Chapter 8 - Demons That Haunt
Act 2
Chapter 8 – Demons That Haunt
*****
Forever from your past you try to hide, you’ll find it alive right by your side.
*****
“Come on, Twilight! Let’s go already!” The filly was bouncing in the balloon basket.
Rainbow popped her head out beside the pegasus. “Yeah, Twi. We probably need to get going soon so we get there before it’s dark.”
The unicorn was still unsure of herself. “I know, you two, but I can’t stomach taking Scootaloo with us.” She looked at the grass, and then looked back up at the filly. “Are you sure your family’s going to be all right with this? Maybe we should tell them before we go. I don’t want to leave them worrying about you.” She began leaving the two ponies towards Ponyville.
“Wait, Twilight!” Scootaloo called out, fumbling out of the balloon. She raced over to the pony and stopped her. “You don’t have to. I’ve…I’ve already told them about it.”
“Oh! You have? And they were okay with it?” Twilight tilted her head in disbelief.
The filly fluttered her wings and gave the unicorn a big smile. “Yep! Well, you know…big emotional scene and all, but they said as long as you two stayed with me, they were fine with it!”
“Uh huh…” Twilight still wasn’t satisfied.
“Come on! We won’t make it in time if we go talk to my parents!” Scootaloo was begging with her hoofs together. The unicorn let out a big sigh and turned back towards the balloon. “Yes!”
Rainbow flew in beside her. “Don’t worry so much, Twi. If Fluttershy can handle all three of them by themselves, we can handle just one.”
“Again, Dash. I just hope you’re right.”
*****
“Wow, Dash! I’ve never seen you do that one before!” Scootaloo looked over the balloon railing to watch Rainbow fly around.
“Oh, that ain’t nothing, kid! Check this out!” The pegasus careened upward, did a series of flips and twirls while she fell, and then abruptly shot downward then up with a magnificent set of trails following her.
Scootaloo’s eyes sparkled. “Woah…” The filly bounced up and down. “What else can you do?! Do more! Do more!!”
Twilight was sitting across from the filly reading a book. The balloon was a tad crowded with the baggage they had taken with them. The bouncing began to shake the craft a bit too much. “Hey, Scootaloo. Calm down a little, all right? I don’t want anypony getting…”
“W-Woah!” The tilting of the basket caught the filly off-balance and caused her to fumble backwards into the baggage.
Crash!
Twilight winced. “…hurt.”
The unicorn sighed as the small pegasus popped up from the mess. “Sorry, Twilight. This thing is pretty wobbly.” She attempted to disentangle herself. “How long until we get to Cloudsdale?”
Rainbow flew in closer to the two and hung her front legs over the side of the balloon, causing it to drift downward slightly from the weight. “By this thing? Probably four or five hours.”
The filly’s jaw dropped. “Four or five hours?! Ugh!” She dived back into the baggage. Rainbow caught Twilight rolling her eyes and sighing.
The pegasus hovered over to her. “Something the matter, Twi?”
The unicorn looked up from her book. She whispered, “It’s nothing, Dash…just…are you sure it was a good idea to bring her along?”
“Come on, Twilight. I’m practically her role-model. It’s like going to see the Wonderbolts for her. Besides, I think it’s cute that she admires me so.”
Twilight glanced over at Scootaloo trying to pull a brush out of her mane. “Cute, huh? I dunno, Dash. I kinda wanted to just spend time with you.”
Rainbow sighed. “Well, if you really want her gone you can just teleport her back, you know. You said it yourself she had to be obedient.” A spark seemed to light in the unicorn’s eyes and she grinned.
“What are you two talking about over there?” The filly finally managing to get out. She moved closer to the two.
“Scootaloo!” Twilight addressed her in a commanding voice as she stood up.
“Uh…yes?” The pegasus sank as the unicorn towered over her.
“Remember our agreement?” Twilight threw her nose up and closed her eyes.
“Uh…yeah? What about it?”
“I’ve always been curious…” The unicorn began pacing a bit. “There’s an anomaly that needs a bit of clarification.”
Scootaloo tilted her head. “Uh…what?”
A hint of annoyance in Twilight’s face. “I need to know something that’s been bothering me since I’ve met you.”
The filly sighed. “And that would be…?”
