= Ocarina of Time- 'Ganondorf's Theme' =
I opened my eyes... my head still felt groggy. Where was I? I was surrounded by foals. All pegasi. We were in a room made up of industrial-strength clouds all dark from holding electrical charges.
I saw a lot of foals who'd attended Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera, like snowy-and-blue Cotton Cloudy and green-coat-with-blond-mane Bee Bop, who had a cutie mark like Lyra's. There was also Lemon Daze, a white and blond filly who was almost as big a fan of Rainbow Dash as I was and had been in her camp when Mare-Do-Well was on the scene. Mango Dash, no relation to Dash, (I checked.) Peachy Petal, wasn't she from Canterlot? She'd been one of the flower fillies from Luna's welcome party to Ponyville. Chip Mint, wasn't he related to that jerk Dumb-Bell? And a lot more I just plain didn't recognize: including a pale beige filly with thick glasses and a crown even gaudier than Diamond Tiara's. A filly who almost looked like a miniature version of Derpy, except with normal eyes. And a green pegasus filly with a dark green mane with a weird-looking emerald for her cutie mark, next to a blond colt with a triple triangle for his cutie mark.
Next to me? ... There was a pegasus colt on my left side, dark pink coat, yellow chartreuse mane, and green eyes, his cutie mark was a tornado with a pair of sunglasses. He was holding his nose like it'd been broken.
On my right was another filly about my age. She had a brown coat, green eyes (going in opposite directions), a mane made of wild neon colors... her cutie mark was a black storm cloud for a cutie mark with a broken circle around it made up the same colors as her mane.
But... the more I looked... the more... I couldn't see the colors right... the more... I forgot what the colors were... the entire world... everything I saw... it was just... all gritty. All our outlines and details were all black. Everything, everypony... they had colors from the rainbow... but... all the colors did was make the gritty blackness stand out more. Like... we were cans of paint waiting to be poured out.
And that was only the foals. It was a full blown a pegasus who's-who in here. They were all dressed up in costumes that reminded me of Rainbow Dash's Shadowbolt costume, but without the lightning lines. I did see Caramel's girlfriend, Sassaflash, with her mask off, holding an ice pack to her face with her wing.
There were about fourteen other adult pegasi in the room, surrounding us on all sides. The room was huge… I've seen smaller Canterlot concert halls. It was like Cloudsdale Stadium, it was so big. Walkways above us went this way and that, and below us, even more levels were visible. Machinery and tubs were everyplace. And at the far back of the long room was a huge rusty machine with lots of tubes connected at the bottom.
HOW had I gotten here? Everything was so fuzzy! All the foals around me looked scared witless. All the adults... they looked at us like we were the most worthless pieces of garbage on the face of Equestria.
I...
I'd failed the flight exam. I'd seen one filly crash, another failed trying to help her... I was so distracted by them that I failed myself.
We were deemed failures, like all foals who failed the flight exam were. We were shoved into a wagon without windows that changed drivers. We were going to be exiled. Except we weren't. We were taken to the weather factory... I still have the burns from when they used cattle prods to force us all in here.
“A thousand years ago, when Celestia banished Luna from Equestria and sent her to the moon, she was charged with three tasks. She originally was in charge of raising the sun, and showering the land with rainbows. But, with the moon being an additional task, she had to hand down the responsibility of rainbows," said the mare at the center of the above walkway... with... a pet turtle?
I'd heard this story before. No I hadn't. It was the opening of a ghost story my own parents had told when I was being a brat. I'd never heard this before. The masked pony with ruby eyes continued to explain how the Rainbow Factory came to be. Every foal is told how the 'secret' device that's used to grind up naughty foals into rainbow. This was a horrible... horrible... they couldn't... they wouldn't.And they--And they were.I was told-How the task had been to the unicorns, but thengiven to the pegasi. They said how we were completely failures.But still had used to them.We were useless as ponies, but would be useful as Spetra. I'd seen them put one colt into the machine already as a 'preview' and now they were about to do the same to us.
And...saw... in the corner of my eye... part of my mane... done up in a braid. When did I... where did I...
= 'Ready, Set, Go' - Tokio Hotel =
"Like my new hairstyle, Scootaloo?" Cheerilee asked.
I couldn't help but giggle at her pigtails. "You look like a seven year old!"
"Well, you would know, wouldn't you?" She smirked.
"No way! How's THIS for a new hair style? Won't get in my way when I'm ice-skating!"
I remember waking up in the middle of the night. In Rainbow Dash's house... I remember flying... getting my cutie mark... saving Sweetie... Twilight showing me the memories of the Scootaloo before I was Scootaloo... I remembered my forgotten friends... I remember ... I remember making this braid in my mirror, I remember my late night practicing! I remember Dash sending me off to bed! I remember meeting Phobia, Button Mash, Maud Pie... and the world...
My eyes widened and I fell to my knees. I wailed. "Kaua make loa! Makemake ku'u makuahine! Hoku Hopu Kokua a'u!"
The adults all giggled and grinned at me, or looked away in disgust.
'Calm down! Calm down! We came here to save Rainbow Dash! Think of Rainbow Dash! We can save Rainbow Dash and everypony else here! Our friends are out there fighting some ugly Mothera wannabe there for us! We've only got two left, we can't quit now! Focus! We will do this! Hoʻopakele ānuenue heihei!' I think.
I take deep breaths... the mare on the walkway's sick speech is still going on.
"We left you here for the Nightmare Force to munch on after we went to the trouble of gathering you all here, but now it's back to business as usual, lucky you!"
I look, my cutie mark still isn't back... I can FEEL IT... but I can't see it. I flap my wings a few times. It's back to the old buzzing I had going before I broke through in Canterlot... It'll have to do.
I look among all the masked ponies. Mom, Dad, are you there? I'm actually scared of the answer.
"Hmm...I don't know who you were calling to, but there will be no help here…"
Oh right, I did ask for help in Haneighian. I looked up and saw a red pegasus in a lab coat looking down at me. He had a black mane and weather goggles on. I couldn't see his mark.
"You understood that?"
"Of course. A simple matter for a linguistic genius such as myself…" He fluttered closer next to one of the guards; they seemed to respect him enough not to object. The other foals retreated from him like he was toxic. But something was weird about him...how he carried himself made me think more of a monkey than a pony. He didn't feel like he was from my old world, but I got the same vibe I got from the others. "Dr. Atmosphere, dear failure. Your situation is naturally quite hopeless...but I have a little experiment I'm curious about."
"Experiment?"
He kneeled close and chuckled. I saw a weird monkey-thing's shadow over his face. "I've been inquisitive before I was ever born here. You see, this situation has two outcomes, you live in only one of them."
