The Reunion

Chapter 8

The reunion

The few moments in time directly before a disaster feel like the longest seconds of anypony’s life. Sometimes in life there are experiences that are so cemented in a pony's memory that they can open their brain like a book and turn the specific page on which this moment happened. For Rainbow Dash one of these moments happened the day she found herself strapped down on an operating table with a diabolical scientist hovering over her body. If things weren't bad enough as they were, something happened that even the wisest pony could not have predicted.

A massive drill broke through the room’s sole window and rained a storm glass shards onto the concrete floor below.

When the cacophonous sound exploded into the small chamber, Rainbow had her eyes closed. She thought that the doctor was going to take her apart. She was sure that it was the end. But that was not what happened after all.

After a short period of shock, she thought this ear-blasting noise must have been a good thing. For a moment, she was even convinced that her friends were here to save her. But soon she cracked her eyes open.

Through the murky hole that was once a window, Rainbow could see a grid of sinister red light. The doctor turned to look as well, but as soon as he saw the light, he hit the floor.

Dash opened her mouth to ask what the heck was going on, but before she could even get out a single syllable, there was a bone-rattling moan. Whatever was looking through the window was producing a deep growling cry that Rainbow Dash only vaguely recognized. Unfortunately for her, when she finally realized the beast that was peeking into her world, it was far too late.

The doctor screamed so loud that it sounded as if his vocal chords were being shredded asunder. He tried to drag his frail body to a turret in the back of the room, but whatever was outside began to move in.

With a slow screeching sound, a massive armor-clad leg slowly pushed its way through the opening and down onto the floor below. There was another horrifying scream from the monster, and soon its entire hulking body was standing tall in front of Rainbow Dash. One of its four legs was dedicated to the impractical metal drill that shattered the window. That leg was attached to an equally impractical iron body suit. Where a pony head should be was an orb shaped helmet with the glowing red lights facing forward. Around the helmet was some sort of metal cage similar to the muzzles they put on ponies after they went mad.

It dragged its metal hooves forward. Rainbow changed her mind. Now she was sure it was the end of the line.

The doctor screamed again and jumped between Dash and the beast. He had a gun now. He fired the gun over and over, but the bullets only sparked and bounced off. The gigantic metal pony picked the doctor off of the ground by putting a front leg under his belly and lifting. No matter how much he squirmed and screamed, there was nothing the doctor could do at this point.

The creature’s drill began to slowly spin. “No! Nononononononno! Please!” The rusty drill began to whirr. “I don't want to die! I can't die! My work isn't fini—”

Rainbow closed her eyes, but she couldn't close her ears. She wasn't sure what was worse, the reality that she couldn't see or the bloody picture her mind had painted for her.

“Look at her, Mr. Bubbles!” came a filly’s voice from nearby.

Rainbow’s eyes shot open. It was the voice she was following. The voice that had been attacking her brain for hours. She scanned the room for the source, and she quickly found it.

An orange pegasus filly.

“SCOOTALOO!” Rainbow screamed, her voice scratchy and sore. She once again pulled on her shackles but all she managed to do was aggravate her cuts.

The filly danced around, her glowing yellow eyes filled with girlish excitement. “Mr. Bubbles, I want to keep her with us forever and ever!”

The giant, cage headed, monster lurched to Rainbow’s table and stood over her. The only thing she could see was its twisted hulking body rise and fall with its breath.

It reached out its drill.

It spun slowly.

It spun quickly.

Rainbow fell to the floor. “What did you…” The monster had drilled through the straps binding her, but had left her unharmed. “Are you saving me?” Dash rubbed her raw lower legs; the straps had cut deep.

“Now, Mr. Bubbles, we are going to take her with us! She is going to be our new pet!”

Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes. “Scoots is that you? What happened?” She stood up. “Why are your eyes glowing, and what is this thing!?”

