> Cupcakes Aftermath - Rainbow's Rage > by ArtsyGum > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Rebuilt > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Months later, Twilight Sparkle is pacing back and forth inside of the Golden Oak Library. The large bookshelves encased within the oak are filled with dark grey, purple, and green books. The sound of her hooves hitting the wooden floor can be heard. Twilight frowns. The iris of her remaining eye is green and purple with her cutie mark to match from the overuse of dark magic. The other side of her face has a large vertical scar covered by a brownish-grey eyepatch. Around her neck, she has a purple choker with golden spikes around it, and her right ear is pierced with an earring that’s made out of the same golden material. “Dammit!” Twilight says in irritation. A gasp is heard from across the room. “Twilight, language! Not in front of my precious gemstone!” Twilight stops in her tracks as she looks in the direction of Rarity and, realizing what she’s done, Twilight covers her mouth with a hoof. “Oops, sorry, Rarity!” Rarity is covering the ears of her half-dragon foal. Her mane has been straightened, and her neck is decorated with a pearl necklace and a diamond in it’s center. She has a golden piercing that goes up the ear and towards the bottom has a diamond shard that hangs at the bottom. Rarity also has a wedding band that matches on her hoof. The foal’s scales are a pinkish-lavender, and her spines are purple. Around the neck of the foal is a cute baby-pink collar with a cyan diamond pattern. Spike, a hulking dragon with scars across his arms, chest, and face, is holding his foal, looking down at her with a caring expression. “It’s just Brinda said that she was going to contact me about her progress concerning Rainbow today…” Twilight says with a worried and irritated tone. “Oh darling, I know that you’re worried about Rainbow Dash.” Rarity puts her hoof on the back of Twilight’s jacket reassuringly. “Remember that your marefriend is strong. She’ll make it through, darling.” Brinda Sparks, a peachy-orange cybernetic unicorn with brass disconnected robotic limbs that levitate in front of her in the place of hooves, is typing on the keypad that's in front of her. Under the hooves she has silver plates in the place of horseshoes with a glowing yellow crescent on the bottom. She wears a brass visor with green blinking lights on a dark amber one-piece lens. On the visor, and on her robotic parts, there are big glass orbs that contain green and yellow energy that cause them to glow. Her short mane is a faded brown with creamy yellow highlights. The back of her mane is a pixie cut, and she has flat bangs on the front. On her left ear she has a small golden piercing with a larger silver one below it. “Project R-dash-6 is finalized. Time to activate her.” Brinda states in her mechanical voice as she pushes the green switch forward on the control panel in front of her. Next to the switch is an open bag of chips. Her lab has chrome walls and tiled flooring. Sat in the center of the room is single chamber made of green glass. Inside the glass stands a cyborg cyan pony. At the bottom of the chamber is a yellow glow illuminating a half robotic and half pony face. The the left half of the face that was untouched by metal has a pinkish-red scar going down the closed eye and the ear has a cut. The robotic half of its face is dark blue with a magenta glass lens were the eye was. > Rebooting > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The closed eyelid of the cyan figure flashes open. Mechanical parts whir to life. The magenta iris darts left to right quickly with a fierce purpose. She looks around the clinical laboratory through green-stained glass and quickly realizes that she’s in an enclosure. “W-What the!? W-Where am I!?” A confused voice speaks with mechanical undertones. Brinda Sparks smirks ever so slightly to herself. “R-dash-6 has successfully rebooted.” Rainbow Dash furrows her brow and taps the glass curiously. “Wha?” Angry, the cyan mare forcefully thrusts her hoof against the glass in an attempt to break it. Failing the first attempt she then grits her teeth and throws another punch. “RAAAGHH!” She throws punch after punch in attempt to break the glass. It cracks, but it fails to give way. The smirk fades from Brinda’s lips, noticing the crack. She leans forward with a hint of nervousness, a levitating hoof hovering over a red button labeled “EMERGENCY”. Realizing the glass won’t budge she looks irritably at her back where her wings used to be. In their place are two large dark blue metallic thrusters. She focuses on them and they spark to life. The ends of them light up in a red-hot color. Rainbow Dash looks back at the glass readying herself and her thrusters. She zooms forward shattering the glass. Quickly Brinda slams her hoof on the emergency button. “Shit.” A metal door comes down and blocks the main entrance. The robotic blur speeds forward and tears through the door like it’s nothing. As she zips through the night sky she glares forward. “I’m gonna kill that pink pony!” She scans the horizon and spots Ponyville in the distance. With the help of Rainbow Dash’s thrusters, she jets in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. She