Unforgiven Memories

by Hidden Brony

2.3 Resistance

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Three:
Resistance

This was the hard part. Getting into the hospital had been incredibly easy, but the jail would be a different story, even with some of the guards searching the hospital for me.

Luckily it was designed to keep ponies in, and therefore had few defenses to an outside intrusion. Like me. A cursory walk-around showed me no open windows, and all of those windows were barred. There were no back doors, and no easy way onto the roof. Most likely no way in through the roof, anyway, but it’s good to check just in case.

I examined the front door. It was a sturdy wood, nearly impossible to kick down with one pony. Just to add insult to injury, steel supports were running both horizontally and vertically. It opened inwards, so I gave it a shove. It swung open silently, despite the size, on obviously well-oiled hinges.

I sighed, the door wasn't locked, even at this time of night, allowing me easy entry to the front room. I saw a door that was half open, and cells beyond that. Maybe this wasn't the hard part.

Cue proving me wrong. "Stop right there!" a guard yelled in alarm. I turned to look at him, and he backed up a step. He was a dull red, and standing at the front of a small squad of guards. My appearance startled him. Good. He recovered quickly. "This is a restricted area. I’m going to have to ask you to leave."

My eyes bored through him and the guy behind him, and I spoke up quietly. "You don't know what you're doing, and you’re just trying to do your job, so I feel you deserve a warning. Don't get in my way, and you won't get hurt."

The fool, ever loyal to his cause, remained in my way. The men behind him fidgeted, looking unsure for a second, before following the example of their leader. “I said this is a restricted area. If you don’t leave we’ll be forced to arrest you for trespassing.”

I sighed, "You had your chance."

One of the guards thought it would be a good idea to try and throw a sleep spell on me. It was a good idea, if I didn't eat magic it would have even worked. As it was it just pissed me off.

I launched myself at the surprised guards, aiming for the one who tried to enspell me. I smacked him on the horn before spinning around to block reflexive attacks from the two guards behind me. I spun myself around, blocking another swing from behind me. I bucked my legs, knocking the unicorn, for there was indeed only one of them in that group, straight into the wall. I heard a crack as he slammed his head into the wall.

I spun back to the other three, all earth ponies, as they charged. I knew much of how they fought and how to counter it, since standard guard training had apparently not changed in a thousand years, but it was still three on one. I ducked under the coordinated efforts of the outside two, taking a glancing hit to my left leg from the center guard, the one who had spoken earlier. I spun and kicked the left guard in the chest causing him to stumble. I quickly turned my attention back to the other two. I was barely not quick enough to dodge one of them, so I took another glancing blow to my leg. I managed to get a few quick, light blows against the center guard, who was obviously better trained than the other two.

I spun just in time to catch the left guard’s swing in the crook of my knee. Twisting him around, I managed to toss the guard across myself to take a hit from the red guard. The unicorn groaned and tried to stand through the headache he quite likely had. I tossed the guard I was holding onto the unicorn guard, stunning both of them and buying me some time. I needed to take out the red one, he was dangerous.

Speak of the devil, the red guard slammed into my chest, launching both of us into a wall. I got the worst of it, being between the wall and him, but I managed to twist and slam a hoof into his chest as we hit, knocking him off of me and knocking the wind out of him. I had no respite, since these were trained soldiers. The remaining opponent was quick behind his superior, but whether that was in just skill or in rank too was irrelevant. He cried out in anger as he swung at me, and for my part I just dodged each swing. Left, right, left, right, he had no variance in his attack pattern. I jumped inside one of his swings and he realised, too late, his mistake as a pitch black hoof slammed him in the nose.

Definitely his superior in skill.

As that guard crumpled, obviously unconscious, I turned to intercept the red guard. He had not quite caught his breath. His formerly stunned companion limped to his side, and the unicorn was out for the count. I grinned, though I knew they couldn’t see it. “Surrender, I have no quarrel with you.”

The red guard gasped out, “Never!”

I sighed, I had a feeling that would be the answer, “Then do me one favor.” He looked at me sideways. “The guard still does the ‘name rank and serial number’ thing, right?” He glared at me. “Just humor me, guardsman. I’m giving you a break to catch your breath.”

He still just glared at me, eventually saying, “Bright Aegis, Sergeant of the First Equestrian. Serial number echo-one-echo-sierra-foxtrot-seven-three-zero.”

I nodded at him, “You can call me Premier. I hope we meet again in a more favorable condition than this.”

“You seem like such a nice guy.” Bright Aegis layered the sarcasm on thick.

“Well, that’s enough diplomacy for one fight. Back at it?” I asked.

He didn’t bother saying anything in response, instead launching himself at me in the most enthusiastic yes I’d seen in my lives. I had anticipated his charge, however, and sidestepped. He twisted quickly, before I could exploit my new opening, and almost got a solid hit to my head. I managed to duck under his swing and hit him under the chin. He dropped to the ground in a heap.

I turned to his companion, who hadn’t moved. He was obviously favoring his left foreleg, it was probably broken. I stared into his eyes. “I need the keys.”

