Rainbow's Wrath

Rainbow's Wrath

Part 1: Suffering

Chapter 4: Old Friends, New Enemies

Rainbow Dash slowly made her way into the small village, passing through an archway in a brick wall that didn't cover much of the village. Before her was a wide pathway of gravel, some trees to the sides, and a short staircase down not far ahead. As she came to the steps she noticed a group of at least a dozen ponies gathered around what she knew as a mantra shrine, where they aided the military and the demigods with their prayers. The shrine was in bad shape though, leaning heavily to the left as most of its stand was rubble at this point. But the ponies kneeled, and prayed, and conversed around it as if it was a social gathering spot.

She took note of the fact this shrine was on a cliffs edge, and peered to her left to see the village itself was built along the cliff side. Looking back to the ponies, she noticed a few of them had noticed her, but none cared for very long. Rainbow's gaze shot to the sky when she heard streaks of red lightning and the thunder that followed, and all the pony folk began to panic. They knocked each other over as they ran, trying desperately to save themselves and Rainbow overheard one shout, "The Blanks are here!"

The villagers ran desperately through the fortified wooden arch way as a bell could be heard ringing in the village. One loud pony who rang the bell screamed for the entire village to hear, "Blanks! Blanks!" Rainbow lifted her cloak a bit over her mouth as she made her way into the village, cautiously so not to startle anyone. To her surprise no one seemed to notice or care about her, they were too busy panicking.  The villagers turned a switch, and the door to the arch slammed shut behind her.

Rainbow looked around to see the pony folk were cowering behind anything and everything, staring at the wooden gates with fear. A loud thud caught her attention, driving it to another fortified wooden gate into the village not far away. Everyone stared at the gate with her, and a mere moment passed before the stone wall next to their wooden gateway exploded into rubble and smoke, pieces of it smashing one or two ponies, and everyone began to scream run. An ape like Blank leapt through the smoke and smashed an unfortunate male pony not far from Rainbow Dash, banging its chest triumphantly at its victim's passing.

The Blank looked around for its next victim, as its brethren swarmed the village chasing innocent pony folk everywhere. That's when it noticed Rainbow Dash, standing there unmoving and staring back at it. It howled and rushed for her, pausing before her as a pair of the other ape like Blanks joined it. Rainbow Dash glared at the creatures and said, "Twelve thousand years, and nothing has changed!" She gripped her cloak and threw it away, four more Blanks taking notice of her and all rushing to kill the odd pony out.

Rainbow Dash aura uppercut several into the air, their allies leaping at her only to be knocked away by a round house punch strong enough to send them all flying. Her blows were stronger, and easily killed the Blanks, but for every one she killed, a new one crawled from the earth to attack her. Before she could be swarmed, she ran towards one of the nearby buildings and jumped off its wall, and over the oncoming wave of ape Blanks. As she landed behind them all, there was one that still blocked her path. As it threw a punch her way, she grabbed its wrist and swung it past her, into its brethren as they turned around. They fell over like dominos, angrily crawling to their feet to charge her.

When she gained some distance from them, more emerged from the earth, a noticeable block fog when they emerged, and she was quickly surrounded by the large number of Blanks. One punched at her from behind, but she reached back and caught the attack before elbowing the beast in the gut. Rolling away from another attack, she grabbed the floor and spun with her legs out to kick a pair of Blanks in the face. One charged while she was upside down, but she grabbed its arm with her legs and flipped it over her into another as she flipped to her feet. Her fists glowed as they charged with aura, and as she spun around with outstretched arms the aura flowed from them, hitting the entire circle of beasts. When she did this a ball of energy seemed to surround her like a shield and rapidly spread outward, hitting the Blanks for an even harder blow that sent them flying backwards until they all rested on the floor, dead and slowly fading away.