lands on the ground where the bakery should be, realizing that its no longer there. Where the bakery used to be stood the crumbling remnants of an unrecognizable structure. “W-What the hell happened to this place...?” Rainbow Dash stands silently in the presence of the remains. In an isolate location somewhere between Ponyville and Canterlot is a tall and foreboding facility that houses the dangerous and delirious. The exterior is dark grey reinforced steel that’s surrounded by barbed wire, security cameras, and search lights. A teal-green worker with a brunette bun in an off-white pink uniform with hot pink trim enters an elevator within the facility and sighs. “Let’s get this over with.” She looks down with her amber-colored eyes and presses the last button on the bottom of the elevator panel labeled “BF 7”. The elevator descends and once it reaches the selected floor the metal doors open revealing a long hallway. Some of the lights flicker. “They should really get these damn lights fixed.” Distorted cackling and snorting can be heard echoing in the hallway. On the other end of the hallway is a single highly secured magically-enchanted metal door. On the door is a gold-plated plaque with the serial number “P-17613” and below it in large red capital letters it reads “PROCEED WITH CAUTION!” Inside of the forsaken chamber is a matte pony-like figure that appears to be levitating and is surrounded by a red aura. She’s bound in a straightjacket inside of a padded cell. The pink pony cocks her head to the side. Red irises on black scleras point towards the door. "Heheheh"—a snort issues from her nose—"We SeNsE our little HeLpEr.” Seven daemonic voices speak as one within the pink vessel. The severely possessed pony grins from ear to ear. > VeSsEl > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The teal unicorn walks closer to the enchanted door and proceeds to cast a spell to temporarily disable its enchantment. Her orange-yellow magic forms around the key card that’s in her shirt pocket, and she places the card on a scanning panel. “Click” The door clicks and slowly screeches open. She walks in with a tray of food on her back which consists of an apple, dandelion sandwich, and a bottle of water. “I’m here with ya meal, Miss Pinkamena.” Her horn glows around the tray, and she places it carefully on the floor in front of the pony that resembles Pinkie. The possessed pony tilts her head to the side as they look at the tired mare. “Why the tired eyes, Spiral Ward? You look like you haven’t slept in MoOnS…” The distorted voice says while the head twitches ever so slightly. “Well I do have to work here every damn night.” Spiral Ward turns away from the daemonic presence and starts to trot off. The small red irises trail up towards the door realizing that they have an opening to escape. “Well you won’t have to work another night.” Red magic that comes from small white horns on each side of her head begins to form around the neck of Spiral Ward. Startled by the sudden turn of events she freezes in fear. “W-What are ya doin’, sick freak!?” Her legs begin to tremble, and her mouth starts to quiver. “I’m giving you the GiFt of FrEeDoM.” The magic lifts the teal mare in the air with a swift cracking motion her limp body is tossed on the padded floor. Due to the enchantment being disabled the possessed pony is now able to return to their former glory. “Now to dispose of our restraints” Their red aura turns black and enshrouds the pink pony in a huge black ball of energy. They let out a small cackle as the straightjacket is magically removed. The black energy dissipates to reveal a creepily elegant dress. The dress is held together by a burgundy choker with long dark red spikes. The dress itself is black with hot-pink trim. The mint-green ghostly faces of trapped souls are plastered all over the blackness of the dress. Each face is bound together by red chains. They have shoes to match. Upon the head of the devious pony is a black hat with a green top that resembles a cake. A single cyan feather with a yellow tip sticks out from the hat. The soul of the lifeless mare that’s slumped in front of them leaves its body. “Another SoUl for our collection.” The soul gravitates helplessly towards the dress until it meets the black magical fabric. Another green face appears followed by more chains to join the others. “Time to collect more.” > Safe and Not Sound > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile at the Golden Oak Library Rarity is still at Twilight’s side comforting her. “Take deep breaths, darling. Maybe Brinda’s taking her time to make sure that things are perfect.” Rarity states while rubbing her friend’s back. Twilight takes deep breaths and starts to regain her composure. “That’s it, darling, you got this.” "Flash!” The light and sound of Brinda’s teleportation magic fills the room, and everyone turns their head towards its source. The pinkish-lavender half-dragon foal reaches out to the light while being held by her father. “Pwetty!” “Very pretty lights, Radiance.” The hulking dragon chuckles slightly as he pets her head gently. “Brinda!?” Twilight says as she walked closer to the unicorn mechanic. “Where’s Rainbow?” The lavender unicorn’s eyes fills with anticipation. Brinda, with