From Regret to Rage

by GivingSpider

Chapter 4

Characters used here are property of their respected owners

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The town slowly disappeared behind Screwball as she marched along the road. She only had two targets left and neither of them actually lived in Ponyville. She smiled as her destination drew closer. Sweet Apple Acres seemed to be the logical place to go next. She would leave Fluttershy for last. The filly paused and gathered her resolve. Fluttershy was going to be difficult. Screwball took a few deep breaths and reminded herself that her father was counting on her for his freedom. She reminded herself that somewhere in his prison he was still somehow very much alive. She reminded herself that they had a lot of lost time to make up for. She barely noticed the rainbow like trail firing through the sky at a velocity that rivaled Pinkie Pie’s baking rampage.

Her heart stopped. It couldn’t be Rainbow Dash. Could it?

Up in the sky the rainbow streak slowed down and the unrecognizable blur leading it turned around. Screwball took a cautionary step back and shut her eyes tight. A headache came on as she channeled her energy. Upon opening them she saw that she was inside what had to be a barn. She fought against her sudden dizzy spell and made some quick calculations to guess her energy level. Her math was interrupted by the sight of a powerful looking Stallion with a red coat step into the barn. His physical build was very impressive, and the yolk he carried on his neck certainly did not look light. From just beyond the open doorway past the mighty creature she could see what looked like a rainbow slamming into the ground.

Screwball averted her attention from the Stallion and dove into a nearby hay bale. She carefully peeked out from improvised cover and scanned the barn. The filly channeled her magic and plucked her eyes out of her head and polished them carefully on her chest before setting them back in. She groaned slightly upon realizing that she set them in upside down and set them right.

She clearly made a mistake. Right in front of her was indeed the Pegasus she thought the hypnotized. Rainbow Dash was here in the barn; and scanning the place with as much tension as she was. The stallion paused and acknowledged Rainbow Dash’s presence and quietly left.

Screwball felt her heart drop like a block of lead. Her spell failed. Rainbow Dash had escaped her power and chased her down. The Daughter of Chaos took note that the only real exit she could see was the open doorway just past the pony that tracked her. The Pegasus stayed stationary and continued to scan the barn.

“If you don’t come out; I’m gonna come after you.” Rainbow said with an annoyed tone. “And I’m not good at waiting.”

Screwball sunk a bit back into her shelter. She fought to get her heart rate down. The Pegasus blocking her escape just might be in the mindset to hurt a filly.

She took several deep breaths and made another attempt to measure how much power she had in her reserves. Maybe she had enough to hit Rainbow Dash with a stronger attempt but she wasn’t willing to jump out on a maybe. Her eyes roamed around some more and deduced that from inside the hay bale she wouldn’t see any solution. The Pegasus suddenly turned around and walked to the doorway. She stood up on her back legs and put all her weight into closing the door with a very audible slam. Clearly it was an attempt to scare her into coming out. Screwball felt a pang of indignation. How dare that simple creature threaten the spawn of Discord!

Rainbow Dash came back down on all her hooves and snorted. Rainbow Dash was suddenly well within her right to threaten her.

Screwball remained still in her hiding spot. All that stood between her and the grown mare was a brick of dried hay. Rainbow Dash stared moving away from the door and the filly had a spark of confidence. All she had to do was wait for Rainbow to get far from the door and she could just sneak out. When the Pegasus got out of her cone of vision she started counting steps. Screwball prepared to come out of the hay bale when suddenly a though came on her like the fore mentioned lead brick.

A door slammed that hard might be stuck shut.

She drew a heavy breath and started to re-evaluate her position again. The door would only be an option if she was willing to spend magic on opening it. Her other option was to ambush the clearly formidable opponent and make sure to hit her with enough energy to bring her to hoof in one go. Either way she couldn’t fail her father. Not after coming this far. No matter what was thrown in her path she refused to let her dad spend any unnecessary time petrified in that horrible stance. She refused to let her father remain frozen in a state of pain and panic.

She wiped away at her eyes and refused to let more tears out. She paused and something clicked into place.

She took out one of her eyes and let it drop onto the barn floor in front of her hiding place. Her ocular orb rolled across the floor and she could see Rainbow Dash wandering the barn checking just about every nook and cranny. Her eye continued its path and Screwball took note of the generous about of light from Celestia’s damn sun. She offered a few muttered curses and paused in between obscenities. The door was sealed but there was still light. Her eye aimed itself upward and Screwball took note of the windows and upper loft that was reachable by a rope tied to a support beam in the ceiling. Her eye rolled to the rope and slowly began defying gravity as it rolled up the rope as if it was the floor. She took note of Rainbow’s location and her eye hopped onto the loft and was greeted by more hay bales and an open doorway that matched the ground level exit.

