Twilight and a few others, what few of our friends could still fight, went off to plan how our next encounter with Gray and his forces could go. Normally I might have followed and fought to be part of taking down that creep but… they walked away to go talk and I just stood there, the image of Lightning lying injured on the ground continuing to play in my mind.
I was right there, she got hurt, she had saved me, she got hurt because of me and I… I left her. She was in the hooves of a monster and I… I pretty much put her there.
The town ponies basically started milling about, not sure what to do as the attack was apparently over. Should they just go back to their lives? Gray wasn’t defeated, he just got what he wanted apparently… which was Lightning I supposed. Course why or why now I had no idea. I was sure Twilight and Rarity could figure that out though. Not like I had contributed much to the last bout of profiling they did so they didn’t need me, just as well they didn’t ask for my input.
I just started walking home, AJ following. As she did, I started talking to her. “So… ya know, a while ago, I tried to pressure you to adopt Scootaloo and you said you might back then… would you now?”
“Yer her mother Rainbow,” AJ replied.
“I don’t deserve to be anyone’s mother after what I did.”
AJ trotted ahead of me and stood in my path. “Ya know, ah have a hard time believing ya just ran away.”
“Well it’s the truth,” I said.
“But there has to be more to it than that. Not like you never faced Gray before.”
“I have, and every time I’ve done little more than be his pawn… and… and maybe- maybe- just maybe, you could say that’s just because he’s good at what he does. But what I did today, that wasn’t just me being afraid, I crossed the line.”
“You saved yer daughter,” AJ said back.
“So that makes it okay? Lightning isn’t also someone’s daughter? What about Torkuda? What about Vinyl and Dusk? She’s their family.”
“Ah wasn’t saying Lightnin’ wasn’t important too-“
“Here we both are talking about her in the past tense. We both know it don’t we? She’s probably dead. Heck she’s probably better off that way now.”
AJ furrowed her brow and finally started to shout. “Now you listen to me! What was you supposed to do huh? Fight Gray an’ Pyromance yerself? Gary could take on Twilight all by himself and probably win. Heck even Luna has her doubts ‘bout fighting him. And Pyro? Ah admit ah don’t know much about ‘im, but he looks pretty hard to fight himself. Held his own pretty well during that attack on the night base the other day. Ya did what ya could. Ya used your speed ta-“
“To run away!” I shouted back over her. “There are things I could have tried. I’m way faster than Gray, and I’d wager Pyromance isn’t exactly Wonderbolt material himself. Hell when Lightning fought Gray, she showed Twilight and I how to beat his illusions using speed. Just sweep back and forth till you hit something. I could have done that.”
“Yea ya could have done that, in an open field. In the middle of the forest that would ah’ been just about the most moronic thing ya could have done period. Ah assume ya mean just swooping back and forth blindly right? You’d have been ten times more likely ta just slam into a tree that way.”
“You can try to make me look better all you want. I didn’t leave because I saw no alternative. I left because I was scared. And maybe I was right to be, but that doesn’t change what I did. Gray threw Scootaloo to me and told me to leave, he told me Lightning belonged to him. He then had Pyro surround me with fire. I didn’t want to die that way, I didn’t want Scootaloo to die that way. I didn’t want to leave Lightning but when it came down, her fate wasn’t what I was worried about-“ a white hoof slammed into my face and I fell to the ground as the rest of Vinyl’s body slammed into me.
The white unicorn started hitting me over and over, but I just couldn’t care. It hurt, good, I deserved it. Finally AJ slammed into her and knocked Vinyl off of me. Apple Jack stood between me and the furious DJ. I got up slowly, seeing the pain in Vinyl’s eyes. Tears streamed out of her eyes and her teeth were grinding. The fury in her eyes eclipsed my guilt easily. “I’m sorry.” I said.
Her note pad came out. ‘Sorry doesn’t bring back my student my… my- fuck it I’ll say it. My daughter!’
“She’s not yer daughter, she never was,” Apple Jack said back. “You can’t understand how afraid Rainbow was. Scootaloo’s whole life is in her hooves every day, just like my sister. Lightning isn’t-“
“Shut up AJ!” I shouted. “You can’t just defend me. Vinyl’s family is falling apart, she has every right to be angry. She took care of Lightning, she’s been by that filly’s side this whole time. She has fed and trained that filly, even when she couldn’t get anything from it. If you can call me a mother you can call her one too. Let her attack me.”
