Revenge is Bittersweet

by P-Berry

Ch.6: Picking up the pieces

Chapter 6: Picking up the pieces

Slowly, my senses returned: I could smell the cold air around me, and felt the soft, moist grass I was lying on. Remembering the fight I was in, I strained my muscles and tried to get to my hooves. But I quickly got overwhelmed by my weakness – my legs slackened again and I dropped back onto the grass. Not even trying to put up a fight against the exhaustion built-up inside of my body, I kept lying on the meadow and collecting my power, already forgetting about the battlefield around me.

But suddenly, blurred voices came to my ears and broke the death silence around me. Making a massive effort, I managed to open my eyes; my eyelids were crusted with blood – definitely not my own.

Trying to oppress the once again upcoming nausea, I turned my head and took a look around: I must have fallen about half a mile from the embassy; the fight in front of it was in it its final throes: the blue building of the embassy was surrounded by a pile of corpses, primarily of imperial guards; Luna and a mass of Republican guards were just fighting the last few Imperials; most of them had already taken flight and hurried away from the embassy.

I heard the voices again and slowly turned my head to look for their origin. Noticing a sharp pain in my neck, I spotted the origin of the voices: a couple of meters away from my position, a young, yellow mare with red hair was leaning over an imperial guard lying on the ground next to her. “Hang in there, brother! It’s just a small flesh wound, you’ll survive that!” she shouted in a desperate, pitchy voice.

Groaning from the pain in my still bruised wings, I rolled over and got to my shaky hooves. I noticed a slight pain coming from the side of my head and slowly moved my hoof towards it. Upon touching my head, I felt a big bulge - certainly the spot where the guard had hit me; a sharp pain made me flick my hoof back. I shook my head and looked at the two guards again: the injured one now spoke; his deep, incisive voice sounded over to me: “It’s alright, AB. Ah- ah’ll pull through.”

Recalling Luna’s words, I growled and started to make my way towards the two guards: I had already made the mistake to hesitate once; I wouldn’t do it again! Those ponies over there were my enemies; they had killed my fellow and almost got me; they had to die!

The yellow mare swore silently and grabbed a strip of bandage from a first-aid kit next to her. Single drips of cold sweat were forming on her forehead as she -desperately trying to stop a hemorrhage on her fellow’s flank- pressed the piece of mull into his stressed fur.

Apparently, the taller guard heard my slow, heavy steps coming closer and sluggishly turned his head into my direction. His green eyes widened upon seeing me; he stiffly turned towards the medic and seriously commanded her: “Apple Bloom, run away!”

The yellow pony didn’t look up from his flank and absentmindedly answered: “No way, Ah won’t leave ya-“ she suddenly silenced and looked over her shoulder. Her glance fell onto a cobalt blue stallion with ruffled, blood-soaked fur; his determined eyes drilled into her and her injured brother as he slowly limped towards them, baring his teeth in cold determination.

Her orange eyes widened in horror as she noticed the dark blue sheath with the initials of the Republic fixed to my leg, clearly identifying me as a Republican guard.

For a few seconds, she stiffly stared into my direction, apparently too shocked to move. Then, the guard gave her a powerful shove with his front leg and shouted: “Ah said run away! Ah’ll make it, Ah promise!”

The medic gave her brother a last, desperate look, then looked at me approaching and finally let out a horrified scream, running away as fast as she could.

I finally approached the red stallion and stopped next to him. A satisfied grin on my face, I gave his bruised body a scanning look: his armor had numerous bulges and cuts in it; the streaks of his blonde hair that were protruding from underneath his helmet were soaked with blood; large tufts of his red fur were missing, and multiple injuries were visible all over his body.

Obviously accepting his inevitable defeat, the stallion looked up to me and powerlessly whispered: “Please … just make it quick.”

Without hesitating, I flicked my foreleg, making the sword appear; the guard closed his eyes in apprehension.
The thought that I was about to take another life made me hesitate, and the determination in my mind vanished for a second as I asked myself: Could I really do this? Could I kill a defenseless guard in cold blood?