a firm stance, looks back at Twilight. “Well there’s good news and bad news.” Twilight raises a brow in confusion. “What do you mean?” She finishes with her eye squinting. “Project R-das-” she coughs, “Rainbow Dash escaped.” “WHAT!?” Twilight exclaims in shock. “You let her escape!?” She said as she pointed her hoof at the mare. Brinda stares back blankly with her stance still firm. “She flew through my reinforced steel chromium-alloy emergency barricade like it was rotted balsa wood.” “In Ponish, darling.” Rarity spoke as she tilted her head to the side a bit. “Ah, my apologies. I’ll elaborate. Rainbow Dash flew out of my lab destroying my door in the process.” Twilight rushes towards the door of the library. “Well, let’s go find her!” Brinda nods in response and follows behind her. After they’ve left out of the library’s door, Rarity stops at its threshold. “I’ll stay behind with my family and look after the library while you’re away.” As they begin galloping off, Twilight nods in her friend’s direction. “Thanks, Rarity!” She turns her head forward and focuses on the problem at hoof. “Where do you think Rainbow Dash flew off to?” Brinda says as she keeps her gaze in front of her. Twilight narrows her eye in irritation. “I have a hunch that she’s at Sugarcube Corner, or at least what remains of it.” Rainbow Dash slams her front robotic hoof on the rubble. With her back hooves she kicks down the remaining crumbled walls, taking out her rage on the trauma that she had to endure. After all that is done she plops down on the ground amidst her aftermath. Still filled with a severe amount of intense rage, she looks up at the sky and screams out a loud painful mechanical-esque bellow. “AAAAAHHHHHAAARRGHHH!” Tears fill her left eye. She looks down at the ground, clenches up her face, and with her mechanical hoof she pounds the ground causing it to crack. “It’s not fuckin’ fair! Why’d it have to be me!?” With the tears streaming down the one side of her face she frowns back up at the sky. “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill her!” > Reunited > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ponies nearby the old building are looking out of the lit windows and doors of their houses to see what the commotion was about. Brinda and Twilight hear a scream in the direction from up ahead. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight gasps as she runs even faster towards her destination. With a nod Brinda follows close behind. The two of them make a left turn and spot a slumped blue figure in the middle of the rubble. Seeing her marefriend again brings tears to her eye as Twilight gallops towards her. Feeling the gazes of judging eyes on her from the surrounding ponies, Rainbow Dash looks around and snaps at them. “What are ya lookin’ at!?” The staring ponies back into their homes slightly. “Babe!” Twilight approaches the rubble. Rainbow Dash sharply turns her head towards Twilight. “Twi?” Her eye widens at the sight of her before barreling towards her in a furious blur. She knocks Twilight to the ground with a thud. Rainbow Dash stands above her with aggressive determination. “Where the fuck is Pinkie Pie!?” Twilight blinks, bewildered. She shuffles out from underneath the pissed off mare. “Babe, calm down. I’m just glad that you’re okay.” Twilight says as she places a hoof on her marefriend’s cyan cheek. Breathing heavily, she moves Twilight’s hoof away and looks away to the side. “I just want her to pay for what she’s done.” Her partially mechanical voice is slightly calmer as she places her cyan hoof down firmly. Beady eyes are still peaking out from behind curtains and cracked doors. Brinda is idly watching from a distance. “We’ll talk about that later, but for now we need to focus on you.” Twilight says as she gently places a hoof on Rainbow Dash’s chest. Twilight is unsure whether or not to tell her marefriend about Pinkie’s whereabouts. Rainbow Dash sits herself down with a long sigh. She turns her head back to look up at Twilight. “Y’know, I missed you, Twi.” “Awe, I missed you too, babe.” Twilight says as she opens her arms and shares a close teary-eyed embrace. Rainbow Dash wraps her front hooves around her marefriend, kisses her cheek, and holds her tight. They gently break their embrace. “Shall we go back to the Golden Oak Library?” Twilight asks with a loving smile on her face. “Sure, babe.” Rainbow Dash returns a genuine smile. > Home Sweet Home > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile at the Golden Oak Library a frazzle-maned Rarity is pacing back and forth across the oaken floor causing a steady clip-clopping sound. The eyes of her towering husband keenly watches her as she paces. