My Little RockStar

Well, Hello Again! It was a busy weekend, Had to go kick some flank in Track and Field. Plus, got my birthday tomorrow! (Yeah, that right, my birthday's on Winter Wrap Up, you jelly?) Can't wrap up anything here though, just got a foot of fresh snow in colorado. Enjoy the chapter, I'm going skiing!

The sun was starting to rise again, and everypony in Manehatten had just started to awaken from their dream filled sleep. Well, everypony except for Rainbow Dash, who was forced to listen to her captors have some “horse play,” all night. She had not managed to sleep, but was able to shut off her mind off when her whole body had finally went numb from sitting down for too long. Her mind wanted to stay strong, but her body was too weak to hold on any more. Going without food or water for hours had taken its toll on the poor pony, and she wished she could just go back to her house in the clouds and rest. Thinking about that stuff just made it hurt worse, so Rainbow turned her mind off, and slowly breathed in and out of the small paper bag that was on top of her head.

After so many hours of breathing in and out of the paper bag, the condensation of Rainbow’s breath had begun to weaken the frail paper, which slowly started to disintegrate with every breath Rainbow took.

The feeling of soaking wet paper sliding down her chest was what finally snapped Rainbow Dash out of her thoughtless state. She quickly opened her eyes, only to have them seal shut from the light of the room. Through many tears, Rainbow let her eyes adjust to the light, and she carefully looked around the room she was being held in, making sure that no detail was overlooked.

The room itself was actually quite dim, but after being subjected to complete darkness for so long, even the smallest amount of light flickering in from the small window was enough to cause discomfort.

Rainbow scanned each corner of the room, taking in every smell and sight she could, trying to find out more information about her current residence. The small room still smelled like rotten food and mildew, and after looking at the condition of the room, Rainbow could understand why.

The remnants of old wall paper drooped down the walls, being torn every few feet, while the underlying wood was stained dark brown, with rat droppings.

Rainbow looked up to the one source of light in the room, which was a small, two foot long window than ran along the upper edge of the ceiling.

“Ok,” Rainbow thought to herself. “I’m obviously underground, and in some sort of run down basement. That much is painfully clear.”

She turned her attention to a small door at the far end of the room. It too had a small amount of light pouring out from underneath it. Rainbow would have previously thought that the door led directly to the outside world, but she knew from prior experiences that there must be another room attached.

Just as she thought about the ropes that kept her bound to the chair, she once again heard the sound of hoof steps from the other room.

“So let’s go over the plan once more,” said the mare, who still spoke as if she had sand paper in her throat.

“We’re going to go to Reverb’s place very calm, and very collected, tell him what we want, and that if he doesn't work with us, than we pull out the little one, and that’s sure to make him snap.” The stallion said with an intimidating voice.

“Hahahaha, that was always Reverb’s problem wasn't it, always getting all worked up over some stupid pony that was close to him,” the mare replied.

Rainbow was beyond furious that the two were planning on using her for collateral for what was most likely some drug deal. After being alone with her thoughts for so long, she had convinced herself that whoever Reverb was, he must be a friend, and not an enemy.

Rainbow sat patiently in her chair, waiting for the two to leave so she could try and get herself out of her restraints, but something much more unexpected happened.

She heard the sound of a dead bolt being unlocked and watched as a frail, and malnourished mare walked in to her room.

The mares eyes froze when she realized that Rainbow’s bag had come off of her head. The mare had a short, unkempt rainbow mane and cyan blue coat, exactly the same as Rainbow did.

The mare in the door way continued to look back at Rainbow, who was now trembling with a mixture or fear, hate, and confusion.

“Oh, shit,” was the only thing the mare at the opposite end of the room could utter. Rainbow heard the sound of the stallion getting up off of the couch and walking over to the door way.

“What the hell are you carrying on about over there,” he said with a grunt. Before he could get a reply, he too was staring at Rainbow Dash who once again had to hold back her screams. The stallion was the same one that had assaulted her in the alleyway two nights ago. That same stallion with the cyan blue coat and the rainbow mane.

