Chapter 1 Cages
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Metal wires and a solid roof was all that surrounded Dusty. He looked around with scared eyes at the rows upon rows of similarly caged ponies. He was lucky enough to be put in one right next to his mother, giving him small amounts of comfort...though it wasn't enough to keep him from shaking.
Despite the metal wires, he held onto her her through the cage, wrapping his tiny hooves around her right forearm. She wanted to nuzzle her son so badly; she wanted to hold him in her arms before they met their fate. But the wires were too constrictive and impassible. The only thing that could ever pass through were foal arms and rodents, but all of the rodents had been exterminated with cruel indiscretion. It had been a gruesome sight; sentries roaming cities with spray cans full of deadly gas, spraying all small creatures to "clean up" the streets.
She looked down at her little foal and rubbed his tiny hooves wrapped around her forearm with her free hoof. She pressed herself as close to her foal as she could, only barely feeling his gray fur against her own.
“It’ll be okay, Dusty,” the mother said soothingly, but she could still sense her son’s fear and troubled nature. He looked around wildly, looking out for sentries. Just like his papa.
The mother looked around at the other cages. Each one was filled by a silent occupant. There had been a time when many would scream for help, but over the years, people realized that there was no returning after being taken to Court. All who were taken fought until they arrived, but even then hope was lost, flushed from their bodies at the horrid sight of hundreds of cages with ponies awaiting Court. Just the nature of outside of the building itself was said to been atrocious and miserable. At least she and her son were sparred view of such a location.
Srchhh! Thunk!
The silent occupants were no longer silent. They all turned to the mother and her child. Their time had come and the mother could no longer hold back tears of fear. Tears and sadness. Why did it have to be the last thing he saw? He was only a child. It wasn’t his fault he was like this…
...then there was singing. There had never been singing before. Who was singing?
Amor. Honor. Officium. Imperfec. Vita.
Et ideo utrumque carissimum.
Odio. Abominantur. Pudicitia. Alium.
Super parvulum reprehendunt.
Latin: the language of the Royal Guards. They still remember...
The mother cried softly, nuzzling her son’s trembling hooves. She leaned over and planted a kiss on her son’s head, stirring him quickly. He looked up at her, turquoise eyes shining against the bright overhead lights.
Srchhh! Thunk!
The masses began to sing. Not just the one anymore, but the entirety of the hundreds upon hundreds of trapped ponies began to shake the floors with their bolstering lyrics.
Familiae seorsum non cogunt.
Non sperare liberos tollit.
Retorquendo Pugnabimus vobiscum.
Vita amoris et familia tenemus feres.
She could only cry.
“Mommy...I’m scared.”
She held his hoof carefully and whispered, “I am too, but it’ll be alright. Daddy’s waiting for us.”
“But I don’t wanna see Daddy yet…”
Pugnabimus!
Regina et patriae!
Vivemus!
Familia et vita!
Srchhh! Thunk!
The mother didn’t dare look behind her, fearing the worst. She knew it was directly behind her and her foal, readying itself to take her, but looking at it would make her afraid. If she was afraid so would her foal.
For Queen and Country!
For Family and Life!
We stand for harmony!
We stand for love!
The ground shook violently. No. Their cages shook as they were pulled off the rails each cage was attached to.
“You have been found guilty for harboring an Aura,” a metallic and robotic voice said to the mother. She only turned her head slightly, catching only a glimpse of the great red Eye.
“He’s only a child!” she screamed angrily. Her horn glowed violently.
“You have been found guilty of procreating with an Earth pony and creating a Hybrid Abomination.”
“He is not an abomination!” The child trembled even more now.
“You have been found guilty of being a Hybrid Abomination of a Unicorn and a Pegasus.”
She growled angrily, but she knew the Eye had no emotions. It was a robot with a designated task, much like those in control of it.
“These charges have only one punishment: Death by fire. We forgive you for your impurity as it was out of your control. Please make peace with your god or gods.”
She looked at her son silently, listening to the cries of melodic singing growing louder and louder.
For Queen and Country!
Regina et patriae!
For Family and Love!
Familiae et amoris!