The answer came from the bottom of my heart. Lowering my glance and focusing him again, I let out a decisive snort. Then, I forcefully shoved the sword downward.

With a smothering sound, the weapon drilled into the grassy ground directly next to the guard’s head.

He slowly looked up, his eyes widened in surprise.

“This war doesn’t even last one day and has already cost too many lives. Killing each other won’t help us. Remember that.” I dryly told him and slowly turned around. After giving him a last, inspecting glance over my shoulder and making sure that he wouldn’t perish from his injuries, I departed, walking into the direction of the embassy and leaving the guard behind.

---

I’d gotten my point across: that stallion wasn’t my enemy, and it would have been wrong to kill him in cold blood. Firespark’s foalnappers and those responsible for her abduction deserved to feel my wrath, but that guard’s fate wasn’t my business.

Allowing a complacent smile to flash over my face, I headed towards the embassy where the other guards had begun to vet their companions and looked over my shoulder again: the Imperial medic had just approached her brother again and continued vetting his wounds, coiling a bandage around his injured flank.

I turned my head back and looked for Luna: she stood a few meters away from the guards and stared into the distance melancholically; her face expressed the bitterness in her heart - the bitterness that came along with the certainty of being responsible for the death of hundreds of ponies.

While departing into her direction, I noticed how heavy my steps had become: I hadn’t slept properly for days, and both, the physical, as well as the psychological strain, drained me of strength. Allowing myself to have a good yawn, I carefully set one hoof in front of the other, approaching my president step by step. But I didn’t allow my exhaustion to get the better of me. My mind was befogged; overwhelmed by the past events: the sudden outbreak of the war; the sight of a brutal battle, and the certainty to have taken somepony’s life. But all that was drowned by the thought of Firespark: no matter what had happened, I had to find her; I had to save her; everything else was subordinate!

Clinging to this one thought, I blocked out all the events of the past days and slowly trudged forward, heading at the single pony in the distance.

---

Luna heard me approaching and turned around, saying: “Oh, it’s you. As I see, you’re still alive. That’s good.” She noticed soberly.

I nodded silently and stalled next to her. Letting out a deep sigh, I looked at the mass of dead bodies lying all over the place and felt the upcoming urge to vomit. Not only because of the blood and the bodies lying all around me, but also because of the certainty that all that was caused by two sisters who didn’t manage to arrange their quarrel.

“It’s a shame,” Luna said bitterly upon noticing my disgusted expression, “but we had no choice. We couldn’t risk losing the embassy.”

Unwilling to give a proper response to that statement, I looked away and focused a single grey cloud floating above the horizon. A cold gust blew into my face and I sighed deeply, turning back towards Luna and saying: “So, now it happened. We have war.”

She looked at me and slowly nodded: “It isn’t nice. The faster we can finish it, the better. The population has already suffered enough of Celestia; they don’t need a war to deal with.” She silenced for a moment, “But … we were interrupted when we were talking about your daughter. … So please tell me: do you have any clues where she might have been brought?”

The fact that she had the coldness to forget about her fallen brothers and sisters and change the subject within seconds disgusted me even more. But I oppressed it and nodded dryly, saying: “No exact ones though. I suspect that she has been brought to some kind of factory - probably in Cloudsdale.”

She looked at me skeptically: “A factory? In Cloudsdale? I thought the Weather Factory was the only factory up there.”

I nodded: “Me too. However, your sister said something about rainbows and that this factory was very important for the Empire…”

Interest flared in Luna’s eyes upon hearing this. “Rainbows, you say? … Indeed, they are very important for the population of Equestria … and consequently for the Empire.” She turned away and looked into the distance thoughtfully, “If this so-called factory somehow stands in relation to the production of rainbows, it certainly is tactically important.” She turned back and focused me determined, “We have to find out more about it!”