Twilight opened an eye to look at the filly, and then she dived quickly downward to meet Scootaloo face to face. The quick motion made the pegasus pull back a little. “I must know more about your family. You never talk about them!”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and slowly pushed the unicorn away with a hoof. “Like I don’t get that question a million times. I’ll tell you what I tell everypony…”
A hint of excitement in Twilight’s face. “What? What?” She leaned closer again.
Scootaloo paused for dramatic effect. “Buzz off!”
The unicorn hung her head for a moment before stepping back. “Well, I guess that means I’ll have to send you home for not doing what I asked.” The filly’s eyes widened. “It’s a shame…you didn’t even make it to Cloudsdale.” Twilight flared her horn.
“Wait! Wait!” Scootaloo held out a hoof. The horn’s glow went away and the unicorn smirked. “I heard you were sadistic, but I didn’t actually believe it.”
Twilight sat down. “I’m glad you came to reason.”
“Jeez, Twi. Ease off the kid, will ya?” Whispered Rainbow as she lightly jabbed the unicorn’s side.
“I-I’ll…tell you what I know.” The filly started.
Twilight furrowed her brow. What she knows? What does that mean?
Scootaloo sighed. “My dad…he left me when I was young…well, younger. I can barely remember him actually.” Scootaloo sat down and tried not to make eye-contact with the ponies.
“Wait, I thought you said you lived with both of your parents.” Twilight interrupted.
“Look, I never told anypony this. I tell everypony that I live with two…it’s just…do you want to know or not?” The filly was getting a bit upset.
Rainbow flew closer to the pegasus. “Just let her tell us, Twi.” The unicorn nodded and Scootaloo took a deep breath.
“All I remember of him was yelling and this loud bang…like a door being slammed or something. My mom told me later he went on an important trip and she wasn’t sure if he would even come back.” She hung her head. “Can’t say I really had any connection to my dad at all.” The two mares could see she was uncomfortable with the subject. “So I lived with my mother for a few years…” The pony trailed off.
“…where is she now?” Twilight egged her on.
Scootaloo looked at the mare with a surprised/saddened face, and then looked away, sighing. “My mother…she’s…”
“Okay, Twi. That’s enough I think.” Rainbow interrupted the filly. Twilight could see tears in both of the ponies’ eyes. “Give her a break, will ya?” The pegasus embraced Scootaloo, which got her spirits up a little.
Twilight was a bit shocked from the sudden shift in their mood. “Right. I’m so sorry, Scootaloo. I wasn’t being sensible.” Her apology seemed to lighten up Scootaloo further.
There were a few moments of silence, and then the filly realized something quickly and her eyes sparkled. “Omigosh! I’m being hugged by the Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo squeezed the mare. The cyan pegasus laughed and pushed the filly off of her. “Aww...”
“You know, kid. Twilight said to do everything we tell you to do. So I tell you to ignore this grumpy unicorn’s silly questions!” Rainbow nuzzled Twilight and placed a wet one on her lips, which got an annoyed, muffled groan from the unicorn.
Scootaloo turned her head. “Aw, yuck! Come on, don’t do that while I’m here. You’re making me sick…” The filly hung her mouth open and pointed a hoof to it.
Rainbow began laughing which got the other two to join shortly after.
*****
…
…
“It seems as though we’ve reached an end…Not in a hundred years did I expect this to happen. Despite everything…you still failed…”
…
…
*****
Twilight awoke coughing. Her vision was blurry as an immense heat surrounding her body. The library was on fire. “What…what’s going on? Rainbow? Scootaloo? Anypony?!” She slowly dragged herself across the floor. Debris was falling all around her. She coughed more and more as the very air she breathed was poisonous.
“So now that you’ve thrown away it all…what’s your next objective…?” She heard a voice somewhere.
“Who’s saying that?” Her eye caught a glint on the ground a couple hooves from her. She slowly began crawling her way to it. She climbed over a fallen beam and heard something cracking above her. She leaped from the beam as a pile of debris fell behind her. She was trapped on all sides by fire, but the glint she had seen was still there in front of her.
A picture frame? Me and Rainbow…where?
Twilight gasped as the picture cracked. She found her hoof had involuntarily stomped on it. It cracked further and further. Large fissures shot out of it from every direction, tearing the library apart. The ground beneath began to crumble into a white abyss. She tried to hold onto a final wooden plank before it gave way.