My heart skipped a beat. "What?"
He put a hoof on my back and chuckled. "You can die in the Pegasus Device...or kill the manager, and these events conclude with your escape."
"...Rainbow Dash is the manager." It wasn't a question. I'd sensed it from the start. I'd been hoping to save that for a dramatic reveal, jerk.
"Clever girl," Atmosphere stood up and started off. "Your choice, little failure. I'm just glad to finally have a story again, I could care less how it ends. I'm just curious how this little experiment will turn out." He flew down to the scaffolding below us. "I'll be right back, I need to check on the spectra pressure." And like that he was gone. And I really really wondered why I hadn't just kicked the jerk in the face! That 'genius' was an idiot if he thought I was going to think for a second about doing that to Dash to save my own skin! Apple Bloom beat these stupid rumors trapped from the inside and so could I, with twice the style! He thought I was scared of all this?! Okay, so I was! But I wasn't about to turn chicken at this stupid ghost story!
"I can see it in your eyes. You're not going to give up on Rainbow Dash no matter what are you?" Whispered somepony next to me.
Huh? It was the derpy-eyed filly with the stormy cutie mark.
"There's no way I'm giving up on her! I don't CARE what monster these monsters have turned her into! I'm saving her, and everypony else here!"
"... What a difference a year can make," she smiled.
"Huh?!"
"You'll never mind. Name's Prism Rush by the way. We're all bound by the rules of this stupid place, no matter how important we think we are on the outside. But that jerk was right about one thing, Rainbow Dash is the root of all of this. Save 'er, you'll save everypony, only you can do that. Break this cycle of misery this world has Cloudsdale suckering itself into."
"Don't need to tell me twice!" I shouted at the top of my lungs at the mare on the walkway with the pet turtle. "Aloha Lolo!"
I buzzed at full speed out of the group of terrified foals. The foal with the sunglasses-tornado cutie mark I think I saw use his pegasus magic to create a whirlwind to give me the boost I needed to I needed to reach all the way to the catwalk! I looked up at the masked mare. The rest of the workers seemed outright stunned I'd not just sat there and died like I was 'supposed' to.
"THIS IS ALL STUPID! Fluttershy and Derpy are the last thing you'd call great fliers! And they didn't get ground up into rainbows! This is a bunch of hooey!"
The masked mare tried to stomp on me but I buzzed back. She laughed at me.
"You are so naive! There's a little 'escape clause' that says a worker can die in place of a foal... those two were lucky... but don't bet on that happening here, you worthless failure!"
I didn't miss a beat. "WHAT WERE THEIR NAMES?! Who died to save them?!"
"I dunno! Happened before I was in charge of this place."
"But if you're who I know you are, you'd have LOOKED! Because there's no way you'd not want to know who saved one of your best friends!"
"What are you-"
"Come off it, Dash! Tank is a dead give away!"
"Wha-?! SHOO SHOO!" She battered him away. She ripped off her mask. "So what! I was going to show you the face of your executioner anyway!"
"Dash, wake up! There's no way this place should be running! It makes no sense! Princess Luna's got all her power back! Princess Celestia doesn't need this place anymore! This place has no reason to exist!"
"Economics. We'd all lose our jobs. And it gets rid of failed pegasi."
"That isn't Equestria!"
"Your Equestria is a naive farce!"
I admit, I actually laughed at that.
"What's so funny?"
"Because I know more than any foal should how unfair life can be, and you know why, remember?...I've spent a lot of my life with no pony to care about me and with gimp wings...So how is it that I have a more optimistic worldview than you do?"
"Because I had dreams and I saw them all destroyed!"
"That's an even bigger joke and you know it."
"YOU'RE THE JOKE!"
"You love me, Dash, you wouldn't do this, not to me, not to anypony."
Hatred more wild and pure I'd ever seen erupted out from Dash's mouth. “I DID LOVE YOU! I tried so hard for you! I taught you everything I knew, in hopes you would pass your test! You had it in you, kid! I knew... I knew what they did here. Ever since I performed that Sonic Rainboom, and they approached me... They wanted to find more ways to make Spectra. They thought that if I was capable of making rainbows, I could help them make its components. Well, they couldn't. But I learned a lot about this place. I'm the manager here now, you know? I worked my way up, in secret, pretending to only be a simple weathermare. How do you think I could afford that massive house over Ponyville? How do you...” She trailed, shaking her head, then snapped. “I tried, alright! It was up to you to save yourself! You didn't just fail yourself. You didn't just fail Cloudsdale. You failed me! And that's the worst thing you could have done. You aren't just dead to Cloudsdale, now. You're dead to me.”
I shuddered in pain that wasn't physical. "...If rainbows are so important and so expensive, why the Tartarus do you have rainbow fountains at your house? How loyal is it to Cloudsdale to waste something worth killing for on a couple fountains? It makes no sense!"
Rainbow Dash looked at me in shock, she took a trot back. The other workers were all looking at her confused and bewildered too.
"And why'd you mark your face with it and show off to me before going after that dragon if you feel like that gunk ruined your dreams and know is made from little foals? You know what a pony doesn't do with something that reminds them of something they feel awful about? Plaster it all over the place!"
Rainbow Dash looked sick for a few seconds, dizzily, scared, then she looked at me, and snarled, “LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND DEGENERATE, YOU BROODMARE'S EMBARRASMENT!!"
"The Rainbow Dash I know has what she's got because she earned it with her awesome skills! She's the weather manager of Ponyville because she can clear the sky in 10 seconds flat! That's how she affords OUR house! Not making blood money murdering foals! She's PROUD of that!"
"That's the Rainbow Dash that only existed in your imagination! Welcome to reality! Sorry, Scootaloo! YOU JUST PICKED THE WRONG HERO! You can't have happiness. You ruined me. Now I'll ruin you. Workers!"
= "The Shooted" DOA2 OST =
That was when a door on one of the lower levels got kicked down, by the flying body of Rainbow Shine, her mask torn off, a hoof print in her gut.
Medley, with her mask ripped half-off, raced out the door behind her. In her forehooves were two foals… I recognized Tornado Bolt, and her sister Cyan Skies, struggling to get out of her gasp.
A gray and yellow comet zoomed out of the door and kicked her in the back, making her crash and skid, thankfully the clouds made for a soft landing for Bolt and Skies.
"You've got about three seconds to let them go," said the comet that landed to reveal, oh Celestia on a pogo stick!
I heard the foals cheer, I couldn't blame them. Nor was I complaining!
"Daring Do!" We shouted.
Meldey tries to fly away with her prisoners... she didn't get far as Daring Do flew right on top of her shoulders, kicked her in the back of the head again, this time grabbing the two foals and putting them down safely. "Sorry for accidentally bringing you here," she said to Tornado Bolt.
