Scootaloo didn't know what happened. Her whole world, her entire focus narrowed down to nothing but an all consuming, blinding...Rage
She had never felt so angry in her entire life. She was tired of the constant digs, and blatant disobedience from her hot-headed older sister.
The verbal argument had quickly developed into a physical fight. Rainbow threw the first punch just as Scootaloo was turning away, tired and disappointed with her adopted sibling, and not wanting to give into Rainbow Dash's baiting.
But then Rainbow's hoof had connected to Scootaloo's jaw, hard enough that her head whipped around and she momentarily lost her balance. At this point, Scootaloo lost the inner struggle she had with the remaining, frayed with threads of her temper.
At that moment, she wanted to hurt Rainbow Dash. She wanted to hurt her to teach her a lesson of respect, but it was more than that. She wanted to hurt her that Rainbow Dash would know how much her sister's anger and hatred towards her hurt.
Scootaloo wanted Rainbow Dash to understand that each broken curfew, each childish tirade, each temper tantrum, and each and every single harsh, disappointing word and look, cut deeply into Scootaloo's very soul.
Her blade slid free of it's sheathes, dancing and twirling; a beautiful, graceful, elegant symphony of polished steel, and toned, lithe muscles moving in concert for the purpose of injury, deadly or otherwise.
Her mind swirled with red tinted rage, her lips pulled back into a feral snarl as steel repeatedly struck wings, and flesh connected with flesh. Neither gave in, each pushing forward heedless of the consequences.
At that moment, Scootaloo felt as if she perhaps hated Rainbow Dash as much as Rainbow hated her. She briefly wondered if she could love someone as much as she could hate them.
Adrenalin pumped fiercely through Scootaloo's body, her breathing heavy and rapid. Her muscles began to burn, her blade growing heavy as sweat began to trickle uncomfortably down her brow and neck.
Her entire focus was concentrated on breaking through her sister's defenses, but Rainbow gave as good as she got. Grunts, snarls, curses, the ringing of metal and the sound of flesh striking flesh reverberated around them.
Her steady, furious black eyed gaze bore into Rainbow's magenta, rage filled eyes. Scootaloo could see her own death in her sister's eyes, and instead of shocking her, or causing her to draw back in horror, to cease her ever more furious and aggressive attacks upon her sister, it only seemed to spur her forward with an even greater vicious violence.
Something suddenly changed in the air, as if lightning had struck and there was a great release of crackling energy; full of intent and purpose.
Rainbow Dash blinked.
Scootaloo realized that after staring into the dark and gaping abyss that had somehow formed between she and her sister, that it was Rainbow Dash who had to turn away.
This was all the encouragement Scootaloo needed. Her sister left an opening in her defenses and Scootaloo took full advantage of it. She struck with brutal swiftness and was merciless in her attack.
Her hoof slammed into her sister's stomach, and there was the distinctive crack of bone breaking as she followed through her assault. Rainbow stumbled backwards, her body hunched as she instinctively tried to protect her broken ribs, her guard up, anger etched into every line of her face as Scootaloo loomed over her. Scootaloo lunged forward, blinded by Rage; that dark, taunting emotion that whispered silkily through her mind urging her forward. She struck out with her blade, Rainbow's hooves raised against the attack, steel striking against flesh and holding just for a moment.
Time slowed to crawl, yet somehow, managed to speed up at the same instant. Rainbow's wings held back her katana blade, but Scootaloo was too consumed by fury to stop and instead pushing her strength against her sister's and her sword slid forward with the scream of metal against flesh.
The air stilled, Scootaloo's gasp of horror filling the sewers as Rainbow stumbled back. Her sister's body hit the ground, her hoof quickly going to her throat, trying to stem the dark crimson tide that slowed down in ghastly contrast against her sister's blue coat.
Scootaloo blinked staring at the end of her beloved katana blade, now strained with bright red accusation.
She didn't know how long she stood there, her mind too shocked to even process what had just happened, let alone what she had just done. It was as if her mind was stuck within a loop of time, or just outside it. She could see her every move, her every action with crystal clarity, and she could see that there had been so many different choices she could have made, and yet she had chosen the most horrible, vicious, unforgivable one.