“Waaaaaa!!”
Splash!
She found herself underwater. Twilight surfaced as quickly as she could. She coughed out water and wiped the moisture from her eyes so she could see. Unfortunately, it didn’t help. The entire “room” she was in was covered in steam. Her ear twitched as she heard something submerge. She turned her head towards it and saw something underwater coming towards her. She attempted to swim away, but it was as if the water was gripping her. She began to panic, but in a few moments… a familiar colorful mare surfaced.
“Now, isn’t this just fantastic? See, Twi? There’s always a time for this.” Rainbow began making her way over to the unicorn. Her coat was glistening, her posture seductive, and her eyes glittered with that familiar longing. She forced Twilight to a wall in this pool of water she was in. The pegasus placed hooves on either side of her and leaned in for a kiss. Twilight’s body moved against her will, melting into Dash’s affection and pulling her body closer. They kissed deeply and treated each other with various affectionate gropes.
Just as it all seemed like a perfect moment, instantly the pegasus jerked away and took to the air. “It doesn’t matter what I do, does it?! The world will always be unsatisfied with me!” The pegasus dived into the pool and a huge rainbow-colored wave erupted, edging closer and closer to engulf the helpless unicorn. “Dash?! What’s going on?!” Just before the wave hit, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Huh? She thought. She opened her eyes and everything had changed. She was staring directly into the sunset. She tried to look away, but her head seemed locked in place and her eyes wouldn’t shut. She could feel a few tears trail down her cheeks. She was unable to understand anything that was going on. Fortunately before she felt her eyes burn to a crisp, a silhouetted figure stepped into view.
“I barely knew them.” The figure laughed. “You know…if it wasn’t for them. I probably would have never met you.” The figure’s head seemed to turn towards her and two purple eyes opened, completely enveloping her view. “I think she’s dead…”
…
*****
“She’s not dead! She’s just being stubborn!” Rainbow shook the sleeping unicorn. “Wake up, egghead…we’re there.”
Twilight’s eyes slowly opened and she immediately moaned. “Wh…Where am I?”
Scootaloo answered her. “Only the greatest city of all Equestria! You know you’re harder to wake than Granny Smith!” The unicorn gradually got to her feet. She felt exhausted and her legs were a bit wobbly.
Rainbow helped her up. “That must have been some nightmare, Twi. Are you all right?” Twilight nodded.
“I’m fine, Dash.” The unicorn looked up at Rainbow and smiled weakly.
Why do I get this sense of dread when I look at her? That dream was so vivid…and…
“Ow!” She put a hoof to her head. It was throbbing in pain, which usually happened when she overused her horn. Her ears were ringing and she could feel her heart beat throughout her body. She collapsed onto her side, but she was still conscious.
“Twilight! You’re not fine! We need to get you to a hospital!” Rainbow stomped her hoof and began attempting to get the pony onto her back.
“No! Nono, I’m fine, really. Look…” She pushed the pegasus away and tried to collect her thoughts. “Go ahead without me and get signed up at the academy. I’ll watch the balloon and see if I can’t scope out someplace to stay.” She was breathing heavily. “This has happened before, remember? When I saved you?”
Rainbow stared at the pony for a few moments, and then sighed. “You’re such a drama queen. You rest, Twi. I’ll go sign up real quick.” Dash flew out of the balloon. “Just when I thought this sort of thing was over…Come with me, Scootaloo. She can handle this by herself.”
“Are you sure? She doesn’t look too good.” The filly poked at one of Twilight’s hooves, which popped up and took a weak swing at her.
“Go with her, squirt…That’s an order.” The unicorn sighed and closed her eyes. “I just…need some…” Twilight trailed off and began snoring.
“Wow. Out like a light.” Scootaloo poked her hoof again, but was suddenly lifted by magic and placed on the clouds outside of the balloon.
Rainbow couldn’t help but chuckle. “She’s just faking it. Come on, kid. She’ll be fine. I’ll show you some stuff on the way.” They began trotting away.
The small pegasus gasped and smiled, “A personal tour of Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash?! This is gonna be totally awesome!” Rainbow giggled at the easily excitable filly.
