Equestrian Bloodlines Collection: Absolution

by RealityPublishing

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Dark
Length: 30201

Scootaloo manages to find light in the darkest of places. Her life takes a turn and it is up to her to make decisions many others could not. -R.P.

Scootaloo has a run in with the new EverSpirit, a corrupted dealer with alternate motives. During their first conversation, Scootaloo is warned of an inevitable fate that she must learn to handle her own way.

This is the first installation of the Equestrian Bloodlines Collection, a spin-off series explaining the fates and experiences of ponies within the Equestrian Series.
-RealityPublishing

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-08-04 02:57:02 UTC

Absolution Part 2 [FIXED]

Every city has their secrets; we all knew that. Just as Canterlot has corrupt government, so do we, Cloudsdale. The Era was a time of Prosperity, or so we thought. Cloudsdale had been planning a dawn of Downfall ever since the treaties of the Three Races. We all wanted to be superior; we all wanted to overthrow the Unicorns. Time and time again had they proven us wrong. They controlled the sun, the moon and, if given opportunity, the weather. We all knew it was coming and we wanted to stop it before it became too serious. At this time, we had discovered a document that described our origin ancestors, the Council of Davii Equestria’s traditions and regulations. With their knowledge, we were able to convince Celestia to have our say in everything she does. It was a cleaver plan that our own society developed; we were separate from our government and had plans to take over. I was the one who suggested the Council; I was one of its members until I was ruined. The document I mentioned spoke not only of regulations and mere tradition, but also of prophesies. In the document, it is foretold that a flightless pegasi will take to the sky and bring destruction to all we hold dear. Because of its ludicrous message, we all ignored it and moved on to what we had worked on so dearly. We all confronted Celestia and presented our case, winning in the end. At that point, we represented all of Cloudsdale, thus giving us the ability to overrule any oppositions made by their government. It was a glorious feeling having control over our hometown, but I still had concerns. While the others were celebrating, I decided to read up on the document we had found; it was a diary made by the Survivor, son of the Head. He had done everything he could to record what happened in the past. He would keep every meeting memorized until he could write them down; it was miraculous the amount of detail he went through. But as with everypony, ever so often he would forget something and write it down as an assumption. I noticed these things and took note to them until I began to realize a pattern in the things he wasn’t forgetting. Every time he went to a council meeting he would recall the bickering made by this certain prophecy; I dug further. The poem was, as he described it, cryptic and unclear during their time. Everyday, he would write, the ponies of the council discussed this poem, acting as though the end of days was tomorrow. It was pitiful and I began to see the weakness in their order. Eventually the Survivor spoke of their destruction and the rest of his documentation burned mercilessly in a fire. I was the one to warn my friends of this discovery. Throughout the journal, the Survivor continuously warned against a flightless pony and how he would bring death to all; of course, they didn’t believe me. I tried again and again until someone, my dearest friend, spoke up and proclaimed that perhaps the impossible could become a shocking reality. He also said that we, as a council, should not overlook such outcomes,

“Everything can become reality,” said he.

I thanked him repeatedly until he could do nothing but wave me away. I thought that would be the end of it. I was wrong, of course, one of the members decided that he, too, wanted to investigate. Once he made his progress, he proposed the city be sought for any flightless pegasi. If any were found, they’d be killed on spot. At the time, I didn’t care, my wife and I had been very supportive of each other; I had every confidence our child would be winged.

She had gone into labor late into the night; I began to feel nervous. All that week my friends, and the security forces, would be searching each home for a pegasi with significantly shorter wings. My closest friend, HighShine, the one who defended me in the council meeting, carried my wife, Rainbeam, into the hospital during her labor. I thanked him again for comforting me during these hard times; he smiled and said that everything would be all right in time.

“You can come in, Mr. SoftHeart,” called the Nurse, walking inside to finish the procedure. As I walked into the delivery room, I waved toward my friend who called out to me, “We’ll have to check him too,” said he, putting aside a magazine he’d been reading. I had confidence everything would be fine, but I still had my doubts. Nervous and hesitant, I nodded, walking into the room with a seeping wound in the back of my mind.

My wife held my hoof tightly as the nurses tried their best; I pressed my hoof on hers, speaking softly in her ear,

“Honey, it’s going to be alright,” I smiled, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

With tears in her eyes, she nodded her head, keeping everything as proper as possible. She tried her best not to make a sound; she fought through the pain like a true warrior. I began to sniffle; never before had I seen such a thing happen again. It was the work of true beauty. Everything we had done lived up to that moment; she was the true hero. With a yelp and a scream, a small, crying head came forth. Fascinated, I watched as more and more of the small pony came from his mother. RainBeam placed her head on the back of my hoof, crying silently as the sounds of a crying newborn flooded the room.

“Congratulations, Mr. SoftHeart,” announced the nurse, “You have a new born filly in the family!”

I laughed aloud, pacing around the room in wonder of the new filly. I watched as she was slowly placed into the hooves of my beloved. I got down on my knees and looked at her, examining everything. She was perfect… except for… her wings. My heart dropped a hundred floors; could it be?

“Excuse me?” I asked the nurse, turning toward her with a worried expression, “Is she pegasi?”

The nurse rolled her eyes and laughed, “Too excited to tell one of your own? Yes, she’s a pegasi.”

Frantically, I took a closer look at her, counting the number of feathers she had,

“Where are her wings? Should they be this small at birth?”

The nurse stopped for a second to think and pointed to a poster on the wall showing wing development. I scanned it quickly,

“Your daughter has wings; that’s for sure,” she began, “Hmm… now that I look at her, they do seem a bit… small…”

I shook my head, ”It can’t be; it just can’t be.”

“Ah well; I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Give her a week or so and then come back. Then we’ll put her on some Benedenozill to help development.”

RainBeam saw my concern and asked, “What’s wrong, honey? She’s perfect the way she is. I’m sure she’ll be able to fly in the Equestria Games someday.”

It was true; I had always wanted a colt to fly in the Games, but this was a different matter. At the rate our society was growing, there may never be another Equestria Games after this date. I nodded my head, “No, love, you don’t understand. We need to talk.”

HighShine knocked on the door and peer through the window calling, “RainBeam! NearFlight! I’m here to see the new foal!”

Rainbeam was still weak from the procedure, but she managed to speak up like the fighter she was, “Come in!” She called, gazing down at the creation she had birthed. I bolted up and ran toward the door, holding it shut,

“I’m very sorry, my dear friend, but I really wish to have some alone time with my new child. Is that alright with you?”

He thought for a second, looked around me skeptically and bowed respectfully, “Fine,” he answered, slowly backing away, still in a bowing position, “but we’ll have to check him when you leave the hospital.”

I sighed, wiping my forehead and turning toward RainBeam, who shot me a look of puzzlement.

“What was that for?” Said she, looking back at the foal, “What did we do?”

I lowered my head and tried my best to explain, “Honey, I’ve done some wrong.”

No one would ever be prepared to say this to their wife, let alone take the actions their words promise. I sighed, closing my eyes so I could not be attached to the child we had created.

“RainBeam, my love, I have created a monster. The order my companions and I have developed are searching for this child. Do you remember the Ones Who Came Before?”

“I know it well.”

“We found a prophecy from one of their archives speaking of a flightless pegasi who will bring destruction to our rule. I am afraid I have made my councilponies aware of this catastrophe. As we speak, they are searching all over Equestria for flightless pegasi; the punishment for a pony matching criteria will be immediate execution. If the suspect is a child, their parents will be executed for holding secrets against my organization. I’m sorry, my love, but we must destroy her before it is too late!”

She gasped, shaking her head for a full five minutes.

“I want to keep her,” said she, breaking the silence, “We made her, NearFlight! How can we abandon her without even getting to know her?”

I shook my head, “I’m sorry, but we must do it before we get too attached to it! Remember the prophecy, RainBeam!”

She, with all her strength, stood up. Wires and vials attached, she stood. Amazed, I took a step back; I could only imagine the pain she was going through.

“The prophecy can go to Tartarus! This is our child and we’re going to keep her; even if it costs us our lives!”

“I love her as much as you do, but we have our own lives to keep!” I yelled, streams of imaginary tears running down my face, “We must get rid of her!”

She continued to shake her head in denial, “No, we are going to teach her love and kindness. Your prophecy is bogus; she would never destroy us. She is going to be our savior!”

I nodded, my hoof firmly placed on my forehead, “No, no, no,” I muttered with disbelief; it was all too much to bear, “I can talk to the board, but you will have to leave Cloudsdale and live in the wilderness. I take it you know how to raise a child?”

Silently, she shook her head, “I do not.”

“See? This is a lost cause! They’ll be riding up on our tails until the day we die! We have to destroy her!”

“But I will not watch my child’s blood be shed upon your unholy drapes!”

Silence filled the room for a few mere minutes.

“You know we can’t keep her, right?”

RainBeam sighed, “I know… but,”

“But nothing!” I yelled; I had to finish this argument somehow, “You know what will happen if we are seen with it!”

As much as I hated it, I had to detach any emotional relation with her; showing her love would only make the separation harder.

“This child will reign above everypony!” Said she, “It is she who will save Equestria! Not destroy it!”

I shook my head, “No! This pony will know not of her destiny! She will be far from it!”

“Then what do you suppose we do? Murder her in the bedding?”

“It would be noble of us to do so!”

“You monster!” She spat, “There are plenty of ways to avoid your ‘murder guild’. She can live in hiding with us!”

“And when ponies start asking about her? What then? Honey, we live on a cloud! How will she get around? How will she defend herself without flight? Not to mention, if she is seen anywhere in Equestria, her death will be without question!”

She shook her head, “We’ll have to live among the Earth Ponies. Perhaps the Everfree Forest will house our troubles.”

“The Everfree Forest? As if there were no safer place!”

I didn’t want it to come to this, but I was afraid it was the only thing we could do. I loved our child; I really did, but there was no other way around it.

“RainBeam, my darling, there is only one thing we can do. I will take the child beyond the Frozen North. I will teach her to love and someday, she will return.”

Her eyes lit up like fireworks, “You would do that?” Said she, lights still flickering in her ruby eyes; they were the signs of hope, “You would risk your entire life to save this child? You would throw away everything you have built to save this filly?”

I sighed; I had no other choice, “Yes, I will do it for her.”

RainBeam raised the unsuspecting filly in the air and chanted,

“My child, you will show Equestria who you are! You will reign over all who oppose you! May those who curse you be cursed! May those who bless you be blessed!”

She smiled like I had never seen before; I placed a hoof around her neck,

“What will her name be? Think carefully; this may be the last time you see her.”

Her smile melted fast, but she took no bother to cry,

“Scootaloo; her name shall forever be Scootaloo!”

“Then it is done,” I proclaimed, “I must remove her from the facility as fast as we can. You will have to stay here, my love. I’m sorry.”

A single tear ran down her face, “No, I’m sorry; I should have never had this child.”

“No!” I cried, “It was never your fault. This is what the future had in store for us. We must take it and move on, even if we must do the impossible.”

She wept softly as I took Scootaloo from her, proceeding to the door while gazing upon her innocence.

“Was she really the one spoken of?

I wrapped her in simple bedding and proceeded to walk to the front door, ignoring eye contact from everypony in the lobby. A nurse screamed murder as the door opened; I fled the scene.

Screams echoed throughout each town as I flew through them. Lights illuminated from each house, introducing a new scream to add to the commotion. Several ponies chased after me as I flew, some of them I knew. Each shouted at me as I flew faster until my wings could no more.

“We know you have him, NearFlight! You know what needs to be done!” They shouted, gaining speed. I held my head low,

“No!” I shouted, my wings burning with fatigue, “I know what you’re going to do to her! I know what you want done! You’re all monsters, I tell you!”

I could see the edge of Cloudsdale drawing near; I held onto Scootaloo as tight as I possibly could.

“Look at what you’ve built, NearFlight!” Called one of the ponies gaining on me; it was HighShine.

“Think about it all! Everything you’ve work for! All the effort it took to convince the stubborn asses back at the council! Do you really want to waste it all on this? She’s nothing to you, but everything to us! Go to your wife! She needs your comfort,” he cried; his voice grew tense, “NearFlight, your wife is in trouble.”

My wings clamped, causing me to fall. My mane dangled over Cloudsdale’s border. I checked Scootaloo; she was safe in my hooves.

HighShine stopped, towering over me with a raised hoof, signaling the rest to stop as he did.

“NearFlight, my dear friend, are you really going to throw everything away for a flightless dove?”

He chuckled and paced around me like a helpless animal; I closed my eyes, cowering in fear. Although he had been my friend for the longest time, I had always feared him since the day we met. There was a darkening aura about his presence; he took his duties seriously.

“NearFlight, don’t you think it’d be easier if you just gave her to us right now? Then I don’t have to pace and your wife doesn’t have to die. Sound like a good plan?”

I struggled to stand, trying to look my best in the face of death,

“Is this how we were supposed to run Cloudsdale?” I shouted, teary-eyed at best, “This is nothing like the original council, NOTHING!”

“How so?” He questioned, still pacing around me, “We’ve followed all their traditions. Well, all but one.”

“That is?” I stared him down, but he smiled,

“We have a weak leader.”

He smirked and chuckled before backing away.

“Follow the traditions, my flank!” I screamed, covering Scootaloo’s tiny ears. I wasn’t sure if she even understood what was going on, “All you did was frolic around while I did the research! While you ponies were partying, I was studying the scroll! While everypony was moseying around, I was the one who discovered the damn thing!”

He stopped and flicked his tail,

“If you spent so much time on this,” he said, not daring to turn around, “then why would you want to destroy it? Why would you take all this time and effort toward building a perfect Cloudsdale, no, a perfect Equestria, just to see it crumble, why not see it to the end?”

I closed my eyes; I had asked those same questions several times in the last ten minutes,

“Because,” I began, holding my breath, “I know when to stop.”

He raised a brow, but I took no notice, “I know when things have escalated too far,” I continued, speaking my mind to the fullest, “Everything we have today is perfect. We are in, what is described, at Equestria’s peak, the Prosperity Era, as scholars have called it. Why would I want to destroy that? A new, organized order would be nice, it really would, but with things going so perfectly now, why continue? Our order, our council, is killing the perfect world we already have. There is nothing more that we need to even consider!”

Once again, he chuckled, muttering the same words under his breath, “Pathetic,” he mumbled, “Absolutely PATHETIC!”

Scootaloo began to cry, drawing the attention of civilian ponies who knew nothing of what was going on.

“You are the one who convinced us that this was the way Equestria was supposed to be! This was the original, or as you called it, Ancient Equestrian way! We lost everything to follow you! We gave up our lives, our jobs, our destinies to follow your teachings!”

He paused, looking down at the clouds below his hooves,

“But you know what?” He continued, his voice growing deeper, “You’re nothing, NOTHING! You set us up; you set all of us up for failure! You knew this was going to happen yet you did nothing to warn us! All of this time, it was you who taught us that this was real, but you were wrong and we were fools to believe otherwise.”

A crowd began to generate around us; Scootaloo continued to cry while HighShine continued to rant, “Your child’s very existence is a defect and your wife is probably dead by now. With that in mind, tell me, who are you going to run to? Who in this wide, wide land of Equestria is going to take in two reject ponies like you? I’ll tell you, nopony. Equestria is changing, NearFlight, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a big world out there, are you going to conquer it all with your lies and deception? I wonder; how many ponies are going to fall for your smoke and mirrors?”

He turned toward the crowd around us, “Would any of these generous ponies be willing to take you in? To protect and defend you on the execution stand? And I wonder, would any of these ponies cry at your funeral? Of course not, this is a new era, NearFlight. I just wonder what they’ll call it…”

The confused ponies of Cloudsdale stared blankly at each other, trying to figure out what the commotion was about. HighShine paused and adjusted his hooves to make it look as though he were in deep thought.

“Oooh!” He cried, finally breaking his comical thought sequence, “I’ll call it the, Downfall Era, do you think that’s a good name?”

I spat out a laugh of disgust, “Downfall? What are you talking about? You haven’t even started your, what I’ll assume to be, reign of terror!”

He looked at me thoughtfully before speaking once more, “Oh, for once, you are right! We’ll have to put Celestia in the can first. We’ll just have to call it the Accusation Era, just to be safe.”

I rolled my eyes, “Call it whatever you will, I’m done with your idiotic rampage! All my work has been corrupted by the likes of your friends! If I had done this alone, we wouldn’t even have this dispute!”