A familiar noise filled Rainbow's ears as she looked to the sky, and a large military ship floated through the clouds, descending towards the village. Some of the ponies who lived in the village ran from their homes and bowed at the sight of the vessel, chanting prayers. Three flower bud like pods shot from the ship, crashing into the city grounds. One slammed carelessly into the villagers near Rainbow Dash, killing a couple of them as the others ran. The pedals opened, spun around, and slammed into the ground, revealing a group of six earth pony soldiers with pole-axe spears in a neat circle. They all shouted, "Destruction!" and leapt from the pod, surrounding Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash's hands were poised like a wild cat ready to rend its prey, when a voice came from atop the pod. "So, you have returned…" Rainbow looked up to see a muscular pegasus male with a sword in hand. He jumped from atop the pod and slammed into the ground before Dash. "Back from the dead, impure demigod, Rainbow Dash!" He swung his blade about and aimed it at her. "We shall send you back to the shadows of death along with the Blanks! Kill her!"

More ape Blanks emerged behind her, and ran past her to engage in battle with the soldiers, but Rainbow Dash and the swordsman leapt over the battle to engage each other. As the Blanks and earth pony soldiers fought below, Rainbow and the pegasus colt flew for each other. He swung his blade sideways at her, but her hand fell flat on its side as she pushed herself over it, kicking him in the face in the process. He swung at her a few times, which she easily swerved around, and then he hurled his blade at her like a javelin. She twirled, narrowly avoiding it, only to receive a punch to her gut as he dive bombed his blade, stuck in the ground below. Rainbow's back met the blades hilt on the opposite side of her body to his fist. She let off a gasp of pain, but immediately grabbed the sides of her face and slammed her forehead into it. When he stumbled back she slid past him, sweeping his legs and making him fall face first on the floor. He scrambled for his blade, while Rainbow Dash hovered off the ground, reared back, and shot towards him. By the time he began to turn around, she kicked the blade from his hands as she spun in the air, and delivered a heavy blow with her fist to the side of his face. He flew bouncing off the ground a couple times, and slammed hard into a buildings support beam upside down, sliding to the floor with a twisted neck.

When she looked back to the ship above, it was floating further over the village. She growled and gave chase, ignoring all the soldiers and Blanks around her. Meanwhile on board the ship in the captain's chair, which was shaped more like a throne, was a familiar grey pony with a blonde mane, watching everything below on a video screen the floated before her. A pair of unicorn soldiers piloted the ship, one saying over the intercom, "All ships prepare for purification!" He looked back to Derpy, who crossed her legs with an agitated look, shivering as she waved her hand dismissively saying, "Purify."

"All ships, release the Hamaya! Fire!" The bottom of the vessel opened, letting a rain of bombs fall upon the city. Blanks, soldiers, and villagers alike cried out as they were killed, Rainbow managing to remain standing.

She looked back to the ship and yelled, "What the?!" She dodged to the side as a giant muscular earth stallion landed on her position.

The soldier turned to her and grinned. "What a lucky turn to find the traitor here. Rip her apart!" Six regular earth pony soldiers landed around him and ran for Rainbow Dash, the stallion dashing towards her past them. As he swung his fist at her, she rolled under it and behind him. Leaping high off the ground, as the stallion looked back in shock, the heels of both her feet met his face and sent the much larger pony to his back. He crawled to his feet and leapt into the air, Dash keeping a close eye on him as the other soldiers approached. She smirked, flipping backwards between their ranks just in time to watch the much larger stallion smash his own allies with a body slam. Aura surged through her and she held her head in pain from the sheer amount, but she proceeded to uppercut the stallion while he rose from the ground in his gut, the aura providing enough of a punch to send him up into the air. As he fell back towards the ground, she cocked her fist back and punched forward in time to hit him and send him crashing into one of the wooden gateways to the city.

The stallion hung his head in pain, and then the earth shook shocking both of them. The gate exploded as an elephant like Blank emerged, snapping up the stallion in its trunk and throwing him in the air. It threw him skyward and caught him in its mouth, his blood gushing from him as it bit down and swallowed him whole. It roared like a trumpet as its mouth sucked in air like a vacuum, Rainbow feeling herself pulled towards the creature as she raised her arms and backed off. That's when she noticed the souls of the now dead villagers leaving their bodies and floating towards the Blank, raising her eyebrow as she watched.