"It's okay Daring Do,... you saved my sister too!"
"That Daring Do Cosplayer is still giving us trouble?!" Rainbow glared murderously at mare she pulled the mask off of revealing Raindrops.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Rainbow Dash? I'm the genuine article."
"How the buck do you know my name?!"
"We met on a train once. I was in disguise though. I saw enough of you to know this isn't you, and I'll keep making a mess of this place until I find out what's going on!"
“Kill her,” Dash screamed at the other masked looking ponies. “Kill her!” The other masked ponies zoomed down at Daring Do.
Daring Do chuckled. "If I had a bit for everytime I've heard that, I could retire!" she took a fighting pose. "You guys wanna fight a legend?"
Three ponies come at Daring Do at once. She hops on the shoulders of one and grabbed their wings and slammed them into the floor and rolled Daring's elbow into the masked pony's stomach, knocking their mask off to show Sunshower. She ducked under the other two, who crashed into each other.
Go, Daring Do!
Daring sprang up underneath them, knocking them away, before they even were knocked back far she did a tornado kick that knocked them onto a new course. Their masks came off showing Clear Skies and Open Skies.
"You're losing to a nerd in a Daring Do costume." Dash face-hoofed.
The factory workers flocked at Daring Do, but she used the tall and deep room to her advantage, she took off and they flew after her, leading them along so she didn't have to fight them all at once. She's so cool!
"Moonsent! Where Doctor Atmosphere?!"
"In a full body cast," Daring Do shouted. Wish I could say I felt bad for him, but he's the one who chose to leave on a horror movie 'I'm not coming back' line.
Tornado Bolt and Cyan Skies did the smart thing and stayed back.
One masked pony dive-bombed her right from above, instead Daring Do grappled her. Using her own momentum and then some, she spun the masked pony like a tornado, and with a battle cry and planted her in the electric cloud floor, headfirst. After some spasming, she flopped unconscious, her mask off showing Orange Swirl in dream land.
"Why are you idiots attacking her one at a time?! Make use of your numbers!"
"We're trying! We're trying! Cosplayer won't stay still-" And another mask pony bites clouds... it was Fluffy Clouds.
Did I forget to mention? Daring Do is the RIGHT COLORS! She's not grimy and over-shadowy like everything else here! It's like Daring Do sprang right out of the books! Every time she gave another brainwashed pony tickets to Luna's Kingdom, the world became a little bit brighter. They kept coming but she wasn't stopping!
"Wuss, making sure all her attacks are non-lethal." Rainbow Dash snorted.
"What's so tough about grinding up foals?!" Daring Do shot back.
"SHUT UP!"
That was good to hear! Brainwashed or not, these were Dash's weather friends!
"Daring Do's gonna save us all!" The Derpy lookalike shouted.
"Time to shatter some fantasies. Never see one of these in her stories do you?" Rainbow Dash pulled literally out of nowhere a long black crossbow with a telescope on it.
Daring Do wasn't paying attention to us anymore, she was too busying fighting the factory workers. Rainbow Dash took aim. "This is what happens when you believe in heroes."
I sprang forward, Sassaflash grabbed me from behind, I double kicked in the chest forcing her to let me go. Raindrops snarled me and took a punch at me, but I spun over her used a wing blade spell to cut into her shoulder, making her cry out and jump kicked off her back towards Dash. Tank dive bombed out of nowhere, but I managed to arch backwards, below his rotor blades and kick him in the head, sending way off course, sorry Tank.
I sprint the short distance. I startled Dash, her shot went way off course, I used my wing blade for all it was worth and cut at the cross bow, then gave it a kick that broke it clean in two. Rainbow Dash seemed stunned I even knew that spell. I did a summersault over Dash and landed behind her and turned around. I heard some of the foals clapping.
I looked at Sassaflash and Raindrops. "I've fought trained guards, what chance did you have?"
“How cute. You think that you, a useless, broken pile of manure could possibly stand in my way? You really make me laugh! None of you can compete with the awesome power I have!”
“Love can overcome all evils in this world!” Please don't let Sweetie Belle find out I said that!
"Well, then, bitch. Let's see if love will overcome this one.”
And... Dash came at me... this wasn't like our sparring sessions, I... the look in her eyes, it was the same the changeling guards gave me when escaping with Sweetie Belle. I forgot everything else. Daring Do. The other foals. My friends outside. I was fighting for my life against my own family.
I dodged, I blocked, I ducked. Her wings and legs were longer than mine, and she was just plain faster than me. I'd caught her off guard before, now she was taking me seriously. If I tried to get a hit in, odds were I'd only get one, then that'd be it for me.
It was all I could do to keep from being pummeled into rainbows, buzzing backwards as Dash never let up, her face like a wild animal's.
"DASH!" I screamed, shouting anything that came to mind. "Remember when you told me about your nightmare about you giving me to Foal Services, and I told you that I believed in you that you wouldn't! And if you did, I'd know you did it for a good reason!"
"The pony you believed in was a version of me that only existed in your head!"
"That's not true!"
"WOW! Aren't you the great debater?! YOU chose to believe in me, and it backfired! Why complain to me about it?!"
"I know you, Dash! I've seen the real you, this isn't it!"
"Also my mane is dyed."
"I KNOW THAT'S NOT TRUE!"
"And I kept my Weather Pony cover job in Ponyville only because of family connections!"
I backed into the electric cloud wall, I scrambled as Dash's hoof punched into where my head had been and flew back from her. "DASH! I've seen the real you! You keep your job because you're that awesome at it!"
And my heart sank to the ground when I realized I'd picked the wrong way to go, I was headed right for the Pegasus Device. I didn't have time to think as Dash's wing blade nearly cut my face open. Even blocking, the force of her hits was sending me closer to the machine. Two ponies started it up.
"You wanna know why ya never got yer cutie mark? BECAUSE THIS WAS YOUR DESTINY ALL ALONG!”
"I'm coming, kid!" Shouted Daring Do. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a mini-whirlwind block Daring Do's path.
"Sorry, Daring Do, but you're not the one who can save her." That, was that Tornado Twister's voice?
Dash's hoof connected with my face, I went spinning out of control and crash landed on the turned walkway leading straight to the Pegasus Device. I couldn't tell what was broken or not, all I knew was that Dash being the provider of the pain somehow hurt WORSE.
"Aren't ya even gonna fight back?" asked Dash, landing in front of me like the Grim Reaper. "Just as well for a worthless waste like you."
I struggled back to my hooves.
