//------------------------------// // Instinct Took Over // Story: You're Wanted: I'll Always Protect You // by SciWriter //------------------------------// Impact. The pain was immense and I was tossed away from the field like a rag doll. “REBEL RAINBOW!” Lightning shouted. I hit the ground and barely held on to consciousness. I had to know. Would she live? The electric field disappeared, dust and grass flying away. In the middle of the debris stood Lightning and Gray, both unsteady on their hooves. Both fell down. My vision started to darken, changing to a dark tunnel. I looked over at Twilight, the flames around her so hot I could feel them even as far away from her fight as I was. Suddenly my purple friend appeared behind Pyromance, bucking him in the rear, causing the pegasus to slam face first into the ground. Twilight disappeared from there, appearing again over Lightning Strike. She then disappeared again. Then two purple hooves took up what was left of my vision- I blacked out. (***) My eyes shot open and I jumped out of bed- why was I in bed? I breathed rapidly, head starting to spin as my eyes scanned the room I was in again and again. Lightning Strike was on a bed next to me. I jumped out of the bed and stood over her, looking around. “You’re okay!” Lightning shouted. I ignored her, looking around the dark room. “Where are we Lightning?” I asked quickly. “Um… hospital. Kinda where you go when you fly into an electric field… well either here or…” she flew out from under me and landed on what was supposed to be my bed. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” “I could ask you the same thing,” I said back, deciding to take for granted that she was right and we really were just in a hospital. “I get that electricity doesn’t hurt you- normally- but a purge could probably kill you anyway. The shockwave-“ “That was the idea!” she shouted back. “Why the hell would you want to do that?” I asked back. “I mean, couldn’t you have just set up that attack and jumped out of it?” “Yes. But I only bring ponies trouble. I’m the problem, don’t you get it?” she asked. “I keep worrying about Dusk, Gray keeps attacking you guys, but I finally figured something out. The only reason Gray is here is because of me. He only hurt Dusk because of me. If I wasn’t so strange, so different, then none of this would have happened. I’m the problem. If I’m gone… if I’m gone…” “You don’t know what would happen if you were gone, do you?” I asked. “Well… no. It has to be better than what’s happening now. If I had succeeded at least Gray would be gone. That’s all that matters in the end right?” she asked. “No, of course not!” I shouted back. “Is it really important that I’m alive?” “Kid… this isn’t you. Where is this coming from?” I asked. “Where do you think? I just want this all to end. I don’t want Dusk getting scared anymore, I don’t want Vinyl crying anymore, I don’t want daddy getting hurt anymore…” she started crying. “Well I don’t want the ponies I care about getting hurt either, but killing yourself does nothing for that. It just hurts them again.” “Can’t they just get along without me?” she asked back. “Kid… I guess they could. Have you ever felt what’s it’s like to lose someone you love? I have, my mother passed away when I was about your age. Trust me, it hurts, it hurts more than anything you’ve ever felt.” “Anything I’ve ever felt?” she asked, emphasizing that we were talking about HER experiences. “I’d wager,” I said. Lightning sat down. “Trust me, you don’t want to put your brother and father through that.” Lightning looked at the ground. I reached out a hoof and forced her to look me in the eyes. “No more of this okay?...” Lightning seemed to nod, but her eyes looked off to the side. I was under no delusion that I had somehow fixed her. I did hope that I had helped though. “Besides, aren’t you worried about Dusk?” “Oddly enough, no. Guess I figured I was taking care of Gray, so there’s nothing else to threaten him,” she said. “Why don’t you protect him by sticking around?” I asked. Light poured into the room as a door a few feet from our beds flew open. I looked up to see Vinyl standing in the frame. Her horn flared, Lightning floating into the air and over to her. She wrapped her forelegs around the filly, hugging her tight, tears streaming out of her eyes. “So… you know what she tried to do?” I asked Vinyl. Vinyl nodded. “I thought Gray was making ME crazy.” I got off the bed and walked over to her. “I think-“ “You’re awake?” Came Twilight’s voice. She stormed into the room and past Vinyl. “I’m really sorry guys, but we have to go. Pinkie is finally well enough to travel and well… Rainbow you’ve been asleep for a long time.” “I don’t-“ I started but she continued. “Several discount alicorns have been reported attacking Ponyville. We’re not sure what Gray’s plan is this time, but Rarity said we might have just made him desperate when we almost killed him. We have to get back home.” Vinyl and Lightning looked up at us. “I’m coming with,” Lightning said. Twilight and I paused while looking at her. “Look, I won’t try that again, I promise, but we all know I can fight him.” “So can I,” Twilight pointed out. “I’ll be frank Lightning. We all care about you, and we’re not putting a filly on the front lines of a battle.” Lightning opened her mouth but Twilight just kept going. “No, it’s not happening. Your father is transporting us all home, however, he’ll be taking you and your brother back to his cave when we arrive in Ponyville.” Lightning looked down, swallowed, pushed away from Vinyl, then looked up at Twilight again. She stamped her hoof- “No. I don’t care what objections you have. What you did, we’re not allowing to happen