“I already attempted to do so, but…” I looked at my bruised, filthy body, “well, as you can see, my wings are more or less licked, and least of the ponies I’ve approached so far knew something about that place at all - most of the pegasi in Cloudsdale don’t care about the rejected foals anyways. So finding out about the factory’s exact position would require some further research in Cloudsdale, and as you can probably imagine, I’m no longer welcome there … not to say that they’ll skin me alive when I set a hoof into the city. But generally, it would be easier if we’d find somepony who has already been to that factory, who knows where it is and what is done there.”

“Sorry to interrupt you,” a deep, male voice came from behind me, “but I’ve heard you were talking about the Rainbow Factory.”

I stiffened and turned towards him; I noticed that it was Stormtrotter, the guard who introduced me to Luna and the Republic in the first place; his armor and fur were covered with numerous, yet small cuts and bloodstains; his serious orange eyes were focused on his president. My eyes widened as I shouted: “What? Rainbow Factory? You know something about that?”

He nodded hesitantly: “Yes. … Well, I’ve heard some rumors back when I lived in Cloudsdale. Ponies say that it’s a hidden place somewhere in the city, that it has something to do with the production of rainbows -of spectra, the base for rainbows, to be exact- and that the foals who failed their flight tests are brought there.”

“And what the hell happens to them!?” I yelled at him, feeling the horror ousting the exhaustion.
Stormtrotter shrugged apologizing: “I don’t know. I left Cloudsdale quite a while ago in order to work as a guard, so I didn’t have the chance to find out more … and I honestly: didn’t care. However, all I know is that the foals are brought there and never get seen again.”

My face turned pale: “Never?”

He shook his head: “No, usually not. However, rumor has it that there once were two fillies who escaped it … but none of them ever talked about what they’ve seen in there. It’s not that they get asked about it that often though.”

I stepped closer to him and incisively asked: “And who are those fillies? Where can we find them!?”

He reflected: “That’s been quite a while ago; I guess they should be full-grown mares by now. One of them is named Derpy Hooves; she works as a mail pony: gray fur, yellow eyes and such. The other one is named Fluttershy … but I don’t know anything more about her. Some ponies say she’d live near Ponyville, but I’m not sure about that. I mean: why should a pegasus voluntarily live on the ground?” he said, obviously oppressing a chuckle.

Disregarding his casual mood, I nodded appreciatively and said: “Thank you!” I turned around and looked at Luna, still standing next to me: “Will you round up a few guards to come with me?”

She gave me an unbelieving look: “What do you mean with ‘a few guards’?”

I made an impatient gesture: “Some ponies to help me search for the factory!”

Luna shook her head regretfully: “I’m sorry. I’d love to help you, but at the moment, I won’t be able to lack even one guard – you’ll have to stay here.”

“But-“

“Now that the spell is broken, we have to be prepared for an attack every time; I can’t dispatch guards on a mission to look for a place of which I don’t even know that it exists!”

My eyes widened in horror: “But Luna! I have to go! I have to find the factory! I have to find Firespark!”

She narrowed her eyes in empathy: “I understand that, but…” she sighed and looked down.

I turned my head and gave Stormtrotter a desperate look, but he just shrugged helplessly and remained silent.

After a few seconds of silence, Luna looked back up: “Fine. If the factory really is involved into the production of rainbows, we can’t ignore it! We have to find that place and -if it’s possible- use it for our own benefit. Nevertheless, I can’t miss one of my guards here.” she focused me, “If you really want to look for your daughter and find that factory, I will support you with all the resources I have at the moment, even though it isn’t much.”

I shook my head determined: “I don’t care! I will find my daughter; your support will only make it easier for me.” I turned my head and looked at the battlefield next to the embassy, “And if the factory actually is important for the Empire, it’ll be a joy to occupy it for the Republic!”

Luna nodded satisfied: “Your ambition is laudable. I wish I could do more to support you, but this will have to be enough.” She turned towards her guard: “Stormtrotter, please hand your brother your bag.”

The grey stallion nodded obeying: “Yes, Luna!” He striped a dark-blue saddlebag from his back and put it on the ground in front of him.