She forced her eyes past her blade and realized that she was alone; Rainbow Dash was gone. She shook herself from her stupor and stumbled forward a few steps. She sheathed her sword and bent down, picking up her sister's abandoned feathers from her wing that have fallen off. She straightened, sliding her feathers through her mane before she ran from the sewers, following the trail of blood out into the slippery floor of the sewer where the drops of blood mysteriously stopped.
Scootaloo had by this time convinced herself that she hadn't actually sliced open her sister's throat. Rainbow Dash had just stormed off to get a band-aid for the nick Scootaloo had given her. She kept telling herself this over and over, even though her mind screamed at her in denial. She was a skilled swordsmare and had a strong inkling of just how badly she had injured her sister, and yet, she couldn't allow herself to accept that she had really performed such horrendous action against her own sister.
She ran to the abandoned Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse, believing that she would find Rainbow Dash in there, only Sweetie Belle wasn't there, she was at Rarity's house with Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo's vision grew dark around the edges, her breathing coming out in harsh gasps as she attempted to push the down the ball of panic that was rising in her. Her head swung around, looking for any evidence that Rainbow Dash had come into the clubhouse and found none.
She ran from the clubhouse and took the stairs two at a time rushing to Rainbow's house, throwing open the door because she knew that her sister had a first aid kit stashed beneath her bed. But Rainbow wasn't in her house. Scootaloo dove forward reaching her hooves beneath her sister's bed and found the first aid kit, fully stocked and untouched.
Scootaloo felt her heart clench in fear, her vision swimming alarmingly. She managed to stand up on her shaking legs and stumble from her sister's house, her gaze scanning the lower level desperately for any sign of her older sister. Her eyes then caught a smear of crimson upon a stone column leading out of her house.
Scootaloo leapt over her house and landed easily upon the the entrance of the sewers. She stood and ran towards the entrance of the sewer and found another smear of blood across the switch that opened the massive door that led to Rainbow's hiding spot.
She stared at the blood for a moment wondering why Rainbow Dash had run from the sewer instead of staying where Scootaloo could have helped her.
She opened the door to the hole and took two steps before stopping, her mind fraught with indecision.
How badly did I hurt her? Scootaloo wondered to herself even as her mind supplied her with the grisly answer. What she couldn't understand, was why Rainbow was running.
Did her sister hate her that much that she would rather die than have her near? She questioned as she forced her hooves forward.
Every moment she wasted, the likelihood of Rainbow dying from her injury increased. She was trying not to think about the fact that she was the one who had given Rainbow that grievous injury to begin with. Because if she thought about that, she wouldn't be able to function. The horror would swallow her whole and she would curl into the fetal position, unable to do even the slightest thing for her sister.
Her sister whom she may have mortally wounded.
She forced her legs to move faster, driving herself deeper and deeper within the twisting labyrinth of tunnels that made up Ponyville's sewer system.
There were droplets of blood that weaved and trailed along the ground, until finally the trail vanished as the water level in the tunnel rose.
She stopped and looked around desperately. She wanted to shout her sister's name but the thought that Rainbow Dash had run because she was scared of what Scoots would do to her -that her sister feared her- stopped the words in her throat.
She swallowed roughly and tried to listen; her frantic heartbeat and the rush of blood through her ears, coupled with her heavy breathing was making it hard to hear any other sounds.
She took a deep, steadying breath and wiped the hot tears away from her cold cheeks, her vision blurring. She desperately turned her head trying to catch even the slightest hint of noise.
She heard something then; the faint splash of hooves hitting water and Scootaloo ran, following the faint sound. Unfortunately, her own movements were drowning out the sound she was trying to follow.
She snaked her way through the dimly lit tunnels, a smear of bright red crimson blood, shining like a grotesque beacon across the wall, showed her the direction her sister had gone. Scootaloo ran faster, her eyes anxiously scanning for her injured sister. A noise echoed through the tunnel and stopped Scootaloo dead in her tracks. She spun around in a circle, trying to locate where the sound had come from.
She held her breath and listened again. She heard the faint scrape of something, almost a crash followed by a cry of pain.
Scootaloo ran back the way she had come, wondering if her sister had doubled back to throw her off her trail.
Are you really scared of me, Dash?
