” Luna looked at the crumpled device with concern.
“I do not care. Destroy it!”
With a nod Luna let a burst of magic leap from her horn into the central throat of the monolith. Celestia joined her and their beams of magic began to cut through the monstrosity’s metal hull. Their magic beams closed in together and finally as night and day became one, a great flash erupted from the converging point of both beams.
Rainbow Dash heard the loud eruption and moved her hooves from her face just in time to see a white orb erupt outwards from the center of the Pegasus Device. It blew outwards and then curved around a shield Luna had put up to protect them from the blast. The brittle catwalk bent and buckled as the unprotected section began to succumb to the eruption. As it twisted and then fell, all three winged ponies lifted off of it and hovered.
Silence once again wafted in the breeze as what was once the upper factory now lay leveled. Chunks of black metal lay strewn across the white mist that had once surrounded the sinful building. Small fragments of once darkened clouds drifted with the upper atmospheric winds, to be carried off with the souls of the destroyed.
Three figures remained above the unrecognizable structure, now flattened by the very magic that had inadvertently ordered it’s construction. Tears fell, not along cyan fur, or dark blue fur, but perfect white fur. “I…did this…” Celestia stated through tears streaming down her face. “I caused this horrible creation to have existed…”
“No…” Luna stated as she flew up to her sister and stretched out a comforting hoof.
“I gave the order, Luna!” Celestia exclaimed, tear filled eyes swinging over to meet luminescent green orbs. “I gave them the order to create rainbows since I could not. If I would have been stronger…” she lowered her head, tears falling to the crumbled metal below. “None of this would have happened.” Luna embraced her sister, careful to not flap her wings into either of them so as to not make them fall. “No, my sister, the blame is not yours. You told them to make rainbows, they chose the means in which they procured the substance.”
Rainbow Dash watched the two regal sisters, tears of her own falling prey to gravity. She felt the same as Celestia, if not more shameful. She had seen this evil, but instead of exposing it like the festering sore it was, she simply dove right in and became as sick as the rest. She hung her head and headed for Ponyville Regional.
“Return to Canterlot, Tia. I will watch over the rest of the deconstruction of this facility. That is what you want done, right?” Luna said, floating away from her no longer crying sibling.
“Indeed Luna, tell them to begin deconstruction of the entire weather factory. Ensure the remaining injured are taken to Ponyville for medical care, I don’t want anypony left here. Tomorrow we will return and take aggressive action against whomever survived that was apart of this.”
“But Celestia…what about Rainbow Dash…she has admitted guilt to this crime…” Both sisters watched the rainbow streak that was heading for the small nearby town.
“Her punishment has been served, and she will continue to serve it. Every time she looks at the scars on Scootaloo’s body; the new factory that will stand in place of this one…she will suffer her punishment. I will return tomorrow, after I have regained my composure. I will see you again, sister.”
“Tomorrow!” Luna yelled after Celestia as a fare-well.
The white alicorn princess of day sped home, wishing to corral and subdue the anger, hatred, and suffering that had built inside her. The pain began to spew from her eyes as moisture fell from her royal cheeks. Anguish tore at her soul. No matter what Luna said, it didn’t change Celestia’s mind, she still blamed herself. Oh how much pain had been apart of that building? How many had died, needlessly? How long had they kept it a secret from her? She became impatient and simply teleported back to Canterlot Castle.
Pain suddenly tore through Raptor’s body as he awoke to be lying in a hospital bed. He let out a grunt as his breathing only caused more pain. He looked across his body and saw a blanket covering his torso. His right leg was lifted up in a strap and his left arm was as well. He dared not try to move, should it unleash pain that he hadn’t felt yet.
He turned his head to examine the room. It was well lit with plain two tone walls. The top half being a faded pink and the lower being somewhere near a dark turquoise. A curtain ran along the left side of his bed, separating him from the rest of the room. On the other side of him was a wall with a window in it. He could tell it was night time outside as he watched, for an unknown amount of time, the stars twinkle.