Luna raised the bag with her magic and opened it: “In this bag, there are the most important things a guard of the Republic needs for a journey through Equestria.” She took out a pair of mirrored sunglasses and handed them to me, “They are made to protect the guards’ eyes from the strong sunlight on earth, but they should also help you to stay undetected – just in case you really are as ‘unwelcome’ as you said earlier.”

I put them on; the world around me seemed to get a little darker.

“Additionally, we have a forged identity card that identifies you as a civilian of the Solar Empire,” she took out the small piece of paper and quickly showed it to me, “As I know my sister, she certainly has increased the number of guards to look for rebels, especially in her two big cities - Cloudsdale and Canterlot. This paper should help you pass the city limits without problems.” Putting the card back into the bag, she added, “And of course, we have rations of food and water for one day.”

Luna closed the bag again and handed it to me, adding: “That’s all I can do at the moment. But as soon as you’ll return, we’ll have a custom armor as well as a sword waiting for you.”

I nodded dully: “Thank you, Luna.”

She returned the favor and smiled encouraging: “I promise: as soon as you’re back and have some further information about that factory, I’ll do everything in my power to render it harmless!”

Again, I nodded my understanding.

With a weak, but confident smile, she added: “Good luck, brother. I’m sure you will find your daughter!”

I turned towards Stormtrotter and gave him an appreciative bow: “Thank you too.”

He nodded with a touch of satisfaction in his deadpan eyes: “Not a problem, brother. Good luck.”
They turned around and continued the search for survivors of the massacre. I turned away from them and looked into the direction of my crash side again: the stallion had gotten up and, after scanning the area carefully, begun to limp away from the battlefield, getting support from his sister.

I nodded, feeling a touch of satisfaction, and hit the road to Ponyville.

---

Already after a short period of time, I felt the heaviness in my steps return and my vision slightly blur. I honestly wondered how long I would be able to keep on moving until I would drop dead.

Trying to ignore the slight stagger in my steps, I trotted forward, heading to Ponyville.

Once again, I caught myself speaking to myself, but quickly discounted it as a byeffect of my fatigue: “What did that guard say?” I mumbled, “That one pony who escaped the factory … what was her name again? … Right, Derpy! ... Didn’t he say she was working as a mail pony? And that she had grey fur and yellow eyes and stuff?” it suddenly dawned on me, “Damn, he must have meant that distracted mare I met yesterday! … Hell, but where can I find her now?” I looked around: it was just before noon; the almost cloudless sky was shining in a clear blue, but nopony seemed to be around.
I yawned again: “Maybe I should look for that ‘Fluttershy’ first. That guy said she’d live in Ponyville, right?”

---

The way to Ponyville was hard; harder than anything I had done before. Not only that I was out of breath after less than five minutes, even though I already moved at crawl speed, but also my head had started to hurt terribly - I’d probably underestimated the attack of the guard. But on top of all that, there was the chaos in my head: the events I’d seen on the battlefield had already afflicted my overtired mind, but the certainty to have taken the life of a fellow pony topped everything off.

Making an effort to keep straight on, I tramped over the path leading to Ponyville, hearing nothing but my heavy breathing: no birds, no crickets, not even the sound of the wind.

Once again, I thought about giving up: what prevented me from just dropping down? Who would care about whether I’d come back or not?

I approached Ponyville a couple of minutes later. Nothing had changed; the small village was just as empty as the day before. “So, now where’s that Fluttershy?” I asked into the deserted market, not awaiting an answer, “Maybe Mrs. Cup Cake can help me; she seems to know about some ponies living around here.” I told myself and slowly trotted towards Sugarcube Corner.

Just before I arrived at the entrance, the door opened and somepony stepped outside the store. The mare had grey fur, yellow eyes, a mail bag tied around her waist, and carried a muffin in her right hoof. I recognized her and shouted: “Hey, erm … Derpy! I have to talk to you!”

She turned her head into my direction; her eyes widened upon recognizing me: “Oh no, it’s you again! Please, leave me alone!” she squealed.

Without hesitating, I shot forward and yelled: “Please stop! I won’t do anything to you! I just want to ask you something!”
Without answering, she hastily shook her head, dropped the muffin and took off, speeding upward.

