Resurrection
It all started the day I died. Not that anypony would ever realize it. The Rainbow Factory has a way of keeping what goes on there hush-hush. But, if word DID get out about my death, the small obituary would say something about how I was a pitiful orphan, survived by no one. Then, I would be brushed off and promptly forgotten. But, nopony knows I died, so there is no obituary. But, more importantly, thanks to a gift from out in the dark, among the stars, six weeks after the day I died was the day I truly began to live.
I am the Black Lantern, warrior for true justice and vengeance for all who fell prey to the Rainbow Factory over the years, and dark knight and savior for the downtrodden, the weak, the sad, the lonely, the freaks, the broken, and pretty much everypony else who has ever gotten the short end of the stick in life. But, nopony can know the truth about me and what I’ve become. Especially not my closest, most loyal friends or even the stallion I love, who shares his home, his heart, and his bed with me.
My name is Scootaloo. And this is my story...
Rainbow Factory-Pegasus Device
Pain, that's all she felt as she fell.
Not physical pain, though that would come soon enough. No, her pain was emotional, as she fell, the one feeling that engulfed her mind was betrayal.
She had practically worshipped her, idolized her, wanted to be just like her, she was the president of her fan club for Faust’s sake!
And yet in the end, she betrayed her, and threw her aside like trash…
Why, Rainbow Dash? thought Scootaloo as she fell to her doom. Scootaloo was a young anthro pegasus mare of 21, the age at which all pegasi were required to report to Cloudsdale for their final flight exam. She wore a white t-shirt underneath a black hoodie, gray pants, and black and white tennis shoes. Why are you doing this to me? I thought I was your little sister… I thought you loved me...
Mere hours ago, Scootaloo had taken her final flight exam, which would determine if she would be accepted into Pegasus society as one of their own, or if you’d be a worthless piece of shit kicked around by those who had made it. Or, as it turned out, be killed and have your Spectra, which was some type of liquid energy that gave ponies their pigmentation and came in virtually every single color of the rainbow, and have it be used to make the rainbows the arched across the Equestrian skies.
Scootaloo given it everything she had, everything her beloved surrogate big sister, Rainbow Dash, the ground upon which she walked Scootaloo had worshipped, had taught her over the years when it came to flying.
And it hadn’t been enough. Scootaloo had bombed her test and was sent here, to the Rainbow Factory, to have her Spectra used to create part of a rainbow.
Not long after her arrival at the Factory, however, things had gone from bad to worse. After managing to get free from her captors, Scootaloo had searched desperately for a way out of the slaughterhouse of a factory, and in the process, had learned a horrible, terrifying truth. A secret that she knew would haunt her for the rest of her life, however long that was.
Rainbow Dash was the CEO of the Rainbow Factory, and was responsible for the deaths of countless innocent Pegasi, whose only crimes had been that they didn’t fly well enough for some ponies’ liking. Her hero, idol, and big sister was in fact a murderer.
Scootaloo grunted as she managed to catch a railing with her hand, although she lacked the strength to keep holding onto the railing for much longer, and if her presence in this wretched factory was any indication, her wings weren’t strong enough to allow her to fly up onto the platform the railing was attached to.
Rainbow Dash, who had a black mask in her hand and safety goggles on her forehead and was clad in a white lab coat that was covered in bloodstains and specks of Spectra, a black shirt, black jeans with a thick black leather belt, and black leather boots, made her way over to where the mare who she’d taken under her wing as a filly, who she’d taught everything she knew in hopes that she’d pass her exam and not become another life of many burdened on her conscience, only for her to fail and be sent here.
Ever since Scootaloo gotten loose and started running around the Factory, she’d acted as though Scootaloo had meant nothing to her after all these years to hide her guilt at the thought that it hadn’t been Scootaloo who failed the test. But, rather, it was she who failed Scootaloo.
Rainbow looked down at her former little sister and sidekick with as much of a look that suggested that the young mare was no more than something unpleasant she’d found on her boot as she could muster.
“Any final words, you miserable, worthless, whorse of a mare?!” Rainbow asked Scootaloo with as much rage and hatred as she could muster.
Scootaloo brought her chin high, still demanding even the tiniest fraction of dignity as she felt her grip on the railing starting to slacken. The end was almost here.
“You have beautiful eyes.”
Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, Scootaloo lost her grip and fell into the Pegasus Device. As large knives and siphons worked at extracting the latest victim’s violet Spectra, Rainbow Dash began to feel tears run down her face. The one pony she had truly called sister all these years was dead, just another nameless face to burn once the Pegasus Device extracted all of her Spectra.
And it was all her fault.
Six Weeks Later…
In the far reaches of space, a tiny black comet was zooming through the cosmos, drawn like paper clips to a magnet. Within the comet was a black ring with a strange insignia on it, consisting of an upside-down triangle underneath a broken half-circle. As the ring continued its journey through the cosmos, it entered Space Sector 2010, where the planet of Equis, which was home to many creatures told in human fairy tales, such as Unicorns, Pegasi, and Griffons, was located.