He found himself trying to figure out the constellations. None here were like back home. To try and appeal to his boredom, he began to play connect the dots. It wasn’t until he heard snoring come from past the base of his bed did he not know of anyone being around. His head shot up, looking down his broken body to see Rainbow Dash curled into a ball on a chair, sleeping. She was positioned to where she could see whoever was on the other side of the separation curtain.
“Rainbow!” Raptor exclaimed in a quiet and raspy voice. He cleared his throat and called for her again. Her head jerked up from her arm and with a tiered yawn she looked in the direction from which her name was being called. Her eyes shot wide when she saw him looking at her. With great excitement she leapt from the chair and nearly flew over to Raptor. Once next to his bead she looked down at him apologetically.
“I’m so sorry.” she said. “I dunno what I was thinking.”
“It’s okay Rainbow Dash, I don’t hold it against you. Though, I will say it is very strange to see you alive…” he said as he put his head back down.
“Oh…yeah…that…Princess Celestia and Luna revived me somehow.”
“Ah…good to know. Y’think maybe they could heal me a bit?” he nodded to his bandaged body.
“Heh, actually, they’ve been coming in here for the past three days casting healing spells on you and Scootaloo. I…uh…beat you two up pretty good.” she made an innocent smile as she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.
“Past three days? How long have I been out?” he was suddenly concerned.
“About two weeks.” she said with an innocent smile.
“Damn Rainbow, when you knock someone up, you do a good job.”
“Would you guys shut up? I’m trying to sleep!” exclaimed Raptor’s neighbor. He looked at the curtain and then up at the mare standing over him.
“Scootaloo?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ve been here every night to keep an eye on you two. Kinda making my back ach sleeping in that chair.”
“Why not sleep in one of the beds?”
“All of the ponies that survived the factory’s explosion were brought here. Celestia didn’t trust anypony else in Cloudsdale till she dissolved the city council and appointed new heads.”
“Chairmen, Rainbow Dash, they’re called chairmen…”
“Oh yeah, right.” she let out a subtle chuckle. She let out a weary yawn and did a small tiered smile.
“Do you…uh...wanna sleep here tonight Rainbow? As long as you don’t hurt me I don’t care.” Raptor said, trying to hide how uneasy asking that made him. She let out a concerned frown.
“I dunno, you already take up a lot of this bed…no where really for me to sleep.”
“Well, my left leg is okay, so I guess you could sleep on it…my dog used to..”
“I’m not a-” slight insult spread across her face as he held up his good hand with an amused smile.
“That’s not what I meant, I’m sorry.” she let out a little sigh and lifted into the air. As gently as she could she laid down on him where it didn’t hurt and fell asleep. He started at the ceiling as he tried to do the same, but having slept for two weeks nearly made it impossible.
The next morning, Scootaloo sat up as the hospital room doors opened. Twilight walked in holding a tray of food bowels. Fluttershy followed her in, a tray of more food on her back. The two mares had volunteered to assist the hospital in taking care of the injured that had come from the factory. With her magic Twilight set every bowel from her tray on each patients table, each one that was awake diving in and eating it immediately. After her tray was empty she sat it to the side and pulled the one from Fluttershy to continue setting bowels out. When they reached Scootaloo they stopped and smiled at her sitting up.
“You must be feeling better today Scootaloo.” Twilight said as she hovered a bowel onto the table tray next to the orange pegasus.
“Yeah I don’t hurt nearly as much thanks to your healing spells yesterday Twilight.” she stated as she grabbed her bowel and then began to devour it. As she ate she watched Twilight begin to walk away. Pausing, she looked over at the curtain that still remained and then back at the two temporary nurses. “Hey Twilight.” she said, stopping them in their tracks.
“Yes Scootaloo?” Twilight asked turning her head back at the young mare.
“I think Raptor might be hungry too.”
“I will feed him soon. After all, I have to get that special food we made for him. Seems to be the only thing he’ll keep down.”