Seeing my chance to find out about the factory literally flying away, I spread my wings and flew after her, shouting: “Why won’t you listen to me!? I won’t hurt you!” Driven by my desperation, I shot forward and slowly approached her back. In a last desperate jerk forward, I managed to grab her tail with my mouth, slowing her down slightly.

The grey mare looked over her shoulder and let out a horrified squeal.

Straining every muscle in my body, I finally managed to bring her to normal speed and tore her towards a single cloud, throwing her on it as careful as possible and holding her down with my hooves.

Derpy closed her eyes in horror and began to cry: “What did I do to you? Why won’t you leave me alone?”

I tried to sound as calm as possible and explained: “Look, I’m not here to harm you in any way. I know that your name is Derpy Hooves; if it makes it easier for you, my name is Fippo.”

She looked at me with tearstained eyes, shouting: “What do you want from me!?”

Trying to calm her, I said: “I just want to ask you something. When I let you go, will you promise to stay and not fly away? I swear: I won’t do anything to you!”

She sobbed and hesitantly nodded.

I loosened the pressure from her and she slowly sat up next to me, still sobbing.

Putting my hoof on her shoulder, I said: “Look, I understand when you’re unsettled at the moment. The conflict between the Princesses has affected all of us. But I really have to talk to you; please promise that you won’t fly away!”

Derpy nodded silently.

I took a deep breath and calmly said: “You failed your flight test as a filly. You were captured brought to the Rainbow Factory-”

Upon hearing this, her body instantly stiffened and she got ready to depart again.

Increasing the pressure of my hoof on her shoulder, I calmly said: “It’s not a problem! I don’t think that you’re worthless or anything, and I won’t tell anypony of it!” she gave me a deep look, then hesitantly relaxed again and sat back down.

“See, my daughter -Firespark is her name- also failed her test.” I explained her, “I want to find her, but I need to know where she was brought. I know that the foals are taken to a place called ‘Rainbow Factory’, but I need to know more! Where is it? What is done there? And how did you manage to escape from there?”

The grey mare shivered heftily, but didn’t answer.

I shoved her head up, making her focus me, and looked deep into her eyes: “Please. I really need to know!”
Derpy sobbed again, but finally began to speak; her voice quavered: “I-I don’t know where it is. I was still so young when all that happened!”

“Then can you tell me what you know? Can you remember what happened after you received your dismissal?” remembering how I felt about the whole case, I added, “I know, the memory sure is painful, but I really have to know!”

She nodded: “But I can’t remember much. … After I saw the jury disapproving, I … I simply fainted. I turned limp and fell…” tears formed in her eyes, “I remember that I got thrown into something dark. There were other foals with me. They … they said that we were … failures and … getting … b-banned or k-k-killed.” She sobbed, “The carriage stopped sometime later and ponies, all dressed up in black overalls and balaclavas, told me to leave. Then, I was in a big, dark room. It was … hot and … very loud; horrible screams came from somewhere, and everypony who was with me cried.” She breathed heavily, “Then, I saw my daddy. He … he wasn’t dressed as usual: instead of the business suit he usually wore, he wore big goggles and a white lab coat with … with red sprinkles on it.” She choked “He lifted the glasses and gave me a long look. I asked him what was going on and why I was at that place, but he didn’t react. He turned towards another pony in a coat and said that he couldn’t stand to see me there. The other pony told him something harsh about rules and that there were no exceptions of it. My daddy looked at me for a long time, then turned back to the other pony and said that they should take him instead of me!” her voice broke and she sniffed multiple times.

“The other pony nodded distantly and grabbed my body. I shouted for my daddy and asked him what was going on, but … he just kissed me and said that he’d love me. Then, he walked away.” She sighed, “The other pony led me out of the room and set me down somewhere on a single cloud. I wanted to fly back and look for my daddy, but I … I couldn’t remember where I came from.” she began to cry and looked at the fluffy ground underneath her hooves, “I tried to tell other pegasi about where my daddy was, but they said I was stupid for thinking about such a place. Some of them even called me ‘retarded’!” She sobbed again, “So I decided to never think about that horrible place again. I grew up on my own and finally found a job at the mail service. … I suppressed the memories … and never looked back.” She finished with a deadpan look on her face.

