The Last Flower

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

Carnivorous Plant

As she could no longer ignore the hubbub in front of her door, Rainbow Dash sat straight on her bed and got her hand under her pillow… which met with emptiness!

Yesterday, when they arrived in Las Pegasus, she didn’t have time to unpack her stuff in the right way, and once back from the cabaret, she was so overwhelmed she hadn’t thought about getting a weapon within her reach, unlike she always did.

Now, someone was trying to force her room’s door open and she had nothing to defend herself against the intrusion. Something she hated was to be feeling vulnerable in front of an assailant.

And so, she was utterly surprised once she discovered who was the person trying to get into her room. It was none than the Ghetto’s Leader himself, Discord. As soon as he locked up the door again, he turned around, briefly got a closer look at her back and stated:

“Holy stars and moon, you’re hideous, girl!”

On the defensive, Rainbow Dash grabbed a jacket that was within her reach and hurried to cover her shoulders and her back. At least, he hadn’t ogled at her breasts. That was a start.

“Yeah, I know that, thank you… What the fuck are you doing in my room?”

She left her bed and followed him around, as he was obviously looking for something precise. Alright, this was his hotel, so this wasn’t an official violation, especially as he was the one saying what the law around here was. It didn’t mean she would let him push her around.

“There’s an on-going burglary in the hotel and all your dear friends are trapped. I’m your last hope. You think we’re off to a bad start, don’t you?”

She did. But right now, it wasn’t at all what mattered the most to her. The whole expedition was entrapped in the middle of a burglary and it was a problem. There was no way that, especially as none of them seemed to have a weapon with them, under pressure, they had to give up on the Twilight’s creations they had brought for the trip. Without those precious weapons and items, it would be almost impossible for them to fulfill the mission that was theirs.

“When you say all of my friends, do you also mean Soarin?”

“Yes, even your blue-haired big fellow. He probably was too overwhelmed because you broke his heart again.”

How could he know such a thing? What happened between them wasn’t that surprising in this place. Most importantly, they were lost among a crowd of dancers and the rest of their journey was too torturous to be understood. Especially the last part of the night.

Unless… there were cameras in each room! No. Impossible. This was a very advanced kind of technology, even for a Ghetto such as Las Pegasus. They needed a very skilled Master of Elements close to hand.

Discord’s red eye twinkled when he finally got his hand on what he was looking for since he arrived in the room, palpating the walls in a strange way.

Under Rainbow Dash’s flabbergasted eyes, a touch screen appeared which, when a code was tapped on it, granted access to a secret safe.

No doubt. If Discord had settled such a technology in his hotel, it meant there was a very talented Master of Elements in this Ghetto, who was his accomplice. Which makes her theory about cameras in the rooms even more probable.

She would certainly have rebelled if the situation didn’t seem that urgent. There was still this on-going burglary and the whole expedition, including the boy she loved and her best friend, were captured.

In the safe, Discord took two guns that really looked like plain plastic toys. White and blue, it had three buttons to switch up and a plastic trigger. Yet, it wasn’t likely these were toys indeed, especially by the satisfied look on the face of the one who seemed to be their owner.

“Dress up, Sergeant, and take one of these! We’re going to kick some Burglar ass and show them this kind of stupid shit never happens in Las Pegasus. We prefer real stupid shits, the one which are fun!”

“Burglars isn’t an official caste,” Rainbow Dash said while wearing pants and a sweater instead of her jacket.

“Technically, there are no official castes anymore…”

He waited for her to be fully dressed, before putting one of the weapons in her hands, explaining her how it worked, which was even simpler than counting to three.

The gun had three different modes: one that was an alarm, one for the long-distance shots and another to shoot at point-blank range. To set off a mode, or the three at the same time, the right button had to be switch up and after that, all was left to do was to look in the sights and fire.

Indeed, it was even easier than the weapons Rainbow Dash possessed. She could have chosen to use one of them, if she hadn’t been won over by the curiosity of seeing what these weapons Discord called the “Rainboom Guns” could do.