Within a few minutes, I had the keys in hoof and the fourth guard was knocked out. I trotted down a dark hallway. I mean, really? Do they have no imagination? Long, dark hallway flanked by cells. I made it down to the one occupied cell, sighing at the sight of the occupant. Rainbow Dash was curled up in a ball in the corner.

“Rainbow Dash,” I called out softly, inserting the key into the lock.

She didn’t even look up. “What?”

“You don’t look very happy for somepony who’s about to be a free mare again,” I said, turning the key.

Click. Creeeeeeeeeeak.

Her head whipped up to look at me in confusion. “Who are you?”

“A friend.” I turned to leave. “Come quickly, I don’t know how long it will take for the rest of the guards to return.”

She shook her head, standing up. “Woah, woah, woah. I’m not going anywhere until you tell me who, and what, you are!”

I looked back at her, “You are, of course, free to stay in your cell until the guard returns to lock you back up. Or you could come with me.”

She didn’t even have to think about it, coming to walk right next to me as we walked out of the hallway. She paused as we exited the cell block, looking at the heaped guards with trepidation. “What have I got myself into?”

“Absolutely nothing. Everything is purely voluntary.” I chuckled at her disbelieving look. “I am here to break you out and attempt to recruit you, nothing more.”

“Recruit me?” she snapped.

“I’ll explain later, for now we need to move. We don’t exactly blend in with a crowd.”

She grumbled under her breath, but couldn’t deny what I said. We quickly exited the jail and snuck to the hotel. We got caught within seconds by a cloaked pony, but he just raised his purple hoof in salute and walked off. Even with this, it hadn’t been very long since I was last at the hotel, so Star was still groggy when she came to open the door, but we got inside fairly easily. Star was back on the bed within a few seconds, and I turned to Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, you have questions. Ask them, and I’ll do my best to answer.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled, “Oh, do I. Let’s start off nice and easy. Who and what are you?”

“I am a demon of the Void called Premier. I am in charge of the Voidborn demons, those of us who were, at some point, living beings and therefore have definite shape.”

“Premier? That’s a lame name,” she scoffed.

Star mumbled from her bed, “That’s what I said, but no…”

“Star, go to bed.”

She sighed, “Fine.”

I turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Before we continue, I have some questions that need answering.”

“Nuh uh, you can wait.” She was having none of it. “I have a ton of questions that you already agreed to answer.”

“There are many questions that need answered, I understand. I also understand that I agreed to answer your questions. However, most of my answers rely on your answers to these few questions.”

“Fine,” she grumphed at me, obviously not happy. “Ask your stupid questions.”

“First question.” I pulled the newspaper out of Star’s saddlebags. “How much of this.” I tossed her the newspaper. “Is true?”

She spent a few seconds reading the article, before sinking slowly to the ground. She hung her head and started shuddering. She curled up much like what I had seen in the cell. I was immediately at her side, holding her as she let out shuddering mutters that sounded a lot like, “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”

So I sat in a hotel that didn’t exist two days ago for me, holding onto a sobbing mare that had seemed rock solid last I had seen her. I said nothing, just held onto her much like Twilight had held me two years ago when I needed someone.

Eventually she removed herself from my embrace, not gently, but not overly rudely, and settled onto the carpet. Her wings were twitching slightly and she refused to look directly at me in obvious signs of discomfort.

I ignored the last few minutes as I continued, for which she shot me a thankful glance. “Is it?”

She inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “Yeah. I’m not sure why, but I did.”

I heard Star gasp from the bed, but I think we all chose to ignore her little outburst. “Let’s get to the bottom of why, then. What happened that night, from your perspective?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Well, it had started pretty normally for a day in my life recently. I had decided that I was taking a break from looking for Streak for a few days over the weekend. Rarity took the opportunity to invite me to a sleepover. She didn’t tell me that Twilight was there, too.

“You see, Rarity had been trying to get me to forgive Twilight for abandoning Streak, and thought that if she brought us together enough that we would be friends again. It… didn’t work very well. Twilight, as usual, immediately started pushing my buttons. She always knew just which ones to push to get a certain reaction, but she’s not perfect. She went too far, and I snapped. You know the rest.”

“What caused you to go from best friends to, well, that?” I asked.

She scoffed, “We were both being idiots and making things a bigger deal than they needed to be. She thought that Streak was dead and we should stop looking for him, and I refused to believe that he was gone. That rolled over into everything we did. Our friendship was probably salvageable, but now? I’ll be lucky to be able to show my face in Equestria ever again.”

I grinned, “If that’s the case, why don’t we go out with a bang?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Go on.”

I explained why I was here. Celestia hadn’t stopped throwing things into the Void two years ago like everyone thought. Somehow, she was still opening portals with no magic and little political power. I explained, as well, how I got here. Her eyes widened momentarily when I mentioned that I got Star out of the Tall Tale orphanage. She waved me off when I asked her about it, saying she had mistaken the name I gave her for a second. I hesitantly agreed to drop the topic, then spent the next few minutes explaining my plan to kill Celestia, once and for all. It boiled down to “Find the bitch and kill her. Then run.”