“I love you, Dusty. Mommy’s so sorry…”
“Please don’t go Mommy!” he cried. “I don’t wanna be alone!”
Feeling the stab to her heart, she watched her cage being separated from her foal. The foal pulled his arms away from his mother and out of the fence cage. He stood in the middle and watched her. She could only cry.
“It’ll be okay!” she said to him, shouting over the song and screeching metal. The foal ran to the edge of the catch pushing one hoof through, screaming for his mother. His mother only cried quietly, looking at her son proudly. She stood up straight and proud. “It’ll be okay,” she whispered. She had to look brave. She didn't want her son to be more afraid; she needed to be brave.
“Mommy!” he cried out terribly. Then horror struck her eyes…
His body began to form into a ashy substance, slipping right through the wires of the cage as though it weren't even there. But there was nothing for him to fall onto. Below each cage was another cage and another and another with no platforms to land on...
And he just fell right through one.
“Dusty!!” she screamed in terror, watching her life and worth hurdle towards the dark pit below, a never-ending darkness where there was a bottom that no had ever seen before.
“Mommy!!”
Amor. Honor. Officium. Imperfec. Vita.
Et ideo utrumque carissimum.
Odio. Abominantur. Pudicitia. Alium.
Super parvulum reprehendunt.
Chapter 2
_________________Rainbow Dash sat at her typical seat, rotating on the wheel childishly--only stopping once every couple of rotations to drink from her mug. It was her mug; it had her name etched into it and she made sure to it that the bartender never let somepony else use it.As she rotated, however, she caught a glimpse of somepony walk through the door that didn’t belong. It wasn’t that he looked completely out of place, but the simple fact that he was missing a pair of wings on his back was both surprising and terrifying.“Hey!” the brown bartender screamed hysterically at the entering patron. “Get the fuck out of here! You can’t be in this part of the city, you idiot!”“Shut the fuck up,” the stranger said, casting a glare at the bartender. “My names is Indigo Prophet. I will not be spoken to in that way in my own city!” The voice was deep and evil, growling each syllable like it was a rabid dog ready to kill.Rainbow Dash slowed her twirling at the bar and blinked herself into a semi-lucid state. The stallion was an ocean blue color, not far off from her own coat, but there was a long streak of bald starting at his left eyebrow down his neck towards his flank that had the mark of a bloodied sword.“Do I know you?” she said to the Earth pony. He wore a strange contraption on his forearms that she had never seen before.The stallion looked up and down Rainbow Dash without turning away from the bartender. He sneered, “I do not associate with Pegasi.”“Geez…” Rainbow Dash said playfully, jumping off the stool and trotting clumsily to the stallion at the door. “You need to lighten up a little…” She reached out and touched the leather padding between the plates of metal.Wham!!The stallion slammed his forehead into Rainbow Dash’s snout. She hollered out as the pain shot through her snout and face. She put her hooves to her muzzle and looked at the bloody mess coming from her nose. She trembled in fear, cowering away in a nearby corner.“I’m sorry. I...I won’t do it again…” she whimpered miserably.“You should be glad that I’m in a rather pleasant mood today.” His tone was monotonous and his eyes were blank of emotion, but the turquoise color was what Rainbow Dash feared more than anything. “Now be a good girl and stay in that corner, or I’ll tear your wings from your back.”He cocked his head, making several cracking sound and trotted over to the bartender. He looked at the bartender with a slight smile.“I’m terribly sorry for my custo...”“Shut up. I’m looking for somepony named Rainbow Dash, another Walloped Drinker, and a Dusty Cloud.”The bartender leaned back slightly, creaking the floor beneath his heavy weight. He eyed the stallion closely, scratching his short, beard chin and waving his monobrow. “What do you want with Walloped Drinker?”The stallion smiled, placed one hoof on the counter, and leaned in closer to the bartender. He said with a most sincere tone, “The Court wishes to give a grand prize to him for his service in the Equestrian War.”The bartender chuckled heavily and leaned in as well, chest only inches from the stallion’s hoof on the counter.“My name is Walloped Drinker…”Rainbow Dash watched from her corner as the bartender flinched and several other patrons of the bar scrambled out through the back to fly home as quickly as possible. The cyan eyed Pegasus remained still and confused until the stallion pushed his hoof forward with excessive force. The bartender slid off the blade extruding from the stallion’s contraption and fell to the floor with a loud and deathly thud.