She had no doubts Twilight would have been excited to break them open and to analyze the circuits. Except Twilight wasn’t there, and that in order to save her, she first had to save her team, thus completing their mission.

She followed Discord who, instead of going back to the corridor where he came from, led her to a secret passage, reachable by a trapdoor hidden under a rug by her bed.

Actually, if that hotel apparently was assembled randomly, it was to make sure no one would suspect the structure was built around these hidden passages, but also traps, and a whole network of galleries allowing to go from one floor to another without being noticed.

However, the Leader didn’t lead her straight towards the first floor. Thanks to holes equipped with what seemed to be spyglasses, he was able to watch what was going on in the corridor in a panoramic way.

So, this was his secret, and not cameras. Of course, it didn’t change the fact it was necessary to have an excellent Master of Element to create such an architecture and the weapons she had in her hands.

“There are two guards at each floor… What a bunch of morons! So few in such a big hotel… Come on, Sergeant, let’s get rid of them! And try not to kill them. We’re lacking ammunitions.”

“Who do you think I am?”

Rainbow Dash waited for a sign from her improvised battlefield friend, and taking one of those hidden trapdoors, they both sneaked into the corridor, with the back of the “guards” visible in front of them.

Though he wasn’t a Military and hadn’t fought at the war, she was impressed to see how Discord was able of a martial discretion in the way he moved.

Unwaveringly, as soon as she was behind the guards, Rainbow Dash used the back of her weapon to knock them out, hitting their napes, before they could even notice anything. The men fell on the floor and she saw Discord staring at her circumspectly.

“What?”

“Nothing… I was just thinking about taking aim at them and tie them together, but oh well… This isn’t a bad method neither.”

“Feel free to tie them anyway if that’s your idea of fun.”

“What a charming idea!”

And then, it was the way they proceeded for each floor. Rainbow Dash knocked down the guards, and Discord came after her to tie them together thanks to a rope he seemed to be bringing around everywhere with him. As soon as it was done, they would sneak away by another trapdoor and another secret gallery in order to reach the lower floor and do this whole routine again.

The burglars leading this assault had gathered all the guests in the cabaret, and had tied their hands, which never stopped them from stealing everything they possessed, that they threw into a huge hessian bag.

They were hooded and gloved but all they had to attack were shotguns, like the one Sunset Shimmer tried to use on Rainbow Dash – except they probably weren’t filled with horse tranquilizers.

It was an advantage to her and Discord, concealed behind another of the hotel’s secret hideout. Indeed, this kind of rifles didn’t use many bullets, and though it could create heavy losses, they certainly would need to load them again if they ever chose to actually shoot with them.

Her eye in the sights, Rainbow Dash visually scanned the huge room. She was looking for the best angle to get this new party started.

To be honest, the other clients didn’t really matter to her. The most important was to come and help her fellows in order to get away from Las Pegasus as soon as possible and find the help they in some other places.

Once she felt ready, her hands clasped around the weapon and she stuck her tongue against her upper lip. It was a habit she always had when she had to make long distance shots and she could easily hear how it made Discord smile with sarcasm but she chose not to care, focused as she was on her main goal.

When she pressed the trigger, she didn’t expect to be pushed back by the violence of recoil. In her life, she had used all kinds of weapons, some that even were three times heavier than this one and never again had she been so knocked over by the power of the shot.

“Militaries,” she heard Discord whisper before he pulled the trigger at his turn.

Immediately, Rainbow Dash positioned herself back for shooting. The clients, panic-stricken, were screaming, while the rest of the burglars were wondering where did the shots which touched two of their fellows come from.

Only when it came to the small expedition faces were rather at peace. Seeing Soarin’s expression through her sights, as she was targeting the man who was the closest to him, she understood the young man knew she was the one behind this. Without a doubt, to him her shooting’s precision was easily identifiable.

