.out.of.character.

ricocheted across the Equestrian landscape in every direction. When Rainbow found the strength to look once more, she gawked at an enormous plume of flame erupting from behind Canterlot Mountain, occupying the entire horizon like a burning mushroom of titanic proportions. Within seconds, the towers and balconies of Canterlot were crumbling, collapsing, emptying into the dull valley below.

"No..." Rainbow quivered.

A translucent blast wave approached Ponyville at the speed of sound.

Rainbow's tears evaporated as she held out her forelimbs. "NO—!"

The wave struck. Rainbow felt her left wing tear clean off. She howled in pain, but the thunder had consumed her. She fell and flew at once, going wherever the heated currents of air willed. When her body at last hit the earth, it was like flinging a baseball against a concrete wall. She bounced at an angle, twirled, and skidded to a stop in the sopping wet mud. Puddles of liquid steamed all around her as the atmosphere roasted, simmered, and went cool once more. A fresh layer of condensed liquid came falling back down, drenching Rainbow through to her wounds.

Seconds later, she felt pain again.

"Aaaa-haaaaaugh!" Rainbow curled into a fetal position, feeling the rivers of hot blood running down from her left side. She shook, quivered, threw up into her mouth, and swallowed it down in time for the next pained breath. "Graaa-aaaaugh! Mmmmngh—huhhhghhh-Celestiaaaa!"

Something was squeaking just a few yards away... something with Scootaloo's voice.

With each remaining ounce of loyal strength, Rainbow Dash rolled over and crawled towards the sound. "Scoots... Scoots..." She struggled to open her eyelids. The ends of her bangs were still smoldering from the heat. "I'm so sorry, Scoots. I tried... I should have attempted leaving earlier... I never wanted you to... to..." She heard voices gathering all around, making her pause in mid-crawl. Rainbow looked up, panting and bleeding.

Out from the wreckage of Ponyville, villagers gathered. Some covered in blood. Some covered in other fluids. A few of them sobbed. Most were grinning. The thunder had doubled... tripled at this point. It was swirling all around the scene. Crawling and skittering through the mists and mayhem beyond the smiling muzzles and more muzzles. It grew hungrier by the second. Rainbow felt it in her teeth, and she forced her mouth open.

"Somepony! Help us!" Rainbow hollered. "Help her!" Despite her panicked shrieks, the villagers only laughed and cooed more. "Will you jerks stop just standing there and do something?! You can't all be lost! I don't care what Lyra said!"

Rainbow Dash didn't care what Lyra said.

"I just don't... I don't..." Rainbow shivered and wept.

Rainbow Dash didn't care.

"I don't care..." She slumped down besides Scootaloo's limp figure. The ringing in her ears was practically a siren at this point. The only way to alleviate was to look down at Scootaloo... at her adorable tear-stained face. "Hurts so much," she droned, gulped. "Not cool. Miss b-being awesome." She drooled something loose and red from her muzzle. "Wanna be through with this in... ten seconds fl-flat..."

It was okay.

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo sputtered past the blood, managing a smile. Her face twitched in the the shadows of gathering ponies. "I've only ever wanted to be useful."

Rainbow Dash stared down at her, lips quivering.

The filly's flesh was soft. Fuzzy.

"It's alright."

It was alright.

"Just one lick."

It would taste like cinnamon.

"And vanilla."

Rainbow Dash's pupils shrank. Just then, the ringing stopped, as did the rain. The heat between them was a satin soup. Rainbow swam through it, drifting down until her muzzle was lingering just centimeters above the filly's panting nostrils.

"I love you, Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo mewled.

Something swallowed deep in the back of Rainbow's throat. "Funny..." And she pressed her lips over the foal's. Her nostrils tickled from the sugary fragrance, and instantly her tongue darted through her teeth, lapping up the edges of Scootaloo's mouth, inhaling the pent-up breaths that filtered out of her tiny lungs in every other squeak. The pain was gone from Rainbow's wing. The fuzziness spread, tingling down Rainbow's spine.

