Humanity at it's Craziest

The girls had run out of the library, ready to go on an epic journey to find Neon and stop him and his plans by capturing him.

But they did not expect this...

"Are you all ready, my little ponies?" the princess asked, readying herself and making sure to keep her tracking spell working.

"Yes, we should all be ready to go now princess." Twilight said, checking her list of everything they were going to need. She turned to her friends to see how they were doing with their preparations.

Rarity had just finished of filling her bag with clothing, just in case they needed to go through rough weather, and was securing it on her back while Spike sat a little googly eyed nearby, watching her.

Applejack was already up and ready to go with her pack filled with supplies in case they needed to stay somewhere without any access to said supplies.

Pinkie was fighting to fill her pack with streamers and balloons (Average Pinkie).

Fluttershy was standing on shaky legs, her pack filled with medicine. She was nervously hoping that they didn't have to go, but knew that if they didn't then Neon might harm somepony, and she would not be able to live with herself knowing that.

But as all the other girls were almost ready, Rainbow Dash still hadn't moved from the corner she was sitting in since Neon had left and was just staring at the floor.

"Hey, Rainbow. Are you alright?" Twilight asked out of concern for her friend.

Rainbow suddenly whipped her head up to look at Twilight and said "Wha... Oh, yeah I'm fine Twi."

Twilight still wasn't sure that Rainbow was fine, but put it aside. It could wait until after they captured Neon. She looked to the princess and gave a nod to signal that they were all ready, which the princess gave a nod back too.

"Alright everypony, let's go." The princess said, opening the door and heading outside with the girls in tow.

Once they got outside... it was a normal day in ponyville.

The princess started to follow the spell while the girls followed her to find Neon and put an end to whatever he was doing. They walked through the streets, gaining a few looks from passing citizens, while they followed the tracking spell.

Twilight was walking up the front, next to the princess, slightly happy to be able to do something with her mentor, while the rest of the girls bunched up at the back. Except for Rainbow, who was lagging along behind them all with a distant look on her face.

After a few minutes of following the spell through ponyville, to the surprise of everypony, they were almost at their destination. It was an old building on the outskirts of the town, which used to be a bar until the owners left town in search of new business. Once they had reached the building that Neon was in, they went over the plan again. A simple 'Get in, stop Neon and save anypony in danger' plan.

With the princess in the lead, they trotted up to the door and readied themselves to face down Neon. The princess reached out a hoof and counted down. "3, 2, 1, go."

With that, the princess bashed down the door with her hoof and the group huddled inside. The princess was ready with an offensive spell that she was saving up for Neon. Once they got into the bar they had a look around for any danger that might be present. Once the princess had given the all clear, the group had spread out to locate Neon and shout out if they saw him so that they could all take him on at once.

While everypony else had stayed on the ground floor, spreading out to the many different rooms, Rainbow had offered to check out the upstairs part of the building which had a single bedroom and an attic. She flew up the stairs, still spaced out, and went to check the bedroom first. She reached for the door handle and with a quick swipe of her hoof opened to door...

There, on the bed was Neon.

He was also coughing his lungs out. He was lying down on the bed coughing repeatedly into his hoof, which was slowly getting covered in blood. Rainbow knew that she was told to call out if she was to see anything, but... she just couldn't. She stood there in the doorway looking at the poor pony. She then came back to her senses and closed the door behind her.

She look over to Neon, who was still coughing repeatedly, and felt some sadness brewing up in her to see him like this. Granted she had only known him and seen him for a couple of conscious minutes, she felt like she knew the guy. She felt pitiful for him, and did the only thing she could. She trotted over to the bed which he lay in and placed a hoof on his back and started to gently rub it to try and calm him down. After a few seconds, his coughing died down to a unhealthy wheeze. He then sat up in the bed, much to Rainbow's surprise, and patted her on the back.

"Thanks for that. You have no idea how painful it is dying." Neon said, gratitude in his voice. "Well now, that only leaves one question. Why did you help me?"

Rainbow looked at him a little shocked, having just realised what she had done, and pondered the question 'Why did I do that?'. "I don't really know." She said honestly confused. "I guess I just couldn't sit by and watch you suffer."

"So that's what I was talking about..." Neon said to himself, but Rainbow still managed to here it.

"What are you talking about?"

"Long story. Anyway, shouldn't you tell your friends that I'm here and let them kill me or..."

Rainbow was shocked. "Why would they do that? We were only here to stop you from doing whatever it is you're doing."

"Is that what your princess told you?" Neon asked.

"Well, yes. But she would never lie about something like that."

"Well I beg to differ. Anyway, what's 'apparently' going to happen to me?"

"Well I guess we would just throw you in jail, but your not doing anything wrong so. I don't know, maybe a fine?" Rainbow said, still contemplating on what to do. "So, should I go tell them that your here or..."

At that moment the door opened to show a shocked and angry Celestia.

"Hey Celli, I was just talking to Rainbow and..." Neon didn't get to finish his sentence as he was flung into the wall with Celestia's magic and held in place. "Wow. Jumping the gun a little are we?" Neon said in a strained voice as the air, and blood, was pushed out of his lungs due to the force that was pushing him into the wall.

Rainbow stood by, once again, shocked by what was happening. Was the princess really going to kill him?