“This is all Gray’s fault, ya’ll can’t keep blaming the victim,” AJ replied. “Rainbow you weren’t in control-“
“And just who ever is?” I asked back. “We don’t control our circumstances. We only control ourselves and me… I’ve lost control of even that. How can you come back from losing even that? How am I not one of the bad guys now?”
“Ya know Rainbow, ah can’t just defend you if yer gonna-“
“I don’t want you to defend me!” I shouted.
AJ closed her eyes and dug her heels into the ground. “So… so what r’ ya gonna do? What happened happened. Lightnin’ could still be alive out there ya know. So what r’ ya gonna do now? Ya just gonna go home, crawl up in a corner and die? Things didn’t work out so ya just gonna give up? No one does the right thing every time Rainbow.”
“Then how do we know we’re even good?”
“Because we fight,” she looked away. “There are bad ponies in this world, and there always will be. We fight them, we fight ourselves. Those who give in and those who just accept being evil for their goals, whatever those goals are, those are the bad ones. Ah can’t blame ya if ya git confused, the line gets blurred all the time. Perhaps if he did things a different way, Gray does want to do good things, maybe he would be a hero if he weren’t the way he is. His wants to save Equestria, but from what we know, he’s so zeroed in on that goal, he’s forgetting everything else. He’s allowing himself to be evil and just indulgin’. Now ah’m not gonna say yer as bad, cause that would be an accomplishment, but if yer just gonna give up cause ya messed up… then maybe we can’t be friends anymore… now… now what r’ ya gonna do?”
“I want to fight, I really do. I just don’t know how.”
“Well welcome to the club. Heck ya’ve been in it the whole time. No one ever really knows how or even what to fight most of the time. We’re all along for the ride in the end. Ya think ah know what to do next? Ah don’t. Certainly not now.”
I closed my eyes for a bit. “I… there has to be something I can do,” I tried to think. “Ya know, Moonstone said something to me a while ago. He said Gray has a weakness. Basically that he tries to figure out who is and isn’t a threat. Maybe if I don’t fight him-“ AJ glared at me, “No, no, hear me out. Maybe if I don’t fight him directly. Maybe if I stay on the sidelines of any battles with him around me. Maybe if I keep acting broken. And then, when we find Lightning, I can just grab her and go. No fighting, just go. I don’t think I care about winning anymore. I just want to save Lightning now. Let someone else beat Gray. I just want everyone safe.”
“She might not be all that important to him,” AJ said. “You realize that right? He probably just wants her for a few experiments. Taking her back might not be so important. It might be better if ya-“
“OF COURSE SHE’S IMPORTANT!” I practically screamed. “She risked her life for me. She’s my daughter’s friend, she’s Vinyl’s student… I want Gray gone as much as the next pony but I will not sacrifice her so we can beat him. I won’t- compromise…”
“Well ya wanted to know the difference between the good and bad. There ya go. It’s not easy, it’s not glorious, but that’s what good is.”
I looked over at Vinyl, silently crying to herself as she listened to us. I wasn’t sure what she thought of me, but it was clear she realized hurting me didn’t help anything. I leaned back, opened my wings and shot into the air. “I’m gonna find Twilight and tell her what I’m gonna do.” I shook my head and said, just to myself, and perhaps to a soul that could somehow hear me, “Lightning, I’m coming for you. I know you think you’re alone. But as long as I’m here, you’ll never be alone again.”
(***)
I caught up to Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight, landing in the midst of the three of them as they talked. “Um… hi,” Twilight said. “Um Rainbow, I remember telling you that you need to sit things out. I wasn’t looking to be challenged on that.”
“And I’m not looking to fight. You guys go ahead, plan whatever you’re going to do. I hope it works. But help me do one thing. I have to save Lightning. I don’t care if I sit on the sidelines of every battle from now on, just let me save the ponies we care about.”
“You don’t want to fight?” Rarity asked. I shook my head. “You… you have changed.”
.
“Maybe I have,” I said. “All I know is, I have to save that filly. Please, give me a shot and that’s all I will do, I swear.” I looked over at Fluttershy, who was staring at the ground and biting her lip. “Um… what’s wrong? Fluttershy, it’s me.”
“Is it?” she asked. Then the timid yellow mare glared at me. “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!” I jumped back. “Did I hear this right? You left that little filly to die? I… I don’t know. How could YOU do that? You’re crazy sometimes, but I know you would never leave me, no matter how silly my shyness gets but- you left her.” I swallowed. “I don’t understand this. Rainbow I always looked up to you. And this…”
“If she is alive-“ I started.