Scootaloo froze. Inside of her a battle was raging. Two forces lived, and they both wanted power. As things were, the little sister was winning, and it was only going to get worse from there. “I… Don't know what you're talking about.”

“But Scootaloo!” Rainbow's eyes became wetter, but she forced the urge away. “Don't you remember me?”

“STOP!” The little sister climbed on top of her Big Daddy and looked down from its shoulder. “Stop talking about her! It makes me mad! Mr. Bubbles does mean things when I get mad!”

“Alright! Alright! Don't get mad!”

Rainbow thought that being spared was better than dying at first. But she soon realized that if she had died she would still be able to come back to life thanks to the potion she took. But now she was a hostage, and it seemed like Scootaloo was gone as Rainbow had known her. The best thing for her to do now was wait. She would wait to see if she could escape, or to see if Scootaloo was still there under whatever had taken her over.

***

Inside the city center there was a small bar. It was a bar, but it didn't just sell alcohol. It also sold ADAM. It was the first place splicers and junkies came to load up on their drug of choice. It was a lucrative business. There was a constant cash flow from the customers to the bar and straight into the city underbelly.

After only a few hours on her own, Rarity had found her first lead to what she thought was the underground ADAM production ring. All it took was some well placed persuasion and the cracking of a few splicer skulls. Normally she would have never harmed anypony, for it was not something a lady did. But Rarity had powers now; she was more than a mere lady. Plus she was on a mission. She was going to save innocent lives. What was the lives of a few degenerates to a hero? Nothing, they were nothing to her, and she was going to go as far as it took to save the innocent.

She stood in front of the building. The letters of its bright sign fizzled and blinked. The sounds of breaking glass could be heard from the outside along with some loud shouting. “Find who sells the ADAM, and it shall lead you to who makes it.” She flipped her mane. “Mother Goose, I am coming for you.”

She trotted up to the old style double doors, but two bouncers stopped her.

“Hold it right there lady.” He stuck out a leg bigger than Rarity’s torso.

“Is there a problem sir?” Rarity batted her eyelashes and stuck out her lower lip.

“Club members only.” His stone expression didn't break, but a thick vein on his neck slowly expanded and contracted with blood. For some reason it seriously put Rarity off.

“Are you sure that you couldn't…” Rarity sauntered up to the Bouncer with a wide sway in her hips. “Make an exception?” She wrapped her front legs around his neck and raised an eyebrow.

He lowered his voice to a quiet rumble. “And what's in it for me?”

Rarity smiled and began to whisper in his ear in a breathy fashion. “Anything you want, darling.”

The bouncer smiled back and nodded at his collègue. He nodded back and trotted into the alleyway behind the bar. “Let's go.” He took Rarity by the leg and began to drag her back. “I hope when you said anything, you meant anything.”

“Oh yes!” Rarity grinned. “When I'm done, you two won't even know what hit you.”

***

Rarity dusted her hooves off and looked at the two fried and groaning bouncers laying in the grimy alley. Leading them to a secluded place ended up being fairly easy, and shocking them until they were out cold was even easier.

“Humph.” She turned her nose up and began to trot away. “Brutes.”

Inside was the pungent scent of unwashed stallions, blood, and alcohol. It wasn't long until she saw the source. Four very intoxicated splicers sitting on wooden stools in front of a grimy bar. Behind the bar were five machines hanging from the wall. They had long glass tanks filled with neon colored liquids attached to a few long tubes. At the end of each tube was a wicked hypodermic needle plunged deep into the skin of a splicer.

In the back of the bar a few splicers were knocked out on the ground in a puddle of bloody vomit. No one seemed to care, except for a employee mopping up the mess.

Rarity had to try her best not to collapse from the stench alone.

She sat down on one of the stools. She made sure there were at least two empty seats between her and the group of splicers. They were quite loud, and Rarity wasn't in the mood to fight four doped up stallions.

“Bartender!” Rarity called waving a hoof.