Better prepared for the recoil this time, she pulled the trigger again, and hit another of the burglars, who fell on the floor, shrieking in pain, holding his bloody leg. Of course, the rest of their small team replied and shot back.

But their bullets only hit the walls and never went through it.

“Bulletproof steel,” Discord underlined before shooting again.

Quickly, the burglars were lacking ammunition. They needed to reload their guns. Discord then pulled on a rope which opened a trapdoor under their feet, and Rainbow Dash got the message, preparing herself for a landing that wouldn’t hurt her.

And she wasn’t the only one who, by sheer Military instinct, had understand what they were supposed to do next. Soarin, his hands still tied together, was able to reach one of the culprits, and to lift his two arms above his head in order to grab his neck with the chain of his handcuffs.

It was like the expected signal, and the rest of the team quickly moved as well, each attacking like they could, while Rainbow Dash and Discord, weapons in their hands, walked in the room with confidence.

“Now just be nice and surrender. You’ve seen what these bullets can do when shot into legs or arms and you don’t want to know what it looks like when it hits your silly little heads, now do you?”

A few minutes later, Discord had freed his security staff, who took charge of bringing the burglars in what was Las Pegasus’ jail… Donjons which were inside the hotel Chaos, and where, as a punishment, they would have to go through three torture sessions a day. And what a torture! Here, thief meant feet were licked for hours by a bunch of goats.

Where Discord had found goats around here was a question for another debate.

The clients who had been prisoners thanked Discord and the whole team with warmth, before being able to get back their dearest possessions. It made no doubt they now understood the peril of a little fun time in this place of debauch… But at least, they would have something to tell their fellow citizens once back in the fortress that were their own Ghettoes.

“As a thank you for this very refreshing adventure, my dear Sergeant, I declare you got yourself the right of asking me for any kind of reward,” Discord claimed while giving them each a glass filled with a baby blue liquid.

“If I’m asked that, Ah’d say these lil’ free cocktails already are a very good reward.”

“Can’t we have a few measures of this ravishing fabric the curtains of my room were made with?”

“Fabric, got it. What else?”

Soarin had nothing special to ask. Or something Discord just couldn’t guarantee, something very personal. Pinkie Pie asked whether he hadn’t a few rare medicinal plants to give her.

As far as Sunset Shimmer was concerned, if she had it her way, she would ask him to join their mission, but she felt as if, in reality, the reward had only been proposed to Rainbow Dash… After all, she had been the one with Discord all this time. They only reacted and helped at the last moment.

“I want a Rainboom Gun.”

This answer, said in an unedifying self-confidence, didn’t really satisfy Sunset Shimmer. Actually, her jaw clenched like each time something wasn’t going her way but she forbade herself to say it out loud. It was so… So selfish.

“There are only two copies in the world and if I’ll only have one left…”

“I want a Rainboom Gun, or nothing at all.”

If she wanted to get one of these weapons so bad, it wasn’t out of sheer whim. Its long-distance power was mind-blowing, and if it went the same way when at point-blank range, the possibilities seemed to be endless. And there was the alarm signal mode. Something told her it wasn’t only a simple gadget, and that this option could be more than useful along their journey.

In front of such a determination, who was he to object, thought Discord, very amused by this small young woman who was surprising on many levels. And, it wasn’t as if his Master of Elements couldn’t create a second Rainboom Gun if he decided to let someone else have one of the preexisting ones.

Since he had refused to help them in this war against The Hive they were engaged in, it was the least he could do to accept a request from the one person who helped him to get rid of a bunch of rascals.

Discord gave her the gun in person, along with a pack of ammunitions, as if giving a plain slice of cake to someone celebrating their birthday. No formality, no solemnity. It wasn’t that bad, actually.

They probably would never be friends. To be honest, they didn’t have much in common. Yet, the fact they fought side by side, even through a rather short amount of time, had been able to create some kind of mutual and tacit respect between those two.