“Dispute?” He spat, “You call this a dispute? If you had done this alone, your work would have meant nothing.”

Once again, he paused and looked out to the crowd, “But this,” he said, “this is something that you should be proud of.”

I began to panic; he smiled,

“I’m taking the organization off your hooves… permanently.”

He backed away, leaving the other ponies an opportunity to finish me. I looked toward the edge and kicked my hooves toward it. HighShine caught on,

“Well?” He called to the ponies, “Go get him!”

I could see the ground from where I dangled; I kicked my hooves faster and braced, closing my eyes. One of the ponies in the audience screamed as I fell off Cloudsdale. I held onto Scootaloo with all my love, trying to open my wings, which were still sore from earlier, but the faster I flew, the harder it became to break. I shed a tear and looked down at Scootaloo. Still a newborn, she had already gone through so much, I wasn’t sure if she could handle the rest of her life. I thought about dropping her for my own sake, but after everything I had gone through to protect her, there was no way I’d let that happen. With every bleeding feather, I spread my wings and broke against the wind. Tears were shed and blood was let, but Scootaloo was kept safe. I dared not flap; I knew I would instantly clamp if I did. So instead, I glided, alone in the dark with nopony else but Scootaloo, the one I had sacrificed so much for.

Nopony dared chase me after I had fallen. They had assumed either we were dead from the fall, or were too afraid of the surface to even consider pursuing me. Pegasi stayed away from the surface, we knew of our treaties, and respected them as such. Everypony in Cloudsdale knew that if a pegasi were to be caught standing on land, they would be immediately put before a judge. The only time a pegasi could walk on land, were during social events approved by Princess Celestia, who, at this time, ruled diligently. That was the reason I quit the Council. It was not only because of my child’s execution, but because I pitied Celestia. She had lost so much during her rule, I dared not upset her longer. She was so reluctant toward letting us watch over her during our few meetings, that I began to develop a conscience. All this time, I thought I was doing the favor; I thought this was the right way to rule Equestria: as a chosen Council. Of course, I was wrong. I had no interest in running Equestria for its benefit. All I wanted was to relive the times spoken of in the Scrolls I obsessed over.

When I predicted my work, my organization, would ultimately destroy Equestria, I hid all of the scrolls. It, very much like this one, was a dark night that became clouded by my own self-guilt. I remember running home and pulling a small sea-chest that I used during my school days, and taking to my work place. I snagged as many scrolls as I possibly could, stuffing each one into the chest and locking it with a pegasi branded padlock. I looked at the box and engraved a symbol that I figured would represent him. He was the writer for many of the scrolls; he was one of the three who soar above that day. Each scroll was numbered and gave details of the past; he was one of the founders of, what I dubbed, Old Equestria. His name was StarSwirl, and he documented that a certain formation of drawn stars could protect anything for thousands of years. He wrote of his encounters with non-unicorn magic users and their methods. With all his research lost to time, StarSwirl only saved one drawing, a horizontal formation of seven, five-pointed stars drawn out over the fourth scroll. He wrote that anypony could use magic to manipulate the world around them using drawn symbols and formations. With this knowledge, I scribbled the formation onto the box and, when night had fallen, buried it within the Gastly Gorge, a crevasse that was mostly abandoned. I documented the location of the chest and stashed the parchment within an illegal leather bag, throwing it into a lake not far from Cloudsdale. I had no interest in uncovering any more mysteries; it would not be long before HighShine discovered the missing parchments.

I braced and held my hooves out, preparing for the unexpected impact that would soon take place. As I closed my eyes, I thought of my beloved RainBeam, who, I had left defenseless. I whispered in the night, “Please don’t. Please, I beg of you, don’t.”

The several regrets that ran through my mind were too many to count; everything I had done was unforgivable. My only wish was that everypony would make it out of this alive. I wanted everything to go back to normal, but I knew deep down, that this could never be. My backside scrapped against the dirt, tearing it completely; I tried my hardest to compress my scream. I checked Scootaloo’s health; she was fine, laughing even. Although teary-eyed, I smiled and whispered, “Come on, Scootaloo. We need to keep moving.”

I struggled to stand; the ground below me was mixed with blood, gravel, and dirt. Trees surrounded us like armies ready for a fight; I backed down. Picking up Scootaloo with my teeth, I pressed on while trying to ignore the forest’s darker intentions. Despite my mouthful, I continued to whisper, “Now, now, Scootaloo. I hear there’s a town on the other side of this forest; we’ll be fine, I’m sure of it.”

Of course, she paid no attention to my distress, she had no reason to. She didn’t know what was going on; I envied her obliviousness. I looked quickly from side to side, watching out for the strange creatures I had read about. The scrolls warned against these woods repeatedly; I began to worry.

”How would I fare without my home? Is it possible to live in the forest?”

These sorts of questions ran through my head repeatedly as I aimlessly wandered the darkness. While the moon’s rays shone brilliantly through the trees, it was hardly noticeable with the dense tree line surrounding us. Twists and turns, I continued to wander, eventually finding a small pool of water, which, I immediately ran to. The moon reflected against its calm surface; it was the perfect place to sleep for the night. Using my hooves, I dug a small hole for Scootaloo; carefully placing her in when I felt it was a sufficient size. I, on the other hoof, slept not. I was too worried to even think of sleep. There were so many creatures in the forest,

”How long would it take to name everything that lives?” I thought, keeping a close eye on Scootaloo, ”Is it even possible?”

I smiled, brushing off the dust. It was a beloved treasure; I had sought diligently. Never had I taken so much dedication toward an item; this was it. I could smell the sweet scents of victory, failure, smoke, and blood all by being in its presence; it was beautiful. I reached out to it, stopping before I could reveal. A moment of silence was all it took to prepare myself; I had fought beside my sisters for such a long time,

”Was this all worth it?’

I ignored the wishes of my family to find this; the keeper of all secrets. Never before I had come so close, a lifetime of research was what it took. The cavern’s darkness pulled me closer to what I had before me. It took everything to find it; I only had to believe a bit longer. Certain radiance emitted from the artifact; I had no doubt it was the protective Pact made by she, the one who delayed Former Equestria’s ultimate demolition.

As my poor filly slept through the night, I stayed awake to watch the shadows that lurked behind the trees. The every essence of darkness frightened me; I picked up a pitiful stick for defense. I listened carefully as my ears played tricks on me; indefinable growls of disgust surrounded my filly and I; I tried my hardest to not cower in fear. As the moon lowered, the sun rose to shed light on all that we were. So thus, Scootaloo and I moved ahead. Through the trees and through the fields, we pushed on. My mind repeated my fears to me.

”Would they return? Are we really safe on the surface?”

A stench flooded the forest, color drained from my face,

“No, not now,” I whispered, “Please, no. Not today, not ever!”

But my calls of forgiveness could not ease the monsters that sought our flesh. I closed my eyes and gazed upon the beast before me. I said my prayers and placed Scootaloo behind me, shielding her from the monster’s view. I wore a frightened expression on my face,

“Oh dear,” I silently cried, “Please do not.”

The timberwolf smirked and raised a single paw. I closed my eyes and stood my ground; this was my end.

”No,” I told myself, ”Scootaloo needs a home. You will give it to her! You must fight the beast!”

I shook my head and grabbed my child from the trotted soil, sprinting for my life. The timberwolf snorted with anger as his paws pounded against the earth. My legs grew weak and trembled with fear. I knew not of where I was going, only that I needed to leave. A sharp piercing burst came from the sky; they had come.

I was not as safe as I figured I would be. Three pegasi dressed in full black soared overhead, not to mention a furious timberwolf gaining speed by the second. I looked deep into Scootaloo’s eyes, which, longed for love and attention. She screamed, alerting all the overhead pegasi. I looked ahead and through my tears, I saw the edge of a small, but still developing, town. The timberwolf drew near; I began to hear the whispers of an earth pony to my left. I tripped, throwing Scootaloo as far ahead as I could, hoping that she would be able to break her fall, even in the slightest. I knew it couldn’t be, but I needed to stay hopeful. I needed to make sure she was all right; it meant everything to me. A sharp break in my hoof echoed through the forest, I screamed in pain. Blood ran down the face of the timberwolf as he thrashed me about. Through the corner of my eye, I caught glimpse of the pegasi who waited, watching me become torn to pieces. I swung around in the air, helpless and distraught. Immobile, I watched as my hooves were ripped from where they perched; I screamed once more. In an instant, I was launched against a tree; everything went quiet.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

Spit down my face as I watched, in pain, the simple earth pony picked up the injured child.

“Who do you belong to?” She asked the unsuspecting filly, “Where are your parents?”

She stopped to look around at who was present; she saw all but me, the one hidden by the deep forest’s grasp. The timberwolf went silent as well, collapsing to the ground; the three pegasi landed over its remains.

“Well, NearFlight, long time no see!”

The three of them chuckled; two of them kicked at the timberwolf remains. The main pony, who stood in front of me, had a coat of deep purple. His comrades both wore yellow. I glared at them all; one of them smiled and leaned closer. Blood still flowed from my hoofless legs.

“Now, now, NearFlight, that doesn’t look peaceful,” he smirked, “Tell us now, where’s the filly?”

The pony who had lovingly taken Scootaloo already fled the scene. I grinned, “She’s out of your reach. Even I don’t know where she’s been taken.”

The purple pony’s smirk dissolved within an instant, “If you’re not going to tell me what happened, then what use do we have for these?”

He laughed and stomped on my gashed right hoof; I tried my best to hold in a scream. The purple pony clapped his hooves and signaled to the other two beside him. Each one lifted my sides into the air, taking to the skies. I began to feel dizzy, a waterfall of crimson trailing behind me. I closed my eyes; I blacked out.

“Wake up.”

I contorted my face, drowsily shaking my head. The voice called to me again, “Wake up.”

A sharp clap echoed around me. I opened my eyes and tried to make out the figures around me. A bright light glowed in my face,

“I said, Wake up.”

My eyes focused and my arms grew tired; I was tied to a bloodied brick wall. The pony who yelled at me was none other than HighShine, the betrayal and most ignorant of ponies. He sneered at me, standing very close. He raised his left hoof in the air; the other four ponies left the room, leaving him and me alone. HighShine pulled up a chair and sat in front of me,

“So!” He yelled, “Let’s talk about something, shall we?”

The room was dark with the exception of a single torch placed on a hanging candlestick. The walls were dark and, what I assumed, muddy. A small wooden table rested before me.

“What-” I coughed, “do you want to talk about?”

My cuts and breaks had clotted, but my vision was still blurred. HighShine laughed hysterically, “What do I want to talk about? Oh, boy, what do I want to talk about?”

Sarcastically, he acted like he was in awe, imagining the infinite possibilities of conversation. He slammed a hoof on the table and stood up to me, “How about we talk about that little, adorable, missing filly of yours? How about that? You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

I shook my head, “Why do you persist? I don’t know where she is.”

He nodded his head with disappointment, “How could you, the founder of all our work, be so incredibly IGNORANT?”

He paused and took a step back, “Do you really think I am so gullible as to believe you lost your one and only child? What kind of father do you think you are? If she was left alone in hiding, she’ll die and you just did our work for us! You hardly made it out of the forest, so tell me, where is she?”

I shook my head, “What does it matter? You’re a monster just like the timberwolf who caused this.”

I tried my hardest to look down at the damage done. His eye twitched with fury, and clapped his hooves together for a second time, “Let’s do this again, shall we?”

The door burst open with a single red wheelbarrow draped in a white cloth. He nodded to the pony bringing it in; the pony left the room. HighShine began to chuckle, pushing the cart in front of me, leaving the sheet atop it.

“Do you know what this is?” He asked, kicking the side of the barrow. I raised an eyebrow,

“Money?”

He chuckled and paced around the room, “I’m going to say it, perspectives change, my dear friend. Perspectives change depending on belief. You could say it’s money, but in reality, matter can be anything you want. Take this table,”

He tapped his hoof against the tabletop; I continued to eyeball the cart.

“This table is, as we define, a table. It has four legs and a top to place certain items on.”

I nodded, looking at him from the corner of my eyes. He smiled and continued to pace about, “But let’s break it down, shall we? To me, this is wood that was repurposed for something more. It’s really a beautiful cycle! Believe me! The changing of otherwise useless materials into an everyday object we use for fun. It’s amazing!”

I looked at him through my foggy eyes, “What does this have to do with the crate?”

He sarcastically panicked, “Oh! It’s related to everything! What I may perceive as money could mean so much more to you! Who knows what lies under this tarp?”

He tapped on the white sheet; something didn’t feel right.

“So let’s make a trade, this cart, for your daughter. Does that seem fair? To me, this is real gold. It’s a fortune! Sure, your perspective may be different, but what’s the difference? Matter is matter, my friend.”

“I will never give you Scootaloo.”

He stopped, remaining calm and devilishly sarcastic, “Scootaloo, what a simple, wonderful name. Who chose it?”

“My wife who you slew, monster!” I began to weep, “You killed her...”

He gently placed a hoof on my shoulder, “I didn’t kill her; she’s alive.”

A spark went off in my mind, “What? But you said-,”

“A simple bluff; take no notice of it. Now, what do you say? A life to live with your wife for Scootaloo, a simple, flightless pegasi with no future?”

Too much was running through my mind, ”What do I do?”

“Scootaloo may seem special, but really, she’s just a pony. She won’t even remember you. Come on, HighFlight, give her up, we won’t tell.”

I began to cry, torn between two fates. I would never be respected by my wife ever again, ”What was I to do?”

I stopped and hung my head low, “Alright, I’ll so it.”

He smiled with glee, “Well that’s great! Where is she?”

“She’s... near Ponyville... I don’t know where exactly...”

He smiled and rubbed the top of my head, “It’s fine; we’ll take it from here. Don’t worry about a thing.”

I shook my head, confused; I shouted, “Now where is she? Where is RainBeam?”

He started to chuckle and bent over, slowly pulling the white curtain.

I screamed, horrified to see the dripping bloody mess of disfigured parts piled within the sickening cart of terminal death.

“Do you remember when I talked about ‘perspective’?”

Her lovely face stared back at me, skinned with a brutally dull knife. I wept silently, not able to look upon the one I loved,

“I-I,” I stammered, “Y-you said she lived!”

Blood began to seep from my ears and dripped down my face,

“Oh, she is very much alive! Alive in your mind, that is,” His demonic laughter echoed throughout the room, “You should look in the mirror; you’re absolutely pathetic.”

He bent down and picked up a disembodied hoof, decorating me like a Hearth’s Warming Tree. I screamed and thrashed about, “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER!”

But all he did was chuckle and giggle as he picked up every individual piece, placing it atop my head and tying what I assumed to be my love’s intestines around my neck like a noose.

“But don’t you see? Now she’s a part of you! You two are going to have a ball together! I’ll get the music!”

I shook my head violently, a small chunk of liver fell from my shoulder,

“YOU PIECE OF HORSESHIT! I’M GOING TO STRIKE YOU DOWN AND RIP YOU PIECE BY PIECE! DON’T YOU FUCKING TURN AWAY FROM ME!”

His smile shattered as he walked back to me, kicking aside the barrow. He gazed down at the scattered parts sighing, “It’s a shame, you know. That barrow cost me thirty bits,” he stared at me with death in the eyes, “It used to be a brilliant baby blue color. Did you know that’s my favorite color? Such a bargain.”

“SHUT UP!” I screamed struggling against the wall, “SHUT UP! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT! ONCE YOU TURN YOUR BACK, YOU’RE GOING TO BE DEAD! YOU HEAR ME? DEAD!”

But he remained unfazed by my juvenile insults, instead, he returned to his sadistic laughter, “Oh really? You are going to kill me? How? Are you going to use magic? Remember your place, NearFlight.”

“NO...”

“Well then, I think it’s settled,” He smirked,

He pulled out a long black dagger from behind his front left hoof and plunged it into my abdomen. I cringed, trying to keep my calm,

“So this is how it ends?”

He happily smiled, “yep.”

He turned the blade deeper and deeper inside me; I screamed. Up and down he ripped, not daring to halt. In his face burned the desire to kill; blood sprayed in all directions. My mind went numb; I could breathe no longer. I cared not; Scootaloo, for all I knew, was safe. I had finished what I started; there was nothing more I could do than to watch. My wife was dead and I, too, wished to join her. He stopped, seeing the damage done. I should have died by then.