It was like Rainbow was looking at her future self, only this future self had been turned into a pathetic druggie.

Rainbow couldn't hold it back any longer, she locked eyes with both of the ponies in front of her, and with tears in her eyes yelled, “Who the fuck are you? And why the hell do you look like I do!?”

The stallion looked over to the rainbow mare and whispered, “Oh shit is right.”

*-----------------*

Paper Back had talked to the girls for most of the night, making any sleep that they received quite restless. After hearing the news about Rainbow’s parents, all five of the girls had some sort of bad dream or nightmare that revolved around Rainbow Dash. Now that morning had come, all of them went from being worried to frantic, wondering where there friend could have went off too.

Each of them pleaded with Paper Back, asking him if he knew any places where Rainbow might have gone and visited, but he couldn't think of anything. The fact that Rainbow didn’t have any friends while she was growing up eliminated the idea that she may have gone and visited an old classmate. Paper Back also assured the girls that Rainbow would defiantly not go to her old piano tutor’s house, because Rainbow Dash hated everything about that pony. There just didn’t seem to be any logical idea as to where she would have run off to.

While the rest of the girls tried to come up with a location, Twilight politely asked where the bathroom was. Paper Back pointed his hoof toward the stairwell, and gestured that it was upstairs. Not wanting to be a burden to anypony, Twilight silently walked up the stairs alone.

Finding the bathroom was easy, but as Twilight went to shut the door behind her, she noticed a bright blue room down the hall. Twilight knew it was rude to just go exploring through somepony’s house, but her normal guilty conscience didn’t seem to mind.

Twilight pushed the door open slowly and was greeted by a small, cyan blue room with rainbow trim. There were numerous Wonderbolt posters, as well as numerous rock bands that Twilight was familiar with.
Something about the color scheme of the room made Twilight’s head have to slow down and think, but nothing clicked. She shrugged it off and continued to look around the room.

Twilight had come to the conclusion that this must have been Rainbow Dash’s old bedroom, and it still retained its cute charm. There were stuffed animals neatly lined up on the edge of her bed, and a closet full of small dresses that Rainbow must have worn when she was just a little filly.

While Twilight was browsing Rainbow’s old wardrobe, her eyes caught a glance of a large cardboard box on the floor. Twilight pulled it out to further examine its contents. She smiled as she realized this was eerily similar to the way Rainbow had found the small acoustic guitar in her own closet back at the library.

A healthy layer of dust had accumulated on the old box, but Twilight blew it all off with a blow. There was a faded label written in sharpie that said, “Rainbow’s Records, Don’t touch!”

The hoof writing was incredibly poor, which made Twilight giggle as she thought of the warning as a mere fillies way of putting her claim on her stuff.

Inside the box were numerous records which were still in their original sleeves, in alphabetical order. Twilight had recognized most of the albums, reading them to herself as se flipped through them one, by one.
“Lets see, Alice Cooper, Bad Company, The Beatles, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac.” Twilight read out each one to her self, until she had finally neared the end of the records.

“Simon and Garfunkel, Steve Miller Band, Van Halen, and last but not least,” Twilight froze at the last record. She trembled slightly as she pulled it out of the box.

“Tommy,” she whispered to herself. “By the Who.” Twilight suddenly came to the realization that they never mentioned the record store and the other pony to Paper Back. They had become so absorbed by his story last night, that they all had forgotten to bring it up.

With the record in hoof Twilight ran down the stairs to see Paper Back and the girls still trying to pin point Rainbow’s location.

Paper Back was the first to notice Twilight frantically running down the stairs. “Twilight, what are you doing? Why on Equestria are you holding Rainbow’s reco…” Paper Back had also stopped in mid sentence.

“I know where Rainbow is!” Twilight yelled to the group, who had also recognized the infamous record that Rainbow had brought up in her story. “She must be at that record store she mentioned in her story.”