As soon as they were gone, Twilight opened her eyes which were bloodshot. “Ugh…what’s going on?” She coughed loudly, hurting her insides. “Maybe I do need help…”
*****
“And in here, we have Cloudsdale’s greatest…” Rainbow and Scootaloo were standing outside of a doorway. “…the most expensive…” Dash was pausing constantly for dramatic effect. “…the most professional…” The pegasus looked to the side and grinned. “…and undoubtedly the coolest flight school in all of Equestria…” The excitement in Scootaloo’s eyes grew and grew. They both stepped inside. “…Cloud Nine Academy!” Scootaloo gasped as she looked inside.
Nothing. Just a series of blank cloud hallways going in either direction. Doors were dotted periodically as they went down each way and there was a reception desk immediately in front of them with a pegasus behind it. “Uh…thrilling?” Scootaloo chuckled awkwardly.
“That’s what I said too when I first saw this place. But the real exciting stuff is behind those doors. It just looks this way on the outside.” The two ponies made their way to the reception desk.
Not a very cool place to end on. Scootaloo thought. I mean I was just shown the cloud coliseum where Dash won her Best Young Flyer trophy. She hasn’t even introduced me to the Wonderbolts yet. I thought I heard she was going to be flying with them! Wait…maybe this is it! Scootaloo smiled in anticipation.
“Excuse me?” Rainbow had to fly up to look over the reception desk which was unusually large. “Where does a pony go to sign up for this place anyway?”
A young, navy-blue pegasus with a yellow mane looked up at Rainbow with an uninterested glare. “Oh, you’ll have to wait in line. I hope you don’t mind.” The pegasus looked back down at a newspaper she was reading.
Rainbow looked around for this “line”, but then realized what the pegasus was pulling and groaned. “Look. I’m Rainbow Dash. I have a personal recommendation from the Wonderbolts to sign up here.”
The pegasus again looked up and sneered, “The Wonderbolts, huh? That’s rich. Why should I believe you?”
Dash slammed a piece of paper she was carrying with her down onto the desk. “Read’em and weep.”
The pegasus didn’t even read it and she pushed it back. “Look, we’re really busy right now and we don’t have time for solicitors.”
Scootaloo somehow jumps up onto the edge of the desk and climbs up on top of it. “Rainbow Dash is not a solister! She’s the greatest, fastest pegasus around!” Rainbow was slightly touched by her little defender.
“Yeah! Look, if you don’t show me the boss around here. I guess I’m gonna have to barge into every one of these doors to find’em!”
The receptionist rolled her eyes and held up her newspaper, “Be my guest. It’s not my flank if you get kicked out.”
Rainbow huffed and stomped on the desk. “All right, then!” She knelt down to take off.
“Rainbow Dash?” A voice called to her from her left. She turned her head. A brown pegasus down the hallway a little was addressing her. “Can you come join me in my office?”
“Wha…?” Dash was confused. “Uh…a-all right.” She picked up the paper she had into her mouth and heard a giggle behind the newspaper. Dash rolled her eyes and walked away followed by Scootaloo.
“Ah, messing with newcomers is always a riot.” The receptionist hummed as she turned the page.
About halfway to the brown pegasus, Rainbow spoke up. “Hey, kid. You might have to wait outside until I get done with this. Kinda important.”
“What? How long are we talking?”
“I’m not sure. But it won’t be long, I promise.”
*****
One hour later. Right outside the door Scootaloo was trying to fly. She flapped her tiny wings as hard as she could, but couldn’t seem to lift herself. “Rrg! Unh! Ugh!!” She collapsed and sighed. She propped her chin up on her hoof.
What’s taking her so long?! If I knew it was going to be this boring, I would have stayed with the crusaders. At least we did exciting stuff. Not wait outside a door for forever. The filly poked at the cloud flooring. Rainbow seems so different than she did when I last saw her. Before those magic wings and all. Which are pretty awesome, but she doesn’t seem happy. Or I mean she is but…ugh, I dunno. Her belly rumbled some. Man, I haven’t eaten in forever either! How long could this possibly…
The door creaked open and on the other side was a cyan pegasus with the largest smile on her face. “Rainbow Dash? Are you…okay?”