“W...why?” the bartender mustered, choking on blood as he tried to crawl under the flip door, using his wings as props. A crimson trail followed behind him and his coat now stained a disgusting muddy-crimson.The stallion chuckled and kicked the Pegasus onto his back, crushing his own wings under his plumb weight.“Why would Court offer anything to a sloth like you? You may have served in the war by volunteering but…” The stallion shoved his hoof onto the Pegasus’s throat, effectively choking him. He placed his blade above the Pegasus’s left eye and slowly dove it into his pupil.Tear and blood slid off onto his cheek, but the bartender couldn’t scream. His throat was collapsing under the stallion’s weight.“...that was only to protect yourself.” The stallion being to pull a tiny lens away from the brown Pegasus’s eye, revealing a turquoise eye. “Aura’s are abominations,” he whispered before saying loudly and unfeelingly, “You have been found guilty of being an Aura and for manipulating the military system to avoid detection. We forgive you for the prior crime as it was beyond your control, but your survival has going to cause the misery of two other lives today.”Rainbow Dash looked at the blue Earth pony standiing on the Pegasus’s throat. What did he mean? More misery? Wasn’t there already enough?“Make peace with your god or gods...yada yada...just die already. I have children to send to Court.”The bartender looked into the unforgiving blackness in the stallion’s eyes and only cried more. “Please…”“‘Please’ what? Don’t kill your children? This isn’t my fault, you slothic man. We cannot take the chance of you creating more of your kind.” The stallion chuckled a little. He then spoke again, faking his sympathetic emotion, “I am so sorry for your loss, but I simply cannot disobey my orders.” He then went to the bartender’s ears and whispered something.Rainbow Dash only watched quietly in her corner as a loud thudding sound echoed off each wall of the bar and into her ears. She looked at the two ponies ahead of her and gasped in horror as the stallion above withdrew his hoof on the bartender’s throat, revealing a long and bloody dagger. The blood trickled off onto the brown body below and was wiped nastily onto the bartender’s clothes.The stallion made no expression as he cracked his neck once more. He looked at the door and said, “Men! Get ready! We’ve got children to burn!”“Yes, sir!” many unique, yet equally deep, voices replied. The sound of a clustered and armored mass taking formation outside replaced any other sound.Rainbow Dash gasped, catching the stallion’s attention. He raised an eyebrow and approached her slowly with a suave smile. “Would you happen to know where the other two are? Dusty Cloud and Rainbow Dash? Maybe she has a rainbow mane like yours or maybe the same blue coat…”“My...my name is Cloud Kicker.”He leaned in and whispered softly into her ear, “Do you want to know how I know you’re lying?”Rainbow Dash looked down at the stallion’s hooves; they were planted on either side of her, effectively cutting off any escape route before she could formulate one. Despite being slightly drunk, she could’ve thought of a way out if he wasn’t right on top of her.“H-how?” She looked at the contraptions around the stallion’s hoof as he brought it up to her chin and rubbed it.He whispered, “I killed her last night.”Rainbow Dash gulped down air and whimpered. She closed her eyes and said, “I don’t wanna die…”“Nobody wants to die. If only both of your parents were the same species, you might’ve lived a little longer…”“What?” she whispered confusedly.He put a hoof on her cheek and smiled as he rubbed it gently and lovingly. “If only you had been Earth, also. You’re so beautiful...even when drunk.”Rainbow Dash sobbed quietly, feeling the cold metal against her skin. She closed her eyes and turned her face away from the cold machine.“And if only I wasn’t an abomination as well…”Shink! Rainbow Dash sucked in one last breath before…Poof!“Hey, asshole!”Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and turned her head towards the new voice, but before she could catch a glimpse of the pony, an ashen cloud collided with the blue stallion and took him to the opposite side of the bar and finally onto the counter with a heavy slam.The ash cloud quickly and cloudily reconstituted as a gray stallion holding down the soldier.“Run, you idiot!” Without another moment wasted, Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and rushed to the back door. She looked back one last time and saw the two stallions hitting one another and a cloud of ash carrying the blue Earth pony to another wall, slamming him hard.Rainbow Dash forced herself through the back door, only to be hit in the forehead by a blunt object, knocking her unconscious.