“When will you learn?” I cried and looked through the tears of crimson, “When will you find the real truth?”

He shook his head, “You don’t exist.”

He raised the knife above me and brought it down on my shoulder, I screamed. A bright blue pony stood behind HighShine, shaking her head as he had his way with me. I closed my eyes, but she was still there, watching me.

“Why would you take yourself?” Asked the pony, trotting her way to my limbless body, torn in pieces, a large cavity where my stomach should have been.

“Are you really this eager to die? If only you’d know what you’ve caused…”

She wore a face of distress, the blue pony did. Confused, I asked her the most obvious of questions, “What are you? Am I really dead?”

She rolled her blackened eyes and peered deep into my own, “Would I be here if I weren’t? My identity is nothing that concerns you. You have caused a war that will last until the end of time; I have seen it. You may feel nothing now, but just you wait until you burn. Then you’ll feel the pain.”

I began to shake, smoke arose from the cavity. I screamed, gritting my teeth; she smiled and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek.

“There, a kiss from a demon. Does that sound good to you?”

Small sparks came from the nubs where my hooves had formally been,

“Why are you here? What do you mean ‘you’ve seen’?”

She chuckled, waving her light purple tail, “I’m here to show you the damage you’ve caused. Of course, I, myself am not allowed to be here and I do have limited time before you burn to a crisp. Let’s have fun, shall we?”

She smirked, lights emitting from her deep red eyes. I blinked, finding myself inside a well-furnished room. It was one of the suites in Canterlot. The bed of which I lay was comfortable and clearly meant for royalty. I uncovered myself and looked toward the door of the dark bedroom. Black stained curtains darkened the already ominous room; I reached out to the doorknob, turning it with shaken hooves.

I was greeted with a circular room filled with five doors, not including my own. The pony waited for me in the middle of the room, turned away and dressed in white.

“Welcome to my nightmare,” she spoke with a softening tone, “This is where I have been enslaved for centuries. Time does not exist here; I discovered this.”

She dared not turn around; I began to wonder what was behind the doors.

“You made me this way,” said she, at last breaking the silence, “Your cult disrupted balance and brought a destiny I didn’t wish to follow.”

I shook my head, “What are you talking about? I left the Council! There’s nothing more that I can do to stop it!”

She lowered her head, “I’m not asking you to put a stop to it. I want you to look around at the suffering you have caused. I am here to bring pain upon you.”

Frightened, I looked around the room, black stains flooded the walls, tears continuously dripped from the window ceil.

“What is behind these doors? The doors that call and cry?” I asked, feeling a burning sensation from the bottoms of my hooves.

“What lies behind these doors are my sins, my faults, my punishment,” said she, still not daring to show me her face. Smoke rose from my hooves, I howled, but she smirked.

“Hurts doesn’t it? The sad thing is that you won’t become anything like me. The punishment grows as your crimes do, and mine have reached the limit. There’s nothing I can do about it; I am left here to relive the same nightmares until the timepiece expires,” she pointed toward the large sun painted on the ceiling. I screamed, clutching my head, pulling out my mane; the cavity grew larger as the stench of burning flesh flooded my consciousness. She, with all her nightmares, laughed, “Looks like it’s time for you to go. Have fun…”

One of the doors in front of her cracked in half, revealing a yellow pony with a large gash taken from her neck. Voices echoed throughout the empty room,

“How could you? What did we do? What would have done? You could’ve stopped. You could’ve turned around.”

A second door broke open, revealing a light blue pony with the top of her skull taken clean off. Her wings dangled by mere fibers, “Why did you do it? I had everything and you took it!” She screamed, “What would you have done? You could’ve stopped. You could’ve turned around.”

Another door opened to my right, unleashing a bright pink pony held together by nothing more than stitches, “I feared you! I gave you happiness! What does mercy mean to you?” She screamed, “What would you have done? You could’ve stopped. You could’ve turned around.”

A fourth door opened, unveiling a red-stained pony who cried with constant breaks in her voice, “I gave you shelter! I gave you love! We used to be happy! I helped you out! What would you have done? You could’ve stopped. You could’ve turned around.”

The blue pony fell to her knees as each of the ponies slowly approached her. Whether they hovered, crawled, or dragged their way to her, they moaned and begged her for mercy, but all she could do was shake her head. A fifth door opened behind me, it was the door I had emerged from. A shadow arose from the door to join in on the questioning.

“Look what you’ve done!” She said, “You’ve caused pain for all of us! We were all once a part of you! Why would you do something to these innocent ponies? What happened to the pony I once knew? How could you have been so weak? What should we have done? We could’ve stopped. We could’ve turned around and left these friends alone.”

The blue pony cried louder than ever, calling out for one single pony in particular. Finally, a sixth door from the darkest part of the room burst open in a ray of light. Voices called from within it, but no pony came forth.

“Look what you have done! Look what you have tried! Look at the suffering you have brought yourself! After everything, is possible for a failure such as you to learn? Will you remember the times before? How could you have forgotten yourself? Welcome, my dear friend, to your eternal nightmare.”

A drop of blood ran from my ear, I smiled and yelled to the neon blue pony, “Thank you.”

She finally turned around, tears in her deep black eyes; she said nothing.

Absolution Part 3

    The two of us stared in awkward silence; Spitfire rearranged her carefully placed morning coffee. I watched as she reached out, turning it slightly, but not daring to take a sip. The room was dark, lit by only a single candlestick hanging above the table from which I was seated. The table’s filthy wood showed that history had clearly had its way with it. The walls were damp with an incomplete red paint job; the room overall smelled fowl. Spitfire leaned in, finally done considering her coffee’s potential. She smiled at me having noticed my interest in the room’s interior design,

    “Now, Scootaloo, I want you to tell me everything. Everything that you can remember; do you understand?”

    I nodded, not sure where to begin. She placed her hooves on the table,

    “Good, then I expect quite an interesting story.”

    I nervously opened my mouth; I had never told anypony my story, not even Rainbow Dash,

    “I was an unknowing orphan in my youth, always behind in everything,” I began, “The other pegasi picked on me for my flightless disability, but I knew that someday my wings would sprout. Unfortunately, that is not what’s happened…”

    “Oh?” Said she, her hooves crossed with interest, “Was that not you earlier?”

    I shook my head, “No, that was me; I made a mistake.”

    “Come on, Scootaloo! We’re going to be late!”

    I looked up, watching the blue and yellow filly sprint down the hall. I was ashamed she had to see me like this. I sat in a room filled with rows of beds, each with a trunk placed underneath them; there were seven windows.

    “Scootaloo,” said she, plopping herself on a bed beside me, “you’re going to be late and I’m going to get the blame for it, come on!”

    I nodded, looking down in shame, “I-I can’t, HopeCry, I’m… under the bus.”

    She tilted her head, “Huh? What are you talking about?”

    I didn’t want to say it, but I knew there was no way out of it. She had already gotten me out of trouble on several occasions; I didn’t want her to take the blame like she had so many times before.

    “Listen, ‘Loo,” HopeCry whispered, “I understand if you got in trouble again. It’s alright! I’ll get you out of it.”

    She winked and skipped away, leaving me with another pound of everlasting guilt.

”So you were a troublemaker?”

I shook my head, “No, not at all. I-It was just a one-time thing.”

Spitfire gave a single chuckle, “Sure.”

I blushed.

    HopeCry spoke, of course, of the assembly, a group meeting that had been highly anticipated by many of the children there. The event was so important, that everyone’s schedule revolved around it; it was the Day of Release. I knew I wouldn’t be making the ceremony anytime soon, so I gave up hope. Every day felt like nothing, a simple passing of the time, but this assembly was much, much different.

”And what made it different?” Asked Spitfire, picking up the coffee, “Why weren’t you involved with the ceremony?”

    Each category of the orphanage had a monitor who would watch over the children day by day and report their status to the Head. All the children in the morning were escorted to the lunch rooms, everyone but me. No, instead, I was set aside for what they classified as “bad behavior”. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I played along, trying my best to apologize for whatever I may have done.

    “I know I was up late last night, but please! Forgive me!” I begged, clinging onto the leg of my attendant, who only pushed me aside like the worthless pegasi I was,

    “You know what you’ve done. Don’t you dare try to hide it! Come on, pick up your hooves!”

    I was terrified and placed upon a bed to watch each student make a funny face as they walked by. Everypony but HopeCry tormented me. She was the only pony who cared for who I was, instead of what I could do. She was the only one to stay behind and comfort me. She tried her best to stay just a bit longer but was quickly pushed away by the attendants. The monitor that put me aside approached me,

    “Come on, we can’t have ponies like you hanging around forever.”

    Puzzled, I followed her to a remote staircase that nopony dared go near. The bunch of ponies I was paired with were the explorational type, always going out of their way to see as much of the orphanage as possible before they left, but out of all the places they dared go, it was this staircase they avoided. The lot of them told stories of gore and betrayal; many of them were ludicrous and unbelievable, but one, in particular, seemed to hold merit.

”And this story was?”

    A colt, who invented the iron bar story, said that once every year, a filly is selected to leave the group during the Day of Release. That filly would then be judged by their behavior throughout the year. If they were good, they weren’t touched, but if they were considered “unfit”, they would be killed on the spot, taken out to the garbage the following morning.

”You said this story held merit, how so?”

    I remember doing a bit more investigation and by everything I’d seen, he was right. Every year a pony was set aside and never seen again; an unreasonably large amount of garbage was taken out the next day. Everything he said seemed true and all the fillies knew it. It was because of his story that all the children tried their best to stay out of trouble. Before then, who knows? A lot of speculation circled around that colt. Many said that he was the founder’s son or even the result of Equestria’s natural evil. Either way, this colt claimed to be there since the beginning and nopony was willing to argue with him.

”You mentioned the ‘iron bar story’. How does that go?” Asked Spitfire, placing down the coffee once more, still refusing to take a sip.

    The Iron Bar Story was the first one I’d ever heard. It was about a filly who was fed up with the system and tried to leave by climbing the iron bars that surrounded the orphanage. Unfortunately, while she climbed the gate, she was caught and fell behind a line of bushes that bordered the inside of the exterior walls; her body was penetrated by a row of spikes hidden within the greenery.

”Bit unbelievable, don’t you think?”

“Not at all,” said I, slightly offended that she should think my youth was gullible, “It was very believable to the mind of a child.”

SpitFire waved her hoof, leaning back in the chair, “You went upstairs?”

I nodded.

    The staircase was nothing more than a simple wooden ladder that led to a remote part of the building, a place I had never seen before. It looked like an old attic; I asked for an explanation but was immediately rejected. Apparently, the orphanage was a conglomerate of two or three houses; this attic, unlike the rest, was off limits. The place, from top to bottom, was made from wood slats and empty with the exception of a small wooden chair and a full-sized mirror draped in a white cloth. There, the monitor pointed toward the stool and unveiled the reflective mirror which was held in a gold-plated frame featuring an old mural of several dancing ponies. I sat down, unsure of what would happen next; the monitor loomed behind me. She pointed at the mirror and spoke very close to my ear, “What is it you see?”

    I shuttered, “M-myself?”

    She shook her head with disgust and aggressively pushed the wooden chair closer to the mirror.

    “Do you know what I see?” She asked, violently pressing my face against the mirror, “I see, a disabled, useless, troublemaking, filly without a pony in this world who would ever care for her. Can you see that?”

    I shook my head with forced, frightened agreement; she knew I was lying, but chose to put me down anyway. The chair fell back with a loud crash; she moved to the back of the room and prepared something I could not see.

    “Scawthon, was it not?”

    “Scootaloo,” I blurted out, holding my mouth immediately afterward. She glared at me from the back of the room,

    “What does it matter? You’d be leaving anyway.”

    A single shard of hope jumped from within me before realizing that if I were really leaving, I would be with the other fillies who took place in the ceremony.

”So she said you’d be leaving? Did your local tales ring any bells during that time?”

I nodded, “Very much so, but I dared not say anything after I blurted my name. I knew what would happen if I disobeyed.”

    The monitor stood behind me and placed her hooves on my shoulders; I still remember how cold they were,

    “Have you ever seen this place?” She asked, circling around me; I shook my head,

    “The fillies don’t dare to even speak of it.”

    I braced, but she didn’t make a move, instead, she smiled and walked behind me, “Good, I’m glad my lies made their way to your litter.”

    I was shocked and unsure how to react, “Had everything I learned just been a lie?” I asked myself, focusing on the mirror rather than the attendant.

    “Were all the stories a lie?” I questioned, hoping that she’d be merciful enough to give me an answer. She smiled menacingly,

    “Why, of course not! It takes time to fabricate a lie! There’s always truth in a lie.”

    I shivered, “What is going to happen to me? Are the rumors about this room true?”

    This time, she said nothing and returned downstairs, leaving me alone in the attic. I dared not stand; I knew what would happen if I did. I began to cry silently in the darkness, praying that somepony were to come and rescue me.

”Did it come true? What happened to the monitor?”

“Yes,” I sobbed, “somepony did come.”

SpitFire sat up in her chair, “Who was it?”

I sighed, wiping the left side of my face, “HopeCry…”

    HopeCry discovered the room while the mare was absent; she was speechless.

    “Scootaloo? What’s going on?” HopeCry asked, leaning down before me, wiping the tears from my face, “What happened here?”

    I couldn’t answer her, in a way, I was ashamed of whatever it was I did to deserve this. I tried to look my best in front of her. She looked at my burning red face,

    “Scootaloo? Did she- hit you?”

    I nodded “no”, but she knew the truth. She sighed and managed to pry me from the chair; I collapsed in front of her. I didn’t want to leave now that I learned what really happened here. Everything that pony had said was true, I was a mistake.

    “Don’t think like that!” Said she, pulling me up from the ground as best she could, “We can still do this! You can’t give up hope!”

    She saw the tears in my eyes and began to cry herself, but I did not weep for her. I wept for the monitor standing behind her, holding a large sword-like object; it was part of the orphanage’s crest. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. HopeCry looked at my dazed expression and tried to understand as best as she could. She turned around a mistake that I regret to this day. I watched as the small sword dove deep into her neck, reaching her heart of gold within seconds. I cried aloud as she fell to the floor, expressionless, but worst of all, immobile. I stared in distraught horror as the crimson wood floors grew even more so; I screamed, she was the only friend I ever had. The monster towered over me with a beaming blade in her hoof. I backed into the mirror and said my prayers once more, looking into my petrified reflection. Everything paused as the figure raised her hoof and slowly brought it down again. Half of me wanted to stay while the other wanted to dart out of the room. I cried and jumped to the left, the small sword piercing the wood, scratching the mirror with an ear-deafening screech.

”So she killed your friend and attacked you next?”

“Yeah,” I said, head hanging with all the shame I had just consumed, “she did.”

SpitFire gave a minuscule chuckle, “Well it looks like you made it out okay.”

I nodded, “But at what cost?”

    Lying on the floor, I leaned against the chair, which had toppled over. She looked back at me with glowing eyes. A desire to kill was found legible in every part of her body,

    “Come here, Scoots. Don’t worry, you’ll go swiftly, just as your friend did mind you.”

    I glanced at HopeCry’s limp body lying on the floor beside her, the droplets of her blood seeping downstairs was clearly audible. She picked up the mirror and raised it above her head. My eyes widened as I jumped aside as fast as I could; she hurled it. Splinters from the wood launched themselves into my sides as a single, seven-inch piece of glass delved deep within my right hind leg. I screeched like a bird, hitting my head against the floor repeatedly until the pain could go away in the slightest.

    “Scoots, my dear, you’ve got a lot of lovely pegasi looking for you. Now do be a dear and let me hoof you into the–how should I say?–golden ponies.”

    I cried as loud as I could, hoping that anypony from the downstairs could hear and help me. The monitor laughed hysterically,

    “Oh? You think you’re going to be heard? How cute! We’ve been doing this for generations, do you really think somepony is going to hear you now?”

    I eyeballed my dead friend hoping that I could prove a point, but instead, she just chuckled,

    “Who? Her? She’s just another failure like you; she never would’ve been able to do anything.”

    I coughed teaspoon’s worth of blood, “What about the other ponies? What are you going to do with them?”

     She gave me a demonic grin, speaking with a darkly brooding laugh, “We have some friends in Cloudsdale that we’ve made an agreement with. They say weather ponies are always under stress hunting down new fillies for their… experiment.”