Even so, though she knew his answer in advance, Rainbow Dash told herself it wouldn’t cost a thing to ask again. This way, she couldn’t be blamed of doing no effort…

“Are you sure you don’t want to fight Chrysalis with us? That’s quite a surprise but you’re not that bad with a gun.”

“A hundred percent sure, Sergeant. And anyway, you need an army and these things are no fun to me. If I started recruiting soldiers, my clients would fly away without further ado! They don’t come around here to bother with what they already have outside…”

“It’s true,” she answered, smiling to herself.

Of course, Las Pegasus was a place like nowhere else, a surprise with an aftertaste of a ridiculous prank. Just like the others, she hadn’t believed her eyes when she first stepping into the Ghetto, she even worried and felt disgusted. And in the end…

In the end, it wasn’t such a bad place. Outlandish and weird, for sure, one could never know what kind of eccentricities would pop up at the corner of a street or of a corridor, but in a way, it felt like a bubble of oxygen – or a bubble of laughing gas – for Equestria’s inhabitants, somewhere almost out of the world, where anyone could stop for a short while when everything else was a burden.

“Well… Farewells are boring so let’s part here,” Discord claimed, his back already on her. “Good luck for the rest, Sergeant, and try to cheer up a little sometimes.”

“I’ll do my best,” Rainbow Dash answered, putting her brand new Rainboom Gun at her belt.

She saw Discord climbing into his elevator, still controlled by the same young woman, the only person of all Las Pegasus who probably was bored to death. Soon, he would disappear out of her field of vision and no one could tell whether they would see each other again.

Not that Rainbow Dash felt sad. But she had a question on her lips for a while now, and if she didn’t ask right now, she might never get the answer…

She took one step and shouted to the Leader, while the machine had started to ascend.

“Hey! I want to know! Who’s your Master of Elements?!”

“Who,” Discord shouted in return, very loud. “Well, it’s Screw Ball, obviously!”

“What?! The girl eating pies with real mud?!”

Discord shouted an answer at her but it got lost in the meanders of heights and of the horrible sound of the elevator.

Shaken, Rainbow Dash didn’t want to believe it. It was another one of his joke, some kind of ultimate nose-thumbing at her martial stiffness… This Screw Ball was out of her mind. She always speechified and her discourses had no logic. And she really looked like she was straight out of a refuge for mental patients!

But, once things thought through… Often, there only was one thread, thin and half-devoured, between genius and insanity. To feel at ease day and night in a place such as Las Pegasus and to accept to put your skills at the service of such eccentricities, there could only be someone who was doing a high-wire walker performance on this thread.

She put her ammunitions inside the bag hanging on her shoulder and walked towards the hotel main door. The others certainly were waiting for her near the stables, ready to get back on the road for the next Ghetto on the way, the Ghetto of Cloudsdale.

It would probably be easier to convince the two chosen Leaders once there. Indeed, the couple ruling the place were well-known by Rainbow Dash and Soarin, since they had been together at the Military Academy.

**************************

Rainbow Dash was surprised when Sunset Shimmer appeared in front of her and pressed her forearm under her neck in order to pin her against the wall. Usually, she would have defended herself but the shock woke up a few pains in her back, preventing her from getting out of the grip the way she would have to.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” the other young woman spit with anger. “You’re not our General and you’re not the only one who’s taking decisions!”

Rainbow Dash needed a few additional seconds to understand what Sunset Shimmer was accusing her of. Since the beginning, she did nothing else but think in the way she thought was the most logical and appropriate to the situation, and if the others didn’t like that, it had nothing to do with her.

And the obvious just popped up in her face. In all likelihood, her fellow hadn’t appreciated the fact she asked Discord for a weapon, instead of acting according to the group’s interest and begging him to come with them, insisting again and again, even though he wouldn’t have agreed anyway.

“Excuse me but who saved up your asses? I did! And he would never have said yes to help us, and you do know it. Now let go off me!”

