Where You Pay Your Toll
“Any final words, you miserable, worthless whore of a foal?”
Rose-colored irises locked onto lilac, the only clue Scootaloo had as to who this blood-covered monster in front of her used to be.
She raised her chin as she stared directly back into those magnificent eyes, determined to keep the last piece of dignity she had left.
“You have… beautiful eyes,” she breathed out.
…
“…and you have beautiful eyes!”
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were resting on a cloud, taking a break from their flight practice. The small filly had come a long way since Rainbow Dash had taken up the responsibility of training Scootaloo for her flight test, and they were working harder than ever to get Scootaloo’s flight ability into shape.
Rainbow smiled down at her little sister. “So, that’s it, Squirt? You think I’m awesome because of how I look?”
“Well, not just your looks, but the things you do, too!” Scootaloo insisted.
“Well, duh! I’m awesome, how could the things I do not be awesome?” Rainbow bragged, proudly displaying her wings and holding them in their fullest glory under the sun. “But seriously, kid, I have good looks?”
“Yeah! Your coat is pristine and clean, and your mane is the color of the rainbow! And most importantly….” Scootaloo paused. Rainbow Dash leaned in slightly, curious for what Scootaloo was going to say next. “Your eyes show who you truly are.”
Scootaloo took a deep breath, then continued. “Whenever I see your eyes, there’s a fire burning in them. Every time I see it, it reminds me of the love you have, not just for flying, but for the ones you care about!”
Rainbow smiled. This time, however, it wasn’t as warm as the previous one. It was a bitter smile, one that showed a multitude of emotions through her mask. Her eyes, however, were just the same.
“Hey, Scootaloo?”
“Huh?”
“You love me, right?”
Scootaloo leaped towards Rainbow Dash, embracing her as much as her small body would allow. “You’re the best sister I could ever have, Rainbow Dash,” she replied as she nuzzled against Rainbow’s chest.
Rainbow Dash hugged her back, wrapping her wings around the orange filly. “Thanks, Squirt.”
A moment later, they separated, and Rainbow Dash stood up as she stretched her wings. “Now c’mon, we gotta get back to practice.”
Scootaloo let out a loud groan.
“C’mon, Squirt, no lazing around, we both had enough of a break,” Rainbow Dash said as her little sister flopped onto her back. “Don’t make me tickle you.”
Scootaloo immediately sat up. “Alright, fine,” she grumbled as she stretched her limbs and stood up.
“Good girl,” Rainbow said as she ruffled Scootaloo’s mane despite her protests.
“Daaash, I told you to not do that!” Scootaloo whined, blushing furiously.
“What? It’s not like anyone is watching us,” Dash shamelessly chuckled. “But for real, let’s get back to practice. Now, as I said before, to clear the skies as fast as you can….”
…
Something flickered behind those shades of magenta. Scootaloo could see the flames of fury and hatred in her eyes change. The fire still burned in her eyes, but now it had a different set of emotions.
Dash whirled around and barked at her henchponies. “Get everypony out of this room. Seal it off. Lock it down. No one goes in unless I say they can.”
“But Ms. Dash—,” one of the ponies in black began.
“Do as I say! Use the backup devices for now. The Main Theater Room is to remain off-limits to everyone!”
“Ms. Dash, what do you want us to do with the foal?”
“GET OUT!” Rainbow Dash screamed, “Just leave me be. I’ll deal with this meat sack.”
“Yes, Ms. Dash.”
Without further ado, everypony except Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo left the room. The massive doors closed, leaving them above the Pegasus Device.
Rainbow Dash hovered there, heavily breathing as she glared at the doors. She then turned to face her younger sister, but there was more than just anger on her face this time.
“Why, Scootaloo?” Rainbow Dash sobbed. Tears streamed down her bloodied face, revealing the thinnest trail of cyan underneath. “Why did you fail me like this?”
“Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo spoke, shocked by the sudden change in her sister’s demeanor, yet the slightest tinge of hope could be heard in her words.
“You were all that I had left! When I fell out with my Ponyville ‘friends’, you stayed by my side! Every time I came back from work covered in blood from my colleagues, or burns from chemical spills, or lacerations from splintered steel, you greeted me all the same! You were the only one that kept me going, that gave me power to work hard for the Corporation!”
“And so I returned the favor! I cared for you, fed you, raised you for all those years! I even trained you myself so you wouldn’t have to come to this damned place and see all of this wretched machinery! I loved you, so I tried to make sure you wouldn’t fail me! And yet….” Dash hung her head, her words replaced by suppressed sobs. She sniffled, then wiped the tears away with her arms.