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“Where...where am I?” Rainbow Dash whispered, rolling her head back and forth. She was lying somewhere hard and cold. Had it all been a dream? It sure felt like her bathroom floor and that’s where she normally woke up after drinking.She picked herself up off the floor and looked at the tiny red mark on the bowl of her toilet. There was a smear of red; seeing it made Rainbow Dash worry. She quickly went to the mirror and flipped the light switch on, blinding her momentarily and sending a massive jolt of pain through her partially intoxicated mind.There was a small, bruised gash along the side of her head, echoing the place where she had been hit earlier…or was it a dream? She was home, but if it had been real then why was she home? How did she get there?She went to her bathroom door, slight ajar, and peered around the corner. The floors were just as cold and lifeless as they had always been. She stumbled out, stepping twice with her front left hoof and faltering with her back right, blowing up her balance. The blue Pegasus fell loudly to the floor.There was a sudden shuffling and grumbling sound nearby.Something’s in the living room…She shook with cowardice and crawled slowly down her hall. She felt the fear course through her like her own blood. It was controlling her, ensuring she stayed as low to the ground as possible. She did chuckle a little at the irony of a Pegasus wanting to stay low to the ground.The corner came much faster than she had anticipated with her slow crawl. Then again, she wasn’t looking forward to having to round the corner in the first place.A rainbow assortment of hairs protruded from the corner connecting the living room with the hallway, standing out against the bland gray color everything was. The room was void of color with the exception of a picture frame with color characters all happily standing next to one another and a strange red and blue scarf hanging over something…No. Somepony.Rainbow Dash pulled her head back around the corner and felt her heart beat out of her chest. Somepony was in her home. How?! She kept her doors locked!She poked her head back around the corner and saw the pony fast asleep on her couch. They were gray all over; gray fur, gray mane (though with a particularly dark streak of gray), and gray tail. He appeared to be Earth but Rainbow Dash couldn’t see the front of his head with his back turned against her…He turned around onto his other side, facing the Pegasus mare. She jumped back behind the corner and heaved quickly. Did he wake up? Who was it? Did she know him?Maybe it wasn’t a dream, after all! He looks exactly like the guy from my dream!She peered around the corner once more and breathed softly, unsure of what to do. He looked calm as he slept, smiling and nuzzling against the pillow, but was he safe? Surely he wasn’t going to hurt her; if he was he would’ve done so while she was asleep.But then he started to shake and shudder, twist and turn uncomfortably on the couch, knocking down the pillow he was cuddling with moments before. Rainbow Dash could only watch pitifully as he writhed in his sleep.She slowly came around the corner, revealing her bony form and folding her wings—small, fragile, and weak from disuse—to her sides like a covering. Her sides were her most vulnerable spot and she always kept her wings to her sides when near others; it made her feel protected.Rainbow Dash approached the stallion slowly, but jumped back when her floor creaked loudly. She watched as he turned his back to once again, but she couldn’t help but shake. She slowly crawled to the couch and rose from the floor. Her cyan eyes gazed at his gray form, blending in perfectly with the rest of the scenery. At a distance, Rainbow Dash probably wouldn’t have seen him.He growled quietly in his sleep and grumbled a bit. He looked so miserable; Rainbow Dash couldn’t condemn him immediately. Besides, she could easily overpower him if she tried. She was the most athletic in Ponyville…At least, that’s what she told herself to keep herself sane.She looked down at him a little longer and turned away with her hoof covering her face. She poked his shoulder and said loudly, “Wake up…”He didn’t stir. He did grumble a little more, but that was it. She prodded his shoulder a second time, saying, “Hey! Wake up!”Rainbow Dash was starting to get more and more upset. She pushed him a little harder but all he did was turn around, front facing her. She looked down at his scarf, now wrapped around his neck