“Oh okay. Just to let you know…he’s awake. Him and Rainbow Dash were talking last night. Woke me up…”
“He is!?” she bolted past Fluttershy and looked around the curtain. Raptor’s eyes moved from the ceiling to her, and a subtle smile crossed his face. She looked down at his legs and saw Rainbow Dash still asleep there.
“I was wondering if you had forgotten me, Twilight.” he said as he struggled to make his voice louder than a peep.
“Don’t talk to much, your sternum is still cracked. You took so much damage from your fight with…” she paused and looked at the snoring cyan pegasus. “…I haven’t been able to heal you fully.”
“It’s fine. I’ve been like this before, many times. This is nothing new.” he let out a small chuckle and then reeled in the pain it caused him.
“I will get your food. Hold on.” he slowly nodded as she walked away. After the pain subsided he looked down at Rainbow Dash.
He pondered why Twilight had acted that way towards Rainbow. Did she hold the events of the Rainbow Factory against her friend? It was a horrible act so great no one could forgive her? Her actions were from delusions and propaganda. He didn’t hold her accountable for that. Also she had been killed, not like her punishment wasn’t dealt.
Rainbow woke as soon as the smell of food entered her nostrils. Twilight had brought back some noodle soup and sat it next to Raptor. When he reached for it, and missed, Twilight lifted it up with her magic and slowly poured some of it into his mouth. He coughed a little, which caused him pain, but was happy to get to eat food. Rainbow Dash watched hungrily, but didn’t make a sound.
As Twilight walked past, she saw that Rainbow was awake. She had her eyes open, but her head was still laying on her hooves. Twilight couldn’t help but make a dissatisfied snort at her. This caused Raptor to raise an eyebrow in confusion. “What’s that all about?” he asked, laying his head back down because of his neck becoming tiered.
“My friends are mad at me because of the Rainbow Factory thing.” she said as her ears flopped down.
“That’s quite understandable. You’re an Element of Harmony. There was nothing harmonious about that facility.”
“Actually, it’s because I tried to kill Scootaloo….mostly….” She looked up at the curtain, barely being able to make out Scootaloo’s silhouette.
“Well, she’s your sister isn’t she?” Raptor asked, rolling his head over to look at the curtain too.
“No….not by blood at least, but…a couple years back she tried to impress me by not being afraid of some ghost stories I was telling her and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It almost got her killed because she ran away from our camp freaking out. I saved her from the river she almost fell in, and…vowed to take her under my wing.”
“How good of you. Did you know about the Rainbow Factory then?” he asked as he tried to look at her.
“I…I did. I’ve known about it since I won the Young Flier’s Competition 10 years ago. Dr. Atmosphere had come talked to me while I was hangin’ with the Wonderbolts. He said he had a job for me that’d pay more than my weather job in Ponyville and that they needed a flyer like me.
“So I agreed. I mean, more money meant that I could pay for Scootaloo to get into Early Flyer School.” she hopped off the bed and touched the curtain, as if to feel like she was caressing Scootaloo. “I just had no idea what I was getting myself into. They wanted me to perform the Sonic Rain-boom enough to generate rainbows, but…I still couldn’t do it on a regular basis. Dr. Atmosphere threatened to fire me, but I begged to stay. I needed the money…and I still hadn’t been shown the true side of the factory.”
“You’re a Bearer, Rainbow Dash…doesn’t Celestia pay y’all?” Raptor asked, confused.
“We aren’t apart of the military or anything. Just average mares that happen to be the Elements of Harmony. So no, Celestia doesn’t pay us. Which is why I had to stay. They paid really good!”
“But that’s not why you didn’t report them to Celestia upon discovering the Pegasus Device huh?” Rainbow walked over to where she could look Raptor in the eyes. Her ears were still down and her lip quivered.
“No…I didn’t report them because of the money. I…I wanted to protect Scootaloo from it, but instead I almost threw her into the machine myself.” she said looking away from Raptor, ashamed.
“There is a darkness in all of us Rainbow Dash. You have seen it manifested. Dr. Atmosphere was an evil person, and you fell in line with it because you thought you were doing what was right. Unfortunately you also let it take hold of you.”
