Feathers

by pendrake

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Sad, Other, Scootaloo
Length: 2300

One day in Equestria, the brightest rainbow ever recorded arced over Ponyville. Cloudsdale felt nothing but shame.

After a stunt costs Rainbow Dash her life, Scootaloo goes to Cloudsdale for a final goodbye, but a stumble has her saying hello. Scootaloo is overjoyed to see her hero again...
But nopony can convince her that she's dead.
Please note that every few chapters the story switches to Surprise's (Surprise is a character in this story, based on the concept of Pinkie Pie) POV, but it's majorly in Scootaloo's POV. You'll be able to tell if it has 'Surprise:' in front of it.

Published 2014-01-18 15:40:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-18 15:40:03 UTC

The Stunt

This would have been one of the greatest days of my life. Rainbow Dash was flying in her own stunt show, and I had a backstage pass. The sky was a little clouded but at the moment, nopony was thinking much about that. Turns out we should have been.
It was time for the grand finale. A Sonic Rainboom, of course. It was Dash's best move. The sky was even cloudier, and the clouds were getting dark, but Dash wouldn't let them cancel the show at her greatest moment. She flew higher and faster, faster and higher, and then she was full speed, above the clouds where nopony could see her. Then, as she rocketed down, the clouds decided that this would be her last Rainboom. Lightning bolts struck her, and she plummeted.

She hit the ground hard. The cheering crowd silenced. After she didn't get up for a full minute, some ponies came to check on her. They thought it was just a crash. She would walk away with a few broken bones, be in the hospital for a few weeks, then be back to her old self. That was what they hoped.
That was what I hoped.

Dash's funeral was a few days later. It was the worst day of my life. Afterwards, an old guy came over to me. He invited me to the weather factory in Cloudsdale to say my last goodbyes to Rainbow Dash. At the time, I had no idea what that meant. I soon found out.

Surprise: The Brightest

We were hesitant to release the rainbow that Scootaloo had fell into, but feathers were becoming scarce, and Equestria was counting on us. The next day, after a rainstorm, we let it loose.
The reporters called it the brightest rainbow in Equestria's history, shining clearly through day and night. They talked about how proud Cloudsdale must be. But we weren't proud. To us, that rainbow was a colorful streak of shame.
I've been told that during the early days of the factory, when we didn't have the greatest safety procedures, it wasn't all that rare for a pony to fall in, but then we could still get feathers easily, so we just dumped them out. But fillies never fell in. It was horrible. Scootaloo had her whole life ahead of her, she didn't even have her Cutie Mark yet. The entire factory took a vow to never let anypony see the creation of rainbows again. We would do it strictly with machines, and monitor it from a distance. I knew it was needed, but it felt horrible.
One night, before closing time, I went to check on the room. The door was left unlocked, so I stepped inside. The gigantic machine ruined what was once a beautiful room. The moonlight didn't shine in anymore, but the pool still shimmered. I looked at my reflection hesitantly.
'No, not now.'
I walked out of the room and headed home, The Brightest still shimmering in the night sky.

Paradise

"What do you mean, Dash?" I asked as Rainbow Dash finally stopped hugging me. Her face was tear streaked.
"You can't...You just can't be here," Dash flew away.
I didn't understand. Who would? My hero just gave me a hug, cried a lot, and then abandoned me after saying I couldn't be wherever we were. It was an all-around strange moment.
Left to my own device, I decided to walk around. I couldn't understand why Rainbow Dash said I shouldn't be here. Everything seemed so happy. I saw ponies meeting their parents who they must have not seen in years, and a giant feast that seemed to have never-ending food, and the clouds were so soft that I could have fallen asleep right there. And the sunshine was so bright. It almost seemed like it would always be that bright. It felt like paradise.
'This is paradise,' I decided. I didn't know why I was here, but I didn't care. Who in their right mind would turn down paradise?
Eventually, I did.

You Must Be Scootaloo

It was the day after I'd arrived in this weird place. Everything was perfect as before, but something few felt wrong.
That's when I decided I was going home. The gate had disappeared, but maybe it was just far away. I could get to it.

I really tried, but the gate never appeared and none of the other ponies had gone here. I was alone.
For a few moments anyways.
"Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash ran after me.
"Oh, hey Rainbow Dash," I said. "Do you think you know the way out?"
"Scootaloo, there is no way out," Dash said. "It'll just go on forever. I'm sorry, but you have to stay here."
"But I've gotta go home."
"This is home. I wish it wasn't, but it is."
"But what about that guy in the white suit? Where'd he go?" I asked worriedly.
"Scootaloo, I don't know everything," Dash turned away.

I continued on.
Rainbow Dash was right, it really did seem to go on forever. I was tired beyond belief when I finally found another pony. They were tall, with thin legs that I soon realized were skeletal. They wore a black hood that hid their face, so I couldn't tell if their face was skeletal as well.
They looked at me.
I walked up to them. Despite their skeletal-ness, they didn't seem too bad.
"Hey there! Who are you?"
They didn't answer me, but started walking away.
I followed.

I had been following the skeleton pony for hours, and it finally paid off. I'd found the gate.
I tried to push it open, but it was stuck. The empty clouds behind me turned back into a town, but you couldn't dare me to go back.
The white unicorn on the other side of the gate looked at me.
"Hey! Do you think you could open this?"
"What?"
"Open this gate! Please?"
"No."
"Why not?"
The unicorn walked away.
That's when I realized the skeleton pony was still next to me. It couldn't talk, but it hissed at the unicorn.
"Okay, I'll do it, I'll do it!" The unicorn started fumbling with the lock and eventually it creaked open. "Why you would ever want to go back is beyond me."
I looked back. "Rainbow Dash!"
She walked up to me without saying anything and stared at the gate.
"Come back with me."
Rainbow Dash didn't say anything. She looked at the gate, and then the town, and then me, and then the gate, and then the town, and it continued on for a few seconds like that. She finally stepped back.
"No."
That was all she said. I tried to ask why, but she didn't say another word. So I went through that gate alone. More clouds, but I kept going. Ponies from the weather factory started to form around me, until I'd left paradise behind...
And came to a place much better.
"Ditzy Doo, make sure that grinder is off before you move it!"
"Uh, where's the button?"
The workers were disassembling some machine that wasn't here before. One of the workers turned to me.
"You must be Scootaloo."