"That's it? That's your plan?" Rainbow Dash exploded. “Last time we did this, the plan had twelve different parts working simultaneously, and three different things we could do to keep going the way we were supposed to go!”

"I’m sure you exaggerate, but do you have a better plan?" I asked. "There are a ridiculous number of unknowns we have to contend with. There's only so much I can do."

"You could at least know where we need to go!" she sighed in exasperation. "Her location is considered a state secret so that nopony, or more likely a griffon, tries to exact revenge for her actions. It's hard to kill what you can't find."

"Canterlot."

"What?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “What about Canterlot?”

“That’s where Celestia is going to be. I can guarantee it.”

“And how do you know this? How do you, who has only been on this plane of existence for days, already know what nopony else knows?”

“Portals. I could feel each one she opened, and I saw her every time she threw someone through. She’s in the castle, high in a tower.”

“Alright, then you sit back while I fly up there and give her a smackdown!” Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and started flying toward a window. She couldn’t get far with her tail in my mouth, but she did manage to drag me about a foot before sighing and landing.

“Patience is a virtue, Rainbow Dash,” I scolded. “One it seems you sorely lack.”

She groaned, “Oh, come on! I want to get this over with already!”

I pointed at Star, who was stirring slightly in her sleep. “I’m not leaving without Star, and once the alarm goes out—” I was interrupted by shouting as guards combed the streets. “—like now, you’re not going anywhere without a disguise. Star does illusion magic.”

“So you’re saying that I’m stuck with you?” she snarled. “What happened to purely voluntary?”

“You’re stuck until Star wakes up, Rainbow Dash.” I scolded. “I won’t keep you longer than necessary.”

“Alright. Fine. I’ll stay and help you,” she muttered. Her ears perked up and she looked at me suddenly. “What is Star to you, anyway?”

“She’s my daughter.”

“Ah, okay,” Rainbow Dash nodded and started walking towards the bed for a second before what I said sunk in. She whirled around and exclaimed, “Wait, WHAT?”

“I said I got her from the orphanage, Rainbow Dash,” I said. “Why is it so surprising that I adopted her?”

“You—you’re not a pony, that’s why!” she sputtered. “You’re not even really alive! You’re just a magical parasite!” I saw the blood drain from her face and her eyes widen after she said that. My eyes narrowed slowly. “No, wait. I didn’t—”

“Are you insinuating that I’d ever hurt Star, Rainbow Dash?” I growled. “Are you saying that I’d ever, ever, hurt my daughter?”

“No, I didn’t mean—”

“Did I make a mistake going out of my way to get you out of jail?” my voice was rising. “Did I—”

“Dad, quiet down. I’m trying to sleep,” Star grumbled from the bed. “She didn’t mean it as an insult, she’s just blunt.”

I noticed that I was much closer to the wall than I was last time I checked. Poor Rainbow Dash was cowering in the three foot space between me and the corner. I took a deep breath and stepped back. “You’re right, Star. Sorry, Rainbow Dash.”

“Don’t. Do. That. Again,” Rainbow Dash hissed at me. I stared at her for a second before she snorted and walked to the bed. “Hey, squirt. Scoot over, we need to fit three on here.”

I chuckled as Star stretched and shifted out of the center of the large bed. “Two. Demons don’t sleep, remember? Plus, you don’t seem like the type to climb into a bed with some random stallion because he did you a favor.”

Rainbow Dash’s cheeks flared red. “Premier! There’s a kid here!”

Star looked between the two of us in confusion. “It’s just innuendo. I heard those all the time in the orphanage.” She shrank into herself. “Usually about me, though.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes softened as she gave Star a hug. “Hey, don’t listen to them. Bullies will be bullies only if you let them, okay?”

Star sniffled, “But—”

“Okay?” Rainbow Dash interrupted Star’s complaint.

“Okay.” Star smiled, returning the hug.

“You’re good with foals, Rainbow Dash.” I commented.

She smiled, “Yeah, I’ve always really been good with ‘em. I’ve wanted my own since—” Her face fell and she held onto Star tighter.

“Since?” I asked.

“Nothing. It’s unimportant,” Rainbow Dash replied too quickly.

“Rainbow Dash,” I put my ‘dad voice’ on again since it seemed to work on Star. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

She snorted, “Don’t try putting the dad voice on, Premier. It won’t work on me.”

I sighed, “Alright, but you need to tell someone so that it’s not stewing up in your head. It’s obviously bothering you, and keeping something like that to yourself is not good for you.”

She scoffed, “Like you’d know. Don’t demons lose their identities?”

I shrugged, giving a noncommittal grunt. Rainbow Dash took it as the end of the conversation. “Alright, Star. Time for bed.”

Star groaned, face in the pillow, “Finally. Night Dad.”

"Goodnight, Star."

Author's Note:

So I did some editing in previous chapters. Mostly just changing hyphens to en dashes (–) em dashes (—) where applicable. Also removing references to characters that got removed since writing in their foreshadowing.

Also, foreshadowing Rainbow's past!

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