“She is,” Rarity said. “If Gray wanted to kill her, he would have done so before you left. He tends to want ponies to know what he does. He’s not going to just execute a major enemy in secret.”
“Then I WILL save her,” I said.
Twilight sighed. “Alright. If you promise to stay out of the way. I can’t rely on you right now, and I’m really sorry about that, but too much has happened. You just stay in ear shot until we find Lightning, then you grab her and get the hell out of there, wherever we next fight. Next time we fight Gray, I’m not interested in having her there either.” Twilight went back to our other friends. “Now, as I was saying-“
“Um girls,” Fluttershy said looking up. “Just noticed but… something is coming.” We all looked up.
“I was wondering when you would all notice us,” came the voice of Pyromance. He was flying in the air, carrying Violet String. He flew down in front of us. The chains holding him to Violet disappeared. Twilight and Rarity’s horns glowed. “Oh really?” asked Pyromance. “You’re just going to beat the shit out of us? No concern about what we have to say? No concern about the fate of that poor little filly?” Both horns stopped glowing. “That’s what I thought.”
“What did you come to say?” asked Twilight.
“Oh we came to fight, but not them,” said Pyromance, looking at Rarity, then at Fluttershy. “She can help if she wants,” he said, chuckling and looking at me. “But I think it might be better for you if she didn’t.” He looked at Violet. “Violet String and I are Gray’s head lieutenants. If we can beat you, Twilight Sparkle, we will prove that Gray’s discount alicorns are on par with if not superior to true alicorns. If we kill you in battle, all of Equestria will have reason to fear us.”
“So you want me to fight you alone.” Twilight said. “If I refuse and just fight you with my friends?”
“We will leave and proceed with our plans,” Violet said. “This battle does not have to occur. However, let us sweeten the deal for you. We give you our word, if you find a way to subdue us, ALONE, then we will tell you where Gray and the filly are.”
“You have no intention of keeping your word,” Twilight said back.
“Don’t we? We have no intention of losing. However,” Violet said. “Here’s the thing. By now you must know our boss has a thing for the spot light, yes? So if we lose and DON’T tell you where he is, he won’t have an audience for his ascension AND you won’t be gone. It is to our benefit to keep our word, so we will. This is not some concept of petty honor, this is all part of Gray’s grand plan.”
“We are Gray’s chosen.” Pyro said. “We are discount alicorns. We are a new breed. We are a new race. We are Impulse. You think Pyromance was my original name? I changed it.”
“I had my suspicions about your name,” Twilight said. “Now that I know that’s really what happened… that’s kinda stupid.”
“We’ll see who else thinks so when the Lord of Fire and the Queen of Chains kill the element of magic herself. Do you accept our challenge or not?”
Twilight shook her head and sighed. “Ya know, you could just give me the information right now and join our side. I would see that you get lesser sentences…” She looked in both of their eyes, seeing what we all saw. They weren’t the kinds to reform. “You really think you two can beat me? A crazy mare and a colt who thinks changing his name makes a difference? I’ll ask one more time. Just tell me where Gray is and you can leave in peace.”
Violet laughed. “Accept our challenge, or Lightning dies and her corpse will be my toy. I think her wings will make a nice hat. Hmmm… maybe her hooves will-“ BOOM! A blast of purple energy shot out of Twilight, tossing all ponies around her away, both friend and foe.
“Maybe I’m not being clear. You WILL tell me where she is. I am so DONE with all of this,” Twilight shouted. “Your boss is dead, and I will be the one who brings him down. If I have to go through you for that, than so be it!” She closed her eyes. “Lightning has done a lot for us. She is my friend. No one fucks with my friends.” Twilight looked back at us. “Stay back. If you all want to help… just make sure I keep one of them alive.”
“I see I’m not the only one who’s changing,” I noted to myself.
Purple energy surrounded Twilight and shot up into the air above her. Pyromance smiled back, fire surrounding him and shooting up into the air as well. “Dispel ma- herk-“ Twilight was about to try, what I’m sure was becoming her fall back spell, when a chain wrapped around her neck and slammed her into the ground. Violet grinned at her. Twilight’s horn glowed and a pulse of purple energy shot at Violet. However a wall of chains blocked it.
The chain continued to choke Twilight, flames surrounding her. Twilight’s eyes glowed, her form disappearing from the circle of fire and out of the chains. She appeared beside Violet String and she slammed both front hooves into the madmare so hard she drew blood. Violet staggered away, but a chain wrapped around Twilight’s stomach as she did. Twilight was tossed away by that chain.