Rainbow Dash just sat there, tears running down her cheeks. Raptor wanted to hug her and tell her it would be okay, but he couldn’t move. He noticed that Scootaloo’s silhouette had disappeared, as if she was laying down or something.
A week later Raptor stood for the first time in nearly a month. He fell forward just to have Rainbow Dash catch him. He pushed off her back and stood erect again. Slowly, he walked out of the hospital room. He was one of the last patients discharged from Ponyville Regional, and he couldn’t wait to get outside. As he limped out, an arm still folded in a brace, he breathed in a large breath of air. His chest no longer hurt and his collapsed lung was working fine. He felt better now than he did at the end of that bastard of a day.
“Celestia wants to speak to you and me.” Rainbow said, looking up to Raptor. “Think you can handle a little pony ride to Canterlot?”
“Rainbow, I’d prefer nothing less than a flight right now. I’ve been cooped up in a hospital room for three weeks, I think I’m ready to break free.” a subtle chuckle broke from his chest as he carefully climbed onto her back.
She opened her wings and pushed off with a great big flap. The cool air flowed across Raptor’s face and he took a moment to be childish. He let the air flow up his nostrils as he let his head lay back a little, the sun shining on his face. He felt alive and free, as if there were no worries in the world.
As they flew over a graveyard Raptor looked down and saw Scootaloo sitting in front of a grave stone. “I don’t remember that graveyard!” he yelled over the wind.
“Everypony that we could find that had died in that factory is buried there!” Rainbow yelled back.
“Oh…” he thought for a moment and then sighed. “Lets go down there!”
“Why!?”
“I wanna talk to Scootaloo! She seemed to ignore me most the time she was in the hospital!”
“Okay!”
Rainbow Dash banked and lowered altitude towards the graveyard, landing on the road nearby. Before she could stop completely Raptor hopped off and began limping towards the orange filly.
“Scootaloo!” he called. She turned around to her name being called and an angry scowl broke through the tears that had been streaming down her face.
“What do YOU want?” she barked as he got close to her. He looked at the grave stone in front of her and read the name aloud.
“Orion.” he lowered his head and looked away. “Scootaloo…I…I wanted to say I’m sorry…” he looked at her as her vision remained locked on the stone. She didn’t look at him, or away, just at the marble bearing Orion’s name. “I…I had to do what I did. I didn’t want him to…die like that…like the others…”
“So you KILLED HIM! In front of me! Just…just…SHOT HIM!” she yelled, her anger clearly boiling over. “I loved him Raptor! And you killed him! YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM! I HATE YOU!” her shout echoed across the grassy plains and into the mountain ranges surrounding the area.
“Yes, I did kill him.” he said calmly. “I killed him so that others may live.”
“Shut up!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “It didn’t have to be HIM though. Why him!?” she fell to the ground, sobbing. Raptor reached down with his un-bandaged arm and touched her shoulder. She jerked away and continued sobbing.
“May I ask you Scootaloo, to one day forgive me. Please recognize I did what I did because I had to…I am sorry…” he turned and walked back over to Rainbow Dash, who had been watching from the fence. Tears streamed down her face as she watched Scootaloo a second longer. After she was satisfied, she knelt down and let Raptor climb onto her back again. With a large push against the air, they were airborne again.
“Rainbow, may I ask you to do something for me?!” he yelled over the wind.
“What’s that?!” she yelled back, her teary eyes not leaving Canterlot in the distance.
“Make sure she forgives me, I don’t want her to hate me for the rest of her life!”
“I’ll do what I can!”
“Thank you!” he yelled as he looked back at the graveyard, just barely being able to make out Scootaloo. She was still on the ground in the same spot.
Rainbow Dash landed on the ground in front of the entrance to Canterlot Castle. Raptor hopped off her back and they both looked up at the doorway. “Princesses Celestia and Luna are waiting for you both.” A guard at the door said as he opened his side of then door with his magic. A guard on the other side opened his side of the door as well. They both walked in and towards the throne room.