"...Worthless? If I'm worthless, then why did you take me in when you didn't have too?" I asked, looking up at her. "No pony ever asked you to take me in. I was living fine elsewhere." I thought about how I'd changed the world with Cheerilee. "I didn't even let Cheerilee know it. There was no reason for you to take me in...and you STILL did. If I'm worthless, why the buck did you take me in, in the first place?"
She trotted towards me... I trotted back... every inch was another inch towards the machine of my nightmares.
"Haven't you listened to a thing I've said?! You only got worthless when you failed the flight test! I did my hardest to train you so you WOULDN'T!!! And you STILL did!"
I laughed. I remembered the nightmare I'd had about the Rainbow Factory. The memories these stupid parasites had forced into me. "I failed because I was distracted by a pony getting hurt! And if that's enough to make me worthless to you, then wouldn't what happened when Discord attacked have made me worthless?" I asked, something I'd only told her. "Remember? You're the one who TOLD ME to care about other ponies! And to not pass up a chance to care about another pony! So tell me, how am I worthless for doing what YOU told me to do?!"
She gritted her teeth, as she moved slower, and she wasn't looking me in the eye anymore, I moved so she still had to look at me. "...If I made an exception for you, if I stopped for you, that would make me a selfish hypocrite."
"If you CONSIDERED making an exception for me, then that means you're lying that I'm worthless right now, doesn't it?"
I saw her hooves shaking. "Stop it you naive little..."
"I'm not worthless to you, am I?" I didn't break eye contact.
"NO YOU'RE NOT! But..." her eyes misted up, but still didn't change direction and I had to dodge a grab, she was still slowly herding me to my death. "I'm just more loyal to my tribe, my city, and my responsibilities than to you. I HAVE to do this!"
I ducked another blow. "...No, you don't. The Rainbow Dash I know? She'd become an Alicorn so she could do the unicorn stuff HERSELF before she'd kill anypony!"
"You think I want to do this?!" she started sobbing, but kept coming at me. "It's either this or everypony loses their jobs! I've had to deal with this since I was a filly! You CAN'T UNDERSTAND THAT! Knowing Fluttershy and Derpy would be dead because of this place I have to work in! If I didn't do this! Somepony else would!"
Behind me, I heard the grinding gears and the whirling blades.
"If Princess Celestia made rainbows again, Cloudsdale would implode, if we let failures go, The Flock would rot from the inside! This is how things HAVE TO BE!" Dash continued.
"...You mean like Fluttershy went from a 'failure' to helping save the world? Or how Derpy got awarded 'Equestria's Best Mother' by Princess Luna?" I asked, you think Dinky never mentioned that? "The two 'failures' turned out to be great ponies! My sister proves you wrong for a living! It's her CUTIE MARK!"
"This is YOUR responsibility to accept you failed! I can't afford to die in your place! Equestria NEEDS the Element of Loyalty! I have to be loyal to Cloudsdale! I'm sorry Scoots."
"I didn't ask that Dash! If you spared all the 'failures', how'll it 'rot the Flock'? The spared 'failures' became great ponies!
You can't just get rid of us because you THINK we're not going to give anything back! Pinkie Pie's not a rock farmer! Twilight Sparkle didn't fail her exam! Applejack doesn't live in Manehatten! You don't know! You got kicked out of Flight School! Shouldn't you have died too?!"
"They thought I was useful for my rainbooms! By the time Doctor Atmosphere realized I wasn't, I was already on their payroll!"
I noticed the look on her face...wait a minute...
"THINK! Scoots! I know it's not something either of us are that good at but come on! There are how many rainbows made every day all over Equestria? And how many fillies are there? And now many final examine failures are there at flight school-? We'd have wiped out our own population by now! Besides ... if that was all true ... -I'D- be rainbow goop right now!"
I stared at my hero my tears dried up. "What? YOU failed flight school?"
"Failed? I was thrown out on my butt! For breaking pretty much every rule they had! I met a dear friend of mine that way actually. But the point is Scoots... no one's going to kill you or turn you into rainbow colored gunk because you can't fly. And besides ... "
I felt the wind on my back from the motions of the machine behind... The chains hanging above me... One more step back and...
I remembered what Dr. Atmosphere said. If I dodged, would the story MAKE her fall in just to get that ending?
... I'm fighting the wrong fight. Since when have me and Dash been about big debates? We didn't care about logic-sticks, ugh, whatever you call them! We talked about the right way to help our friends! About the right way to be brave!
This isn't how I saved Cheerilee! Is that it? Do I need to remind Dash of the world we were friends in before?... No... I... I don't need to. I've had the answer in front of me all along. I was just so caught up in this stupid nightmare and how sick and crazy it all was to pick it up!
Dash... thank you... for teaching me, that you have to fight the right fights to help your friends, I'm finally listening. I'll help everypony by helping you.
Dash came closer, my tail fell over the side.
"Any last words?"
No flare, no drama, I just said it! "Rainbow Dash! You once promised that if the Rainbow Factory was real that they'd have to go through you first before they'd hurt me! And Rainbow Dash would NEVER breaks a promise!"
Rainbow Dash stared at me... her mouth opening and closing but no words coming out. Her eye twitched, she held her head like she had the world's worst headache.
"You'd NEVER make a promise THAT BIG if didn't intend to keep it! That's NOT the Loyalty YOU TAUGHT ME! Remember how you told me Nightmare Moon offered you your life's dream and you chose a the hope of a pony you JUST MET? That's Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty and my idol! And if the real Rainbow Dash was willing to do THAT for a pony she met that night, and you're willing to break a promise LIKE THAT, then there's no way the hay you're Rainbow Dash!!!"
Dash looked me in the eyes. And it was like the entire world was a movie screen and we were just projected on it, and we all for a moment separated into different color after images... it was less than a second. Then everything was back to before in the awful place. The next moment, it was like...I can't really describe it... it was a FEELING, but I could almost hear it! It was like, as quick and sudden and sharp and cutting as a wing blade striking down!
Rainbow Dash's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fell onto the walkway in a heap. Everypony in the factory just stopped, I don't mean they froze in place, I mean, they just, stopped what they were doing, all eyes were suddenly on us. Daring Do, the workers, the foals, everypony was holding their breath.
= 'You Idiot' - Undertale =
Dash got back to her hooves like a spring, and spread her wings proudly. She looked at me with the same sympathy you'd show a pile of fertilizer. "Good riddance you miserable worthless cocotte of a foal.”
A dark winged blur swooped out of the shadows and scooped me up. The next thing I knew, I was back with the other foals.
Something dashed in and out of the darkness around the room. Rainbow Dash turned around in a circle trying to get a good look at whatever-it-was.
"Things are about to get dangerous." Tornado Twister grind, showing he was missing a tooth.