“Dash… I’m so, so sorry—”
“And yet you failed me.”
The cold, unforgiving tone of Dash’s whisper left no room for Scootaloo to interject. She could only blink in fear as she uttered a single “Dash…?”
“You failed me, Scootaloo! You failed me!” Dash roared as she lunged at the failure in front of her. Scootaloo froze up in horror as she saw what was once her sister’s beautiful face.
Dash grabbed Scootaloo by the neck and yanked her close, snarling as blood-red irises made contact with bright lilac. “You, the sole pony I had trusted to not let me down, gave all of it up! On purpose! Because of a single Cloudsdale hater!”
Scootaloo didn’t respond. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as her mind went into overdrive. She could only gape at the face that was now a smothered mess of blood-red and brilliant cyan, at the rusty stench coming from the monster before her and the room surrounding her. Her body locked up as the last glimmer of hope disappeared, replaced by the despair of knowing there was no way out of this.
“I should have known the day you skipped your practice!” Dash raged on. “I should have known what he would do to you when I found you and that… that worthless piece of manure in your room together! And look what he did to you!” She shrieked, shaking Scootaloo by the collarbones. The chains rattled in accordance, adding to the eerie echoes of Dash’s words of anger and despair.
“Dash, I, I’m sorry. I won’t fail you a-again, I promise—”
“It’s a bit too late for that, don’t you think, Squirt?” Dash growled, her voice low—almost a whisper. “You, my only friend, no, my only sister, failed me. On purpose.”
“Dash, I didn’t try to fail you, I swear—”
“SILENCE!” Dash roared, flinging a hoof at Scootaloo’s face. Scootaloo yelped, the sharp pain stinging her cheek. “You let me down when it mattered the most. On purpose. My sister would have never done that.”
Scootaloo couldn’t believe what she just heard. Was Dash implying that she wasn’t her sister? Just because of one mistake? She panicked. “Dash, please! I love you, you are—”
Dash snorted, her breath like ice to Scootaloo’s heart. “Yeah, right. Love doesn’t mean jackshit, especially not from you. You’re just a worthless failure, one that doesn’t even deserve to be called a pegasus, much less my sister,” said Dash, spitting out the last word as if it tasted asinine in her mouth.
Scootaloo was hyperventilating now. “Dash, please, no, I’m—”
Dash planted a firm punch into her lower jaw, the failure crying out in pain as her teeth clamped down on her tongue. “Shut up, you worthless husk of a foal. You’re not my sister. She was perfect, the best friend and family one could ever hope for, and you ruined her! You, a useless monster, took my sister away from me!” She screamed as her rage reached its peak, and she beat her hooves into the smaller pegasus over and over.
Scootaloo didn’t scream or shout despite the onslaught of punches from her once-beloved sister. She silently cried, letting the tears fall before they were flown away by the impact of a hoof to her cheek.
After what seemed like an eternity, Rainbow Dash stopped her assault. She panted heavily, glaring at the bloody foal in front of her. With venom and acid in her voice, she whispered, “You took away somepony from me. Somepony that was the entire world to me. And for that, I’ll take away everything you have left.” Then she turned away from the smaller pegasus and made her way towards the massive doors.
Scootaloo sobbed as she watched the red-and-blue pegasus leave her. Tears streamed down Scootaloo’s swollen cheeks as she desperately called after her former sister. “Dash, please! I’m your sister! Let me try again, I won’t fail you a second ti—”
“YOU’RE NOT MY SISTER!” Dash bellowed as she whirled around, glaring daggers at the orange mass of fur and feathers hanging above the Pegasus Device. She breathed heavily for a few seconds, then uttered one more sentence: “Not anymore….”
Dash turned around once more and made her way towards the exit. As the doors opened, she pulled down a switch, and the entire room plunged into darkness, the light from the doorway the only light source. Scootaloo squinted for a moment as the bright lights blinded her vision.
As the doors began to close and she saw the silhouette of a pegasus mare against the light, she cried out for the last time. “Dash, please, no! Dash! I am your sister!”
Regardless of the filly’s cries, the doors slammed close, drowning out her last words: “I AM YOUR SISTER!”
…
Outside of the Main Theater Room, Rainbow Dash huffed in and out. Her heart pulsed at an incredible pace, and sweat and tears streamed down her face before mixing and falling onto the floor. Slowly, ever so slowly, she slumped against the massive doors and sunk to the ground, her sobs echoing through the empty halls.
“Oh, Scootaloo… Why? How could you fail me like that?”