Screwball plucked her other eye out and set it out of her hiding bale and had it follow the Pegasus. Upon feeling confident about her plan she made her way to the rope. With dexterity that she didn’t know she had she reached the rope and gave the propeller on her beanie a firm swipe. She lifted off the ground and quietly landed on the loft. She picked up her eye and set it back and smiled when noticing that she had got it right the first time. She wondered how her dad never got the two mixed up.

Her other eye quickly made its way towards the rope and back into her head. She let herself take a few heavy steps and grinned as the boards creaked under her hooves. The pony with the rainbow mane quickly turned and looked right at her. Screwball took a few steps backwards to get out of her line of sight. If she immobilized her in the loft, then no pony would stumble upon her. Her sudden prison had been turned into a very useful place to store a formidable opponent.

It didn’t take Rainbow Dash long to get to the loft.

Screwball charged her energy but stopped when she looked at the Pegasus’s eyes.

They were closed.

Screwball froze upon seeing the mare’s eyelids. Rainbow Dash took a single step forward and the filly started pushing her brain into over dive to map out a plan B.

“Ok kid.” Rainbow spoke in a slightly friendlier tone. “What’s the deal? What did you do to my friend?”

Screwball was caught off guard by the change in tone. The bruiser on a mission had suddenly turned into something different. Screwball elected to capitalize on her change of tone.

“You…you’re not mad at me?” Screwball asked with a small degree of confusion.

“I’m not mad.” Rainbow Dash replied. “I’m just disappointed.”

Abruptly Screwball found herself pulled into a gentle one legged hug. Her mind stopped working. The gears ground to a halt. It felt like a few of them even fell out of place. Screwball just barely stopped herself from returning the embrace while pretending it was her own mother in front of her. Before Screwball could get her senses back the mare spoke up while keeping her strange new tone.

“I got a filly that looks up to me who’s about your age. I know I can get hot headed sometimes…but she really needs me to keep my cool…and I’m guessing you also need me to chill.”

Screwball couldn’t tell if she should break away and force her eyes open or sit still and listen. Before a choice could be made Rainbow Dash went on.

“Look…I’m not mad…and you don’t have to say anything…you just gotta listen for a bit.”

Screwball felt her rage slowly subside. She found herself leaning into the Pegasus as a soft wing draped over her. Somewhere in the back of her head was a voice screaming at her; telling her to bite the wing. The rest of her genuinely felt like she needed this. Rainbow Dash paused as if trying to map out what she wanted to say and then went on.

“I remember you now. You were that filly randomly flying around when Discord turned Ponyville into the Chaos Capital of the world. You were the only pony around who wasn’t hiding under a rock or anything. At first I thought you just snapped or were under his spell; but after thinking about how that weird thing you did felt I know I felt it before. That weird feeling I got in my head that went through the rest of me…that’s how I felt when Discord used his magic on me…”

Screwball’s eyes went wide. This brash and egotistical mare wasn’t only comforting her but was also analyzing her.

“So…guess you’re his kid then…can’t believe none of us thought about it before. You didn’t want anypony to get hurt…you just want your daddy back.”

Genuine tears started to swell as Screwball nodded.

“Look kid…scrambling our heads isn’t going to bring him back.”

Screwball found her voice and spoke up.

“If I get all of you…then the elements you’re connected to will turn off and he’ll be free.”

Rainbow Dash let out a small bout of laughter. “Seriously? If that was gonna work then wouldn’t it have let him out after you got one of us? The Elements of Harmony were meant to be used in union…um…unison.”

Screwball paused. This cyan mare had a valid point. Tears began to fall freely. She had miscalculated at the very start. She failed her father before the first step was taken. She felt angry at herself. She felt alone. She felt like she turned to jelly and half fell to the loft’s floor. The mare sat down and slightly cradled her in her wings.

Screwball wondered if she would be getting this kind of treatment if there were any witnesses. This was a completely different Rainbow Dash.

“Tell you what…you turn my friends back and we’ll forget this whole thing happened…and…I’ll…help you.”

Screwball felt the muscles in her legs find their strength. “Why?” Was the only word the filly could get out.

“Because…I’ve got a filly who would do the same thing if she could…plus if something like Discord could end up with a kid like you…maybe there’s more to him that he let on.”

Comments

[Novalis14]

More, more, more! I can't stand not knowing what happens next!

[Summer Dancer]

This was very sweet, the big sister side to Dash.

[Smokey Wolf]

I love this!!! Will you be continuing it???