I jugged: “Damn. I’m sorry for that.”

She looked at me soberly: “You have no reason to be. It just hurt to think about it again. She cleared her throat and wiped away her tears, “But those things are over - past is past.”

Trying to look appreciative, I said: “Alright … thanks for your help.”

Derpy looked at me and forced out a weak smile: “You’re welcome. It was good to finally talk about it with somepony … even though the memory isn’t nice.” Looking up to the distant silhouette of Cloudsdale, she added, “I’m sorry for that with your daughter.”

I nodded stiffly: “No worries. It wasn’t your fault.” I got up and turned around: “Thank you once again.” I said before jumping off the cloud and softly landing in the middle of Ponyville.

Once again, I felt my eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Oppressing another yawn, I mumbled: “Damn, that pony went through some serious shit. Her story didn’t help me that much though.” My look wandered along the decaying houses, “Anyways, there was that other pony … what was her name again? Right, Fluttershy. … So where can I find her?”
I asked myself weakly

Facing the empty city, I shrugged help- and carelessly: “Looks like I gotta search that entire goddamn city for that pony.” Letting out a deep sigh, I walked off and started to pass a smaller street in front of me. My eyes checked the buildings for a sign of life, but it was pointless: the city seemed to be completely empty; none of the decaying buildings around was inhabited. I yawned hearty, unable to oppress it this time. But my eyes suddenly widened as I heard silent steps behind me. Stiffening, I span around.

A mare dressed in a black hoodie stood a few meters behind me and hung her head low, hiding her face. I gave her a mistrusting look and shouted: “Stop! Who are you?”

She slowly looked up; her face was hidden by the shadow of the hood, but a white horn stuck out from underneath the darkness. Focusing me, she whispered: “I can help you.”

I gave her a skeptical look: “You want to help me? How?”

The mare took off her hood, revealing a scarred, white face and a pair of cold, blue eyes. “You are looking for a mare named Fluttershy. I can bring you to her cottage.” She said in a soft voice.

I stepped closer to her, skeptically asking: “Really?”

She nodded silently.

“…But … why should you do that? Help a stranger?” I asked visibly confused.

The unicorn looked at me seriously: “I’ve heard you talking to Derpy earlier; that you’ve lost your daughter. ... I … usually don’t help other ponies, but …” she cut herself off, “That doesn’t matter now.” Stepping closer towards me, she gave me an inspecting look: “But it is a long way to Fluttershy’s cottage - are you sure you’ll make it? You look horrible.”

I looked at her exhausted, forcing my eyes to stay open.

She shook her head, concluding: “No, you definitely won’t make it. Not in that condition. Come with me, I’ll show you a place to sleep.” She said and started to make her way over to me.

I shook my head decidedly, faltering from my fatigue: “No, I don’t have time to sleep! I have to find Firespark!”

“You can’t find her when you die of exhaustion halfway! Now come with me!” She harshly commanded and grabbed my hoof, tearing me behind her through the decayed streets.

Too tired to resist her surprisingly strong grab, I weakly asked: “Where do you bring me?”

She gave me a quick glance over her shoulder. “To a safe place.” Was the only answer I received.

Noticing my shaky steps slowing down and my vision blur, I unwillingly stopped. The unicorn gave me an annoyed glance: “You will have time to sleep soon, but you have to-“her voice seemed to fade away as I finally gave in to my sinking eyes and involuntarily dropped myself onto the dusty ground - I couldn’t continue walking. A couple of moments later, I heard her moan annoyed and felt my body getting lifted before finally falling asleep.

Author's Note:

This chapter took far too long.
But hey, hooray for Rarity!

And a note to everyone who faved and/or upvoted the story so far: thank you so much! You guys are the reason for me to continue with that story! :D

Comments

[Cocaine]

I'm seriously wanting to see how you portray Rainbow Dash. .....