“What? You should have seen worse in your life, Miss Top Brass Rainbow Dash. I thought you were the girl who did everything perfectly.”

“And I thought there were no leaders in that group. Was I wrong? Someone’s got to be in charge… Oh, but I got it, this person has to be you or things aren’t alright, are they?”

“I’m the one who started the mission. Without me, you’d still be haunting for critters in that rotten log shack of yours!”

“And without me, you’d still be wondering how you could start a machine which works by pushing a button. Who needs who, here?”

Many times, when she saw Rainbow Dash taking on responsibilities she thought should be hers, Sunset Shimmer thought that, after all, she had called her for her expertise and that the young woman was the one who could have lived good without them, though it wasn’t obviously the case the other way around.

And yet… And yet, she didn’t like truth to be shaken under her nose with so much vehemence. To be honest, it upset her even more. Because she knew it was reality.

So, since this obviously was time for big revelations, she decided to strike where it hurt the most, and too bad for the general atmosphere if it got worse after that.

“I still would have Soarin!”

The mention of this name ignited a spark in Rainbow Dash’s eyes and Sunset Shimmer knew she had the effect she was looking for. Although she would probably kick herself for that.

“Oh yeah, it’s true, you’d still have my boyfriend! Is that why you kept to yourself the fact that he was alive?”

“Your boyfriend? Stop kidding me! You barely even look at him, you don’t give shit about his presence.”

She saw anger reaching the higher level on Rainbow Dash’s face, who immediately replied that she didn’t know anything about their common story.

She didn’t, indeed. All she knew was that they were in love and fought side by side during the War, and yet, in her letters, Twilight reported this detail out of a logical personal conclusion. The young woman didn’t write much to Sunset Shimmer about their love story, undoubtedly because it was none of her business and because she didn’t know much about it neither.

As for the rest, she had no idea how they met back at the Military Academy, of all the things they had been through there and shared during the war.

Rainbow Dash long thought he was dead, that was for sure. She didn’t know he had been abducted by The Hive and that when a group of kidnapped persons fled to create the Underworld, they took him with them, in order to make him a Courtesan… or something else, in fact, nothing was clear.

If she didn’t have the slightest idea of all this, it was because Sunset Shimmer had told her nothing at all. She wanted to keep this incredible advantage for her, just in case… And then, some kind of jealousy had piled up on top of all the rest. Not because she was in love with Soarin but because she longed to be looking this way by someone, one day. By anyone.

“You know what?” Rainbow Dash went on. “You don’t want my help. You’d like me to be your good little soldier, hanging on your every word. Is that respect you’re yearning for? Respect the others first, instead of expecting them to be at your beck and call. Or else, you’ll never be worthier than Chrysalis!”

For Sunset Shimmer, this reply was a bit the same than everything concerning Soarin for Rainbow Dash. She hated this so-called Queen Chrysalis and everything she represented, for reasons she kept to herself, once again. To put them on the same line, although it was a warning, it was the worst insult of the world.

Without further thinking, guided by the red anger of this arrow planted in the core of her ego, Sunset Shimmer lifted her hand and slapped Rainbow Dash, after she released the pressure of her forearm against her neck.

The young woman stood it with some kind of martial dignity, and her jaw clenched, didn’t waver much before she replied the same way. The difference was that she aimed at the temples instead of the cheeks, and her slap sent Sunset Shimmer down, in a literal sense.

“Don’t you ever slap me again, or I swear next time, you’ll receive my fist in the middle of your face.”

After these words, Rainbow Dash took back the bag of ammunition which had fallen on the floor when the other young woman grabbed her neck, and took a few steps towards the main door, which she tried to execute with her proudest air on.

It was excluding the pains caused by the shock against her burned skin… She couldn’t help touching her shoulder, whistling a brief suffering whimper. Behind her, she felt Sunset Shimmer got up and closer, and even reaching out a hand in her direction.

“Are you alright?”

“Mind your own business,” she answered spitefully, rejecting her helping hand before walking to the main door without a look behind her.