Dash flew out and took the filly into her arms, swinging her around. “Whoo, yeah!! All right! Come on, kid, we gotta go talk to Twilight!” She zoomed out of the building with Scootaloo.
“Woooaahhhkay!!”
*****
“Twilight!!” Rainbow flew towards the balloon with Scootaloo, who was having a great time being flown around. “They accepted me! It was amazing!” She looked inside the basket and couldn’t find her. “It was so much…” Something gripped Rainbow’s heart and she dropped Scootaloo with a thump. “Twilight…?” She looked more carefully inside the basket, then around the balloon and she still couldn’t find her. “Oh no…Oh nononono! Please…” She dug a hole in the clouds and tried to look below. She shot her head back up and looked around the immediate area. “Twilight!! Twilight!!” Tears began to form in her eyes.
“Rainbow?! I’m up here!” The pegasus’s heart jumped and she flew up to the top of the balloon where Twilight was comfortably resting.
“Twilight! You scared the feathers out of me! Uh…figuratively speaking…”
The unicorn giggled, “I told you, I was gonna scope the area. So I thought I’d get a bird’s eye view.” She had binoculars around her neck. “Oh, and no luck by the way. How about you?”
“Well…I totally got in! No hassle whatsoever! Except for that receptionist…”
“That’s great, Dash! When do you start?” The unicorn stood and moved closer to the pegasus, who in turn flew closer to embrace her.
Rainbow kissed the mare and smiled, “Next Monday, can you believe it?! Whoo!!” The unicorn giggled at the excited pegasus. She calmed down and stared into the unicorn’s eyes. “You look a lot better, Twi. You looked so horrible only a few hours ago.” The unicorn shrugged.
“Hey, what are you two doing up there? I’m getting hungry over here!” The filly yelled up to the two mares.
Rainbow rolled her eyes with a grin. “Hey, babe…er Twi? Uhh…do you need a lift?” The pegasus blushed and she was already leaning down to give her a ride.
“Babe? Expanding our pet name vocabulary, are we?” The unicorn teased as she climbed onto her back.
Rainbow slowly took her down to the “ground”. “Hey, if the kid weren’t here, I’d…”
“If I wasn’t here?” Scootaloo interrupted as the two came down. “What? Am I getting in the way of you two’s lovey-dovey stuff?” She stomped her hoof.
Twilight giggled. “Nono, Scootaloo. Dash was just kidding…you said you were hungry, right? Well, I’m starving too.” The unicorn slowly slid her way off of the pegasus.
Rainbow gasped. “Twilight! Wait!” Dash was too late.
The unicorn landed softly on the clouds. “What’s wrong, Rainbow?”
“You…you can walk on the cloud?” Rainbow was surprised.
“Well, yeah. You of all ponies should know that.” Twilight began happily trotting away from the two.
“But your horn…” Rainbow and Scootaloo followed her.
“I told you I would be more prepared this time. You need to stop worrying about me so much, Rainbow.”
Rainbow tilted her head. What happened while I was gone? She seemed so…sick when I left. Now she’s hopping around like a filly.
The pegasus sighed. “So where are we going?” She flew up next to the unicorn.
“I saw a nice restaurant down this way a bit. I say we eat and talk about a place to stay.”
Scootaloo jumped and fluttered her wings. “Great idea! I can’t wait to eat!”
The unicorn smiled at the filly. “So you’ve never been to Cloudsdale, Scootaloo?”
A stern look of thought came over the filly. “I think I was here when I was younger. But you know…too young to really go out and see it.”
“I see…with your mother, right?” Scootaloo stopped for a second.
“Nope! Under Dash’s orders, I can’t answer any questions from the “grumpy unicorn”. That would be violating our agreement.”
Twilight turned her head towards the filly. “Big words for a small pony, wouldn’t you say, Dash?”
“She just knows who’s boss around here, Twi.” The pegasus snickered, which got a glare from the unicorn.
“Whose side are you on anyway, Dash?”
*****
“Come on, guys! This way! Come on!” Rainbow was trying to lead the two ponies somewhere. They had just finished eating and were now following the pegasus on some wild goose chase.
“I swear if this is a surprise party, Dash…” The unicorn was trying to speculate the pegasus’s intentions.
“No! Nothing like that. In fact…it’s sooo much better!” She took off around a corner.