”Ah, yes, I think I’ve heard of that unit. They’re a rather large facility on the edge of town. Very prosperous, I hear. I have yet to visit.”

    She finally backed me into a corner and raised the sword once more, shouting in anger as every obstacle failed to do her bidding.

    “What have I done to deserve this?” I cried, “What about HopeCry? Why would you kill her?”

    She raised the dagger and gave it one more swing before answering, “What does it matter? You’re all scum with irresponsible parents! We can’t take care of you lot forever! Besides, every death is covered… forever!”

    I rolled up into a ball as best as I could, feeling lost and hopeless all while being trapped in that desolate corner. She raised the knife high above her head for one final blow; I closed my eyes in fear. This was my end; I knew it to be true. Nothing could save me now. The ponies I knew all my life had no knowledge of friendship, HopeCry’s life was indefinitely taken and I had no way of escape. A large shadow draped over me as the corrupted mare stood holding my fate. I shivered in fear, but something was off. I opened my frightened eyes and looked behind my ultimate death to see a pony standing behind her. The pony was a bright blue color and had deeply sorrowed red eyes with the blackest of all scleras. She nodded to me, unaffected by my situation, and looked down at my hind hooves. A ring of blood and glass surrounded me, no, protected me. I wanted to say something, but again, I couldn’t. I blinked, finding the pony gone from existence and the monitor flat on the floor, a large piece of glass surfacing from her forehead. The trail of glass was broken and new fears emerged.

”So you killed the monitor?”

I shook my head, “No, not at all. I don’t know what happened. I saw this bright blue pony and then everything was fine.”

SpitFire began to show more interest in the story, “Well, now we know what happened to the orphanage.”

I stared at her in dazed confusion, “What do you mean? What happened to the orphanage?”

She smiled and leaned back as she did before, “The orphanage shut down around seventeen dates ago under the case of suspected murder. Don’t worry about it; at least you can say you’ve lived something down.”

She laughed and pressed me to continue my story; I wasn’t sure if I wanted to.

    I ran away from the orphanage as fast as I could, jumping from the high windows and trying my best to climb over the fence. Apparently, the spiked fence thing was in fact, a lie that was made up to keep fillies from escaping during the night. Out from the dark streets, I watched a small carriage take at least seven of the children out to Cloudsdale.

    “If only they knew what they had in store,” I’d say to myself, running deep into the streets. Word gets around very fast there, and I soon became the talk of all Ponyville. Everyday I would hear different stories about myself; everypony kept a watch out and each one wanted to put me in my place. Some said they’d kill me on the spot while others wanted to turn me in for the presumed murder of two ponies.

”They accused you of two?” Asked SpitFire, still carefully watching her unsipped coffee. I sighed and looked down,

“Yes, they accused me of two. I tried to explain myself, but they didn’t want to hear it. I had nowhere to run.”

“Seems reasonable,” said she, “You are quite a target,”

I blushed.

“So,” she said, sitting up in her chair, “You were left out on the streets for, what I can imagine, quite a while. What happened next?”

    I discovered Rainbow Dash a date later. I was walking along one of the back alleyways facing the edge of town when I happen to spot her flying by performing a series of tricks I found astonishing. In a way, I envied everything about her. She was colorful, bold, and from what I saw, she had more talent than an entire army could muster. Using the shadows, I followed her until it became dark and the buildings looked more like giants than humble domains.

”You knew Rainbow Dash?”

I nodded, “She’s like a sister to me.”

Spitfire’s smirk melted into thin air, “Is that so?” Said the yellow mare, a grim tone could be heard in her voice. A cool chill ran down my spine as pre-existing sweat poured down my face.

“So what did you do next? How’d you get so close to Dash?”

I looked at her with suspicion; I took a deep breath,

“I can’t say that yet; I’m not there.”

Spitfire crossed her arms, “Fair enough; continue.”

I soon met a pony by the name of SweetieBelle wandering near the parameter of the Everfree Forest, which was dangerously close to where I was then staying. I tried to hide from her, but all my efforts were meaningless; she had seen me before I could make a move.

“Hey! Who are you?” She called out over the hills, waving a hoof letting me know of her whereabouts. I was timid, not having an innocent conversation with a pony since I left the orphanage; I said nothing, but instead, stared into her bright green eyes. She called again,

“Excuse me? Hello? Can you speak?”

At that point, she had started running toward me, but I didn’t move. There was something about this pony that drew me to her; it was something that I felt was missing all my life. I gathered my courage and opened my mouth, saying the words I hadn’t in months,

“Hello, I’m Scootaloo.”

I remember watching as the little white pony gasped, shaking my hoof and throwing her head back,

“Oh! I’m SweetieBelle! I’m new here, but I think we’ll get along just fine!”

She smiled a warm one, giving me a playful hug and trotting off. I called out to her,

“Wait!” Said I, “Do you… want to hang out or something?”

SweetieBelle stopped to think a moment, then declaring,

“I think that’d be a great idea! I’ll tell you what,” she proposed, walking toward me with a suspicious smile, looking up and down to see what I was capable of, “if you come with me to Sugar Cube Corner tomorrow afternoon, I’ll cover for you and let you live near my house, deal?”

I was about to nod, but then realized, “How’d you-?”

She smiled, giggling like the fillies we both were, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed your unruly smell, Scootaloo. My sister’s all about that kind of thing, cleanliness and other practices of hygiene.”

She stopped to look back at Ponyvile, she sighed, “I must go, but don’t forget! Noon at Sugar Cube Corner! I’ll see you there!”

”That’s how you met SweetieBelle, huh?” Smiled Spitfire, still not amused by my consistent chronological storytelling order. I nodded, staring at the still untouched coffee. I began to wonder if it was there merely for intimidation.

“So when does Rainbow Dash fall into this story?” She bluntly asked, not bothering to coat it in comfort.

“Why does she want to know more about Rainbow Dash? Doesn’t she work with her?” I asked myself, rubbing my hooves against the red wood table.

SweetieBelle was waiting outside the bakery. Looking left and right, she waved toward me to hurry up, daring not to speak a word.

“What’s the deal?” I asked, looking down the streets in a similar, suspicious manner. She smiled and pointed toward the back door of the bakery; it led to the kitchen.

“We’re going to prank somepony special today.”

I nodded my head in confusion, “Huh?” I whispered, watching her slowly push through the door and roll to the floor. She signaled me to follow; I had no choice.

“So who are we pranking?”

Pranking was almost as popular as the Equestrian Games back at my orphanage. Every morning, a pony would walk downstairs covered head to hoof in whatever substance the other fillies could get their hooves on. I tried not to participate in it, but because of my absence in their activities, I became the prime subject for all their torturous pranks, therefore, I had no choice. SweetieBelle moved ahead, crawling as fast as she could, slipping under the table and hiding beneath its draping cloth, giggling; she signaled me to follow. I began to hear whispers from outside the sweet shop; I panicked, sliding under the table as fast as I could, hoping nopony heard my thundering hooves. SweetieBelle rolled her eyes and placed a hoof on my muzzle, trying her best to calm me down. Hooves of all different colors walked in front of me; I looked at SweetieBelle, hoping for an answer to all this unexplained secretivity, but she smiled and said not a word. She knew who she was looking for.

A large, bustling collection of ponies wandered throughout the bakery; we had been hiding for an hour and my hooves began to throb. SweetieBelle placed her hoof on my back, firmly pressing it down to prevent me from moving.

“Shh,” she whispered, pointing at a pony from behind the tablecloth, “There she is.”

SweetieBelle pulled my mane as I tried to look at whom she was pointing to; I only caught a glimpse of watered-pink colored pony’s spotted dress.

“Wow; that is an AMAZING cutie mark!”

    I glanced toward SweeiteBelle; she nodded, “Wait for it; that’s her sidekick.”

    I waited a bit longer and listened harder, hearing the voice of who I assumed would be the victim.

    “Nice try, blank flank!”

    The whole room murmured about the unfortunate guest. I sat idly, looking over to SweetieBelle,

    “We gotta do something! We can’t just let her be humiliated in front of all these ponies! After all, we don’t have our marks either!”

    SweetieBelle looked down but did not move. Instead, she nodded her head in disagreement. I wouldn’t have any of it.

    “Do you have a problem with blank flanks?”

    SweetieBelle tried to stop me, tugging on my hoof for just a moment before standing up too.

    “What are you doing?” She silently whispered; I ignored her as the room gasped.

    “If you won’t do it for me, then at least do it for her,” I glanced at the blushing red pony with her head hanging low. SweetieBelle sighed, finally realizing that this was a better solution.

    “I said; do you have a problem with blank flanks?”

”And the humiliated pony? Who was she?”

I looked down, “That was Applebloom; we all became friends soon after.”

“So would you say you were glad you did that ‘prank’?”

I thought for a moment, nothing would’ve turned out the way it had if I hadn’t taken her offer. I nodded my head,

“I suppose so. SweetieBelle was the last friend who ever came to see me. Everypony kind of forgot me when I was left alone. I-I”

I began to sob, pressing my forehead on the table for better support. Spitfire did nothing to stop it; she smiled,

“Don’t worry about it. I never had any friends, at least, any that lived.”

Something snapped, “What do you mean?”

She leaned back in her chair, throwing her arms behind her, “It’s nothing; I was a very lonely pegasus. My dad was always busy trying to ‘save the world’, but… I rarely see him. In a way I hoped he’d come visit, but; seeing how he’s always in Canterlot, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Either way, this is about you; why don’t you tell me how you left the atmosphere as a flightless pegasus?”

    I was sick of my condition. Every doctor in Ponyvile had turned a blind eye on my disability; they simply stated I was “special” and that I was merely a “mistake”. Even to this day, I believe Rainbow felt the same way. She would always check on me day and night with hopes that I couldn’t try to jump off the cloud as an attempt to fly. We argued a lot about it; I didn’t think it was fair and she thought she was just taking precautions. I remember explaining to her that I was not some kind of pet that needed to be changed daily, but her opinions differed. Her view was that she was simply looking out for me and that it was best she’d overlook everything I did. To her, I was but a vegetable.

”You mean chicken, right?”

I blankly stared at her, “What?”

Spitfire tried her best not to smile, “Oh, you know, you’re supposed to watch over chickens day and night to make sure they are eating in healthy amounts and such. Right?”

“I-I”

Spitfire clapped her hooves and another uniformed pegasus walked into the room. She whispered into his ear just loud enough for me to hear,

“Could you figure out what the recommended daily food intake for a single, white, purebred chicken is?”

The pegasi stared directly at me, then back to her. She nodded and waved her hoof, the pegasi smiled and whispered,

“It will be my pleasure.”

I had no idea what was going on, but I had a feeling it had to do with something I said. I took no notice and continued my story.

    Eventually, Rainbow was called to the Pegasi Army, you ponies, to fulfill a special endeavor of some sort. She had already been on business trips to the Army before, so I had every confidence she’d be back within a few weeks, but; I was wrong. Those weeks turned into a month, which, soon after, turned into a whole date. I was alone, living in a house with her mementos scattered throughout. Each trophy reminded me of all her great successes, giving me room to remember my devastating failures. I pondered everything while I was alone. I relived and replicated the day and night before she left. I redid everything she had done before she took off. I could feel myself go insane with the guilt of a lost sister creeping up on me, and there was nothing I could do. It wasn’t before long that I began to question what was real and what wasn’t. I tried to look at the world differently, and, in turn, it only gave me more pain. I looked in the mirror that morning knowing that I was dreaming, knowing that I was invincible, yet, I still fell.

Absolution Part 1 [FIXED]

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Whatcha’ need, squirt?”

“I-I can’t sleep.”

“Would it help if you slept here?”

“Y-yeah.”

…

“Rainbow?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have to leave?”

…

“Yeah…”

I awoke with a bright ray of sun seeping through the curtains; Rainbow Dash was getting ready and I had only one shot.

“Rainbow?” I called, “Rainbow? Why are you leaving?”

I had asked her that question several times before, each time hoping for a different answer.

“I’m sorry, Scoot,” she would say as she did the previously, “but Cloudsdale needs me.”

I grew tired of that answer; I wanted something more,

“But why would you want to leave your friends?” I cried, “Why would you want to leave me?”

She nodded her head, pacing back and forth, “I told you before, Scootaloo,” she put her hooves on her hips, “they’re not my friends anymore.”

My heart sank, “Then I guess that just leaves me. Are you not my friend anymore? Am I no longer important enough to be your sister?”

She stopped to sit beside me, “No, Scoot. Even though you’re not really my sister, you will always be one to me. You, Scootaloo, are my best and only friend.”

I blushed as she turned away to pack yet another bag. She had been talking about the Army nonstop since she agreed to sign up. Apparently, because of her experience with the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash was offered a higher position; she was going to be the one to lead. I admired her choice and her position, but I wanted to go with her. I knew Dash would never let me go as I was nothing more than a grounded paperweight.

“Scootaloo! What are you doing?”

I turned around to face my friends, “You know what I’m doing! I’m going to get my wings and there is nothing you can do to stop me!”

“What are you talking about?” They would ask, “This is insane! It’s just an old legend! Nopony knows if it’s true or not! It’s just a myth!”

I shook my head, backing into the forest, “A myth is good enough for me! I want wings!”

“What are you talking about? You’ve never been able to fly! Remember when you practiced all day, but couldn’t? This isn’t going to work, Scootaloo!”

“NO!” I screamed, “It will work!”

I ran into the forest, tears streaming down my face as they called me back, “Scootaloo! Come back!”

The cold, nauseating air nipped at my ears, pulling me deeper into the forest. It was then that I wanted to turn back; I knew not where I was. I cried out as loud as I could, holding my stomach and jumping into a bush; I was afraid. Somehow I knew somepony would come for me, although I never would have guessed it would have been her, Pinkie. She would pull back the bushes and call out to me, “Scootaloo? Is that you?”

I could not answer, instead, I only cried louder in hopes that she would hear me; she did. She cried out to me, asking,

“Scootaloo? What are you doing in a bush?”

I would cry a bit more before explaining myself, pulling out the book and opening it to the page where the Everspirit could be found. I knew it was a bad idea going into the forest with only the guide of a vague legend, but I needed to fly; I wanted to join Rainbow Dash on her reign. Pinkie Pie led me out of the forest where I was further scolded by Rainbow Dash. She yelled at me, telling me that I should have never gone after such a stupid tale. I told her she was right, but that didn’t stop me from trying again. Days later, I dove into the forest with my friends once again telling me not to,

“Scootaloo! We can’t keep doing this!” They would say, not holding me back anymore than their words were, “Scootaloo, we aren’t gonna accompany you this time!”

The words held no meaning; I knew they were going to say that. I cried back to them, “If you won’t accompany me, then what are you still doing here? Leave! I don’t need you two anyway!”

I ran into the forest only to be halted again by Pinkie, “Scootaloo! I want to help you!”

She said she knew where the spirit was and that she wanted to help me find it. I knew she was lying, but for some reason I trusted her and turned away from what I decided to do. Rainbow Dash heard what happened and decided that I should be kept away in her mansion until she returned from the Army. I never heard from Pinkie again; it was like she disappeared from the face of Equestria.

“Scootaloo,” she placed a hoof on my shoulder, “do you remember what I said about visiting Cloudsdale?”

“Uh-huh.”

She frowned, “then you know why you can’t visit. I’m sorry, Scoot.”

“But Dashie! You can’t just leave me here to rot!”

She bolted upright, “Hey! Who said anything about rotting? You’ve got plenty of things to do here and I’ll only be gone a while; there’s nothing to worry about.”

I wrapped my hooves around her and cried into her shoulder, “How long?” I begged, “How long will you be gone? Will it be dangerous?”

She smiled, pushing me off her, “Of course not, squirt! Have you forgotten? I’m the fastest flyer in all of Equestria! There’s no way anything could happen to me!”

And I smiled with her, wiping the tears from my face. With that, Rainbow picked up two small suitcases filled with many of her personal belongings. From trophies to shirts, toothbrushes to hairbrushes; they were all in there. Normally she wasn’t one for style, but she had become a bit more aware of how she looked after what happened during her first show with the Wonderbolts. I followed her to the door, watching her fly out without hesitation. She knew where she was going, but not what she was getting herself into; Oh, how I wanted to follow her, but both physically and mentally, I couldn’t.

“Goodbye, Scootaloo! I’ll see you in a short while!”