Paper Back understood what Twilight’s logic was, but was still wondering how she knew about the record. Luckily, Twilight had picked up on his confusion, and was more than happy to explain it to him.

“Paper Back,” Twilight asked. “Do you remember the day a large, fairly intimidating pony brought Rainbow home, and gave her this very record that I am holding in my hoof?”

“Quite well actually, Paper Back replied. “I seem to recall a large brown pegasus pony covered in tattoos had walked her home from his store, and told me to buy Rainbow a guitar. At first I prepared to call the police, but I realized that he meant no harm, and his idea about the guitar actually was a perfect one.”

“Do you remember where his store was?” Twilight asked, getting more and more excited. This whole ordeal was actually starting to become one big mystery for Twilight, and those were her favorite type of novel.

“Sadly I can’t say I remember off the top of my head,” replied Paper Back with a solemn tone of voice. “But I believe that if we walk down to city center, it would be relatively easy to find the address.”

It seemed like their best plan of action, so all the girls agreed to follow Paper Back to the city center and look up the business. Paper Back had offered to call a cab, but the girls insisted they all walk, in case they saw the store on the way. It seemed like a logical idea so Paper Back led the girls toward downtown.

*------------*

Rainbow’s eyes were still fixed upon her captors as they each stared into each others violet colored eyes.
“Hey! I said who the fuck are you?!” Rainbow screamed again, and much to her surprise, the two cyan blue ponies cowered for a moment, but quickly regained their composure.

The stallion walked up to Rainbow Dash and raised his hoof above her head, quickly bringing it back down, but stopping just inches away from her shaking skull.

“I’m going to be the one asking the questions here, and if you want to keep that pretty face of yours, I suggest you shut the fuck up.”

His voice was calm and collected, but still had a sternness that made Rainbow comply.

“First off,” the stallion began. “How the hell did you find Reverb, and why are you helping him!”

“I don’t know what your talking about!” Rainbow yelled. “I don’t even know who Reverb is!”

The stallion didn’t buy it, and gave Rainbow a swift back hoof across the face. “Don’t play me for a fool, I know that your up to something. What’s the deal? You and Reverb suddenly want revenge or some shit? We fucked up, we know that, but life's full of fuck ups, so why are your getting worked up about something your can’t even remember!”

“I still don’t know what your talking about,” Rainbow wheezed. Once again the stallion struck her face, this time cutting her cheek open.

“YOU’RE A FUCKING LIAR, I KNOW IT!” the stallion yelled getting down to eye level with Rainbow Dash. He started to sound possessed, like some evil creature was talking through him.

“He got in your head didn’t he, made you go mad with anger. He knew he could twist your weak little fucking mind, and make you work for him, just so he could get his revenge. He doesn't care about you, you know. He’s just using you to so he can finally get us.”

He stood back up and cracked his neck. “Well,” he whispered in her ear, “It isn’t going to work.”

The stallion shifted back toward Rainbow Dash who now had a mouth full of blood and was looking at her right in the eyes, only inches away from her face.

Rainbow spit right in his face and muttered, “Fuck you scumbag.”

*----------*

It only took a few minutes for the Paper Back and the girls to walk to the city center, and luckily, the store was still in the city records. They had received the address, and started the walk.

The store was in a very poverty stricken part of town, which made each of the girls, except for Pinkie of course, incredibly nervous.

“Why did we have to take this disgusting alleyway?” whined Rarity, but Applejack quickly put her hoof in Rarity’s mouth.

“This disgusting alleyway might be some low life's house,” Applejack whispered. “So I suggest you shut your trap before we draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves.”

Applejack was right about this one. There were several ponies in the dark alleyway that were glaring at each of the girls, but luckily Paper Back was there to keep an eye on the them. He was wearing a suit, but Paper Back was still fairly larger than your average pony, and after a quick flap of his wings, the low lifes went back to sulking in the darkness.