again. Now c’mon everyone, I promise we’ll deal with all this later, but ponies have been seriously injured. We have to move.” (***) Well that was abrupt. So yea, we element bearers, along with the children and Lightning’s family flew back to Ponyville. Lightning, Dusk and Vinyl were then taken back to Torkuda’s cave overlooking the town. When we landed Twilight quickly worked out a signal to get Torkuda back to town if we needed him for a fight. We were in the middle of town when we landed, but no ponies were around. Twilight scanned the area. “Rainbow, take the kids and get to safety.” She said. “Have Pinkie do that,” I said. “She can’t fight in her condition.” “Take her with you then. You can’t in yours either,” Twilight said. “What?!” I practically shouted. “Rainbow, we all have to face it. Gray got to you.” I gritted my teeth, ready to object but Twilight just kept going. “No. Just like Lightning Strike, I’m sorry Rainbow, this just keeps getting more serious and I have to start realizing who can and can’t help right now.” I nodded. “Fine… where is everyone though?” I asked. “Everypony probably just took cover when they saw Torkuda flying in. Remember, we’re not surrounded by military ponies here… don’t worry though. Elements of both the night and day guard are on their way here to back us up… Dispel magic.” She looked around one more time. “Alright, Rainbow, AJ, Pinkie, fillies, get to the schoolhouse, Rarity, you go with them and stay on guard. Fluttershy and I will start searching the town for trouble…” Twilight sighed. “I’m used to having a few more friends than that to help me… we’ll figure this out girls.” As my group started walking away, albeit, hesitantly, Twilight had one more thing for us. “Amethyst will be along shortly when I find her. She’s not much of a fighter, but just in case she does know the dispel magic spell.” (***) At the school house we found several other children had already arrived and many town ponies had been placed on guard. We were all relieved to see a very familiar face among those protecting the kids. “Big Mac!” AJ yelled, trotting to her brother. “So what all has been happenin’?” Big Mac waved for the children to get in the school house. “Three ponies were found strangled and burned, we rightly have no idea what did it, but we’re all purty certain it has to do with this Gray fella.” “Never seen Ponyville get organized like this,” I noted, looking around. “And how many killers have ya’ heard of in r’ little town?” Big Mac posed back to me. “We’re all scared, but me and a couple other citizens have managed to pull everyone together. Most of the children r‘ here. There is a group of kids and their folks who got split from us ‘nd we have folks trying to track them down… but well… Rainbow?” “I’m on it, who is it?” I asked. “Little Pip-“ Big Mac started, however everyone stopped talking as a plume of fire shot into the air several meters away. “Um…” Big Mac looked at the other adult ponies, fear in all of their eyes, several looking ready to run. “Everypony hold the line!” A stream of fire flew towards us, a red and orange pegasus in front of it. “Pyromance!” I shouted. He flew around the school house. “He’s one of Gray’s alright.” “Amethyst!” Big Mac shouted. “Dispel magic!” came a voice I wasn’t incredibly familiar with, but still knew. Pyromance fell out of the air, his fire disappearing save for a small trail that had caught naturally behind him. The evil pegasus quickly got back to his hooves and spread his wings only to find himself trapped in Rarity’s white magic, his face quickly meeting the ground. Rarity ran out from the rest of us to meet Pyromance. As she approached Gray’s lackey a chain wrapped around her neck and pulled hard, starting to strangle her. With a huge grin on her face, Violet String galloped to Rarity. I shot over to the scene fast as I could, nailing Violet in the chin with a swift kick. The chain around Rarity released, but as Violet hit the ground, four more chains surrounded me. Amethyst’s voice came again. “Dispe-“ fire shot into the crowd behind me and I heard Amethyst scream. Pyromance flew back into the air, fire igniting around him. The chains around me almost closed, but just as they did Thunderlane slammed into Violet String. AJ shouted, “What’s keepin’ Twi?” I glanced up, seeing a blue pegasus, a mass of red light shooting away from him. I then heard a huge explosion and saw purple magic coming back up at him. “Apparently someone we haven’t met yet,” I yelled. I looked back to the school house to see Pyromance had already blasted through one of the windows. Inside the children were screaming. “Scoots!” I shouted. I leaped into the air, wings spread and shot into the building after him. “Wasn’t sure who to grab actually,” the stallion shouted as I came in, fire surrounding him as the children scattered from him. He grabbed Scootaloo from the group of fleeing foals. “She’ll do nicely.” “Drop her-“ I yelled. But he just shot back out another window and into the air outside the school. My heart started racing and I shot after him. Why did they want her? Why did Gray keep attacking my little family? Pyromance shot over the town, me on his heels. He lit up in a huge blaze, but despite Scootaloo yelling for help, she didn’t yell in pain, so at least he wasn’t just killing her. We were now several feet up. My mind started going into overdrive trying to figure out how to fight this guy without sending Scootaloo plummeting to her death. A huge shadow passed over me. I looked up seeing the massive green dragon. “Torkuda!” I shouted, never happier to see him. “Help!” The dragon turned over head, gliding over Pyromance. Torkuda flapped his wings, a massive amount of