"Quiet, you foul beast. I am ending this once and for all!" Well, that answered Rainbow's question.

"NO! Princess wait!" Rainbow pleaded, which gained the alicorn's attention. "He's not doing anything wrong. He does not deserve this punishment!"

"He has threatened me, my sister and even you, Rainbow Dash! We must put a stop to him once and for all!"

She tightened her grip on him to make sure he was unable to move for her upcoming spell and lowered her horn so that is was facing Neon.

"Hey, Dash." Neon said, while still struggling to breath. "Don't forget to catch me."

Then the princess cast the same devastating spell that she had at the library. But this time it was at an immobile, exhausted Neon who had apparently no chance of escape.

Once the spell had ended, there was an unending smell of burnt fur and flesh in the room, and an ash pile where Neon had been held up against the wall. The princess looked smugly over the carnage, while Rainbow was horrified and for some reason, she felt lost.

That was when the rest of the girls had entered the room and seen the leftovers of what used to be Neon scattered on the ground. This shocked all the girls, but they realised that the princess had probably done it for a good reason.

Fluttershy was in tears once she had seen the remains and was completely horrified over his death, even if he had threatened her. Rarity looked somewhat relieved, but was still shocked because she had never had to deal with death before. Pinkie's hair went straight and her colours darkened when she saw the ash pile, she was really hoping to throw him a party when this was all over. Twilight had always stood by the princess and trusted that it was the right decision but still had her worries and doubts showing. Applejack, on the other hoof, took it pretty well and actually looked happily at his remains.

Rainbow though. Even though she was not crying or showing much emotion, was utterly devastated by his death. It was like a train hitting her. A feeling you would only get if someone close to you had died, like a brother or a best friend. Even though on the outside she looked emotionless, on the inside she was completely lost.

Princess Celestia was very happy to have finally be rid of this nuisance that was plaguing her land. She was actually quite happy to have vaporised him. The only problem with what she had done was the effect of death on her subjects. She might have been happy to have done that, but it still didn't mean that Twilight and her friends would be. She started to worry about the repercussions of her actions, especially for those viewing such an event.

She kept a straight face and in a motherly voice she said "Thank you all for helping me overcome this nuisance, I would like you too all go home and rest now, today has been a busy day for all of us."

"But princess..." Twilight began only to be cut off almost instantly.

"Not now Twilight. We must all get a good rest and we will speak more on this tomorrow. I will be coming back tomorrow at midday to assess the damage that has been caused to the library and I would like to speak to you all then."

"Yes princess." Twilight said somewhat dejectedly.

"Good, now. I want you all to get a good night's rest and I will ask Luna to watch over your dreams, just in case that monster has done anything to scare or traumatize you." The princess said, walking out of the room with all the girls following behind. Some better than others.

The princess then took off towards Canterlot and teleported back to her room.

"Finally got rid of that pest." Celestia muttered harshly. "Well, now to get on with my royal duties."

Celestia began walking out towards her sister's room to make sure that the elements were not haunted in their dreams by the memory of that being.

Rainbow had been in a torrent of emotions ever since leaving the bar where Neon was, or wasn't, killed by the princess. She had opted to fly around for the rest of the day, practicing her tricks to give her time to think on what had just happened.

After two hours of practice without finding an answer to anything, she began to feel her body tiring from the emotional train wreck and physical exhaustion of flying for hours. She decided to take a break and just nap on a cloud for the rest of the day.

The streets of ponyville were all happy and lively, ignorant to what had just happened in their humble little town. Rainbow watched in envy of them. She was jealous of them not knowing what had happened just hours before, what she and her friends had gone through. She was jealous of their happiness while she was plagued with sadness. But most of all, she was jealous of their freedom. She wanted the freedom to do what she wanted when she wanted back in her life. After what had happened, she just felt like she was locked away. Like she was just half of a whole. She had never felt so empty in her life... she had never felt so lost.

Rainbow had spent the rest of that day just napping on the clouds, trying to sleep off her jumbled feelings.

She had flown home when it had become dark and landed on her cloud lawn. She trotted across the cloud layer towards her front door. Once she had reached the door ,she looked up at her looming home, still wondering why she she was like this. After a minute of just staring at her house she finally snapped out of her stupor and opened the door.

Lying on her couch was a extremely singed, unconscious pegasus.

She instantly flew over to get a better look at who it was. From closer up she was able to see that it was a grey, male pegasus. 'Wait. Why is this familiar?' she thought to herself while still fly towards her target. Once she had reached the couch she was able to get a much better look at him, and recognized him immediately.

"NEON!" She shouted as she started to try and shake him awake.

He started to stir, and finally opened one eye and looked around. Then his eye finally stopped at Rainbow who was currently about to break into tears. "Pain."

"I know, I know! Don't worry! I will go get help!" Rainbow said in panic mode. She was just about to fly of but stopped when a hoof landed on her shoulder.

"Wait..." Neon said as he held her back. "Don't worry, I can fix myself up." His voice was weak and almost completely gone.

Rainbow was confused by what he had said, but knew that he could do most things others cannot. So she stood there looking over him seeing the damage that had been done.

"Well well well." Rainbow heard coming from the other room. "What have I done to myself this time." Said another Neon that looked completely fine and healthy except for a few scars that covered his body.

"WHAT?"