I sighed and watched her fly toward the pegasi capital of Equestria, Cloudsdale; It wasn’t far from where she lived as it was only a few hours flight, ten minutes was what she’d brag.

“Everypony, please welcome my young apprentice.”

I smiled nervously; it had been my first time I had ever stood in front of the Council of Kings. My father, the elder of the organization, raised a hoof for the other five to see,

“To everypony who sits before me, I would like to welcome my only son to this meeting.”

I gave a frightened wave to the wiseponies who, in turn, merely looked away; I blushed.

“My son is here for his training,” my father continued, “I trust he will do his best to perform to standards. I, personally, liked the idea, but I felt as though the others around me did not take too kindly to the idea of a younger student filling one of their positions. One of the elders of who I recognized, stood up and presented his case bluntly,

“This student is an outrage!” Said he, banging a single hoof against the stone table standing before them, “You truly have crossed the line, Ibius! I’m afraid not even the heir of your throne will be able to deliver us from this time of peril!”

Another hoof of my father’s rose, silencing the room,

“This time of peril,” he proclaimed, “as you describe it, is nothing more than a myth. A mere pony’s tale if you prefer.”

Another elder stood up, expressing his rage just as the previous had, “Have you not seen the signs, Ibius? Our fair rule is being challenged by those who worship piles of wood! Surely it is a war that besets us!”

“Not so,” interrupted my father, “the prophesies object to this prediction-”

“Damn you and your prophesies!” Jumped a third councilpony, “We must stop fooling around with these phony forecasts and start looking at the problem at hoof!”

“I second this notion,” announced a fourth, “If we are to rule our kingdom with rumors and assumptions, then what makes us different from our enemies?”

“Our religious rights! That’s what makes us different!” yelled the final councilpony, jumping up and standing on his hind legs, “If we sit idly by while they control our ponies’ minds, then we ourselves are in the danger of falling victim to their toxic ways!”

My father looked around the room, scanning each of the, now standing, ponies. He exhaled aloud and proclaimed,

“These prophecies have never failed us in the past, why do you doubt them now?”

The five of them thought for a moment, leaving the room in silence until the second pony composed himself,

“The prophecies predict wars in different worlds! Other planets, if you will! What are we to do about something like that? If we are to save this kingdom from ultimate destruction, we must take action as soon as possible! We must destroy the Viintaav-ites!”

“Let us not jump to conclusions,” announced my father, calming everypony in the room, “Does anypony here have a copy of Priiv Prophesies Volume VII?”

The ponies in the room looked around, proud of their empty hooves. Councilpony Four rolled his eyes and threw a single, brown leather book on my father’s side of the table.

“Ahh,” sighed my father, “I knew one of you would doubt your stubborn ways.”

The fourth blushed as the others glared at him, possibly doing terrible things to him in their imaginative minds. My father shook his head, turning the pages in the shameful book one by one,

“Because none of you can remember what is to happen,” he began, holding his hoof on the page of his liking, “Let this, be a reminder.”

The room when silent as they each listened intensively; it was my first time hearing the prophesy.

My father cleared his throat and began to read aloud,

“When thy sun pauses,

when thy moon halts,

‘Tis thy enemy who exalts,

Found deep shall it be,

Tree of life,

Three shall see,

Fear not,

Many will plea,

Change life,

And who they come to be,

In time,

thy enemy grows weary,

Forgive thy brother,

Or it will be thy burden of which you carry.”

My father closed the book and looked out to those who listened, each one shaking their head with disapproval. The first pony objected,

“How does this pertain to us? What does this have to do with our current situation?”

“I agree!” Said another. Despite the negative feedback, my father continued to remain calm and explain himself,

“This is the most current prophesy to date and, as you all have pointed out, there is nothing in this poem about our current time.”

“Then what is this the meaning of this?” jumped the second elder, holding his hoof out for everypony to see,

“Our very existence has been a gift,” my father coughed, sliding the book to my side of the table, “and it is because of these small passages that we have survived. This prophecy speaks nothing of us because it is not about us.”

“Then who would it be about?” Exclaimed the fourth elder, signaling the rest of the ponies to sit down, “if this prophecy were to be true, upon who does it speak of?”

My father held up a hoof, silencing the curious elder, “our wisest, second-hoof ponies are searching all over Equestria for the three ponies the poem speaks of.”

“And the fourth?”

The room went silent as all eyes fell to me; ‘twas I who broke my silence. My father grew red in the face; I was not supposed to speak until after the main discussion. Nonetheless, he spoke up,

“Eh… what is it you say? Fourth pony? Who is this you speak of?”

“The poem spoke of three, right?” I blushed. My father nodded,

“Yes, the prophecy does speak of three ponies. The ones who will find the tree of life.”

“But what of the enemy?” I stated, “there must be another for there to be an enemy!”

The rest of the elders broke their gaze with me and turned toward my father, who, with the clap of his hooves, called in an assistant,

“I want you to tell the guards in charge of the search to change the number to four. Is that understood?”

With a salute and a positive answer, the assistant left the room.

“Good call, son,” he nervously smiled, “good call.”

The sounds of closed doors echoed throughout the empty halls, rooms, and everything in between; I was alone. Pacing back and forth I tried my best to think of what to do; there was nothing.

”It’s early,” I said to myself, ”perhaps we could get some sleep.”

I tried my best to smile with a heavy heart, walking upstairs to sleep a few hours of the day. As I walked down the hallways, I looked at each room one-by-one, eventually stopping outside Rainbow’s. She wasn’t home and I was alone, trapped inside with nothing more to do than watch the clock turn for the rest of eternity; it was a frightening reality. I peeked in Rainbow’s room, hopping into her bed as I did last night. There was no holding back; I owned her mansion. It just a shame my-

I stopped, closing my eyes and refusing to think any more of my former friends; I wondered if SweetieBelle and Applebloom still cared about me.

“Oh, hello there! Are you having a nice read? Don’t worry about me; I’m fine, but I’m afraid my dearest friend, Scootaloo, isn’t. Oh? What’s this? Who am I you ask? Don’t worry about that, dear friend. Although I must say, it’s a simple answer of which you have two options. What’s your favorite turning point? I’ve read them all; I really have. But before you answer, let me just start off by saying my favorite first. Personally, I prefer the part where Twilight takes over the- oops. Sorry about that; it hasn’t been written yet. At least, not in this point in time. It’s lonely here, very, very lonely. The weather is cold and here I am sitting idly by waiting for something to happen. Waiting to meet with someone. Someone in particular, I must say. Yes, I already know most of you have no idea what this is, but that’s good. That’s very good. Maybe I can get your gears turning; maybe I can convince you to pick up the pieces.”

“Hello? Is anypony there?” I cried out to the emptiness before me. There were trees of red that surrounded me in a perfect circle.

“Right here, squirt.”

I quickly turned my head and was met with a pony none other than Rainbow Dash herself! I jumped for joy, fluttering my wings with excitement. She blushed, falling to her knees, “Don’t get too, excited kid.”

I nodded and sat beside her, hoping to give her comfort as she appeared wounded.

“What happened?” I asked her, rubbing the back of her mane as she did to me that night, “What happened to you?”

Tears ran down her face; it was the first time I had ever seen her cry. She lifted her right hoof and exposed a large wound over her heart, a heart that no longer beat. I gasped, unsure of what to do; I quickly put my hooves over the gaping cavity,

“Rainbow! What happened to you?”

She faintly smiled and put a hoof around the back of my neck, “I’m heartbroken, Scoot. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine without you.”

I shook my head; it was probably the most selfish thing she had ever said to me, “No! You won’t! You need this fixed right away!”

But all she did was smile the pain away; I couldn’t understand anything. With a weakened hoof, she pointed toward a bush with black leaves,

“Reach inside, Scootaloo,” she coughed, small bits of her injury seeping out of her mouth, “Pick the fruit found inside. Give it to me!”

I nodded and quickly stood up, scanning the area only finding the bush beside a nearby tree. The leaves were as black as night and within the bush glowed an apple as white as day. I smiled and picked the apple, but I was too late.

“Scoot! Help!”

I turned around, finding a small dagger deep inside Rainbow’s forehead with a neon-blue pony standing over her. She had eyes of evil and an unruly mane of purple bound with blue chains. She stood there, waiting for my next move.

“Scootaloo! Don’t leave me!”

Rainbow reached out to me, grabbing my hoof. Her mane stained crimson; her eyes rolled, featuring death in the flesh. I screamed, waking up in a pool of sweat, my heart raced faster than ever. Gasping for breath, I struggled downstairs, collapsing several times before reaching the foyer.

“Rainbow Dash…” I panted, my hoof pressed against my heavily beating heart, “Rainbow Dash, where are you?”

It unexpectedly rained that first night; no doubt because of Rainbow’s absence. She always cleared the sky lickety-split; ten seconds flat. I stood up, stretching my legs for the first time in hours; I paced around the room wondering what my former friends were doing.

“What’s her name?”

“I’m not sure; we haven’t thought of one yet.”

“You know we can’t keep her.”

Rainbeam Softheart sighed, “I know, but…”

“But nothing! You know what will happen to us if were to be caught with… it!”

Rainbeam, in all the pain, stood up to protect her child. She held her high above her head, despite the heavy faltering.

“This child shall reign above everypony else!” Said she, “And it is her who will fulfill our duties!”

“This growth will know nothing of our duty! She will be banished just like the legends have foretold!” The Father proclaimed, defending his view on the matter.

“No!” the Mother cried, “The rumors are false! There is no way this child can define the legend!”

The Father nodded his head,

“Love!” He cried, “Do you not remember ‘the Ones Who Came Before’?”

“I know it well.”

“Then you know why we must take immediate action! For it was they who created the prophecies we live by today!”

There was silence in the room. Both ponies knew what the other was thinking; one wished to keep the child while the other’s only motive was to destroy her.

“I want to keep her,” stated Rainbeam, breaking the silence, “she will do no harm! She will be raised with the teachings of kindness and love!”

“And how do you plan on going about this?” Objected the Father, “Surely you know better than I to raise a child!”

She held her tongue; she herself did not know despite her confidence

“Exactly why we should destroy her!” Snapped the Father, “Your sentimental feelings toward this ingrown is what will put an end to us!”

“Preposterous! Listen to yourself talk! You’re talking about murdering my daughter and I will not have any of it! She will be raised here and she will learn the love and sweetness like a child should!”

“Really? And how will she move about? We live on a cloud in the sky! There is no way such a pegasi like her could ever be productive! Not to mention her condition is everything but socially acceptable!”

The mother, Rainbeam, shook her head and devised a plan to keep her child on all fours, “nonsense, we will have to live on ground then. She will be loved,  no doubt about it.”

The Father, however, did not see this as unreasonable as he did disrespectful. The Father of this child was a respectable pegasi and well known throughout some of the larger parts of Cloudsdale. Moving to the ground for the sake of an overgrown mass would be devastating to his career.

“We will not be moving anywhere!” Shouted the Father, “It would be a disgrace even knowing our name if we did!”

The filly began to cry, drawing the Mother’s attention and empowering her motherly instincts. Woozy from standing, she sat down, trying her best to calm the scared child,

“NearFlight, my darling, how can you be so cruel to a filly such as this? What did this child do to you?”

He huffed, “She came into existence!”

With those final words, he stormed out of the room, holding back any tears that should’ve been shed. The departure of the Father calmed the child and silence flooded the room once more. Carefully, Rainbeam placed a hoof on the child’s stomach and whispered into her ear the name that she would then and forever go by,

“Scootaloo; your name will be Scootaloo!”

The child laughed, fluttering the two small nubs on her back. The Mother smiled, whispering to the child once more, “And you will bring us victory above all others.”

“She’s not coming back, is she?”

I stood on a stool; staring into the mirror, I spoke to the only pony who would listen: the pony who stared back.

“Afraid not,” said the mysterious pony, “it’s been two days now. I’m afraid she’ll never be coming back.”

I blushed, “Well, maybe she’ll come back tomorrow! After all, two days isn’t that long!”

The mirror grinned evilly; I took a step back, my hoof dangling over the edge of the stool, “Oh, yes, of course she’ll want to come back. After all, you are the most useful pony in Ponyville! It’s not like you’re… you know, grounded.”

I blushed an even deeper shade of red, “But, but, I could fly! I know I can! I… just… haven’t gotten around to it!”

The mirror laughed, “Oh, yes, certainly. As if you haven’t already tried doing that in the past…”

I cried, slipping backwards, hitting my head on the bathroom’s back wall.

“I’m not useless,” I cried to myself, curling in a ball and rocking back and forth as though I were a innocent filly, “I’ll prove it… someday.”

“Oh, you poor, Scootaloo. When will you learn?” Taunted the mirror, “Haven’t you figured it out by now? You’re nothing special; you’re just speck of dust who blew by on some favorable winds.”

“You’re right… I am useless!” I pouted, lying lower on the floor. I was over.

“Hurry, sister! I fear they will be coming!”

I raised a hoof, silencing my sibling, “Do not worry! They will not come any time soon!”

But my words did not carry truth; I, too, was afraid they would be coming. We the crusaders of today; the ones who continued a journey long forgotten by the Ones Who Came Before Us. Throughout the ages they had spoken to us, warned us about the evils that had separated their order. I never believed them, at least not until now. There was a division between me and the other ponies; they had abandoned everything they believed in to survive. Only my sisters and I sought for the truth. We believed they were more than legends; the six who sat in that room, they had purpose. But our journey was one of faith and the item we searched for knew it well. It was our youngest sister, Celestia who had paid that price; it was her lack of desire that caused the sand to swallow her. Now, only my sister and I remained.

“Are we nearly there yet? My hooves feel the pain of a traveler!”

I smiled, “No, I am afraid not.”

“Is this another trial?” she asked, “If so, I’m not sure if I can go on much longer!”

The smile quickly melted off my face; I did not want to lose her as I did Celestia, “Don’t say such things! We will both make it through this cave alive! Don’t give up hope!”

Her sigh echoed throughout the cave; I feared the worst for her. It appeared I was the only one on this expedition who cared. Both of my sisters loved the community of which they came and would have done anything to save it, but alas, it was not them who wished to do anything about it. I was the one who put words into actions.

The caves we traveled through wound from left to right; I began to wonder if we were walking in circles. Together, we were shrouded in a blanket of darkness, blind to everything around us. Our magic had only been able to hold on for so long; we were running out of strength. Even the simplest of light spells were beginning to put a heavy burden on us.

“Sister, are you sure we are going the right way?”

I had no answer, but I managed to calm her spirits down, “Yes, I believe we are going the right way. It is only a matter of time before we find our answer.”

There was slight relief that ran throughout the cave. A relief that was followed by a heavy silence between the two of us.

“What will we do with it?” She asked, breaking the comfort. I laughed,

“We are going to save all those who love our family; we are going to protect the land we’ve fought for.”

She stopped walking, “What about those who curse our family? What will become of their fate?”

I, too, stopped; it was a question of which I feared to answer, “We destroy them.”

Her gasp echoed throughout the cave, “Destroy?!?” She stammered, “That would be murder! I could not bear to live with the conscience of a murderer!”

My head arched low; this is what I was afraid of. I could feel the disappointment swell up inside of me; I really thought my sister would be the one to aid me in this time of need.

“They do not deserve our word…” I cried, “They have destroyed everything we have worked so hard to maintain; they’ve destroyed our family’s legacy for their own barbaric amusement!”

She shed a single tear, “That is no reason to murder an entire tribe of ponies. As your older sister, I refuse you to go any further!”

“Do you have Faith, sister?” I questioned, walking around her as though she were prey, “Have you Acceptance in your heart?”

“Don’t bait me with your ‘Faith talk’! I am your superior on this fictitious journey! You will treat me as such!”

I smiled viciously, “You admit; you hold false Faith, don’t you?”

She looked around the cave nervously, her horn’s light flickering rapidly as sweat ran down her elegant, perfected face,

“What does it matter?” She protested, “Why would an artifact require such a subjective belief?”

“Do you know not of what we seek? What is it you think we are searching for? Riches?”

She stayed silent, nodding her head after every other question.

“We are searching for our Truth!” I continued, “We are searching for something that nopony in all of Equestria has been able to find!”

“Equestria doesn’t exist,” she muttered resentfully, “You of all ponies should know that.”

My jaw dropped, “If Equestria does not exist, then, how do you explain the stories our mother told us as foals?”

“Mere mare-tales,” she rolled her eyes, “they tell nothing of your supposed ‘Truth.’”