Raptor and Rainbow Dash walked into the throne room through its main entrance to see guards lining the red carpet that led to the thrones. As soon as they had stepped in the nearest guards blew horns to announce their presence. “You told me there’d not be a ceremony.” Raptor whispered to the cyan pegasus as they walked.
“And you said you‘d wear something nice.” she responded in kind.
They walked down the carpet, ponies lining every corner of the room behind the row of guards. The other Bearers of Harmony stood with Princess Celestia and Luna on the platform where the thrones usually sat. Once they reached the welcoming party, Rainbow joined the others as Raptor knelt before them all.
“Colonel Raptor of Earth. It is with great pride that I, Princess Celestia, recognize you as not only a great hero, but an ally of Equestia and a dear friend.” Celestia’s voice boomed and echoed through the room. “You came here not knowing who any of us were, not knowing if we were friend or foe, and yet; you still risked your life for us.” He looked up at her and noticed all of them were smiling down at him. “For your brave acts inside the Rainbow Factory, and for revealing it to us, I dub you Royal Escort of Canterlot!” the room erupted into cheers as a badge hovered from an open box Spike held and clipped into his tattered uniform. In a vibrant gold color, the badge depicted an alicorn, wings wide, with a sun over it’s horn. Inside the sun crested a moon.
The room fell silent as Raptor stood and looked from the badge to Celestia. “I am grateful for this, Celestia…but…I don’t deserve it. I was simply doing what I do. And…I went against what you told me.”
“What was that?” Celestia asked, her smile only wavering slightly.
“I killed some of your subjects…after you had asked me not to.” he looked into her eyes, remorse stricken.
Her smile grew as she walked down the stairs and looked deep into his eyes. “I had asked you not to kill my subjects yes, but who you killed were murderers. Those kind of ponies, are not my subjects. You are free to go Colonel, I’m sure your people are missing you.” a beam shot from Celestia’s horn and portal opened behind the human. He looked over his shoulder and saw the living room to his apartment on the Highrule. He sighed and looked back at Princess Celestia.
“Will I ever see you guys again?” he asked, his vision dancing across the Bearers of Harmony.
“Only if I can ask one more favor of you.” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Anything, Princess.”
“Should I ever need you again, may I call on you for assistance.”
With a smile and a slight nod he said, “Of course, my weapons are yours.”
“Figuratively right?” she asked smiling.
“Huh?” Raptor looked at her, slightly confused.
“You do want these back correct?” she asked as his backpack and weapons hovered over to him, her gold hue surrounding them.
“Oh…heh…right…thank you.” he took them with his good arm and let them hang by his side as he turned to step into the portal. He looked back at the stage and waved goodbye one last time.
As he stepped through he could still hear the cheers coming through. Suddenly his room went dark and silent as the portal closed abruptly. The subtle hum of the Highrule’s engines were the only thing permeating the silence. He sat his stuff down in the middle of the room and walked over to the window. With great curiosity he gazed out into space to see that the ship was now hovering over Earth. Plasma scoring could be seen along the ships hull as if it had been in a battle.
The sound of a hologram appearing made Raptor turn around. Standing next to his stuff stood the disgruntled looking Ractrin, Valtor. “Just simple ponies huh?” he said with a chuckle as he walked over and motioned to Raptor’s bandages.
“Val, you would not believe how badly those ponies beat the crap outta me.”
“One of these days your arrogance is gonna get you killed.” he laughed as he walked over to Raptor’s stuff and with the snap of a finger they were teleported away. Raptor walked into the room and painfully pulled his vest off. It too was teleported away before it could hit the ground.
“Where’s Masha?” Raptor asked.
“On the bridge, doing your job and worried sick about you.” with a smile Raptor began to limp out of the room. “Josh…” Raptor stopped and looked over his shoulder at the hologram. “Do you think they’ll ever call for you again? I mean…those ponies seemed to be pretty happy that you had come. I heard all of the cheering.”
“I don’t think this is the last we’ve seen of them.” with that he walked out of the room.