Here. She let herself go to negative feelings, and had been guided by her jealousy, envy and anger, and now, the mood between the three pathfinders was going to be more obnoxious than it was before.

She was the one who had called Rainbow Dash, going as far as using her friend’s Twilight survival in order to convince her. And all this, what for in the end? To intensify the disagreements to the extent of quarreling so hard she thought things were irreversible.

Even if she wanted to fix everything between them, Sunset Shimmer didn’t know how she would do that. It wouldn’t help them much to fight side by side against the real threat hovering over the fate of the whole nation…

********************

Somewhere on the mountains, which peaks were swept by a permanent windy storm, she had been sucked up by The Hive, then led to the Queen’s GHQ.

Peachy Sweet was a scout in Las Pegasus since the Ghetto had been built and for the first time, she finally felt like her mission wasn’t in vain. It was necessary to be able to adapt to the place’s folly and it had been difficult for the young woman to blend in this background between a psychedelic dream and a nightmare.

In her opinion, the place was interesting only thanks to its many Angels and the creative madness of its main Master of Elements, whom no one could guess how talented she was by the look of her pathetic general attitude.

Many times, she had begged the Queen to let her abduct the scientist, and never understood why the orders she got back always told her this was the silliest idea. Alright, The Hive still had what was necessary in this field, but ever since the escape of a hundredth of prisoners – the most rebellious faction of their various kidnappings – the amount of quality Masters of Elements who were still alive had decreased considerably.

It didn’t matter anymore now since Peachy Sweet finally possessed pieces of information which would allow her to make her contribution to the dream of their Dearest Leader, their living goddess, Queen Chrysalis.

Like usually, when she received her spy, she didn’t even bother to turn around and greet her. To be honest, although she had premium pieces of information to disclose, Peachy Sweet didn’t think she deserved the honor of their Dearest Leader’s attention.

“If all you have is begging me to abduct the crazy one with her propeller hat, once again, you might as well go back to the lunatics of Las Pegasus…”

“No, not this time, O My Almighty Queen. This time, what I have to tell you is really worth something.”

“Fine, since it makes you so happy, speak. Nothing guarantees I’m going to listen, though…”

Sitting in her throne, Chrysalis was busy playing chess against herself, with pieces representing members of the Lost Caste of the Elite, her long turquoise hair hiding a part of her face, with a casualness close to boredom.

Life in The Hive had nothing very stimulating since years now, and her satisfaction to have annihilated the Ghetto of Canterlot didn’t have her excited since as much time. She longed to finally be able to walk off with the rest of the West Continent, but unceasingly, she was told it wasn’t the right time yet and she still had to wait, because her army wasn’t completely ready to function.

In her own opinion, they were ready enough, and she knew that one very close day, she would grow tired of waiting and would order that everything would be raze to the ground right away.

“Well, you’ll never guess who came to Las Pegasus in order to beg their Leader, Discord, to help them form an army… Dissident Sunset Shimmer in person. Along with no one else than General Bow Hothoof’s daughter! They’re heading to Cloudsdale, now, my Majesty.”

The sovereign’s green eyes suddenly sparkled and she sat straight. This was very interesting indeed… So, Sunset Shimmer wanted to form an army and she went as far as exhuming of her rotten shack this little bitch who slaughtered one of her favorite bees? Very interesting indeed. Highly interesting, even.

“I want you to go back to Las Pegasus immediately and keep on working near Discord’s elevator. Don’t worry, you’ll get rewarded all in good time. Delilah!”

Immediately, a frail young woman, whose pink hair glittered as if it was covered with sequins, appeared in font of her. She was so discreet it seemed like she never had been in the same room in the first place…

“Yes, My Almighty Queen,” she said, bowing.

“Get the A-Team prepared. We’re going to make a surprise to an old friend…”

Author's Note:

I promise I'll try my best to publish a new chapter very quickly (maybe not next week, but not in two months )

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