Twilight caught herself in the air with her wings, putting up a shield just before several chains shot at her from the ground from Violet’s position. Then I heard Twilight shout. “I’m sorry big brother. You told me never to use them like this… but shields can do more than just protect.” She disappeared again just before a huge plume of fire shot at her, now passing through thin air.
Twilight appeared beside Violet again. Another chain wrapped around her. Again a shield went around and- blood. Her shield cut through Violet’s body- so that’s what happens if a shield spell goes through you… my jaw dropped as Violet’s body fell to the ground. She had a huge gash on her side.
The silver unicorn dropped to the ground, looking as helpless as Lightning had looked earlier. She hissed and choked, unable to get up. “I know more about magic than you two know about your own parents,” Twilight snapped at her remaining opponent. “You really want to fight me? You think you can beat me because you got some new powers?” Her horn flared and she disappeared, appearing beside Pyro. Her horn glowed again as she was suddenly covered in flames.
Instead of her shield taking him out too, Twilight screamed. That scream will haunt me for the rest of my life. She was in agony. The flames died away and Twilight staggered away from Pyro, disfigured and crying. Pyromance smiled at her and licked his lips. “Ya know something?” asked Pyro. “This really is funny. You never stood a chance. Say one Impulse is worth three quarters of a true alicorn,” he explained. Twilight’s horn glowed and she fired a purple pulse at him, hot flames rising up and blocking it. “But then you tried to fight two of us at once. What a joke.” Her horn glowed again but Pyro slammed into Twilight, her dropping to the ground and rolling away. “Your horn is a dead giveaway to when you’re going to attack. Really unicorns in general aren’t that hard for impulses to fight. We have bigger problems with the other races really. It’s less obvious when they’re going to attack.” Fire surrounded Twilight.
Sticking to my plan not to fight… I gritted my teeth and my wings opened of their own volition.
Pyro started talking again. “Really you all should have guessed where Gray was from the beginning. It’s not like he’s really trying to hide at this point. Besides, one of the things dark ascension needs is a landmark of hope to be perverted into an icon of fear. If only Luna hadn’t destroyed Gray’s work you would know that… he’s in the Castle of the Two Sisters.” Twilight tried to get up, but fell back down, tears streaming out of her eyes.
Fluttershy flew to Twilight, but just as her hooves were inches from grabbing her, some of the flames around Twilight shot up, impacting the yellow mare. Fluttershy screamed and hit the ground between Pyro and Twilight. She somersaulted and fell unconscious.
Fluttershy’s mane was scorched and her skin was burned around her chest. “This is too easy,” Pyro said. He started to shake his head as- his body was raised into the air and then shot down so hard that on impact dirt flew up around him. He was instantly unconscious.
Luna and Celestia both flew down beside Twilight. Celestia gently nuzzled Twilight. Twilight screamed in pain, Celestia jumping back, tears almost instantly in her eyes. I flew over to Fluttershy, putting my hoof to her chest and feeling for a pulse. She would live, and Twilight was suffering, but so would she. This was such a nightmare. I turned to the two rulers of the land. “He’s in the Castle of the Two Sisters. He’s going to try to ascend.” I put a wing over my unconscious friend. “It’s gonna be okay Flutters.”
Twilight started shivering. “Just get her out of here,” she said. “You can’t touch me. You’ll just hurt me…” tears were streaming out of her eyes and she choked several time. “Celestia help me.”
Luna walked over to her. “You can survive this Twilight. Honor Guard is on his way. But your fight is over. We will finished this.” Luna looked at Rarity. “Protect them when we leave.” Rarity nodded.
I stood. “I have to go with you,” I said.
“No,” Luna said.
“This isn’t about fighting,” I said. “I have to save Lightning. I promise, I’ll just take her and go.”
“Why?” asked Luna.
“I just have to. For her brother, for her mentor, for her father, for my daughter… for me. I have to save her. She’s important. To me she is.”
“Do what you must,” Luna said.
I looked back over at Celestia, who was standing over her crying student. Celestia’s horn glowed and Twilight fell asleep, her head dropping to the ground. “Rest my faithful student,” she said. “When you wake up, this nightmare will be over.” She closed her eyes.
Celestia spread her wings, her head still down and eyes still closed. The ground shook beneath me. I started backing away. “Summon the dragon Luna.” Celestia said. “So… Gray is going to ascend through darkness? However one does that.” Her head finally rose and her eyes opened. Her eyes glowed white, the skin of her eyes looking bleached. “He thinks that will protect him?”