and chest.Maybe if I pulled it…The Pegasus reached down and pulled at his piece of clothing…The Earth pony’s eyes shot open and Rainbow Dash propelled herself backwards in a moment of impulsive fear. She fled behind the corner of the hallway and heaved and gasped for air, terror scouring her blood. Her ears pounded and her heart raced faster than ever.Suddenly, a deep and cracked voice said softly, “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”Rainbow Dash felt her heart soften its pace, suddenly feeling safe and guarded. Despite this, she kept her wings to her sides as she peered around the corner. The stallion’s head hung on his shoulders as he yawned quietly. His back arched upwards and she heard loud popping sounds come from him. He stretched his every joint, cracking each of them until he was content.He looked at Rainbow Dash with soft eyes, but she couldn’t help but feel scared again. His eyes were turquoise blue.“You’re…are you an…”“Aura? Yes, but please don’t be afraid. I have no reason to hurt you.” His words were honest. It had been a long time since she had heard somepony that spoke so honestly without having to prove it. He reminded her of Applejack…“So…what are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash asked carefully, shaking in place.“I didn’t know where else to go. My place is outside of town and soldiers have locked down the walls.” He trotted leisurely to the nearby window where light slanted inward awkwardly through the curtains.“How did you find my house? And you really shouldn’t be here. This is Pegasi Housing. You could get executed for being here.” Why was she trying to get rid of him? She felt so safe near him. It had been a long time since she felt that way about anypony.“When one of the guards posted at the back entrance knocked you out, you started rambling about where you live and somepony named Applejack. Plus, I assaulted fourteen guardsmen, I’m an Aura, and I prevented the capture of a ‘Hybrid Abomination’. I don’t think being in Pegasi Housing is the least of my worries.”He said it so mockingly that Rainbow Dash almost mistook his tone for a child’s. But it wasn’t a mocking tone he had taken; not truly. Rainbow Dash recognized the tone as hatred and disdain and disgust, all rolled into two words.He turned his attention to framed picture. “Which one is she?”Rainbow Dash shuffled to the picture frame and placed it on its face, concealing the image. “I don’t like to talk about it,” was all she could say. It still hurt to remember. “So…why did you bring me here? Aren’t the guards going to try and find me here?”“Don’t call them guards,” he rasped, turning his attention back out the window.“What?”“Don’t call them guards. They do not protect people. They do not ‘guard’ anything.”Rainbow Dash felt slightly flustered. “I’m sorry…”“We’re leaving in twenty minutes. My contact in the ranks can’t stall any longer.”“You know somepony in the gua…I mean, Army.”“How do you think I found you?” He sounded so bitter. “I only wish I had been fast enough to save Walloped. He was a good person; lazy, but he had a heart of gold.”There was a silence that bit away at Rainbow Dash until she had to address the aching part of her heart.“What about his children?”He turned away from the window, eyes wide and piercing. “Children? He…he has children?” Rainbow Dash nodded. She saw the stallion look to the floor and shake his head sadly. He turned back to the window. “Five minutes…”“We can’t just leave…” she started.“I’m not!” he screamed angrily, not looking at her when he spoke. “That’s why I’m telling you to hurry the fuck up! Now!”Rainbow Dash had already scurried behind the corner of the hallway when he stopped. She shook fearfully and said, “W-what should I bring?”“Food.” He opened the window and stuck his head out, taking a deep breath of the air. He smiled like it wasn’t the smell of steam and burning rocks. How could he find that stench pleasing? Even if he was being sarcastic about it, he would’ve cringed by its foul odor.“I…I don’t know if I’ll be able to help…”He cocked his head around slowly, eying her closely. “What?”“I…I’ll probably just get in the way…”He spun around and looked at her crossly. “If you want to come back with me, you’re going to help.” He approached her slowly and ominously. Rainbow Dash could only look at him fearfully. “I have no patience with cowards. These are children and I will not lose another!”She looked at his turquoise eyes and smiled crookedly, feigning courage. “Okay…” she whispered.“Two fucking minutes left.”