"Who's there?! Show yourself you coward!" Dash shouted.
Prism Rush clapped her hooves together, and plunged them into the thunder clouds.
In a flash, a lightning cage made of neon colors formed around the Pegasus Device, the walkway, and the space above and blow it. Prism Rush was glued to the spot, but that wasn't what our eyes were all on. Dash was looking around at her bars looking ready to break through when her eyes widened and her feathers stretched out. She slowly turned around, and saw a winged shadow crouching on the walkway.
The figure slowly rose up. Shadowy, but not gritty. She had on a long dark cape, a purple bodysuit, her hooves were covered in black bandages. She had a large coat collar with an 'M' at the center. A dark blue, almost black, mask with reflective blue eyepieces sat on her head a big purple hat that never left her head.
I let out a small gasp, but the cloaked figure didn't say a word, she just got into a Taekwondo fighting stance, zeroing in on Rainbow Dash.
"YOU!" Rainbow Dash snarled, her voice dripping with rage. "HOW DARE YOU TRY TO RUIN EVERYTHING FOR ME AGAIN NOW!"
"THE MYSTERIOUS MARE-DO-WELL!" The foals around me all shouted.
"She's so cool!" Dumb-Bell gasped out from the headlock Daring Do idly had him in.
"She picked a great time to come out of retirement!" Daring Do remarked.
The two stared at each other in silencer, like a string pulled taunt.
"What's wrong, you coward? Got nothing to say to the awesome and totally cool Rainbow Dash? Think you can take me on? It's so adorable you think you're more awesome than me!" Dash stomped to Mare-Do-Well, who didn't move an inch. "Come on! Whose under there? Fluttershy? Derpy?" Mare-Do-Well stood like a statue. "SAY SOMETHING LOSER!"
Mare-Do-Well's front hoof talked to Rainbow Dash's face.
=Rage Awakened - Kingdom Hearts =
Rainbow Dash made a scream more wild animal than pony and shouted, "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!"
They went at it.
None of us did anything, not the good guys or bad guys, it was like we were an audience for the super-hero fight of the century.
Rainbow Dash threw a punch that Mare-Do-Well dodged. Dash did a horizontal slash with a wing blade, Mare-Do-Well ducked. Mare-Do-Well laid on her side and did a side kick that Dash caught. She flew forward, trying to break Mare-Do-Well's leg. Instead, the superhero spun, using her momentum to slam Dash into the floor. That was when Dash grabbed her cape and slammed Mare's face into the railing along the walkway.
"THIS is why nopony wears capes anymore, stupiiiiiiiii-" Dash was cut off, her taunting becoming a cry as Mare-Do-Well spun like a tornado and flung with high speed into the electric cage ceiling, shocking her.
Dash wasn't one for staying still and flew right back at her. Mare-Do-Well tried to intercept her with another punch but she changed course at the very last millisecond and slammed her into the floor, pummeling her in her masked face.
"I won't lose to some mute idiot!"
Mare-Do-Well kicked Dash off her. Dash just came at her, stopping her fall with her wings and not even hitting the ground. Dash responded by kicking Mare-Do-Well in the gut, knocking her back. Dash zoomed in at her, but Mare-Do-Well got up and stopped her tackle, and it was the irresistible force verses the immovable object and neither was surrendering!! Rainbow-colored lightning crackled around the two as they tried to push each other back!
Mare-Do-Well gave first, but fell back, Dash just zoomed over her, and Mare-Do-Well kicked her upwards! Before Dash could hit the ceiling, Mare-Do-Well zoomed past her, and cudgeled her back into the floor! Her lightning fast moves left Dash eating dust.
Mare-Do-Well zigzagged towards Dash, and the two punched each other in the face at the same time! Then they both made a kick that connected mid strikes! Another set of punches that ended up hitting each other! Then they head banged each other! It was like they were fighting a mirror!
"RAINBOW DASH! DODGE!" Tornado Twister said in the loudest, most obnoxiously distracting voice imaginable.
Rainbow Dash turned her head confused, "Dodge what-" Mare-Do-Well punched her in the face.
"That."
Dash growled, she brought BOTH her wings down on Mare-Do-Well at once, but she blocked them with her own wings, the four blades of air actually creating sparks! Rainbow Dash roared as more sparks appeared around her. Mare-Do-Well began to be forced to her knees... until she back bucked her cape into Rainbow Dash's face.
"You dirty-" Dash moved to rip the cape off, but in that moment Mare-Do-Well tackled her, knocking the wind out of her.
The two zoomed at each other again, they hit each other head-on, turn around each other like a spiral, then broke apart again and began clobbering each other! Kicks, punches, spitting in the eye, wing blade, mane pulling, anything went! Mare-Do-Well's cape helped a lot in terms of hiding her body language! Like Batmare! They were going so fast even us pegasi were having trouble following them.
They bounced around the cage like angry fire flies! Mare-Do-Well in her purple costume, and Dash in her black jump suit, a Black Dash.
But... Mare-Do-Well seemed to be getting tired, while Black Dash wasn't even breathing hard.
"You're just an inconvenience! A busy-body! When you're dead, that cosplayer dies next, and then all the foals die too, saving for last that orange horsefly!"
A hard and fast double kick sent Mare-Do-Well straight at the Pegasus Device! But she opened her wings and zoomed at a perfect 90 degree angle and landed back on the walk way and nearly got her back broken when Black Dash double stomped right where Mare-Do-Well had stood up if she hadn't moved when Black Dash let out her attack cry.
"Take a look at your heroes, little fillies! The only reason she isn't running away from my total awesomeness is this cage!"
"NO!" I shouted as loud and quickly as I could, "It's to keep YOU from running away!"
"The Dash never runs away from anything!" Mare-Do-Well flapped back as Black Dash slammed a hoof into the floor trying to smash Mare's face into the walkway.
"Come on! Come on! Come on, coward! Chicken! Weakling! Slacker! Lazy-bones! Failure! Crasher! Dropout!" Black Dash snarled as Mare-Do-Well blocked Black Dash's attacks but was now being repeatedly forced back by her hits.
Then Mare-Do-Well summersaulted over Black Dash's head as she punched again, right into the lightning cage. "YEOW!"
Mare-Do-Well kicked her into the cage again. "AGH! OH, COME ON!" Black Dash did a spin kick that knocked Mare-Do-Well away again as she tried to press Black Dash into the cage wall.
"THAT IS IT! SPECTRA POWER!!!"
Black Dash floated a couple hooves off the floor, flexing her forelegs and torso, and her wings spread wide. A flaming aura of every color of the rainbow burned around her.