The walk couldn't have ended sooner, because Rarity was finding in increasingly difficult to try and contain her displeasure. They had finally reached the small record store, and the girls could see why Rainbow had been so drawn into the place back when she was young. The cyan blue paint had faded from all the years in the sunlight, but the rainbow trim still shined brightly against the contrast of the dark alley.

“Well if this ain’t the place then I reckon we ought to give up,” Applejack said with pride in her voice. Paper Back responded with a simple nod and walked to the door.

A small bell rang as Paper Back pushed the door open, holding it for the rest of the group. The store had a distinct smell of bath soap and cardboard. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it didn't smell like a garden either.

All of the girls quickly split up to try and search the store for Rainbow Dash, but there wasn't any sign of her. The girls all met back at the door and prepared to leave when they heard a pony coming out from behind a door by the cash register.

Thinking it might have been Rainbow, they all turned quickly, but frowned when it was just the store owner.
There frowns quickly turned into smiles as they recognized the pony from Rainbow’s story. It was the same brown, tattooed pegasus that Rainbow had mentioned. He looked like he was older than all the girls, but still had a young presence, even with his large size and build.

“Can I help you all with something?” the manager asked in a friendly, non threatening tone. This took all of them by surprise, but Twilight realized she was being rude just starring so she quickly responded.

“Oh, no, well maybe, we were looking for our friend, and she came here once when she was just a filly, so we were hoping we might find her here, but,” Twilight lowered her head to show her dissatisfaction.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you out there, I barely see any customers in here, and I don’t remember any fillies coming here recently.”

“Oh no,” Twilight replied. “She isn't a filly any more, she’s a young mare, but she had mentioned this place to us, back when she was re-accounting her life in Manehatten.”

The store owner placed his hoof on his chin and began to think. “Hmmm, still can’t think of anything, what was her name, maybe that will spark my memory. Oh, where are my manners.”

The store owner walked out from behind the counter and stuck his hoof out at the girls.

“The name’s Reverb, so what was that friend of yours name again? All of them froze.

Applejack whispered, “Did...did…did you just say your name was...Re....Reverb?”

“Sure did, so what’s the problem, you guys look like you just saw a ghost or something?” Paper Back slowly motioned for the girls to step back. The store owner looked nice, but if this was the Reverb that he knew, then he knew that this pony could have some tricks up his sleeves.

Paper Back was getting ready to talk to him, when Pinkie yelled, “Ohh, ohh, it’s Reverb, that means he has to know where Rainbow is!”

Reverb looked at Pinkie with a smile, “Sorry, but I don’t think I’ve met you before, why would I know your friend?”

Paper Back walked up to Reverb, “You’re from Cloudsdale are you not?” Paper Back sounded stern, and assertive.

“Um, yeah, haha a lot of pegasus are, good guess.” Reverb was starting to feel a bit weird about the way the situation was unfolding. Paper Back continued his attack.

“Your parents were evil people, they beat you, and made you suffer, until one day you escaped, and you parents were taken away.”

“That’s privet, and I’m going to have to ask you to leave my store right now sir.” Reverb said as he began to sweat and back away from Paper Back, who refused to let the space between the two increase.

“They were drug addicts, abusers, evil ponies who should have never walked on the face of Equestria, but one day they got what they deserved, they went to jail, well at least your father did. Your mother escaped after giving birth to your sister. My daughter.”

Reverb had finally frozen in place. Trying to speak, but the words could not come out of his mouth.

“Where is Rainbow Dash!?” Paper Back yelled, getting face to face with Reverb, who was sweating bullets.

“How long have you been following her, just waiting to snatch her up? Is that it? Well your bullshit is done, tell me where Rainbow Dash is right now, or else you’re dead!”

“I...I... I don’t who you’re talking about,” Reverb wheezed. “Who’s Rainbow Dash?” Paper Back had backed off the slightest bit, but was still only inches away from Reverb’s face.

“You’re not a good liar you know, now tell me what the hell is going on here, or else you’re going to be sorry.

Reverb summoned the courage to walk around Paper Back and locked the door. “Please take a seat, this is going to be a bit of a shock.”