“But those ‘maretales’ are the Truth! I know it to be true!” I protested, “You must have Faith in order to find this treasure! It is the only thing that can drive us to success!”

“We are turning around! I won’t hear another word from yo-!”

“Celestia.”

She fell to her knees, crying over the one we lost. I stood over her, my shadow towering over my weak-minded sister; my light was the only one that shined,

“Celestia died because of her lack in Faith. Will you suffer the same fate? Will you fall to blind eyes and empty hearts?”

But all she did was cry, her tears streaming down her face as though rivers. I shook my head; I knew her fate well, “Follow me when you have made up your mind.”

I left her to cry in her puddle of shame.

“Today is the day!” I yelled out to the Friendship Fields, “Today is the day that I learn how to fly!”

I stood at Rainbow’s front door, my wings opened with pride; I had to do it today. I marched to the edge of the cloud, closing my eyes and whispering into the wind,

“Please… please…”

I bent and stretched my knees. A cool breeze blew by; my legs began to shiver with fear.

“It has to be today… it has to be today…”

Thoughts ran through my head as I began to panic.

”What are you doing?” My mind screamed, ”This is INSANE! Get away! I beg of you!”

I shook my head, “Not today.”

With a graceful leap over the cloud, I began to realize my major flaw. Blood rushed through my head faster than my heart could pump it. My wings flapping viciously in the wind; my eyes were still closed. All I could feel though my traumatized mind was the heavy grip of gravity, pulling me lower and lower. I wasn’t flying; I was falling. It had already been a full two seconds when I realized the horrible truth; I was going to die. My mind continued to scream at me until its voice grew quiet from the loss of conscience. I didn’t want to open my eyes; the ground was not the last thing I wanted to see. My wings clamped and I fell faster. My legs shot forward; I knew they would snap like twigs. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. Before the kiss of death took me away, I, with all my might, whispered one last thing into the wind,

“Please, Rainbow, save me…”

A searing pain shot through my body; a loud crack echoed throughout the emptiness of the fields. I bathed in a swarm of small white fragments; my skin severed in full. I could feel a burn in my chest that grew hotter and hotter as every fraction of a second went by. The ground’s sweet, gentle kiss grew more and more vicious as each moment passed. My head tried to escape the idiocy, but the throbbing only grew worse. Tears flowed from my face faster than I could make them; the pain could not be compared to. It felt as though every bit of my skin was trying to detach at once. I tried to calm down, but how could anypony calm down when their legs are in fourteen pieces before them? My eyelids grew heavy as, in the time of a lightening flash, all my agony dissolved. My mind had grown so numb from the damage that colors began to fade; the sounds of rushing blood drowned any other around me. I raised my right hoof, finding it in two pieces on the ground before me; I blacked out.

The trees, bushes, and grass all looked at me in unison with a pool of water forever waiting for another return; all seemed still, quiet, and cold. A sense of longing lingered in the air; I knew not of where I was. Not a breeze was blown; not a soul was comforted. The silence ran through my head like a stream of unspeakable pain; a price worse than death. The colors of the supposed “greenery” had officially boggled my mind; nothing was right. The trees danced with death, and the grass mourned those who still lived. They were creatures of pure evil and I was to be a part of it. I examined my hoof, still in tact after the fall; my head, still atop its mighty neck.

“Hello?” I cried, pulling myself out of the indescribable amnesia, “Is anypony there?”

“Shh,” called the grass, “She waits for you as you wait for her.”

The grass clung to the bottoms of my hooves, immobilizing me for the time being. I tried lifting them as best as I could; the agony of claustrophobia bled through my head.

“What do you mean?” I cried, a single tear running down my cheek; I was afraid of any kind of enclosure, “Who’s waiting for me?”

“The one who calls, creates, and plots,” replied the trees, “She waits for you in particular.”

“Why does ‘she’ wait for me? What does ‘she’ want with me?”

A high-pitched laugh echoed throughout the meadow; I cowered in fear, “Is this the one? Has it come to destroy me?”

Smiles and laughs emitted from the trees, “Destroy?” Exclaimed the meadow’s entirety, “On what plain of existence would you need to be destroyed? You don’t deserve death, at least, not yet.”

A second laugh echoed throughout the plain; cold chills ran down my back as a dark shadow hovered above the red meadows,

“Follow the trail,” cried the grass, “Follow it and promises will be kept.”

The trees laughed longer still as the grass released me of my imprisonment. One hoof after another, I followed the trail. Around the pool of water and between the two meadows, I followed the trail. Never stopping for a rest, I followed the trail. As I traveled, the cloud of shadows above me grew bigger; I felt as though I was moving closer to my unfortunate fate. Under the cloud was the darkest cavern a pony could imagine with a cold breeze that soon came forth,

“Scootaloo,” called a voice in the cavern, “Why have you come here? What have you done to destroy yourself?”

I looked around, puzzled by the origin of the mysterious voice, “Destroy myself?” I began to speculate, “I did not destroy myself! I merely fell; I’ll be fine as soon as I escape this place!”

The voice laughed with hysteria, “Don’t you see where you are? Do you even know what this place is? Is this Ponyville? Is this Equestria? You don’t know!”

I looked down, ashamed for having such blind eyes. But no matter, I stomped a hoof on the ground, “What do you want from me? Why are you waiting for me? What importance do I have to Equestria?”

A chuckle came forth, “We used to be friends, Scootaloo; I’ve heard some things about you.”

Nervously, I waited for a better explanation. The spirit somehow smiled, “I have seen everything. I have seen your fate mingled with the lives of others. You were spoken of in the beginning and you are destined to be the end.”

My legs shook with fear, “The end?” I cried, “Are you talking about… annihilation?”

A cold breeze came from the cavern, “Yes, Scootaloo, you are the one to bring this fate into action.”

I shook my head in denial, “No, I won’t do it and there is nothing you can do to convince me so!”

“Oh, I don’t need to convince you to do anything,” answered the spirit, “Time will do it for me.”

I shook my head again, rubbing my eyes and sitting on the grass below me.

“What do you really want from me?” I cried, “I will not bring death to my friends!”

“I have withheld you from death because you play a role in Equestria. For that, I will grant you a wish. Anything you desire will be yours at a price.”

“A wish?” I questioned the cavern, “You want me to make a wish?”

The infinite possibilities ran through my head, ”Was this real?” I began to ask myself, ”What role do I have that’s so important as to be called to make a wish? This better be good.”

“For all the work you are set to do, I will reward you with a wish. What will it be? Chaos for those who treated you poorly? Revenge on Rainbow Dash for leaving you behind? Or perhaps even the gift of invincibility as an attempt to prevent the inevitable. Either way, your life, as well as others, depend on this moment.”

I couldn’t decide on anything; was this real? The opportunity was incredible and I knew it couldn’t be wasted. My mind went blank; for the first time, I didn’t know what I wanted. My head spun as I tried to make a decision. This was the spirit I had sought for during what seemed to be so long ago. I tried to recall Twilight’s book,

“I-I’m not sure…”

I could hear the impatience growing in the spirit’s voice as each word spewed hatred into my mind,

”What is it you have been fighting for all this time? What has kept you up during so many sleepless nights? I know what troubles you but I cannot act. Tell me! What is it you desire?

My mind screamed at me to hurry, but the words wouldn’t come together. I stuttered as I spoke,

“B-but I-I don’t kn-know what I want!”

A bright red light burst from the cavern; I fell to the floor, shaking violently as my fear had officially taken over. I wanted to run and scream; I wanted to leave this place.

”Why run? You know what you want. You have been mocked, attacked, and you’ve lost everypony you’ve ever known. Now you have a chance to make everything right and all you want to do is run? Are you really a coward? Will you run? Or will you hide? Will you fly? Or will you flee?”

The words turned on my mind like a lightbulb; the spirit’s fire grew larger with every second spent, ”Have my efforts to bring you here mean nothing? I have fulfilled my promise to you and yet you cannot decide! If it is nothing you want, then leave me! Take your pity with you!”

The flame continued to consume the cavern with a large flash of light. I held up a hoof, stopping my restlessness.

“Wait,” in that instance, the fired died and turned a calming blue color, “I know what I want.”

At this point, the fire had officially disappeared, leaving nothing but two beady yellow eyes behind.

“And that is?” Replied the spirit, waiting just a bit longer for an answer.

I sighed; it was something I truly wanted, “I want… flight.”

The eyes that rested in the cavern turned green; the spirit let out a roar of laughter,

”You, a pegasi, wish for flight? You wield wings without air below them?”

I blushed and screamed, “If you can’t grant my request, then why didn’t you just say so?”

The fire stopped and the realm became silent. I smiled, pulling myself together.

”You wish for flight, but have you not thought before hoof? Would it not be easier to practice and learn?”

I sighed, “My reasons are private! Just do what I tell you to!”

The eyes turned into an even brighter yellow color, ”Everything comes with a price, my dearest Scootaloo.”

A sinking feeling cursed upon me, “A-and that is?”

There was a shorter, more controlled laugh that echoed, ”Worry not for it is a small price of which anypony would wish to pay. The price is that you must take me along with you through the skies! I wish to be free from this disparity and away from the red corridors which taunt me time and time again!”

I rustled my wings, looking back at their dwarfed state, then thinking of the possibilities, I opened my mouth, “I accept your offer.”

A strong gust of wind blew through the trees around me. A bright red grin glowed in the cavern,

”Then it shall begin.”

I gasped, finding myself back in Rainbow Dash’s bed.

”Was any of it real?”

I moaned; I had a cramp in my back. My mane, as I could imagine, was a mess beyond repair. Slipping out of bed, I made my way to the bathroom, looking in the mirror as I did every morning. I screamed, flapping my wings with pride. After all this time, my wings finally grown to a normal size; I cried with joy.

“They grew! My wings finally grew!”

I hovered about the room with ease. Oh, how it came so naturally! Finally, I could see Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale and accompany her on whatever missions she would be assigned! I swam in a sea of happiness, flying around the room like a gleeful bird. I thought of the face Rainbow would make when she’d see me; I giggled, bursting through the bedroom door born anew. Happily strutting down the stairs, I opened the front door to prepare for the ultimate reward in the sky above. The rays of sunlight flooded the foyer, drowning me in a constant state of pride, anxiety, and pleasure.

So there I stood, spreading my wings and preparing for my first flight. It was a memorable moment and I had every confidence it would be something to treasure. A relaxing breeze blew through my mane; I crouched down and flapped my wings as I had seen Rainbow Dash do before her flight. Closing my eyes, I spoke the words softly,

“This is it; this is the moment you’ve waited for all your life. This is your time to fly. No more will everypony laugh at you. This time, they’ll see that I’m different; I can do it.”

With a simple leap, I flew over the edge, praying my wings could hold me longer. I flapped my wings like never before; I was finally flying. The clouds decorated the skies so brilliantly with their fluffs of heaven.  The ground grew more and more distant as I ascended higher into the sky. It, in itself, was a dream; the experience was more than I could have ever imagined. The sun beamed down on my feathers with my shadow making its mark on Equestria. Every breeze was a new opportunity. I could perform flips, kicks, and tricks with ease; there was no need to think in the stratosphere. The wind could take me anywhere; I was certain of that. For those moments, the word “stop” was no longer in my vocabulary. I continued to fly higher and higher until the sky’s brilliant blues no longer held meaning. All of Equestria was visible from my height. Canterlot, Ponyville, The Frozen North, Cloudsdale. Everything was there: the sun, moon, stars and other forms of planetary wonder. My breathing grew heavy as I continued to ascend into the heavens above; I cared not. It was my first flight and I wished above all that I could make the most of it. I turned to my left, seeing a small formation of rocks floating by.

“Is this what I’ve been missing?” I asked myself, “Is this the life I was meant to live?”

I smiled, stopping my path of flight; I was high enough to orbit,

“Yes,” I answered, “This is what I’ve missed.”

The moon’s brilliant gaze lay upon me with such elegance; I began to envy Luna. There was no weight that could bring me down; no feeling of pull brought me depression. It was a wondrous feeling not having to worry. The air was limited, but my numbed mind cared for nothing more than to enjoy what I had left.

“Life should be treasured by many,” I began, speaking into the void of silence. I knew nopony would ever hear me, but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was let my heart’s poetic vibe pour freely into the universe,

“Ponies always say they’ll live forever and this may be true, but should we all take it for granted? Stories always flooded the towns of how subtle death can be. One small slip, they would say, and anypony would take a dive into the terminality of the eternal darkness. All my life I’ve been taught that a pony could live for eternity and beyond. That it was nothing more than the Tree of Harmony that gave life to all. But I always knew that if such a thing were true, would we all be nothing short of useless? What are we to many? Are we nothing more than Celestia’s plaything? Life has always been a gift and the more I think about it, I’m surprised the population hasn’t become an abundance. They always say ponies are born by the day: is this true? I remember my parents not; they’ve been absent my entire life. They never wrote or did so much as to visit.”

I sighed; the thought of their absence brought sorrow to even the most exhilarating of experiences. I began to feel lightheaded; I had been in the Empties for far too long. A migraine began to form in my head; I cringed as a voice echoed throughout the entirety of the void,

”Oh the sight truly is lovely here, Scootaloo. You’ve really out done yourself.”

“Who are you?” I cried, grasping my head firmly; I tried to flap my wings to the ground, failing miserably. I looked like a flailing fish outside its pond.

”Such a shame; you’ve forgotten me. Oh well, I’ll make sure to not let that happen again.”

I screamed for nopony to hear. My lungs gave in with a burning sensation in my throat that only seemed to grow worse.

”You know, Scoot-i-poo, you’re starting to worry me.”

I had only heard half of that comment. The rest of it was lost to my blue, expressionless face. I could not speak, let alone breathe. Not even my thoughts processed properly. Everything I had experienced in last ten minutes lost meaning and tranquility. I had become a hopeless, dangling mess. I kicked and struggled until nothing mattered; I went limp. My hooves, dangling in the empty abyss of everlasting darkness. But the darkness was not as infinite as I thought. A bright light emitted from my wings, shedding its radiance on everything around me. It was a redeeming moment that was not short of praise. Filled with the determination of a triumphant army, I flapped the illuminating gifts of glory as hard as I could. Slowly, I began to move closer to the world I had loved all my life. I stopped, amazed by my success. One flap turned to a second until I had become a raging ball of infinite fire. It burned not for I had become a beacon of unsustainable heavenly light. Faster and faster, I fell; a sinking feeling plagued me ever more. I flapped my wings at speeds only comparable to a speeding commit, yet they did not tire. I could have only imagined how the rest of Equestria would see me. As the ground drew near I stopped flapping my wings and instead kept them open. Pulling me to a violent halt with a large ring of wing storming everything around me.

I huffed and puffed; never before had I been so exhausted. Collapsing to the ground, I looked up at Cloudsdale and thought,

”I’m almost there. Tomorrow, we’re going to see Rainbow Dash and help her out!”

”Wouldn’t that be the perfect fantasy?”

I jumped up, looking around me to see who had spoken. I shivered,

“Hello?” I called, “Am I going crazy?”

”No, you’re not. Well, at least not yet.”

“Are you the one who saved me? Did you give me these wings?”

There was an echoing chuckle that sounded all around me,

”Poor, Scootaloo, I’ve been around you all your life. Why is it you’ve forgotten me. I am the new Spirit of the Everfree. You put me to this task long ago, and yet, here I am. Oh, I do believe I’ve found it. I told you, when I make a promise, I never break it.”

The gears in my mind turned rapidly; how could I have forgotten?

“P-Pinkie Pie?!?”

There was a ominous laugh all around me; I sat down, too scared to handle the news,

”Yesss… That’s me. And look what you’ve done to me. Have you any idea how I came to be?”

“I-I,” I stammered, “I can’t imagine. Was it painful?”

More chuckles surrounded me, ”No more painful than your fall.”

My eyes dazed, around me were fragments of white bone lined up in a circle. Below my hooves was a mixture of blood and tears; I screamed, shaking my head to see it was all an illusion.

“What do you want with me? Why would you want to be housed in my mind?”

Silence entered the air for only a moment; I waited patiently for an answer.

”I, like my predecessor, despise the bleak terrain of which I came. To be in the mind of a filly is swimmingly joyous. The best part? The best part is that you, dear Scootaloo, are trapped with me until the end of your days!”

I was not scared or surprised, but instead disappointed.