Then she GRABBED the lightning cage, and pulled on it! She stretched like it was rope, and pulled the parts around it into herself as more formed to replace what she took! Her aura stored with rainbow color lightning as her mane got wild standing up on ends! She pulled the two grabs of lightning cage together, and a big bang happened, and I saw seven more Rainbow Dashes around her! Each one a different color of the rainbow, glowing and see-through, and had a difference expression and pose!
"THIS IS THE ULTIMATE FINALE! YOU'VE LOST! I WIN! NOW SAY GOODBYE!"
Mare-Do-Well stared up at the super mare in front of her silently. Then she stood up on her rear legs, and did a couple yoga motions, touching her fore hooves together and standing on one rear hoof for a moment, before getting on two rear hooves again. Got in a fighting stance, then a little 'come at me' gesture with her right front hoof.
= "Loyalty" AccostiMandoBrony =
The seven Rainbow Dashes zoomed at Mare-Do-Well! Mare jumped over the aggressive red one, side stepped the grasping orange one, roll backwards at the scary yellow one. She toro'd with her cape on the jealous looking green one in the same motion. She kart-wheeled around the sad looking blue one trying to bear hug her. She summersaulted around the lonely indigo looking one, and lead the arrogant violet looking one straight into the walkway floor that she exploded in a massive blinding blast. Mare pulled back her cape for protection, scorching and burning it.
Then came Black Dash at full speed her aura still burning and storming around her. Mare-Do-Well flew at full speed away from her for a second, but then Black Dash caught up, or maybe it was Mare-Do-Well who caught her as she bear hugged Black Dash, grabbing her wings. The aura and lightning tore through her costume and shattered one of the lenses of her costume exposing her eye!
Black Dash looked at Mare's face, her mouth opened she but didn't say anything. They were zooming still at full speed! Mare-Do-Well hugged her with her back legs and pummeled Black Dash's face into pudding. Then Mare-Do-Well did a sharp turn, taking them on a direct course into the Pegasus Device!
"No!" I shouted!
Then in one flash, Mare-Do-Well let go of Black Dash, did a complete U-turn, and in that eye-blink, a Sonic Rainboom exploded out from them. Black Dash, still powered up, headed screaming straight into the machine. "YOU'RE AN ABSURDITY!" She screamed looking at Mare-Do-Well's face as she went in, the Sonic Rainboom still headed for the edges of the cage. The Pegasus Device EXPLODED! KA-BOOM!!! A rainbow blast bigger than I thought possible boomed outward like a giant rainbow colored ring, slicing through the cage, the clouds, and even straight through the bubble!
And... for one second... I could see outside... I saw the figure head of the Moonpearl fired like a living embodiment of Princess Luna right at Shub-whatever, and the Rainboom sliced through her from behind as they hit her at the same time! She gasped in shock, black...slime(?) pouring from her mouths.
"... I am an outer-concept... how was one of my avatars banished by... what are you little ponies?!" She slid in two, then exploded in a mass of black rectangle lightning with the shadow of a big black butterfly fluttering away before the bubble closed up.
I forgot all about that as the lightning cage vanished. I held my breath, so did everypony.
Mare-Do-Well... she slowly flapped down, practically floating. She landed right in front of us foals.
Then... then! The... A red lightning shaped jewel appeared above Mare Do Well's head, covered in gunk that got burned away shining bright, and I heard the sound of something unlocking far away!
Prism Rush smirked. "This cycle is over before it started."
And like a shockwave... nothing was grimy with shadows so deep they were solid black anymore... the gunk and grim was all washed away, the colors were all where they were supposed to be, with greater depth... parts that were lighter and darker... including me, it was like, it was like Cheerilee's classroom after I saved my sister.
The factory workers all looked at each other, even the ones knocked out getting up and looking at their hooves. They began taking off their masks and stripping out of the body suits, letting them be naked and free. Hoops, Score, next to Dumb-Bell, and Cloudchaser and Flitter next to the controls, and more.
I slowly trotted up to Mare Do Well, so confused, not sure what I was supposed to be feeling. And... I saw her eye through the broken mark of her eye-lens, and my heart skipped a beat.
Mare Do Well smiled and pulled off her mask, hat and all.
= 'Awakening Will' - Mega Man Zero 2 =
"Hey Squirt, how's my little filly?" Rainbow Dash smirked at me, tired but happy.
"I thought Mare-Do-Well was you!" I shouted at the top of my lungs hugging her with all my might!
"H-hey!" Dash said surprised before hugging me, wrapping her wings around me. "How could ya be so sure?"
"Because you're my hero!" I said, like duh!
All those times... all those times I debated with my club-mates before Twilight and her friends got revealed... all those crazy conspiracy theories I came up with for explaining how Mare-Do-Well and Dash could be in the same place at once...until I realized how cool it would be if they teamed up instead... No I didn't make that last part up when I talked to Dash so I wouldn't sound silly for thinking she was Mare-Do-Well! No really! Heheh! I don't care!
The foals cheered, the adults cheered, Daring Do herself cheered. There was stamping of hooves, fluttering and clapping of wings and hooves! We rocked!
"You're still the most super-ultra-extreme-awesomazing pony in Ponyville Rainbow Dash!" I shouted!
"HERE HERE!" Shouted the filly with the glasses and crown. So did the rest of the foals. Where did Prism Rush go?
"You gonna be okay, kid?" Dash said looking at my face. "I'm sure we've got a first aid kit around here somewhere."
"Don't worry, my friends got some magic flowers I think that'll take care of that."
"That so? You better tell me where you got 'em later." She held me up. "I see you kept the braid."
"I think it works for me."
"So do I squirt, so do I." She ruffled my mane.
"You have beautiful eyes," I said.
"Don't go getting weird on me, squirt."
"No, I mean... you always remind me of my mom when I look at them. Or maybe, just the mom I wanted to have..."
Rainbow Dash blushed. "Thanks for reminding me, Scoots, and never giving up on me. I'm Loyalty, I might have made myself an awesome flyer, but it was MY FRIENDS who make me an awesome pony! Being loyal only to yourself is a lousy spot to be in. And being loyal to the WRONG THING is just sad.
"Don't ever tell AJ and the others squirt, but I'm GRATEFUL for what they did. They saved me from forgetting what it means to be loyal. Loyalty isn't about thanks. It's about being there for others, like they'll be there for you."
"You didn't just save me, Scoots, you saved every single pony here! Not just the foals and the Daring Do cosplayer from what was going to happen to them, but us adults too for what we almost did. You're a hero! Don't let anypony tell you different!"
She raised me up. "Three cheers for Scootaloo! Cloudsdale's hero!"
Everypony cheered. I couldn't help but grin! I spread out my wings and kicked and whooped, spun around. Tank swooped in and flew around us as well. My wings buzzed and fell back into Dash's waiting hooves. I frowned in felt my heart sink when I saw my mark was still missing.