“Rainbow!” Scootaloo whined. “I’m starting to agree with Twilight. How long until we see this ‘great thing’?”
The two turned the corner and what they found was a sharp drop-off in the cloud-ground. They immediately came to a halt, and then the two ponies looked straight ahead.
“Ta-da!” The cyan pegasus threw out her legs.
“Oh, come on. You’ve got to be joking!” The unicorn laughed.
Just off in the distance was another cloud shaped like a house. It wasn’t as colorful or elaborate as Rainbow’s back in Ponyville, but it was certainly elegant. It looked a bit out-dated compared to some of the other houses around the area.
“What’s that place?” Scootaloo asked with a bit of confusion.
“It’s where we’ll be staying! Isn’t it awesome?! Actually, it was way more awesome in my mind, but nothing a little rainbow stylization can’t fix.”
Twilight’s horn glowed slightly and she teleported the filly and herself over to the house. “How did you come upon this place, Rainbow?”
The pegasus blinked at the unicorn’s casual teleporting. “It’s a…well, it’s where I used to live. You know…back when I was a filly.”
“How could these clouds have stayed intact this long? I know they must deteriorate at some point.” The unicorn examined the building.
“I had an old friend keep it in shape. It looks like he’s been doing a pretty good job.” Rainbow poked some of the pillars around the outside.
“He?” Asked Twilight.
“I’ll…tell you later. Let’s go in! I’m bushed.” She zipped to the front door and dashed inside. The two ponies followed her.
Rainbow gave a quick, small tour of the house. The kitchen, study, and washroom were on the first floor while the bedrooms and a nice balcony were on the second. It was actually roomier than Rainbow’s house.
“…and that’s pretty much it.” Rainbow finished.
“I’m taking this room!” Scootaloo barreled into a room.
“Hey! That used to be my room, kid!” She flew in to speak with her. “You’d better treat it with resp…”
The filly was bouncing on the bed, fluttering her wings. She stopped when she noticed Rainbow looking at her with arms crossed. “Sorry…” She patted the bed. The pegasus sighed.
Twilight walked in giggling. “I guess we’ll take the other bedroom. Rainbow, we need to talk about our plans for Monday.” The unicorn affectionately brushed up against the mare.
The pegasus nudged her a bit with her head. “Yeah, you’re right. But we should grab our stuff from the balloon. Do you want to help me with that, Twi?”
The unicorn nodded. “I can teleport us there. But we’ll have to physically move the balloon back over here.”
“All right.” Rainbow turned her gaze to the filly, who was bouncing again. “Scootaloo!”
The filly froze and blushed. “Uh, yeah?”
“Hold down the fort. We’ll be back.”
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(BTW: I suck at writing, Ill leave it to people like you
692867 agreed. Low quality writers like ourselves should leave it to people like this magificent author. Instead, we should read their wonderful works and become their fanbase
693065
Hey, come now. This is high praise. My writing quality isn't that spectacular.
693081
give it time...
For the fanbase to build up i mean. Then you'll see.
693213 Double Agreed.
Awesome chapter! I can't wait to see how this plays out.
Looks like those two are Scootaloos parents now doesn't it?
I wonder what was up with that dream though. Good chapter, later.
Chapter 9: Born Through Wronged
hmm the plot thickens with scootaloo and another path is opening for rainbow while twilight has mysterious dreams hmm what does this mean??
WHO ARE THE BASTARDS THAT DISLIKED THIS?
Just wanted to let my readers know that the next chapter should be coming this weekend. I had to take care of some "important" business on my end, but I should be back to hammering these out again. Next chapter's big by the way. Probably reaching around twice the size of a normal one.
717006 12 haters gonna hate. even if they need a kick in the gut
693065 but if you only read others work and dont try to improve yourselves you will always be the low quality writers you think yourselves to be. while i am also in that catagory i keep trying while reading to many stories to keep up with xD. updaste are over 500 lets just keep adding more stories horay for ponies! and on an off note all of you great writers keep making great works to inspire writers like me :D
dropped, dived, caught, hovered, looked, whispered, glanced, sighed
started, got
surfaced
Watch out for that sneaky present tense.
2418537
Always keep reading and writing. Respect your readers and pay attention to your critics.