And that was exactly where the ring was going, for it had sensed a suitable candidate for its power...
Meanwhile...
The Incinerator Room of the Rainbow Factory was exactly what it sounded like: a large room filled from ground to ceiling with incinerators. The workers in this room wore surgical masks, to help keep them from catching illnesses and to try to ward of the smell from the bodies of the victims of the Pegasus Device. Well, what was left of them, anyway.
One worker in particular hefted the mangled corpse of a young Pegasus mare with an orange coat so faded it looked almost gray, and a similarly faded purple mane and tail, onto a rack to be inserted into an incinerator. The copse was missing its left arm from the elbow down, its right leg from the knee down, and was missing all but her middle finger and thumb on her intact hand and three toes on its only foot.
None of the workers could figure out what was so special about this corpse in particular. The Factory’s CEO, Rainbow Mirham Dash, had been coming to the Incinerator Room quite often over the last six weeks, and had been staring at this particular corpse, almost as though it had once been a cherished family member. Once, a worker said they saw Rainbow kneeling down and stroking the corpse’s mane. If the worker was to be believed, Rainbow had actually been crying and had whispered something that sounded oddly like “I’m sorry, little sis.”
But, now it was time to dispose of this corpse once and for all. With a blank, emotionless expression on his face, the worker pushed the rack into the incinerator and pressed the button to activate the incinerator. At almost the same time, the whistle for lunch went off. Although most of the workers departed to the Cafeteria, five of them had to stay behind to make sure the incinerators didn’t burn the whole Factory down.
As the workers ate lunch amongst themselves, none of them noticed the tiny black comet enter the facility and make its way through the incinerators to the now-burning corpse that Rainbow Dash had been so attached to.
The ring simply hovered for a moment, almost as if examining the corpse, before it turned sideways and attached itself to the corpse’s sole middle finger in such a way that in insignia was facing up. Then, an unheard, demonic voice spoke, giving the corpse a command.
Scootaloo of Sector 2010… RISE!
Scootaloo’s eyes flew open as she screamed louder than she’d ever screamed before in her life, her injuries starting to heal, her missing limbs started to regrow, and a skintight, form-fitting black uniform with the ring’s insignia on her chest as well as two smaller versions of the emblem on the backs of her now-regrown and healed hands, appeared on her as she kicked open the hatch on the incinerator and climbed out of it, falling to the ground, her body still on fire a little bit, amongst the alarmed workers, one of whom was already inching his way to the alarm system to trigger it.
Then, Scootaloo began to speak, and the words she spoke came forth from the depths of her reanimated heart, fresh with the memories of what had happened to her and how she had… died…
“Mothers cry and infants wail. Risen avenger, I shall not fail! Blackest Night, hear my cry! The dead shall rise and the living die!” said Scootaloo, her voice as black as night and darker than obsidian, causing the workers who stood before her to start shaking with fear, and for the one who was trying to reach the alarm to start edging his way closer to the alarm at a faster rate.
Scootaloo was quick to pick up on not only the worker who was trying to make it to the alarm, but the fear of all the workers present, thanks to the shimmering yellow outlines that surrounded them. Acting quickly, Scootaloo used her newfound power to construct a jet-black chain and used it to catch the worker and pull him into her outstretched hand, where he began mutter incoherently out of fear, if the dark spot on his pants was any indication.
“You’re afraid… good,” said Scootaloo as she placed the black ring on the worker’s chest, directly over his heart.
Yellow energy began flowing from the worker through the ring and into Scootaloo, whose coat and mane began to regain some of their original color, and some of the numbness and emptiness that Scootaloo had been feeling in her heart began to go away. Unfortunately, what was taking its place wasn’t that much better. Where only a few seconds ago Scootaloo had felt numb, cold, and emotionless, she was now starting to feel sheer terror course through her.
As for the poor soul who’s Spectra Scootaloo, now the Black Lantern, was siphoning away into herself, he was beginning to shrivel up, becoming thinner and more sunken. By the time Black Lantern had finished siphoning his Spectra, all that remained of the worker was a shriveled up and shrunken corpse.
At that point, the remaining four workers decided to throw caution to the wind and began throwing each other behind in an attempt to reach the alarm, while Black Lantern attempted to gain control over the sheer terror that was thumping through her, trying to ward off the monstrous Rainbow Dashes that had appeared.
“You’re pathetic, Scootaloo!” “You actually thought I gave a damn about you?! Man, how stupid could you get?!” “You don’t even deserve those wings you bear!” “Any final words, you miserable, worthless, whorse of a mare?!”
Black Lantern screamed with effort as she managed to conquer the fear that had been threatening to consume her. One by one, the twisted Rainbow Dash copies began to disappear until finally, they were all gone.
