//------------------------------// // Crystal Fisted Rainbows // Story: The Game of Shadows // by Zytharros //------------------------------// Crystal Fisted Rainbows Uhnn… my head… I opened my eyes and tried moving. Nothing doing – I was tied up against a wall, spread-eagle, where I had been since the brawl. Even my wings were tied back, leaving them in a terribly uncomfortable sprain. I looked down as my struggle ended and the pain hit me. I reeled under its influence, just now noting the rather large puddle of blood on the floor… and down my legs… my chest… my arms… I tasted some on my tongue… They had really done a number on me… to which I smiled in painful pride. They had learned well. A door opened behind me. The familiar walk pattern instantly identified who it was. “Just kill me already, Stellar Shriek…” I sneered. A gray pegasus with blood-red shoulders and a blue mane and tail walked around to my front. His cocky three-beat clopping was unmistakable. He walked right up to my faced and connected noses with me. “Is little Boomdroppie comfortable?” he chided with delighted expression. “You know how I love…” he tapped my side with a hoof, feeling for the softest spot, then slugged me in the side “…cooperative guests.” I gasped for air after the hit. I didn’t know what my body looked like, and they had me fixed in such a way I couldn’t see my tail, but I knew I was damaged. My left eye wasn’t working right, my right wing hung painfully limp from my back, I could put little weight on my left leg, and something in my chest felt strained. I coughed, regaining my breath as he paced. “Cowardly, like always,” I commented with a chuckle. Immediately, I was met with an expected slug to the jaw. I spat out a loosened tooth and smirked. “Where’s the human?” Stellar Shriek asked. His cutie mark was what you humans would call a trollface. “I want to… play… with him…” I chuckled. “He’s long gone. He won’t come and save me.” A third voice, gruff and rough as gravel with three-inch spikes underneath, entered the room. “Don’t be so sure.” A giant, pure-black unicorn entered. Stellar Shriek stepped out of the way. “Megahorn…” I said. “Long time no see.” Easily Princess Celestia’ height, he towered over everyone in the room. He was dead-serious. There was no other colouring on his form. He was blacker than the night. His cutie mark was a single, four-pointed white star. “Fuck you,” he seethed. “Nobody bucks up an operation on purpose and gets away with it.” “On… what!?” I exclaimed. “I never, ever bucked up on purpose! You know that!” He hit me. I don’t even remember the pain. All I remember were the stars and feeing like I was going to throw up, which I did. Some got on my poor tail… oh, I would have to take special care of my baby when I got to take a bath next… “Stellar Shriek watched you,” he screamed. “He told you to follow orders and you failed to listen, you bitch!” He turned away. “I have a new assignment for you.” “I thought I was your second-in-command!” I demanded. “When you left for Manehattan, I took over as head of Black Silver. I thought-” “Thinking means nothing,” Megahorn said, putting a sizable hole in the wall with his monstrous hoof. “Remember – it was me who took you in… me who gave you a home, a family, and friends… me who taught you the pleasure of… ‘special company’… You owe me everything, fucking bitch! Even your bloody body is mine!” I spat on his face. “The only thing you made me was a goddamn slut. You cared for nothing more than my flank.” “Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it,” he sneered with an evil grin, slowly wiping his face with a foreleg. “I made you who you are.” “And it’s a damn shame,” I said. “I’m tired of killing! I’m tired of being forced upon!” I grew more irate with each passing second. “I’m tired of this whole pile of bullshit! Why can’t you understand and just leave me the fuck alone!?” He slugged me three times. I thought I was going to die, and I was reduced to a whimpering mass because of it. He stopped and wrapped his foreleg around me. I cringed in fear. “That’s better,” he hissed. “Now, about your human friend…” I dropped my head in sadness. I felt powerless… and I hated feeling like that. I decided that my former ‘father figure’ was no longer worthy of life. “He and his buddies have been searching all over Fillydelphia for you,” the gigantic pony said. “Maybe I should…” he projected an image onto the screen as to our location “…help him out?” I looked up slightly. “Dammit… I’m gonna kill you if you harm one hair in his mane…” “And Razortongue…” he said, laughing. “Youfuckingbastard!!” I screeched, thrashing against the wall of my prison. “Harm her and I will make sure you eat Tartarus’ shit!” He laughed again. “Your little lovebird will wither and die, dumbass lesbo…” “No!!” I shrieked, trying to lunge at him. Stellar Shriek stepped in the way and slugged me twice. I reeled from the extended pain. My right wing fell to my side, dangling painfully off my back. “Make sure you save a piece of that Earth pony for me, won’t you, Stellar?” Megahorn said. Stellar Shriek cackled. “I’d be glad to, Lord Megahorn…” “Not her, too…” I said weakly. As the door closed, I broke down in tears. After a few moments, I screamed, “Rainbow Dash, why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance, dammit!?” A shadow casted on the wall moved. A raspy voice spoke. “I’m as powerless as you… there’s nothing I can do in this state, except obey the will of Crystal Fist.” The shadow stepped out of the wall. “I was placed under Megahorn to serve her ends better, and being the Element of Loyalty, I will not deviate from that.” “Even if it means betraying the only country you’ve known your entire life?” I asked emphatically. “Even if it means killing everyone you’ve come to hold dear?” Rainbow, emotionless, said, “If that’s what it takes, I will even stop the Princess herself from stopping Crystal Fist.” “That’s not loyalty!” I demanded. “That’s treason! Treason to your country, your friends, your family! Don’t you see the pain you’re causing everyone? This is the third day I’ve been here, and all I’ve seen you do is slowly ebb away the supposed loyalties you once held highly!” “My friends are the Sentinels of Her Majesty,” she said. “My mission is with them. You betrayed Black Silver. I cannot trust you.” “I wanted a better life,” I declared. “I didn’t want to kill, to steal, to… well, break other ponies for Black Silver’s gain anymore. I’m done! I finally found a mare I would be happy with. I settled down, started a band, and began a normal life! I was through with gang life… I was…” As I broke down again, Shadow Rainbow stood stone-silent staring at me, seemingly processing some manner of thought in her mind, though one could never tell with a faceless shadow that had walked all over you after you had walked all over seventeen of your former underlings. After a few minutes of silence, Dash’s tail swished and she melded back into the wall. “Crystal Fist is the only way now. You’d best be accepting that.” I growled. That stubborn mare just didn’t get it! I sighed. “Scootaloo’s not going to like her hero betraying her…” I mumbled. Rainbow simply replied, “Who?” I shook my head slowly. “Your biggest fan.” “Crystal Fist is all I need now,” she said flatly. “Everyone else is unnecessary.” Sighing, I settled in for a long stay and more torture. I just hoped they would get here before I wound up dead.