ice quickly materializing on one of them, causing the dragon to careen out of the sky and into a small series of buildings on the ground. A light blue pegasus shot past me as I continued after the pony holding my daughter. “Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo started to scream. I was panicking, but still had no idea how to get her away from him. Nothing came to me as we got closer and closer to the everfree forest. Visions of Gray tossing Scootaloo to that timber wolf flashed in my head. Finally I decided to play things by ear and shot at Pyromance, attempting to smash his head with my front hooves. I passed through him. My mouth went dry as a second image of him appeared to my right. He disappeared into the trees of the everfree. “Rainbow Dash!” I dove after the image. I had to get her back… somehow. On the ground, in the midst of the trees I saw those terrifying glowing blue eyes over my daughter again. “GET AWAY FROM HER!” I shouted. “You don’t even know if I’m near her,” Gray pointed out with a chuckle. “I’ve enjoyed our time together Dashie, truly I have, but the throne is calling.” “Throne?” I asked. Pyromance stepped between me and his leader. “Kill her,” Gray ordered. The red pegasus looked at me and- was tossed away by three lightning bolts, his body slamming into a nearby tree. Lightning Strike landed next to me, glaring at Gray. “C’mon Rebel Rainbow, let’s finish this!” she shouted. She then screamed and dropped to the ground, blood coming out of her side. Scootaloo started to cry. “Lightning!” she shouted, seeing her friend struggling to get back up. I reached for the yellow filly, but her form passed through my hoof. “You fucking bastard!” I shouted. “Where is she?!” A small object was tossed directly at me. “She’s mine, take your daughter and go,” I looked down, Scootaloo in my forelegs. I looked back up to see Pyromance walking back into view. Gray held up a hoof to his lackey. “Let her decide.” Flames surrounded me and my daughter, Gray and Pyro staring at me, both smiling. I saw little Lightning laying beside Gray, laboring just to breath. The flames got hotter and hotter, Scootaloo clinging to me, her heart racing faster than mine. Scootaloo was my daughter, Lightning was barely a friend… I closed my eyes. Instinct took over. I shot away, carrying my daughter away as fast as I could, ignoring her screaming at me to stop and go back. I soared back to the school house and touched back down. Once there, I saw my friends and the town ponies. They had survived, even Amethyst only having a few superficial burns. The buildings around were a mess, but everyone was still alive. Twilight had a few bruises, but she was fine. Best I could tell Gray’s freaks had gone too. My heart still racing my eyes quickly scanned the horizon. Where was he… there! I shot away from the ponies on the ground, after the dragon. “Torkuda!” I shouted. The dragon looked up at me. “Lightning… she must have left the cave. She tried to fight, but Gray has her.” “Where is she?” he asked quickly. “The everfree, hurry, she didn’t look good,” I pointed to where I had just been. Torkuda took off from the ground, his shadow passing over me. As that shadow passed, it finally hit me what I had just done. My body started to shake as he passed over the forest. “Find her… please find her…” I squeaked, myself the only one who could hear. He flew over the forest where I had pointed several times, then started to in ever widening circles. I remembered the pattern as the same I had used to try to find Gray the first time we encountered him. Finally I heard him scream in rage and frustration. My heart sank. I flapped my wings slower, slowly going to the ground. More than once as I slowly went down, I thought about just ceasing to fly at all and just letting myself fall, not like I would have deserved better. I touched down once more near the schoolhouse. I looked at Scootaloo, the look of confusion on her face slowly turning to anger and shame. She finally looked down, tears streaming out of her eyes. I wanted to crawl into a corner somewhere. I dropped to the ground, front hooves over my head crying into the ground. “What have I done?” I whispered over and over. “Rainbow?” came Twilight’s voice. “Rainbow I’m so sorry, I thought I could get to you guys in time. I’ve making so many mistakes…” I felt Fluttershy’s wing go around me. I looked up, watching my friends slowly surround me. In my mind I imagined Lightning, if she were even still alive, being surrounded by evil ponies, even one she thought she had escaped. I sobbed openly. “Lightning… she… she saved us and I… I left her.” I even felt Fluttershy start to move away from me. “What?” asked Twilight. “I was so scared… I didn’t have a choice… Pyromance would have killed us all… I had no choice but to do it… what have I done?” I looked up, Twilight speechless. “What have I done? I just left a filly to die after she saved me, how could I do that?” My friends started telling me they were sure I only did what I had to, or there was some justification, but I basically tuned them all out, looking at Scootaloo. Scootaloo’s eyes were wide, her jaw was open and tears were streaming down her face. “I… I wanted to save you…” “What about my friend?” she asked back. “I might never see her again. Why? Why didn’t you fight? Why didn’t you let me fight? She got hurt and you left. She saved us… just- just- stop looking at me.” Scootaloo turned around and walked away from me. Twilight moved to go after her, but I grabbed her leg with my fore hoof. “What are you gonna say? You weren’t there, you don’t even know what happened. I’ll talk to her. See if I can get her to forgive me… see if I can forgive myself.”