Scars Never Fade: The Next Generation
Sunspot: The Would-Be Assassin
I sat at my dinner table, the morning light streaming in, an unwelcome guest.
I’ve always liked the night much more than the day.
My name’s Sunspot. I’m a 21 year old mare Pegasus.
In my humble opinion, Celestia should have been the one banished to the sun. All Luna wanted was a little recognition. I don’t blame her for going mad.
There was a simple solution to my problem with Celestia’s authority.
She had to be killed or dethroned.
Or both.
And seeing as I was the only one who seemed to enjoy the night more than the day, I was going to be the one to do it.
I went up to my room, which I had stocked full of weapons in case there was ever a rebellion.
I was sick of waiting, so I was going to do it myself.
My weapons closet was full of an impressive amount of weaponry, from everything to sharpened stones to M60s.
Seeing as I had to be quiet, I decided to go old school, armed simply with a bow and arrows. Maybe a bit of nerve poison. Even if I just graze her, the poison would end up giving her the same effect as a bit of cyanide.
Hopefully you can kill a god.
Hell, someone has to try. And that someone shall be me.
I slung the bow over my shoulder, knowing full well that it’d look a little weird if I walked out like this in public. However, there was a simple solution.
Being known as a suspected anarchist makes you wary. Thus, I had an entire room devoted to makeup (no, not your prissy mare makeup. Like disguise makeup) and made my coat white and my mane brown (sacrifices had to be made) and added a few things to make it look like I’d spent quite a long time in the Everfree. Scratches, bruises, the whole nine yards.
There was but one more issue. My Manehatten accent would be a dead giveaway.
I had to seem like I was from Ponyville...that’d take a bit of training.
I cleared my throat, and tried doing my best impersonation of Rainbow Dash. To my surprise, I actually sounded exactly like her. I let myself add a tiny bit of my Manehatten accent, and I sounded like a new pony. Exactly like one from Ponyville.
I’d also have to adopt a new persona. I mean, I didn’t have a cutiemark to begin with, so the possibilities were endless.
After a bit of debating with myself, I decided on a name. Corkscrew. It was a name that I’d never heard before, so it sounded golden.
With my new persona, I headed for the streets of Canterlot.
The streets were crowded. As per usual. I knew that a guard would probably pull me over and take my bow and arrows. Therefore, I’d cleverly hidden an arrow and the nerve poison in my mane, with a strap that was camouflaged over my muzzle holding them in place.
And a guard did just that. He pulled me aside.
“Officer Stormhooves, Canterlot Police.” The guard identified himself. “I’ll need that bow and ammunition. You can stop by the police station on your way out of Canterlot to retrieve them.”
I handed them over with a smile. “Yes, of course, officer. I’m sorry, I’ve been in the wilderness too long.”
The officer took them without asking any more questions.
It was tactics and foreplanning like this that made me such an elusive target. I was quick, bold, and not afraid to take a risk.
The officer didn’t notice the strap over my muzzle as he trotted off. Okay. Playtime was over. It was time for me to infiltrate the castle...and kill Celestia.
I quickly made my way to the castle, which wasn’t hard if you walked through the streets with a happy-go-lucky smile.
I separated from the crowd and discreetly flew around to the back of the castle. There was an emergency exit there. But there was also two guards on it.
I broke both of their necks silently. The satisfying crack was the best thing I’d heard in a long time. It was beautiful.
I then entered through the emergency exit. There were no guards. None. So much for securest building in Equestria.
I stealthily made my way up to Celestia’s quarters. Seeing as it was sunset, Sun-Butt would be going to bed very shortly. I positioned myself in the shadows, and dipped the arrow tip in the nerve poison, careful not to touch it after.
Just as I predicted, Celestia came in shortly.
I waited for her to retire to her bed, and I’d throw the arrow right into her neck. Hell, I only need to scratch her.
She sat, and looked right at me. Suddenly, my arrow snapped in half.
“I hear EVERYTHING.” Celestia glared at me. “Your ‘assassination’ has failed.”
I didn’t want to believe her…. but I knew it was true. I’d failed. And she was probably going to have me arrested. I stood.
“You’ve captured me, Celestia. I concede.” I knelt before her, knowing that I was completely defeated.
There was a flash, and my white coat turned orange again. She knew who I was. Maybe making myself white to hide in the shadows was a bad idea.
“Sunspot. You never have liked my sun, have you?” Celestia seemed to be prolonging this.
I shook my head. “With all due respect, why haven’t you had me arrested yet?”
Celestia smiled a strange smile. “Because you aren’t being arrested.”
Before I had time to react, I felt a blunt object hit me in the back of the head. And I was out like a light.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
I groggily awoke on an unforgiving steel floor. There was a mixture of red, green and blue lights.
I’d think it was a rave, but there would be no reason for Celestia to put me in a rave and the steel floor didn’t make sense.
After my eyes adjusted, I realized that there were ponies cowering in corners, away from the light.