Then a familiar face fell from the ship above, her gauntlet arm growing in size as she cried, "Derpy Smasher!" Her fist slammed into the elephant Blanks head, making it trumpet again and blow the souls away that it almost ate. Then the souls were sucked into Derpy's gauntlet. "Hmph… No souls will fall into the hands of the Blanks." Her gauntlet hand glowed with her yellow aura, as Derpy karate chopped the Blank she stood upon vaporizing it. Rainbow struck a battle pose as she saw this, ready for anything. Derpy rose from her kneeled position and said, "What Lady Celestia spoke of was true." Derpy's glare softened as a tear fell from her eye. "It's been a while, my old friend…"

Rainbow Dash dropped her stance and smiled, walking over to her only to receive a hug from Derpy's enlarged arms. "GYAH! Crushing! Let me go!"

Derpy dropped her and her arms shrank back to normal size. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, I just thought you'd never come back! Not after what they did to you!"

Smiling, Rainbow patted her head and said, "That's right, you weren't there when it happened. You weren't in on their plan were you? I assume you know all the details now?" Derpy fought back tears as she nodded. "You poor misguided girl… Tell me, what's going on? What has happened to our world? What has happened to Equestria?"

The wall eyed pony sighed and placed her hands on her friend's shoulders. "So much has happened since you were gone Rainbow Dash. What was once the eight Guard Generals is no more. We are now the Seven Deities."

"Seven Deities? Seriously?" Rainbow Dash shook her head with a groan. "And the careless slaughter of these ponies? Are you that desperate to wipe out the Blanks?"

Derpy cringed and said, "Celestia believes the best way to save the lives of her subjects is to kill them and take their souls before the Blanks can, and use them as weapons against our enemies."

Her face went pale as she heard this. "Are you serious? If we kill those we are meant to protect then we are no better than the Blanks!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Derpy sniffled as tears flowed from her eyes. "Do you think I have a choice anymore? Do you think I like killing hundreds of innocents every day? Celestia controls us, now that we are all gods! That's one of the reasons why she had you killed Rainbow Dash. You were wild, and powerful, and you were going to achieve god status all your own! She wasn't prepared to control you, so she got rid of you before you could."

Rainbow Dash hung her head for a moment, staring at the floor. "Why are you telling me all of this? If you're stuck under Celestia's thumb, what can you gain from telling me these things? What can I do?"

"Were you listening to me?" Derpy shoved Rainbow Dash to the floor and aimed her armored finger in her face. "You are capable of becoming a god alone! You can take on and kill every last one of us!"

Her eyes went wide and she paused for a moment. "Derpy… you just said us… are you insinuating that you want me to kill you?" Derpy turned her back on Rainbow Dash and said nothing. "Why, why would you want me to kill you and all our friends?"

Derpy could be heard fighting sobs. "They took your daughter from you, and you deserve to take her back. I'll never get that opportunity, because mine is dead!" Rainbow gasped and covered her mouth. "I battle an army of Blanks just to watch them kill my little muffin, Dinky, right in front of me! And there was nothing I could do about it, all because I went along with this stupid façade! But you're not going to be able to beat them unless you can achieve that god status that lies dormant within you." Derpy turned around, her eyes red from the tears she'd shed. "We got a glimpse of it in the battle with Heartless, and now you have to achieve that again. I want you to battle me to the death! I won't hold back, so you can't either! If I kill you, just come back and fight me again, and never stop until you succeed!"

"Are you insane?! I can't kill what could possibly be the last friend I have in this world!"

The pegasus' gauntlet met dirt as Rainbow Dash flipped back out of its way. "We are no longer friends Rainbow Dash. I am a god now, and one that intends to kill you if you don't take this seriously! I want to be with my muffin, but not before I help you do what needs to be done so you can kill all those bastards who betrayed us! Now fight me!" Rainbow Dash leapt forward and punched her in the face, making her slide back. Derpy wiped her lip and smirked. "That's better…"

"TSK! You talk too much!" Rainbow returned her cocky grin. "I came back with enough anger to destroy the world. It'll be nice to have a punching bag."