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon, my love.” Spike reassures Rarity. Spike’s words fail to reach Rarity at this moment as she continues to pace. “How long has it been? What if they can’t find her? Why haven’t they come back yet?” Spike lets out a sigh as he stood up carefully while holding his daughter making his way towards the window of the wooden library. He spots Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Brinda Sparks chatting with each other as they are returning back to the library. His eyes go wide. “Rainbow Dash!?” He blurts out. Rarity’s pacing comes to a halt and her ears perk. “They’re back now!?” Rarity rushes to the door with Spike following behind her. The cyan cybernetic pony is airborne carrying her marefriend in her hooves. Rainbow Dash places her marefriend down once they land in front of the door. Twilight blushes once placed down. “Home, sweet home.” Rainbow Dash sighs contently. The door to the Golden Oak Library opens suddenly. “Oh, thank Celestia you’re back!” Rarity quickly hugs Rainbow Dash and rubs her cheek against Rainbow’s. Her tears start to run down the elegant mare’s cheeks as mascara follows suit. Rainbow Dash gently separates herself from her friend. “Yeah! Of course I’m back!” She rubs Rarity’s wet mascara from her cheek. “Sorry about Rarity. She was just very worried.” Spike comes to Rarity’s side and runs his claws gently through her mane. “We’re glad to have you back.” He smiles warmly toward Rainbow Dash. “It’s been a very long night. How about we go inside and have some tea?” Twilight says with a gentle smile. She starts to trot inside of her home. The others follow behind them. “And a snack too!?” Rainbow Dash says as she zips past her marefriend into the library. Twilight looks up at Rainbow Dash affectionately. “You can have whatever you want.” “YES!” Rainbow Dash hoof pumps in the air with her robotic limb “I could go for one of my mom’s killer sandwiches right now!” “Sure, I can get it for you babe!” Twilight happily trots to the kitchen to get things prepared. Brinda Sparks looks up at Rainbow Dash silently. “Sorry again for the damaging your lab-thingy” She awkwardly scratches the back of her head with her hoof. “Your apology is accepted. Repairing it won’t be trouble.” Brinda says in a monotone manner as she cracked a smile. Twilight Sparkle filled with glee as she uses her magic to gather the ingredients for her marefriend’s sandwich. “I can’t wait to tell the others!” Everyone is gathered at the table with tea, and Rainbow Dash has her sandwich. Twilight hides her mouth as she whispers to the scientific pony. “Uh… Is it safe for Rainbow Dash to eat?” She says with a slight concerned expression on her face. “Of course.” Brinda nods. Twilight lets out a sigh of relief, and at the same Rainbow Dash has started to scarf down her sandwich. Rarity and Spike watch the cyan pony in surprise. Radiance giggles and claps her claws, enjoying the sight. > Not Bittersweet > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After tea and catching up Twilight sees the others off at the doorway with a wave of her hoof. Rainbow Dash stays behind to do the same. “See ya later!” Rainbow Dash says to the group. “Thanks for coming!” She smiles towards them appreciatively. Rarity returns the smile. “Thanks for the tea, darling.” “Yeah thanks for the tea, Twi!” Spike flaps his wings as he began to fly off while holding his dragon foal in his right arm, and his wife in his left. Twilight focuses her gaze towards Brinda. “And thank you so much for all you’ve done.” Small tears form in her eyes as she smiles warmly. “You’re most welcome, Twilight Sparkle. It was a pleasure.” Brinda nods, waves, and teleports back to her lab in a flash of light. Twilight closes the door and it clicks shut. She turns around to look at her marefriend. “I missed you.” Twilight smiles sweetly towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash smiles back warmly “I missed ya too babe.” Twilight’s hoof wraps around Rainbow’s side. Rainbow Dash nuzzles Twilight’s soft lavender cheek. Rainbow’s gaze starts to wonder across the wooden floor. The cyan mare’s brow begins to furrow. “This shouldn’t have happened.” Twilight returns the nuzzle reassuringly. “But you’re back now.” “That’s not the point.” Rainbow Dash looks sharply away resentfully. She grits her teeth. “That pink ‘pony’ has to pay for what she did.” “She’s locked away now. She won’t hurt anypony else...” Twilight says as she places a hoof on Rainbow’s cyan shoulder. “Not once I’m done with her she won’t!” She spits at the air with disgust. Twilight’s ears droop a bit. “Babe, can’t we just enjoy our time together for now?” She gives a pleading frown. Rainbow gives a long sigh as her head droops to the ground. She notices the grooves and cracks in the floor boards. The air hangs for a moment. She raises her head up again. “You’re right babe.” She smiles softly towards Twilight. “It’s so great that I can see my smartypants again.” Rainbow gives a playful wink. Twilight fans her hoof towards Rainbow Dash a bit, blushing. “Hey!” “What? You’re very smart. And cute. And the best marefriend a pony can ask for.” Rainbow smirks and is quite close to Twilight’s face. Twilight’s cheeks are a rosy red. “Well you’re pretty cute yourself.” She giggles a bit. “Cute? I’m not cute!” Rainbow Dash flies up a bit to flex her new partly-robotic body “The word you’re lookin’ for is badass.” She turns back smugly. Twilight lets out another giggle. “And cute.” “I’ll show you cute!” Rainbow pulls her in with a robotic hoof for a sudden kiss, leaning Twilight back. Twilight’s eye go wide and her face is full of blush. “Mph!” The kiss breaks. “There’s that cute face I like to see.” Rainbow has a self-satisfied smirk. “Should we take this upstairs?” Twilight says softly with a hoof on Rainbow’s chest.