I stood up, and stumbled right into the wall. It was pure concrete. Looks like there was no getting out. Actually...how’d I get in here in the first place? There didn’t seem to be a door.
A stallion’s voice boomed over a speaker I just couldn’t seem to find.
“By now, you’ve all clearly determined that you are not going into exile. There is no deportation. There never was. You are in The Factory. You will never leave The Factory. And while you may be called useless, that’s also not entirely true. You’re worthless to The Flock as a Pony. But you still have purpose! Purpose to all the ponies in this land, far and wide. You get to help us make rainbows! Beautiful, magical rainbows, doesn’t that excite you?”
I knew that goddamn voice.
That son-of-a-bitch was the asshole who gave me the hardest time growing up.
Hotshot.
Neither of us believed in this “Factory”, but now I’m hearing him tell me that I’m in it.
I wasn’t going to let this asshat tell me that I was going to become a goddamn rainbow.
Not today, fuckface.
I was going to kill anypony who thought they could lay so much as a fucking hair on me.
That idea was crushed when ROBOTS started taking ponies, and I heard screaming and machinery whirring soon after.
Eventually, I was the last one. And I knew I was fucked up the ass, but I was going to fight for as long as I could...but then I remembered, my weapons were in Canterlot. God damn it.
A robot came and grabbed my wings. A curse of being a Pegasus. I curled them in as best I could, and roll-kicked him..her...it..thing in the face...thing.
The robot stumbled back, and I went up to him, kicked him in the robo-jaw, and his head flew off, and he fell to the ground, a hunk of metal and wires.
Several more ‘bots came at me, each one carrying a weapon before I heard the Midwestern voice I’d grown to hate.
“Stop.”
The robots seemed to short-circuit, and they all fell over, unresponsive. And standing there, in the middle of a blue light...was the hell-born stallion himself.
Hotshot hadn’t changed a bit. Y’know, except for the fact that his eyes were insanely small, and his coat was streaked with blood.
“Hotshot.” I growled at him. He was a bastard to me. There were rumors that he’d been running this...hellhole. And they were true.
“Do you know what I spared you?” His voice was monotone, expressionless. As if death itself was in his voice.
“Because you’ve realized you’re a bastard child, and the spawn of Satan?” I laughed..which was weird, considering I was facing certain death.
“I spared you because I wanted to do this myself.” Hotshot flicked his wrist, and the robots came back to life, pinning me down.
“Hotshot, look deep down inside yourself. You can continue to be a fucknugget, or you can let me go.” I somewhat challenged him.
Hotshot paused. “...Sunspot, I am the only escapee from the Factory. This place has left insane mental scars on me. Do you know what’s the funny thing about scars?”
We both screamed at each other “SCARS NEVER FADE!”
After a moment of silence, with the exception of the low drone of the robots, Hotshot stood. “Let her go.”
I knew Hotshot. This had to be a trick. Something to make me let my guard down. He was going to strike me down as soon as I got up.
The robots let me go, and I stood, ready to attack Hotshot.
“Code αßΣ.” Hotshot said, and the robots went off.
I growled. “What the hell are you doing?”
Hotshot reached out a hoof, and an old-timey flintlock pistol was put in his hoof as well as mine.
“It’s quite simple, really. There can only be one who can escape from the Factory.” Hotshot put his arm up. “So. You kill me, you can escape. But you’ll be back. If I kill you...well, you’ll make a nice desk ornament.”
Hotshot’s nonchalantness towards this was….disturbing. But if he wanted an honorable duel, who the hell was I to deny him?
“Alright, Hotshot. I’ll play your game.”
“Wonderful. The wall.” Upon that order, a wall dropped down in front of us, and a small gap opened in between. Just enough to shoot through.
“Go.” Hotshot said, and he fired, giving me less than a nanosecond to even get ready.
The lead ball hit me right in the shoulder, and I knew that I was done. He took out my shooting arm.
“Raise the wall!” Hotshot yelled, and the wall raised. He walked up to me, and kicked the gun away, dragging me by the injured shoulder to minimize resistance to the room that I’d seen so many go into and be killed.
He had a look as cold as ice on his face as he strapped me in. I couldn’t move, and my blood was already wettening my fur.
Hotshot then did something that I’d never heard him do before. He started singing to himself.
“Now a rainbow's tale isn't quite as nice as the story we knew of sugar and spice, but a rainbow's easy once you get to know it with the help of the magic of a Pegasus Device...
Let's delve deeper into rainbow philosophy, far beyond that of Cloudsdale's mythology.
It's easy to misjudge that floating city, with it's alluring decor and social psychology.
But with all great things comes a great responsibility, that of Cloudsdale's being weather stability.
How, you ask, are they up to the task? To which the answer is in a simple facility.
In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true.
In the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through.
In the Rainbow Factory, where your fears and horrors come true.”
And the machinery whirred to life.