Out from under the table popped a stallion with an unruly handlebar moustache. He looked like he belonged in a circus. He spat in the glass he was holding and gave Rarity the hairy eyeball. “You seem like you don't quite belong here, girly.”

Rarity scoffed. “What kind of lady do you think I am.”

“That's the thing; you are a lady, and this ain't exactly the safest place for a lady like you or otherwise.”

“I assure you sir,” Rarity flashed a sensual smile. “I can hold my own with any of the men in here.”

“Alrighty then. It's your funeral, miss.”

There was a silence. “Sir, would you be open to a few questions?” She leaned into the table and pouted a bit.

He narrowed his eyes. “What kind of questions?”

“Well, I would simply like to know where it is you receive all of this ADAM.”

He shrugged his shoulders and gave a wry smile. “I have no idea ma’am.”

“I'm sure you don't,” Rarity whispered through gritted teeth.

“So,” He went back to wiping out the glass. “What do you want?”

I'm going to have to do this another way… “What can you give me.”

“Well,” the bartender cleared his throat and put on some sort of carnival voice. “Here at the Nursery Rhyme we have only the finest ADAM in all of Rapture!” The stallion trotted over to one of the ADAM needle machines and gave it an affectionate tap.”These babies can pump you full of your drug of choice faster than you could even think about overdosing!And look at all of the wonderful new plasmid formulas we have here. Incinerate here!” He gestured to a dark red liquid in one of the tanks. “And we have enrage here.” It was the next down the line and it was a bubbly pink. “And of course here is today’s special telepathy.” This purple liquid was in a much bigger tank on the end labeled “discount!!!”

Rarity stroked her chin and fluttered her eyelashes. “Hmm… telepathy. I'll go with telepathy.”

“Excellent choice,” the bartender said, wet with sarcasm. “And what drew you to it.”

“Well,” Rarity pursed her lips. “I suppose it was the color. Purple is one of my favorites especially that stunning shade of plum.”

“You really are a lady,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. “Alright, left front leg please.”

“Excuse me?”

“Give me your damned leg so I can stick this in you.” He lifted the needle from the large hook it hung from.

“Oh, well of course.” She began to stick out her right leg then quickly realized her mistake. “Wait… yes left, silly me, left.”

The bartender swabbed her leg with a rag that smelled like wine. She could feel the dry crust of liquid used in prior sessions scrape against her.

“That's so odd…” Rarity murmured and looked at her right leg and then at her left. “I don't usually make mistakes like that.” Before she could think anymore she felt it.

Cold and metal, it slid inside her.

“Ow, shit!” she blurted out before covering her mouth. “Oh my! How crude, I've never said that befo—” Suddenly without warning her speech stopped flowing and instead began limping out from her mouth as if shot in the leg. “Wh-hat was… was that?”

She got no response. Instead she got a smug stare from the bartender. An unmoving smug state. Rarity could have sworn his face was stone by the way he was frozen. Then she realized something. The whole room was stuck in this state. The bartender, the stallion pile, the bubbling vats of plasmid, it was all in a sort of suspended animation.

The room around her no longer felt clear. Everything seemed shrouded in a purple haze, and Rarity kept hearing muffled voices. It was like she was being called from very far away. She looked at the bartender again, and she seemed to hear the sound a bit more clearly.

She felt the need to touch him. Then she wondered why she felt that. She tried to stop herself but her leg snaked away from her and placed itself on his shoulder.

Clearer than any radio it cracked in, “I can't believe this bitch, how many cocks did she have to suck to get herself past security. Remind me to fire those useless good for nothing—”

She took her hoof off. Everything was a blur again. She had trouble keeping her breath, and her eyes twitched more than normal.

She put her hoof back on; it was too tempting.

“Not that I wouldn't do the same in their situations. Guess that's why they don't hire me for that kind of thing.”

“I can't believe he thought I actually chose it for the color.” She grinned and focused on his deep thoughts.

Author's Note

I have no excuse for the wait