“Pinkie… what happened to you? You used to bring laughter to everypony. Now you threaten me to a life of imprisonment. Pinkie?”

Silence found favor in the air once more; I began to cry.

“I think I hear something!”

A voice came from over the hills; I jumped, deciding whether or not I should hide.

“Hold on, I think I see somepony.”

Two ponies stood at my side, each wearing low-dangling black uniforms; their Cutie Marks were covered in full. I watched as a third came forth,

“Excuse me, pegasi, but have you knowledge of anypony speeding by here? We’d like to say a few words with her.”

Her voice was familiar; Rainbow Dash had talked of her many times before. I glanced at the two other pegasi. Nervously, I answered with whatever I could,

“I-I…”

I panicked; never before had I been in contact with the Pegasi Army. They towered over me; I was still considered a filly. The third pony lowered her sunglasses, still waiting for an answer worthwhile. She sighed, waving to the other ponies to follow her, “Come on, this pony’s gone lame.”

The three laughed and left me there on the ground. I shook my head; no longer would I be laughed at, “Wait.”

At the very drop of the word, the three ponies halted. I stood up, my head down, ”Was this the right thing to do? This may be my ticket to seeing Rainbow Dash.”

”Perhaps, but this is your life to live; I have already lived my own.”

”Then what do you suggest? What should I do?”

”I believe the better question would be, why put your trust in me? Just a second ago, I threatened to imprison you in a life of insanity. Now you seek my advice; do what you wish. Everything you do now will affect you in the future.”

“I caused the explosion.”

The first guard smiled and turned to the second. The third one, however, remained serious by merely pulling off her glasses. They didn’t believe me, no doubt, “And you’re certain of this? The Pegasi Army doesn’t take kindly to liars.”

I nodded my head and stood up straight, confident that they may find my answer truthful. She smirked and, at the clap of her hooves, called the other two ponies to stand by me once more.

“My name is Spitfire; I’ll be your escort to Cloudsdale. We have some questions for you.”

With that, the two pegasi held on to me from either side, lifting me into the air. After everything I’d been through, this was finally my chance to see Rainbow Dash.

“Now, Scootaloo, we want you to tell us everything. Is that understood?”

It was a small, dark, musty room, made completely from concrete with a single metal door at the end facing me. A rustic, unfinished red paint job was worn on the wall behind me. I wasn’t sure what to say; I nodded,

“Good,” smiled Spitfire, “then I expect quite an entertaining story.”

Absolution Part 4

“So you were experiencing an obtuse case of hallucinations?”

    I nodded, “Yes, but they knew the better and worse of me. They knew all my secrets; they were corrupt.”

    Spitfire thought for a second and then began to say, “I assume you fell from Rainbow’s house. I’ve seen it and it’s quite a drop. How is it you have no broken bones?”

    I raised a hoof and she silenced, eager for answers,

“I died that day,” I answered, “but unlike other deceased ponies, I was able to come back through a known myth.”

Spitfire pulled out a notebook and began to scribble violently.

“A long time ago, I went out to find a spirit known only as, The EverSpirit, a divine being that could grant wishes at, what I’ve heard, a painful cost, entry into the user’s mind as a permanent residence.”

Spitfire held up a hoof, “And how do you find this spirit?”

I shook my hanging head, “It’s only visible through death within the Everfree Forest.”

    “Plenty of ponies have died within the Everfree Forest, why haven’t they found it?” She asked in a demanding tone. It was clear these answers meant more than the world to her. I opened my mouth,

”Tell her”

    But stopped before I could say anything. The voice ran through my head in a throbbing shriek of madness. Spitfire grew impatient,

    “Well? Do you have an answer?”

    I couldn’t move, ”Tell her, everything. It will only grant you more success in our downfall.”

    I clutched my head tightly as every syllable brought more pain upon my body.

    “What do you mean?” I screamed, jumping out from my chair and onto the floor; I was not chained or restrained in any way. Spitfire stood up in a flash, banging her hoof against the door to allow three more uniformed pegasi to watch me suffer.

”Ah, the interrogation room; I remember this.”

    Tears the size of pearls rained down from my eyes, but that did not stop Pinkie from having her way,

”Hmm…” she said, extending the word to add on to the agony, ”I must say, I do believe I remember it like this…”

    The room around me melted before my eyes. The guards, or uniformed ponies, that once stood at the door were no more; Spitfire’s image deformed into a white colt with a long, black robe draping over her. The table I once sat in was drenched in blood, a wheelbarrow of small, organic, fleshy organs scattered the floor. The head of a mare rolled beside my hooves. Spitfire’s character laughed and pointed toward the back wall, revealing a hanging pony with a large knife wound running down the middle of his chest. His sternum exposed and bleeding heavily. I screamed; my eyes shuttered to black.

”So now you know this place better than most of the ponies who work here. What are you going to do now?”

    I clenched my head and pulled my mane, “Nothing!” I screamed, waving the voice in my head to go away, “I’m not going to do anything because none of it is real! Besides, those ponies hold no meaning to me!”

    A laugh echoed through my blinded eyesight and a door surrounded by a bright light appeared at the end of a long corridor.

”You think you know your history so well. If you fear not, go right ahead, take the handle and reveal everything.”

    A red carpet unrolled itself beneath my hooves and led to the shabby wooden door. I was not afraid; I held pride.

    “I don’t need to open a door in order to prove I’m not afraid! I shouldn’t have to do anything!”

    I turned away and the lights returned; I sat at a clean desk with Spitfire waiting for an answer,

    “So? What will it be? Why don’t you have any broken bones?”

    I glanced at the red-stained wall behind me wondering if what Pinkie said was true. I fluttered my wings and admired their excellence. I believe I had cracked the case behind the EverSpirit.

    “The EverSpirit revived me and I was granted a wish,” said I with all the confidence in Equestria. Spitfire looked down at her paper and grinned,

    “So you wished for immortality, didn’t you?”

    I looked down, that wouldn’t have been such a bad idea. I shook my head,

    “No, I didn’t.”

    Spitfire stopped and adjusted herself, “Oh? Then what was it? Riches? Friends?”

    “Flight,” I answered, cutting her off from the ridiculous rant she was going at, “I wished for the gift of incredible flight.”

    Spitfire looked at me as if there was something wrong. It was my heart’s content and it did solve many of my problems.

”How interesting; she doesn’t know yet.”

    “Know what?” I blurted out, not realizing Spitfire still sat in front of me, finally lifting the ice-cold coffee.

”You’ll find out soon enough.”

    “Excuse me?” Questioned Spitfire, she placed the coffee back on the table while finishing her notes. I came up with the most overused lie ever to be conceived.

    “Oh, it’s nothing.”

    Spitfire glared at me with disbelief, “Well, in that case, I must be on my way. There is something that we would like to show you.”

    She stood up; I jumped, “Wait!” I yelled, hoping it didn’t come across as rude.

    “Yes?”

    “W-Where’s Rainbow Dash? I thought I’d see her one last time before I returned home.”

    Spitfire sighed with disappointment, “There are two things wrong with that statement. One, you will not be able to see Rainbow Dash just yet, and two, you will not be returning home. We have something you might be able to contribute to.”

    I stood still, not sure of what to say. Spitfire finished my silence for me, “Come on, I want to show you something before I allow you to meet the ponies you will be working with during your assignment.”

    I nodded, following her out the room and into a secluded elevator where she and I stood alone.

    The elevator opened without a hurry; Spitfire pressured me to keep my eyes off everything found within this part of the building. It was a basement filled with several large boxes, each big enough for a filly to have their playtime in. I tried to pry my eyes off the strange crates for the time being, but there was one thing I couldn’t resist but notice, each box carried a name.

    “Are these… belongings?” I asked timidly, still trying to piece together the whole situation together.

    “More or less,” She monotonously sighed, still walking at the same consistent pace. The entire basement was a maze, left and right we turned. While Spitfire and I spoke little, somepony else did not care to carry the same boundaries.

”She lies”

”How would you know?”

”Open the door”

”Why should I? I know what I know and there is nothing you can do about it!”

    Spitfire stopped and pointed toward a large box with the words “Rainbow Dash” clearly written upon it. She sighed and turned toward me,

    “Well, there you go, she’s all yours.”

    I placed my hooves on the box,

    “Are you sure? Wouldn’t she mind?”

    Spitfire chuckled for a moment, and then frowned, “I don’t think so. Go right ahead, you have the right-a-way.”

    I lifted the top off the box and a large spiral of emotions fell upon me.

”Now you see? Lies everywhere; trust only yourself”

    “I-I”

    Spitfire grinned, “Don’t worry about it, kid. She’s sleeping just fine in there. All these ponies are.”

    I spun around, looking at all the different boxes. I couldn’t believe it, I was standing in a room filled with dead ponies.

    “All the ponies we find who’ve passed are taken here and placed in a box. The smell isn’t that bad after a while; we’ve taken care of it using an old spell our founder discovered.

    “But what about their families? Haven’t they spoken up? Haven’t they said anything about the bodies?”

    Spitfire chuckled and started walking back the way we came, “No, they haven’t said anything. This floor is open to the entire city; they’ll be fine.”

    I still couldn’t believe it; Rainbow Dash, my one and only true sister, dead for all to see.

”Now do you understand? There is nothing you can do, just accept it. Everypony here is corrupt by the evils of their master, HighShine. You must break from it.”

    “I hope that by showing you this you’ll begin to understand,” began Spitfire, stopping for a brief moment. I stopped as well,

    “What do you mean?” I asked, wondering how Rainbow’s carcass corresponded with whatever I was to be doing.

    “Rainbow began a project to help the Army succeed in its mission. She said only one pegasus could have the permission to finish it; that pegasus is you, Scootaloo.”

    I said nothing; all I did, was turn toward the lowly box.

”How is this? Why would Rainbow Dash choose me, a flightless pegasus, to finish her work? I’m useless. What does she see in me?”

”She lies.

    “Who took her?” I asked, hoping Spitfire would give it to me straight. She lowered her shades and sighed,

    “We had a breach quite a while back. A pony by the name of Applejack murdered her while she was on duty. It was tragic and we were unable to put a stop to her rage. But the last we heard about her, she was killed in Canterlot; we don’t speak of her anymore.”        ”Applejack? Isn’t she… Applebloom’s sister? Why would Applejack murder ponies?”

”Many ponies died under her blade; there she does not lie.”

    “A-Applejack? I know her!” I exclaimed, stomping my left hoof against the ground. Spitfire sighed, adjusting her glasses once more,

    “Yes, I assumed you might. You two did live in the same town. Ah well, what’s the past is past, now, I must allow you to meet the rest of the staff. You will be working with them diligently; I trust you’ll take everything seriously from here on out. Rainbow is gone, but I know her legacy will be preserved through you, right?”

    I looked down, “Her legacy?”

    “Right,” said She, “Her work is a very important part of this Army. It will end the division of Equestrian Ponies forever. You were the closest to Rainbow; I know you will be able to help.”

    I nodded, “Alright, I’ll do it, but only for Rainbow Dash.”

    Spitfire smiled, “Fine by me. Come, the rest of the staff will inform you of your assignment. I nodded once more, following her to the elevator.

    “Now you see; our research has proven that the Sonic Rainboom can be replicated by anypony with enough gathered speed,” explained Doctor Clouds, “But one of the most important properties of the Rainboom is its magical properties in the field of destruction. When the many of us saw the original Rainboom being performed, we noticed a large amount of impact concerning the air density. Using this, we believe it can be a very powerful ally. If we work posthaste, we may just win the war before it begins.”

    I nodded my head; I had no idea what he was talking about, “So… you want me to perform a Sonic Rainboom, something only made possible by Rainbow Dash herself?”

    The doctor smiled, “In a sense, yes.”

    I glanced at Spitfire, who was counting the number of useless machines in the room,

    “What does this one do?” She asked, hitting her hoof against a monitor with blinking circular lights. The doctor quickly swatted the intruding hoof away,

    “Ah! That, in a way, holds a security function. Take no attention to it!”

    The two of us laughed at the doctor. Spitfire opened the elevator door and wished me luck.

”Ah, now you see? Everything here has suspicion.”

”What are you talking about? This is Rainbow Dash’s work! Who am I to leave it unfinished? It would be disrespectful beyond belief.”

”Since when were you about respect? This is nothing but a scam to get you to be their sacrifice.”

”Sacrifice? I’m not going to die. Rainbow Dash would never kill herself to fulfill a job.”

”If it meant working with the Wonderbolt Captain? Yes, she would.”

    Doctor Clouds smiled and pointed at a machine located in the middle of the room.

    “We just need to do a few diagnostics,” he smiled, “It won’t hurt at all.”

    I nodded obediently and stood on the circular device; a team of doctors surrounded me with clipboards.

”You’re their lab rat now. You’re nothing but one of the many test subjects they’ve already killed.”

”But Rainbow Dash wasn’t killed by Doctor Clouds; Applejack was the killer!”

”Yes, that is true, but it was an unfortunate accident. It was never meant to happen.”

”You say you can see everything? What happened to you? Are you really Pinkie? What did you do?”

    A sigh of disparity echoed throughout my head.

”I fell into an unfortunate trap. It was to be you, but alas, my generous, over watching personality fell into a bind. I, as you did, died within the confines of the forest. I found what I was looking for, but the EverSpirit claimed my mind as his domain. Thus, a cycle began and I was met with disparity. I was followed by pain everywhere I went; there was nothing I could do. I hid from the world within my own home, but I was still met with the same fate as foretold.”

”Did I really do this to you? How did you become the EverSpirit?”

”When the host of the EverSpirit dies, that pony’s soul replaces the EverSpirit and its duty to fulfill Equestria’s destiny. My death created my fate.”

”Why did you really wait out for me? Why did you reach beyond the boundaries of the Everfree Forest?”

”I have seen your fate, Scootaloo. I knew I played an important role in Equestria’s history, and by the book, I was to assist you.”

    Doctor Clouds checked the different vials and smiled,

    “Alright, Scootaloo, that’s all we need. This pony here will take you to your new place of residence. We will call you when you’re needed. So for the time being, sit tight and we’ll let you know of any breakthroughs.”

    I nodded to the doctor and another pony, dressed in uniform, as he escorted me to the edge of the facility and opened the door to a small, damp, full concrete room with nothing more than a wooden table, bed, and window. I glared at the pony,

    “This looks more like a prison than a place of residence! What is the meaning of this inhospitality! I was to be working beside the doctor and his efforts, yet here you place me in a prison!”

    The pony shrugged and smiled, “I never said you were working alongside the doctor. All we needed is to check your abilities. We’ll let you know in the morning if we need you. You’re not Rainbow Dash, you know, you’re nothing but a replacement.”

    I was shocked, but he continued his rant, “You’re nothing like her, because, unlike her, you don’t have duties or signed up like the rest of the pegasi. No, you were stuck on the surface and didn’t dare to participate in the Cloudsdale cause!”

    “What are you talking about?” I screamed, “I didn’t have the ability to fly! I couldn’t sign up because your kind rejected me! Either that or because Rainbow Dash was too stubborn to even let me try to sign up! I would’ve volunteered any day, but no! You and your stupid cause is what denied my birthright!”

    The pony shrugged once more, blowing off everything I said and closed the door, locking me inside the isolated room with nopony to talk to but Pinkie Pie who resided in my head. She was the only one who listened to my cries, pleads and desires.

”What will happen to me?”I began, sitting on my bed, alone for what I knew to be the rest of my days, ”What else is there to do?”

    I listened carefully, hoping for an answer to my issues,

”You have nowhere to run; you will be stuck in this cell until the day of your judgment.”

    It wasn’t a joyful compliment, but it was something more than the silence ringing in my ears. I sighed, ”What do you mean, my judgment? What will happen to Equestria?”

    I could imagine Pinkie Pie sighing with regrets; I could see that she had visions she wished she could take back,

”It has been seen throughout time that after every period of peace, a downfall occurs. From the very beginning to what it is now, the end. I have seen the different hosts and their attempts to stop the downfall from occurring, but alas, none have succeeded. Time is something you cannot stop; therefore, many unfortunate ponies have died in their attempts.”

    I stared at the stone walls that bound me to my sorrows, a pain I thought had been fixed by opportunity,

”You’ve seen all the hosts? How is that possible?”