"Excuse me, I think you lost this. This cape's yours, right? I think you had it when you came in," Prism Rush said, suddenly behind me, offering me my crusader cape.
"THANKS!" I said, Dash lowering me for a bit for I could take it and put in on. "You're a life saver, pal!"
"...Been a while since I heard that, thanks!"
As I put back on my cape, I felt the same calm comfort of a large vast empty place that didn't judge, I felt the strength in my wings return, and I saw my cutie mark return as well and my colors became like those of the Equestria I remember, nopony noticed.
Dash whispered in my ear. "I gotta admit... I was pretty freaked myself there for a bit... everything you were telling me... then you reminded me about my promise and... next thing I knew... I was in costume... I think..." Dash looked a bit confused.
"All I remember is you began acting strangely when you started working here right after Doctor Atmosphere was put in charge," said Cloudchaser. Not what happened, but telling the truth wouldn't go well. "Then we all got mind-controlled into building that machine to feed it spectra made out of foals." They all shuddered. "But if that wasn't you, who was the imposter?"
"Hey, look over here," Daring Do said. We all looked over in the wreckage, and there was what was left of one of Shub-whatever-her-name-was' moth things with bits of Black Dash's outfit left scattered around it. Apparently it was waiting for us to see it before crumbling to dust. Guess the stupid worm thing must have had to grow up when Dash broke out.
"Well that explains it," Daring Do said. "And probably why taking out the big nasty broke her curse, how it normally works."
"It must have had a psychic connection to you so it could pretend to be you, but when you began resisting it and taking control of it, it broke the connection!" Said Lemon Daze excitedly.
"Sure, that makes perfect sense," I said.
Daring Do then looked to Rainbow Dash. "Oh, and Rainbow?"
"Yeah?"
Daring Do took out some glasses and put them on. "Wasn't lying when I said we'd met on that train."
"Awkward Kindness! .... You don't need to dress up like Daring Do to believe in yourself, you're fine just the way you are." Rainbow Dash put a hoof on her shoulder. A vein pulsed on the side of Daring Do's head as she ground her teeth.
"Right... dress up..."
"I'm sure the real Daring Do could have done just as well as you." Dash smiled.
"Right... real Daring Do." Daring Do looked like she was ready to punch something.
I don't know if she was keeping a secret identity or not, but they hugged. So the cursed turned a friend of hers into Daring Do for real? My head hurts the more I try to think about it. I shouldn't think about it too hard.
"Well this is quite the surprise," said Dr. Atmosphere, in a body cast like Daring Do had said. He was on crutches, and moved as awkwardly as a statue. "Don't worry! I'm free of the monster too! Just like all of you!" He said quickly seeing ponies death glaring at him.
"You're still here?!"
"Of course, just...now I'm much better," he said, seeming a bit happier.
I flew over to him and whispered. "Angry I screwed your sicko choice?"
He gave a chuckle as I smirked, and whispered back. "Angry? A scientist lives for unexpected results. Besides I still get to be a scientist, just limited by some morals. Good luck on your happy ending. OW!"
"Come now doctor, back to the infirmly." Flitter took him.
The adults were apologizing over and over to the foals, most of which hug tackled me.
The foals gave cheers and tossed me in the air, "Scootaloo! Scootaloo! Can she be stopped? No can do!" Oh yeah, I was liking this!
Dash gave Tank a hug. The green filly with the emerald cutie mark and the colt with the yellow triangle cutie mark were hugging and nuzzling, their cutie marks glowing with their wings wrapped around each other, ick.
"I knew Rainbow Dash wasn't really a bad guy!" Lemon Daze cheered. Heh, don't steal my act.
Tornado Bolt tugged on Daring Do's outfit. "Miss Daring Do? I just wanna say," she hugged her sister Cyan Skies who hugged her back. "You're still our hero!" They both hugged Daring Do.
"Heh! It was nothing kiddo! Just another day for Daring Do!" Daring Do hugged them back.
"Daring Do, I just want say that it was an honor having my lights knocked out by you," said Fluffy Clouds eagerly.
"Uh, thanks."
I also told them I saw the others destroy Shub-whatever. What? The others deserve credit too!... After I finished soaking up the praise.
"Please don't let Caramel find out about this!" Sassaflash hugged herself.
"Hey.. Sassaflash... sorry about hitting you before," said Dash.
"H-hey! It wasn't you. It's like when we were all twisted by Discord right? It's not like any of us did anything we'd really do."
"Like you, see?" Dash smirked.
"Huh? Oh! OH! Thank you!"
"Hey Dash," said Dumb-Bell, "I just wanna say... you fighting back against that monster mind control, or whatever it, was super cool." Hoops and Score nodded.
"Hey guys, we've already buried the hatchet, no need to be so formal." Dash rubbed the back of her head.
"No, no, no, we're serious."
"Well I'm serious too, besides, I think Scootaloo and Daring Do were the heroes here before I was. Well, mostly. And Scoots' friends took out the big nasty. Now I can mark off 'fighting my evil duplicate' on my super cool stuff list."
"You have a list?"
"Hyper-pole!"
"It's pronounced ‘hyperbole,' Rainbow Dash," Daring Do said.
"Hellvo," said to me the filly with thick glasses with an accent I couldn't make heads or tails of. I think she's younger than me. "Zi'am Zipporvhill, my father is planning to move to Pon-ni-ville, when we move zhere, let's be friends!"
"Fine by me," I gave a nice smile.
"Ponyville is great!" Said Cotton Cloud.
"You'll love it there!" Said Bee Bop.
"Seriously, they have the best parties in the world!" Said Mango Dash.
"In the universe!" Declared Peachy Petal.
"Every universe!" Said Chip Mint.
"There's only one universe, that's why it's called 'uni' verse," said Rainy Feathers.
Wondered if I should correct her on that.
"Hey, and if you haven't got your Cutie Mark by then, look up the Cutie Mark Crusaders, okay?" I asked Zipporwhill.
"Can I have your autographs?! Make it out to Chirpy Hooves!" Said the mini-Derpy, to me, Dash, AND Daring Do.
We found a piece of paper and all sighed our hoof prints and wrote our names for Chirpy Hooves.
Sunshower, Clear Skies, and Open Skies, were assigned with trashing and cleaning up what was left of the creepy Pegasus Device.
Dumb-Bell hugged Chip Mint for all he was worth, "You're not weak, you never were." Dumb-Bell said to him.
Daring Do put the dust that used to be Black Dash in an urn, filled it with holy water, then chained it up, said she'd put it in a nearby church under the floorboards right under the altar. "Probably dead, but better not take chances."