Scootaloo wiped more tears from her eyes with the back of her right hoof. There was another noise and Scootaloo steered herself down a narrow side tunnel. It was darker than the main tunnel, the inky blackness devouring her whole.
There was a faint whisper of a snarl coming from down the tunnel. Scootaloo was able to get her sister's name past her lips. Her hoof struck air and she slid down an embankment of some sort.
She hit the bottom, but was able to maintain her footing, at least for a moment, until she saw the frighteningly still figure of her sister, slumped up against the wall of the circular muddy hole they were both in.
Scootaloo felt to her knees in front of her sister, Rainbow's eyes were glassy and stared straight ahead; unseeing. Her lips were a shade of blue-green, her face pale and drawn, her body drenched in wet crimson horror.
Scootaloo shook her head from side to side in disbelieving horror. She knew that Rainbow Dash was gone. She knew that her sister was dead, and yet she still reached out towards her sister's throat, desperately seeking a pulse she knew would never find.
Her hooves touched cooling flesh and felt nothing; no movement, the only breathing was her own. Scootaloo let out a choked cry of anguish as she closed her sister's sightless eyes before gathering Rainbow Dash up onto her back and crying out. Her mind and voice screamed into the inky void that surrounded them: Why?
Why had Rainbow Dash run? Why had they fought so brutally and so viciously in the first place? Why did her sister have to die? Why did she kill her sister; her own flesh and blood?
She had sworn an oath to her dying parents that she would protect her loved ones with her life, and instead of protecting Rainbow's life, she had taken it, without a single thought.
She could have attacked differently, she knew she could have, instead she had -like a vicious animal- gone straight for the throat, a killing blow. One swift, skillful lunge with her blade and she had cut into her sister's jugular.
Scootaloo set Rainbow Dash down and buried her muzzle into her sisters throat and openly wept. She told her sister repeatedly she was sorry, so very sorry, asking her forgiveness over and over. She knew that her sister had probably hated her in the end; had probably feared the monster Scootaloo had become, but she told Rainbow that she loved her; that even though she hated her, Scootaloo loved her.
As she knelt in muddy filth, the cold from the stone leaching into her very bones, she couldn't fathom how she was going to move from the spot where her sister had breathed her last breath, lying in darkness, alone, in pain and betrayed by the sister she had trusted.
Black grief tore her soul to shreds.
It hurt.
She couldn't believe that her heart somehow still beat, because it was broken; shattered into a millions pieces that would never heal, never be whole again.
Ever.
In the moment of fury she had committed fratricide. She had always accused Rainbow of being a monster. Rainbow was the one who would always lash out unthinkingly and injure a loved one. But Rainbow wasn't the monster, she was.
Rainbow Dash had stopped.
In a moment of clarity, Rainbow realized what one of them was about to do. She had understood that they had both gone too far; had both slipped into some sick and twisted power struggle where only one could walk away alive. Rainbow tried to stop her purposefully by letting her guard down, and by pausing in her viscous attack. But Scootaloo's mind had not understood her sister's sudden capitulation, only seeing an opening -a weakness- and in response, she had struck with vicious and deadly intent.
She pulled away from her sister's neck, staring at the brutal gash she had sliced into her sister's throat. Scootaloo let out another choked sob of grief as her shaking hooves lightly traced the raw, open wound.
She had betrayed her sister in an unforgivable way, and that there was only one way to atone for what she had done. She gently placed her sister back against the wall and slid feather into her mane, placing it in her sister's messy mane.
She took a deep breath and tried not to think about her loved ones, Rainbow's parents, and what they would come home to; signs of violence, blood and two missing sisters.
She hoped they wouldn't mourn her. They could mourn Rainbow Dash, but not her. She did not deserve that honour; though she regretted the idea of never being able to see her two adopted parents again. She only wished that she could ask their forgiveness, and tell them that she loved them, but she didn't deserve forgiveness or the ability to say goodbye, because Rainbow hadn't been given that chance either.
Scootaloo swallowed roughly and pulled out her katana, placing the pointing tip against her own throat. It only made sense for her to take her own life with her beloved weapon, since she had taken her sister's life with it.