"Is that what I am now?" Derpy's entire arm glowed with her aura as it grew in size, as well as her gauntlet. "Then let the battle of two pegasi's wrath begin!" She leapt at Rainbow Dash and punched a crater in the floor as Rainbow jumped over her. Dash uppercut Derpy off the floor and sucker punched her away. When she ran over to her, Derpy smacked her away with her gauntlet and leapt to her feet, slamming her fist into the ground. Instead of a missile emerging from her gauntlet like in the past though, a large ball of ki floated out and towards Dash. It was slow enough for her to dodge, but only to be smashed as Derpy fell from above and sat on her, crushing her into the ground with a grunt. "Comfy down there?"

"You cocky little-" Rainbow Dash grabbed her by her butt with both hands and threw her away. Derpy caught herself in the air with her wings, and twisted around. Her shoulder opened to fire off three missiles at Dash as she floated in a circle around her. Rainbow punched away the first two, and caught the third, throwing it at Derpy to explode and knock her from the air with a loud scream of shock and pain. Rainbow ran over and grabbed her by the face, leaping in the air to slam her back into the ground. She then dragged her along the ground as she ran towards the cliff's edge, and then skid to a halt before throwing Derpy over it.

Rainbow Dash waited a moment before taking a breath, but was interrupted by a flash of light from the cliff's edge. Suddenly, a gigantic grey hand reached over the cliff's edge, slamming into it as it pulsed with yellow aura and lifted a similarly sized gigantic Derpy, who shattered part of the edge. Rainbow Dash leapt back and stared in shock at her friend as Derpy said, "Do you see now Rainbow Dash? In the twelve thousand years since you've been gone, we've attained new heights! I can expand my limbs to epic proportions, as well as the rest of my body! This is the power they wanted your daughter, the priestess, Zap Apple for! "

Rainbow's foot slammed into the dirt as she clenched her fist, her face going from shock to anger. "My daughter… Zap Apple's power? What did they do?! Tell me what they've done with her!"

Derpy reared her arm back and said, "You'll have to make me!" Her oversized hand shot for Rainbow Dash.

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Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle all stood in a circle around Celestia on her throne. Fluttershy sighed and hugged her stuffed bunny tightly as she said, "It seems Rainbow Dash has returned to this world."

Pinkie Pie raised a brow from under her now smoothed out hair with an interested smirk. "You don't say?"

With an outraged tone, Twilight spoke up, "Preposterous! That's impossible."

A giggle came from Rarity, a scar over each of her eyes and her tongue pierced, as she waggled her finger at Twilight. "Nothing is impossible. It sounds like fun!"

"Silence!" Celestia held out her hand to quiet the group. "She is nothing but a speck of dust in the past."

"Indeed," Fluttershy added. "Our power then was nothing compared to what we are capable of now. Isn't that right Angel?" She turned the stuffed bunny towards everyone and gave it a wiggle. "She's right! We're all super tough gods now! We kick all kinds of flank!"

Rarity rolled her eyes and sighed. "To think there was a time when we actually had to exert effort to purify one large Blank… Oh, how pitiful we all once were."

Twilight got down on one knee, bowing her head before Celestia. "How shall we proceed my Lady? If it pleases you I can depart immediately to purify her."

"I've already sent Derpy. Let her take care of our old friend."

Smirking, Twilight continued, "I can imagine the look on Rainbow Dash's face now. She hasn't the slightest idea how powerless she is against us."

Everyone's attention was drawn to Pinkie, who began to laugh like a psychopath. "I think you'd be surprised."

Celestia's brow furrowed as she muttered, "Explain."

"There are no guarantees in battle. Nothing is impossible." Pinkie broke out into wild laughter again, sending a shiver up even Rarity's spine. Applejack stood there with her scarf tied over her eyes, listening silently as she stood there in the background.

End Pt. 1 Ch. 4