Rainbow Shine were giving free cupcakes and pizza, to us foals. "We got them from the cafeteria, eat up!" Rainbow Shine says. I ate some, like I'm passing up pizza! Medley took out a music player and began to play some tunes.
Orange Swirl was looking every foal in the eye and telling them one by one, "You're not worthless, you're not useless, you're you. And THAT alone makes you special." And she gave them a hug and a nuzzle. I hugged her anyway, even if I already knew that, she was doing something nice. Our herd isn't a tree for pruning, we're a family who support each other!
"And Scoots! For the record? My mane is NOT DYED!" Dash said proudly.
"I knew that one already." I smiled.
"Yeah, I mean, just because my mane doesn't wave in the ether like mom's mane doesn't mean it's dyed!"
I sighed. "You mean Princess Celestia?"
"Shush! Not so loud!" Dash whispered.
"... If... she's your mom... why is it a secret?"
"...Cause I born without a horn," Dash sighed and murmured. "She said the jerk elite unicorns in Canterlot would never accept me being a pegasus... She said she wanted me with a family where I'd be accepted and loved... Okay I guess I resent her for it! But... Celestia's a jerk anyway... so why would see care f I... ugh! What were we talking about again? Well, I've already been having these stabbing headache for a while.... it's like a spiraled spear is trying to push its way out of my forehead or something."
Well...I can't say I'm opposed to the idea of Alicorn Princess Rainbow Dash... but I really hate who I'd have to thank.
"But hey, my friends/just friends/we're just friends/don't look at us that way/nothing happened on that six way sleep over with the curtain drawn/FluttershyApplejackTwilightRarityPinkiePie-Soarin'-Spitfire-BigMac-Caramel-Trixie-Braeburn-Shining Armor-Fancy Pants-Thunderlane-Daring Do have all helped me through it."
That, on the other hoof, I can't wait for us to purge from existence. Seriously, it reminded me too much of the love poison! Wonder why Button Mash and Sweetie doesn't give me the creeps.
I do admit... I was confused about one thing... those two foals from my fake memories. I know how this curse works, if I remember it, that means this curse went back in time and MADE IT REAL. If I saw Aurora and Orion Comet in those fake memories, that means they must have existed right? I mean... hopefully they were just... ya know... didn't exist before the curse? But Aurora hadn't been killed yet in my fake memories, but I had the feeling she was about to, it was how those sick stories went.
Maybe when the curse was beaten... Orion Comet just went poof in everypony memories? I didn't see Aurora.
"Seems like that... I mean, I remember dying... but now nobody remembers me even being here to die."
I gasped and turned around. I looked around, nopony was even looking at him... it was the colt from my fake memories... he was all transparent and stuff, and it was like whatever he said was muted... like Glitterglide.
"H-How are you here?"
Orion Comet sighed. "You thought of me... so it called to me... just... for a little while... not enough to... keep me here but... I'd be happier if I still died."
"How can you be happier for that?!" I exclaimed as low as I could.
"Because it means I'd LIVED if I died...Now... I can't even be sad I'm fading back to nowhere, forgotten again."
"I'm sorry." Even as I spoke he was fading away.
"Scootaloo... I... I promise, if we had the chance... I promise I'd have been a good special-friend."
I felt awkward, but I couldn't just brush him off. "I'm... I'm sure you would've been...Aloha, Orion, at least I'll remember you."
"Hey kid... you okay in there?" Cloudchaser said, opening a little compartment I hadn't really noticed before.
"I... I don't want to be made into rainbows," said a little voice.
"Don't worry, I Pinkie Promise you're not going to be... you're not going to die, get hurt, locked up, or anything bad, cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. The bad machine got broken for good... Come on, kid." She reached in, and pulled out a yellow filly with a green, blue and teal mane. Her wing was broken. Cloudchaser hugged her and gently patted her on the back. "There there, it's alright. Nopony's gonna hurt you now. All the bad ponies who did it have gone away forever."
"P-promise?"
"I promise. Now let's get you to the infirmary... my friend Flitter is there too... little sister."
"Aurora..." I whispered in awe.
"Scootaloo?" Aurora looked over Cloudchaser's shoulder at me. "Thank you... for being brave for me..."
"You're... welcome."
"I... I almost feel... happy for her... at least she... got to be real... aloha, Scootaloo." Orion faded away.
No I didn't cry. I mean... it would be stupid to cry for somepony who you just knew in some fake memories and didn't exist to begin with, and was so desperate to be he was willing just to be a victim in a horror story... right? That... that you remember having a crush on at first sight and seeing die... I'll remember your name Orion Comet, I promise. Maybe someday you will find a new home like Baby Honolulu and her friends did.
Five down... one to go.
"Hey Dash..."
"Yeah, squirt?"
"You're super cool. Daring Do is almost as cool."
"Thanks, kid."
"But uh... I kinda sorta... have a quest I'm on right now... and ... all my friends, and Princess Luna's friends... are all kinda waiting for me... they helped banished the monster that hypnotized of all of you... and... they're kinda worried sick about me-"
Rainbow Dash hugged me and covered me with her wings. "Go do what ya gotta do squirt. I"ll be here waiting making sure Cloudsdale stays safe. Just don't do anything stupid, you got me? Or I'll spake your flank red," she said kindly.
"Got you, Rainbow Dash!" I smiled and nodded.
"You know kid... I kinda am in the business of helping ponies, would you mind if I came along?" Daring Do asked.
I nearly exploded at the excitement, she wasn't Rainbow Dash, but she was like, what, maybe 20% less cool at most. Daring Do! And she didn't have any stupid 'can't leave the bubble' rule!
From the top of the walkway Raindrops shouted. "ATTENTION EVERYPONY! YOU FOALS HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT! YOUR PARENTS ARE ON THEIR WAY TO PICK YOU UP! JUST STAY PUT AND THEY'LL BE HERE IN NO TIME!"
I became breathless.
".... Mom.... Dad..." There was nothing else in the world. "On their way... here... for me."
My heart grew wings.
In the blink of an eye, Tornado Twister was in front of me, pushing Rainbow Dash and Daring Do aside. He looked.... sad.
"I'm sorry orange horsefly... but you don't have the time anymore to wait. Trouble's on their way. Better luck next time." Everything was moving in slow motion. My parents were coming...
And he PUSHED ME! I wasn't hurt, but when he pushed me, I was pulled back, away from Daring Do and Dash... away from the other foals... away from... through the walls like they were wisps instead of clouds... I was pushed back like a rubber band being snapped, all the way through the fog wall, and onto the MoonPearl.
At the top of my lungs, from the bottom of my soul, I shouted, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"