She gazed over her sister, wondering why she had run. Would she have lived if she stayed? Could she have saved her sister, or had the cut been too deep? But she already knew the answer to the second question. Rainbow would have bled out anyway. Scootaloo's basic knowledge of medicine may have been able to keep her sister alive, but not for long. Only if their mother had been home would Rainbow Dash have had a chance for survival, but their mother hadn't been home, nor would she have been able to make it home in time.
Looking at Rainbow Dash she couldn't understand why her sister had wanted to die alone. Had Rainbow really hated her so much that she hadn't even wanted to spend her last final moments of her life with her?
This thought drove another dark wave of despair rolling through her. She closed her eyes, pressing the tip harder into her flesh. She hoped she would be able to ask her.
The sharp tip broke through her skin and she paused. She pulled the katana away from her neck and studied her sister, brushing her hooves across Rainbow's cold cheek; trails of salty tears still evident.
The look in Rainbow's eyes when Scootaloo had struck the fatal blow hadn't been betrayal, surprise or hatred. Instead, the look in her sister's eyes had been one of acceptance; acceptance of everything that had just happened and what was about to happen. There had also been a spark of purpose, of determination within those magenta depths that now gave Scootaloo pause.
She asked her sister why she ran? Why she had accepted death when Rainbow never accepted defeat? Scootaloo just couldn't seem to understand. Rainbow hadn't wanted to be found. She had purposely led her away, tried to get Scootaloo to search through an endless labyrinth, her search proving futile. She would have eventually given up, believing that Rainbow had manged to get away. With no body Scootaloo would have been able to convince herself that Rainbow had managed to survive their vicious encounter.
Scootaloo would have told herself that the blow she had dealt had not been as serious as first feared, and that her sister had somehow managed to get some sort of medical attention, and survived. And Scootaloo would have believed that her sister was still out there, somewhere, possibly plotting her revenge or just too pissed off to come home.
Mother and father would have chastised her, they may have even hated her for a while, but at least, none of them would have known she was a murderer.
But truthfully, no matter how much she would have tried to convince herself that Rainbow Dash was still alive, she would have known. She would have known the truth, but she may have been able to pretend. The guilt would wear her away by inches, but she would have been able to go on, clinging to the very last slim of hope that she was wrong, and that Rainbow still lived.
But in the end, this didn't matter because Scootaloo knew the tragic, horrific truth, Rainbow Dash was dead, and Scootaloo had killed her.
Scootaloo lifted the katana back to her throat. She whispered 'Forgive me', as the sharp steel bit deeper into her flesh.
She hesitated again, her eyes sliding back to her sister who had, in her final moments, forgiven her. Scootaloo swallowed, gathering up her resolve again to do an honourable thing, and take her own life in penance.
But her hoof did not drag the pointed tip of the weapon across the vulnerable skin of her throat, instead the katana slipped from her numb hooves clatter upon the mud slicked stone floor.
She understood her sister's last wishes, and she found she could not go against her. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't because that would be the ultimate dishonour to her sister.
Reaching out, she brushed her sister's cheek one final time, placing a light kiss on her forehead, She embraced her sister, and placed her katana blade, the one she used to slit her sister's throat and reverently lay it in Rainbow's lap. She placed another kiss upon her sister's forehead and whispered 'Thank you, Dashie,' before standing.
She wanted to bring back her sister's body back with her, give her a proper burial beside her real parents, but she knew she couldn't, because then she would not be able to carry out Rainbow Dash's final wishes.
Turning, she easily climbed up the embankment, looking back to take one last look at her sister before she unsheathed her other katana blade. She drove it into the low roof above the sudden decline of the floor. She had cut through stone, brick and mortar, slicing and chipping away at the ceiling until it gave a groan of protest, finally giving way, and blocking the tunnel.
The place where her sister had died had now become her tomb.
Taking a step she fell to her knees and wept in despair. Her choked and broken sobs filled the air around her; the devastation of her grief nearly tangible in its depth and intensity.
She wasn't sure how long it was before she was finally able to stand, her legs unsteady beneath her. Laying a hoof upon the cool stone that marked her sister's tomb, she slowly made her way back home, knowing she would never be able to openly show her grief, and that she would have to lie to her foster parents for the rest of her life.
Scootaloo knew that this punishment was somehow far worse, crueler and more atp a sentence than taking her own life, because her penance was having to live with what she had done.
Author's Note
Thoughts?