But when it struck the base of her tail, something shot back out. Rainbow's muscles tensed, and when she pulled back she was biting hard on Scootaloo's lips like a vice. She growled against it, like a dog might fight over a chew toy, but all she could do was pull and pull. In ten syrupy seconds, she had ripped the upper cleft of Scootaloo's mouth from her face, leaving strips of red meet dangling over exposed teeth and gums.

"Gnnnrhhh-ghuuu—No... Grkkk—NO!" Rainbow spat. A strip of foal-flesh fell out of her maw. Her tongue and cheeks were laced with the hot taste of iron, flushing around and dribbling down her chin. "No... n-no... Sc-Scootaloo—!"

"Th-thank you, Rainbow Dash," the filly gurgled, smiling with what was left of her mouth.

"Grrrrrrhhhgh!" Eyes twitching, Rainbow brought her hoof back and slammed it across Scootaloo's face.

The filly's nose bent in the wrong direction, then crunched completely when Rainbow's limbs pounded it a second time... followed by a third. "Thank you—" She wheezed once more, gurgling. "Thank you thank you—grkkk—thnkkkkkk—"

"Scootaloo, No!" Rainbow panted and panted, eyelids flinching with each punch and pummeling strike. Scootaloo's face turned purple and black beneath her. Teeth spilled out a hole in her cheek, followed by scraps of tongue and uvula. "Oh Celestia, Luna—please! No!"

All that came out of Scootaloo's face at this point was an indiscernible gargle. Her legs quivered, reaching up to embrace the mare who was bludgeoning her. A tail flicked. The filly was delightfully, tortuously alive.

"Stop this!" Rainbow hollered. Rainbow wept. She was raising both hooves now, striking two fetlocks at a time, ripping Scootaloo's face apart like a knife through gelatin. Brain matter and phlegm bubbled to the surface, popping like maggots. "Please! I don't want to do this!"

The villagers surrounding the scene applauded. The growling and thunder...

"Stop this! For the love of Celestia, you have to stop this! Stop letting this happen!"

Rainbow clenched her teeth, slapping her hooves against Scootaloo's eyes and applying all her weight. The organs popped within their sockets, spilling loose violet pulp and red jelly.

"Stop it! Please! I'm begging you!"

She reached down, teeth snapping over Scootaloo's ear. She twisted and pulled until the cartilage ripped loose in little red gossamer strings.

"Grrkkkt! Stop! Curse you to Tartarus! Only you have the power to stop this! I'll do anything! Just please! Stop it! Stop it right now!"

She was gripping Scootaloo's neck at this point, bashing the skull against the ground. The filly's spine snapped, collapsing in on itself. Limbs thrashed, clawing at Rainbow, trying to pull her closer.

"You can stop this! You have to stop this! Why won't you just stop this?!"

Rainbow clamped her mouth over Scootaloo's muzzle once more, drinking the bile from the exposed meat. Her mouth filled with iron. Her screams bubbled at the blood.

"Grkkkk-Hraa-aaaaauggh!"

She ripped Scootaloo's flesh off, peeling it down her chest like loose carpet.

"Hnngrkk—Stopppffghhh—I don't want to do this! I don't want to! I don't w-want to! I don't—!"

Once Scootaloo's ribcage was exposed, she clawed and punched and hammered her way through until her own hooves split.

"Nnnnngh! Stop! Don't! Don't please!" Rainbow hollered and sobbed. She was neck deep in Scootaloo's chest. The heartbeat was faint when her teeth clamped over it. "Grkkk—No! No! Hraaa-aaaakkk!" She choked on the blood flowing down her gullet. "Grkllgkkg—Grlllgkkt—Haaaaaugh! Aaaaaaaugh!"

Thunder rolled and warbled, splitting through the earth.

The applause quadrupled, then faded into a prolonged hiss. The misty world spun. Thunder turned to bells, and out from the blood and bedlam, a melodic voice:

"Rainbow, darling," Rarity calmly chirped.

With a jolt, Rainbow Dash turned