And not a moment too soon as the alarm went off, and a small squadron of the masked stallions in suits began to pour into the Incinerator Room, each armed with advanced weaponry.
All right, then. Looks like I’ll have to go through them if I want to get out of this place for real this time. Should be much easier this time now that I’ve got the power of the Blackest Night at my command. Although, how I know about it is beyond me, thought Black Lantern as the hand that her ring was on began to glow with a eerie black energy as the Suits got ready to attack.
Not a single employee of the Rainbow Factory got out of the Incinerator Room alive.
After she drained the Spectra out of the last Suit, Black Lantern decided it was time to make a break for it. As she ran through the hallways of the Rainbow Factory, Black Lantern still had to contend with anyone stupid enough to try to get in her way and stop her from getting out. A decision that would prove to be their last mistake, although how she was able to use her new weapon’s power so proficiently despite having no training with it whatsoever baffled her. Not that she was complaining, of course.
As Black Lantern went down one particular hallway, she came to a stop at a wall covered with photographs that surrounded the words “Cloudsdale Weather Corporation Board of Directors.” Black Lantern glared at each of the photos, but spent the most time glaring at Rainbow Dash’s picture, thinking back to all the good times they’d had together. Before she’d found out the truth, before she’d found out that Rainbow Dash never even liked her, much less thought of her as a little sister.
Slowly but surely, anger, rage, and hatred began to boil up inside Black Lantern. Until, finally, she fired a powerful blast of dark energy at the wall.
And punched a hole large enough for her to fit through through it, revealing the black lightning storm clouds that surrounded the facility. Fortunately, Black Lantern had just the thing for that. She used her power to construct a giant fan that was able to blow away the storm clouds.
Unfortunately, it also blew away the regular clouds that surrounded the facility, leaving a gazillion foot drop in front of her. And the sound of approaching footsteps didn’t exactly help matters any either.
Damn. I cheated death, got superpowers that I somehow know how to use despite never actually training to use them, got so close to freedom, and now I bucked it up. No wonder Rainbow Dash called me a failure, thought Black Lantern as she looked through the hole in the wall to the ground that somehow seemed even farther beneath her than it actually was.
Then, unbidden, another voice spoke in her mind. The same demonic voice that had commanded her to rise from her grave. You know, you can fly.
Black Lantern looked wildly around for the source of the voice, wondering if maybe a ghost or something had found her and wanted to help. “Who said that? Where are you?” she asked.
How amusing. I’m right here on your hand, dummy! the voice again.
Black Lantern looked down at the ring on her hand. “My new ring is alive?” she said, hardly able to believe it.
More or less, but now is not the time to discuss this. Just jump out the hole, and fly away.
“B-but I can’t fly! Rainbow Dash tried to teach me for years! How do you think I-”
You don’t need your wings. I’ll handle the actual flying. All you need to do is use your thoughts to steer. Now, hurry up and jump already!
Black Lantern looked over her shoulder to see that there were shadows on the wall behind her, visible thanks to the sunlight shining through the hole in the wall. Taking a deep breath, Black Lantern threw herself out the hole she’d made in the wall and began to fall screaming to the earth below.
Oh, shit! Come on! Pull up! Pull up! Pull up! Scootaloo thought desperately, and, almost as if in response to her thoughts, Black Lantern began to shoot up through the air like a rocket, although her panic was causing her to fly like a drunken sailor.
It wasn’t long before Black Lantern did a faceplant into the dirt on the ground, leaving a shallow strench as she slid across it, before finally coming to a stop. Rolling herself over, Black Lantern let out a triumphant laugh. “I did it! I finally did it! I flew! Not very well, but still, I flew! And all I had to do was kick the bucket!” she yelled.
Yes, I’m happy for you, but I’m sure those guards will be looking for you. We need to keep moving. Do you know any place where we can lay low for a while before we go seek vengeance?
“Well… there is my hometown of Ponyville. But, what are you exactly? How am I not dead anymore? And how do I keep people from finding out about you?”
Let’s keep moving. I’ll explain on the way. AFTER we get you some new civilian clothes.
Elsewhere...
In a peaceful meadow with a small pond just outside the vast city of Manehattan, Rainbow Dash, who was wearing her casual clothes, which consisted of a navy blue hoodie with a white t-shirt underneath, blue jeans with a black belt, and pink and white sneakers, was laying back in a lounge chair, trying to take a nap.
The fact that her cell phone went off didn’t exactly help matters any. Looking at the Caller ID, Rainbow learned that the caller was from the Rainbow Factory. Growling angrily, Rainbow Dash answered the phone.
“What do you want?!” she snapped at the caller.
“Ma’am, we have a situation,” the caller said in a filtered voice.
“What kind of situation? Keep in mind that this had better be a life-or-death situation, or else you’ll find yourself in the belly of the Pegasus Device,” threatened Rainbow.
“An escape.”