Surprise: Epilogue

I woke up in a white room in front of a white unicorn with a white mane wearing a white suit sat at a white desk. He was staring at the gate behind him.
"Go ahead," He muttered. "Just don't leave."
"Trust me," I looked at the gate. "I won't."
I walked up to the gate, which creaked open in front of me.
'I don't deserve this.' But I walked through the gate anyway. And as I looked at my new home, I realized that I did deserve it.
After I died, I don't think Cloudsdale was nearly as ashamed anymore.

Keepsake

I stood outside the weather factory nervously for a few minutes, then I finally entered the waiting room. A white pegasus with a poofy yellow mane that reminded me of Pinkie Pie stepped outside of a door in the back of the room, individual feathers of all different colors clinging to her fur and mane.
"Ah, you must be Scootaloo. Nice to meet you. I'm Surprise," She said, brushing a purple feather off her mane. "Please come with me."
I was fitted with a worker's suit and hat that were two sizes too big for me. Looking back, I guess they weren't accommodated for fillies at the factory. Surprise led me to a pool of what looked like clear water. A few other workers stood around it, holding a giant bucket of pegasus feathers. They dumped them down onto the ground.
"What are they doing?"
"This is how we make the rainbows." One of the workers answered,
"With feathers?" I was shocked. "But you'll leave a bunch of pegasi flightless!"
"No, Scootaloo," Surprise said, picking another feather out of her mane and letting it drop into the pile. "The pegasi who these feathers belonged to are already dead. We have you here so you can see Rainbow Dash's last triumph."
At that moment, I recognized a bunch of light blue feathers as Rainbow Dash's. I paused for a moment. "Do you think I could...Do you think I could keep one?"
"No. We need all the feathers we can get. I'm sorry," Another worker said.
Some workers started slowly flapping their wings, and feathers flew from the pile into the water. I tried to reach for the pool.
"Scootaloo! That's not water!" Surprise yelled. I stepped back and looked to a flying blue feather. I jumped for it, and stepped back, not realizing I was on the edge of the pool. I caught it.
"I got it!"
I stumbled backwards.
"Scootaloo!"
I didn't feel a thing as my vision faded, my last thoughts being focused on the feather.

Welcome

I woke up in a shiny white room, with a few old ponies and some younger ones around me. A white male unicorn with a white mane wearing a white suit sat at a white desk looking over white papers. I walked up to him.
"Uh, mister?"
He looked up like he was surprised, then looked sad. "Oh...Hello there. You must be Scootaloo."
"That's me! How did you know?"
"Let's just say...I've been expecting you," He turned to big white gates behind him. "Go through there."
I walked in front of them and they creaked open. I stepped into what I was sure was Cloudsdale, only it seemed bigger and I couldn't see the weather factory.
'How'd I get here anyways?' I shrugged it off. It felt like ancient history now.
Another difference was that earth ponies and unicorns were walking around, as well as pegasi. It could be that Twilight used a spell to send them up, but I couldn't think of a reason why she would have. I finally came to the conclusion that I was not in Cloudsdale, but not once did I think of where it actually was after that. Mostly because I was distracted.

There was no mistaking that blue coat and rainbow mane. Rainbow Dash was here with me, alive as can be. She had a long white dress on, and I suddenly realized I was wearing one too. She seemed so happy for some reason, though back then, I couldn't figure out why. All of her friends thought she was dead, and she was up in the clouds, being happy? Looking back, it's amazing I hadn't realized sooner. I ran up to her.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" I yelled out.
"Scootaloo?" Rainbow Dash turned to see me, and she seemed to be on the brink of tears all of a sudden. She grabbed me and hugged me really tight. "Why? Why are you here?"
"Uh, I dunno," I shrugged.
Dash hugged me tighter. "You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be here."

Surprise: Grinder

The Brightest had gone away, but the shame stayed. In our shame, we did away with the feather-dissolving chemical altogether and upgraded the machine. Now it just grinded the feathers away until they were nothing but colorful goop, which it would turn into rainbows. All of the tradition and meaning in rainbows were gone, and they would never be as bright as they once were. The room that once held so much beauty was just a factory now. Dark and lifeless, and there would be no final triumph for the dead pegasi. It would just be more shame.
Only a few workers knew the code to enter this room through it's thick metal door. I was one of them. It was closing time when I entered that room for the last time. Everypony expected me to go home and continue on in my shameful life.
But I wouldn't.
Looking at the grinder, I mentally kicked myself for not just doing it when we still had the chemical. At least then it wouldn't hurt. But I already hurt. Scootaloo didn't deserve to die.
We should have let her keep a feather.
To Tartarus with the rainbows. To Tartarus with the feather shortage. None of this would have happened if Scootaloo had just gotten a feather when she asked.
If Scootaloo could make The Brightest, I could do it too.
So I turned the machine on.
For a moment I regretted it, but as I stepped inside, I realized that my life didn't matter. I didn't have anypony who would miss me. I'd hit a dead end. I'd gotten a job in a place where I never got to use my talents. My life was over, but Scootaloo's wasn't.
All I could see was my own blood and bones being churned around me, and the pain was unbearable, but the shame was finally gone.