    Pinkie appeared before me and sat down on the bed beside me. She wore a depressing expression on her face,

”The EverSpirit is given a vast array of abilities immediately after the transformation. The only catch is that they must be confined within the boundaries of the Everfree Forest. All other natural boundaries are ignored, thus, the subject of time is no longer of any relevance. I’ve seen Equestria’s creation, and destruction. I’ve seen the very departure of existence.”

    I thought about all the ponies I once knew; all the ponies that once cared.

”Where are my friends?” I asked, worried for their safety. I thought about the kindness Twilight once showed for the long-running Cutie Mark Crusaders, ”What happened to Princess Twilight?”

    I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but Pinkie’s face grew even more grim when I mentioned Twilight’s name. She shook her head and turned to me, promising that she’d answer all the questions I had,

”Applebloom wanders with her family across the reaches of Equestria, same with SweetieBelle, who now wanders the Fields of Friendship.”

    She paused; I watched a single tear fall from her face,

”As for Twilight,” she cried, ”she’s taken it upon herself to visit Fluttershy’s final resting place…”

    She stopped once more, resting her head against her hooves, ”She’s searching for… hope.”

    My hoof phased through her back; I coughed once, ”Is she alone? What happened?”

    Pinkie sighed, wiping the tears that hung from her chin, ”She has two companions that hold luggage. Her very existence is despised by all around her; she is only loved by the two companions and myself.”

    I looked at Pinkie, she still wore that face is despair, ”Why do you still care for her? Why don’t you go see her if you care so much?”

    Pinkie stood up and examined the table, placing her hoof on it, noticing the table’s uneven support, ”I cannot see her; she wouldn’t recognize me. Only you see me as the friend you once knew. Twilight will only see me as a monster and dispel me within a second. Her magic has grown, but I still fear for her life. There are many ponies who would not give her the mercy her two companions have.”

    The moon fell and the sun rose to introduce a new day. No information came from the labs; I was not needed on this day. I sat alone in my bed having not moved since I first entered the room. My hair stood on end; a headache plagued my forehead.

”Why has everything changed? I remember when Spitfire led the Wonderbolts; She used to be Rainbow’s idol.”

    Pinkie sighed, appearing before me once more, ”I don’t know why everything changed. I, too, remember when everything was peaceful. There was happiness and smiles when I roamed Ponyvile. Now all has changed; now all who stand in Town Square scream of pain.”

”I remember when ponies would talk to each other in peace. I remember when ponies would peacefully dispute between each other. They would talk about their days and live together. They would take care of each other and remember the older days that passed.”

”Rainbow was a good friend; she was loyal and believed that with hard work, anything could be achieved. We became close friends and I knew that we would be until the end of time. Unfortunately, that is not what has happened.”

”Rainbow Dash was like a sister to me. She was the one who adopted me despite my disabilities. She was the one who cared about me and believed that everything could be taken care of. Despite her superiority, she still knew that someday, I would be able to soar above all of Ponyvile.”

”Nopony should die the way she did. I saw her death and was unable to stop it no matter what I said. I stood beside her and screamed, but none could hear me. I watch her be slaughtered before my eyes, and even though I could not say my goodbyes, I could still feel her pain.”

”I hated her when she left. She would check on me for no reason at all; I began to feel like I was being babied. I hated it, then, I hated her. I didn’t try to hide it either, I would yell at her as she flew toward Cloudsdale. I only wish I could see her once more before she died.”

”I remember Fluttershy’s hatred toward Rainbow Dash. She was the only one who didn’t answer the Cloudsdale call. She felt that because of her wing-power, she wouldn’t be accepted into the army, but, Rainbow Dash thought otherwise. She believed Fluttershy was just being stubborn and didn’t share the same amount of the Cloudsdale pride as she did. In the end, both were at each other’s necks.”

”I tried to recreate the situation where she left from a different perspective. My mind had lost all sense of morality and I started to hallucinate in order to rid myself of the guilt. Nothing worked and I ended up killing myself over it, but, to many, I was already dead. I only wonder how Rainbow Dash felt about me before she died.”

”Rainbow Dash was one of the many who died for this cause. Even now, blood is being shed for the honor of their race.”

”What happened to the time when Ponyvile represented all three races as one? When did this segregation act begin to start?”

”The three races have always hated each other. It wasn’t until the Windigos Incident that everypony realized the importance of love and peace. Before then? Hatred still corroded the era. The only difference is that now ponies have become more ruthless and have resorted to murder rather than speech.”

”Why aren’t ponies hesitant on death? What happened there?”

”I believe by showing ponies that death is justified by cause, Applejack’s influence may have corrupted Equestria’s population. I’m not sure; it’s just speculation.”

    The sun rose and fell again; a second day. Nopony bothered to stop by; only through meals had I questioned the ponies running the facility. As a tray slid under the door I called out,

    “Hey! Can I help?”

The pegasi behind the door grunted, “Sorry, kid, but we’ll let you know when we need you. Just sit tight and we’ll get to you in a few days.”

    A few days would pass, and still, nopony would come.

    I would talk to the pegasi once more on the following day,

    “Hey! Is there anything at all? My legs are tired from sitting.”

    The pegasi on the other side grunt again, “Sorry, Scoots, but we’ve got all the hooves we need. As for now, I suggest you just walk around; that’s why we didn’t stuff you in a box like Rainbow Dash.”

    His laughed could be heard from down the hall; I frowned. The next day, however, I would speak to him once more. I smiled and spoke in a happy tone despite my immense despise toward my lack of involvement,

    “Hey! How’s everything going? Are you colts making any progress?”

    He stopped, having to comprehend the variety of questions,

    “Hmm, you could say we’ve made some progress. We’ve had some issues concerning the different kinds frequencies the machine emits. Other than that, we’re all fine. Still, nothing you could do, sorry!”

    He walked away, whispering to himself; I wish I could hear it.

    Another day would pass and still I would not hear anything from the research team. I began to count the days by carving into the wooden table, which, had sadly toppled over. It was now nothing more than a piece of wood with four blocks of wood lying about the cell. The pony on the other side slipped another meal under the door,

    “Sorry kid, not today,” he said, “I’m not going to answer any more questions.”

    “Is there a problem?” I asked, smiling, hoping I could get him to stay another hour or so, “Is there something wrong with the research?”

    “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with the project, we’re just encountering a few more problems, it’s really holding back research. Apparently, Spitfire wanted a protective barrier over all of Cloudsdale, but Doctor Clouds said that it was impossible without the right amount of budgets. She then tried him for ‘why funds would be needed during a government project’. Shows what she knows. Anyway, you’ve kept me here long enough, I can’t linger like this anymore! I know you want to help in one way or another, and I’ve said it before, not now. We’re very busy trying to set everything up. We’ll let you know if we need your assistance in anything.”

    He started the walk away, but stopped,

    “Oh, and hey,” he said, returning to the door, “Don’t look out the window, will ya? It’s a little… messy out there. Who knew the ponies of Ponyvile would go so crazy over a simple speech?”

    With those last words, he walked away to return to whatever duties he had. Naturally, I went to inspect the window anyway, but as he said, I shouldn’t have. Pinkie stood beside me, “tsk-ing” the situation away. A cloud of smoke and fire consumed the forest lying below Cloudsdale. Everything burned mercilessly; I turned to Pinkie,

”What happened here? What’s going on? Why is the forest on fire?”

    Pinkie sat on the bed and rocked herself back and forth,

”I’m afraid it’s already begun,” she said, patting the seat beside her, ”This is what happens when ponies become filled with the desire to kill. It’s a horrid sight; I’m sorry you had to see it.”

    I shook my head, this couldn’t be, ”How long have we been gone? What happened to Ponyvile? Is it really gone? Is it really destroyed?”

    Pinkie moved not, ”No, it is not destroyed,” she said, rocking herself once more, ”It has only been flattened by war. Its name has not been destroyed, but the purpose it stood for has long since become tarnished.”

    Cries from the surface made their way into the cell. I curled into a ball and wept in the corner. I hoped this would all be over soon.

”Another day, many more deaths” proclaimed Pinkie, waking me up. I shook my head; it was not the kind of motivation I wanted to hear in the morning. A tray slid under the door. It was early and instead of food, it carried a note. I stood up, and examined it; it was my calling.

”Scootaloo, I’m afraid our research has come to a halt. We were able to presume the speed of the Sonic Rainboom, but we were unable to determine your speed. A pony here will escort you to the Meter Room where you will then proceed to be measured for your highest speed.”

    Pinkie stood up and looked over my shoulder, ”Your suffering is almost over,” she said; the cell door unlocked and revealed the pony I had been talking to over the last few months; I didn’t know the exact amount of time that passed. The pony smiled and then pointed toward the end of the hall. It was awkward having seen him for the first time, yet knowing so much about him.

    “Looks like you’ve been called,” he said, “You can thank me later.”

    He escorted me to a large laboratory with a massive tank-like object placed on the opposite end of the room. The tank spanned from the floor up to the ceiling. It was starting to become clear how they were going to measure my speed. Doctor Clouds waved and presented a clipboard to me,

    “We’re going to need you to sign this one. We’ve never been able to measure the velocity of a Pegasus inside before, so we’ll need your signature on this one.”

    I signed the paper and the Doctor opened the door to the hatch, letting me climb inside. There was a single harness the hung from the top of the tank and dangled down to the halfway point.

    “Do you see that harness?” Questioned the Doctor, yelling from the hatch, “I want you to wear it as tight as you possibly can. We’re not sure how much potential we’re dealing with here.”

    I did as told and wore the harness. A microphone within the tank turned on and the Doctor’s voice echoed throughout.

    “Now, what we need you to do is fly in a loop, then, fly straight down. This’ll replicate what’ll happen during your launch.”

    I did as told and flew toward the ground as hard as I possibly could. My wings fatigued not and I could feel the harness starting to break. The entire team of scientists stood up from where they sat and stared in awe as the machine’s numbers reached the limit. The harness broke and a small gust of wind destroyed the, once thought to be, invincible glass. I landed on the floor, dazed and lightheaded. Applaud could be heard from all directions, the Doctor smiled and lent me his hoof,

    “Here, climb up. You’ve shocked us all,” he said, allowing me to exit the tank. It was an easy test that was done in mere minutes, but it meant much to the research. The Uniformed pony who gave me meals escorted me back to my cell. He smiled,

    “Looks like I was wrong about you,” he said, slowly closing the door so he could finish what he had to say, “You are a faster flyer than Rainbow herself.”

    He winked and locked the door behind him. I was happy to help, but Pinkie was not amused. She returned to the bed,

”You’re being played, Scootaloo. Everything they say is just a sugarcoated threat.”

    I sat down beside her, ”What do you mean? That was a fully-fleshed compliment! There was nothing menacing about it!”

    She shook her head with disappointment, ”I’m sorry, Scootaloo, but you’re getting too comfortable. You’re being led into a false suspicion. They all want to use and kill you. Every one of them is here to take your blood and use it for their weapon.”

    I frowned, ”They said they wanted to end a war! I’m for that! I’m working for a good cause! Everypony here is! All these false assumptions hold no ground!”

    Pinkie stood up and looked out the window so she could see the devastation,

”In this doomed land, there are many causes. Only one of these is just. That cause is the one Twilight is now working towards.”

    I rolled my eyes, ”Isn’t she the enemy?” I asked, questioning Pinkie’s morals, ”Didn’t she create all these problems?”

    Pinkie stared at me with disbelief and shouted at the top of her lungs,

”WHAT DID YOU SAY? Do you even listen to yourself before you speak? Do you even know what’s happening here? Have you seen the end of days? Do you know who reads this now?”

    I shook my head; I had no idea what Pinkie was talking about, but I believed at this point of chaos, it was all about opinions.

”Rainbow believed in this cause and she was better than me in every way,” I stated as I rolled into bed, covering myself with what little covers I had, ”Who am I not to follow in her hoofsteps?”

”Every time it’s always the same,” she muttered, making sure I heard her, ”You’re no different. I was the only one who wasn’t corrupt by hatred. Yes, I drifted from my friends, but I would never kill anypony on purpose.”

”On purpose?” I said, catching on to her conversation. It was something I wanted her to expand upon, ”What do you mean, ‘on purpose’?”

    Pinkie looked out the window, a large cloud of smoke rising above Cloudsdale; another scream was heard,

”It’s nothing,” she denied, ”We all make mistakes.”

    I smiled, ”Am I no different?”

    Pinkie nodded, giving up hope that I could be saved, ”Do what you will; there’s nothing I can do to stop you.”

    The night fell and another day was introduced; I was needed no longer.

”Will I really die in the end?” I asked, hoping for an answer that could help me rather than bash me down further. I could never be so lucky,

”We all die. It’s all a matter of when, where, and how, but this, this is something different that you must discover yourself. If you truly believe in their cause, then you will die a painful death.”

    I stood up, enraged that I couldn’t get the slightest bit of uplifting advice from even a former friend.

”Is that all you think of? Death and destruction? Do you think about what I’m going through? Can I get even the slightest bit of hope from you?”

    I realized the mistake I’d made as soon as I said it. I knew what she’d say, and, unfortunately, she did,

”Is that so? Do you know why I’m like this? Do you know who made me like this? YOU. You’re the one to cursed me to follow your pathetic life! My life shouldn’t have ended the way it did! I should’ve lived a happy life until the inevitable came, that would’ve happened no matter what, but I should’ve never gone into that forest. I should’ve left you to your shame and you would’ve never had known. I’ve made mistakes too, but this? This tops the list.”

    She was right about all of it. I shouldn’t have dragged her into this mess; it was all my fault for everything. I was probably the one who created this cursed Equestria, the land of hatred and bloodshed. She was right, and I was always wrong. Pinkie pointed toward the window; a plume of fire reached the surface,

”When you look out this window, you’ve only yourself to blame-“

”You don’t think I get it?!? I’ve been cursed! I’ve killed you! I GET IT! Even now you don’t know when to stop. You may be right about me destroying your life, but even in death, you still don’t know when it’s a good time to stop. You were never a supportive friend. All you do is prance around and make sure everyone has a good time.”

”Keep it up, fly guy; I know how to make your life miserable.”

    I shrugged, blowing the threat over my head, ”How can my life become any more miserable? How can you make my life any more distraught? I’ve lived in a cell for who knows how long? There’s nothing you can do about that! I’ve had to live with the fact that my last words to Rainbow were, ‘I hate you’. Could you live with that?”

    Pinkie smiled for no reason, ”I’ve lived with worse.”

    With that, an intrusively sharp pain pulsated from my head; I screamed, falling to the floor. My wings shot forward and bent backwards; I glared at Pinkie Pie, she was always the one to smile, ”I live in your mind, Scoots, you’re nothing to me.”

    My hooves began to grow numb and my skin began to grow crimson. I rolled along the floor; I began to sweat immediately. I begged Pinkie to stop her madness, but all she did was stand by the window and smile. It was a smile that carved my head. I wiped my forehead; my sweat was red. I screamed, never before had I sweat blood; Pinkie laughed even more, ”What’d I say? Pain is something that is hard to overcome, and, even if you had, you would never be able to fully defy its power.”

    My hooves shook as I stood, ”Some friend you are! Is this what friendship has devolved into? Pinkie Pie? How can you say your innocence is preserved?”

I pointed toward the window, ”You’re just like them if you think pain is a proper justification.”

    She growled and glared, but with all the pain she was inflicting on me, I still managed to pull a smile. A day fell and another rose; I was not needed or loved.

    The pony behind the door slipped me another meal, but this time, I said nothing. He began to worry I had taken my life and called over, “Scootaloo? Are you alright?”

    I moaned, recovering from Pinkie’s wrath the week before, “I-I’m alright… just… not… feeling it,” I answered, lying in a bloody pool of sweat and urine. I was surprised the pony didn’t smell the combination from the other side; it was impossible to miss. Pinkie still stood by the window; the howls from Ponyvile grew louder. The pony behind the door waited a few more minutes before he left.

When he finally did, he said, “Alright, well, the big day is coming soon. It’ll be another week before we start issuing your launch. Sit tight and… uh… don’t… do anything… to harm yourself.”

    He quickly ran away, not saying anything afterward. I huffed, sitting in Pinkie’s merciless shadow of pain and unrelenting hatred.

    “That’s easy for you to say,” I coughed; he didn’t hear me as I hoped. I glared a Pinkie, but she had already beaten me to it,

”Why do continue to cause pain after all the time that’s passed? What do you hope to achieve?”

    Pinkie’s glare continued to burn me as she spoke in terms of added pain. My lower back began to cry for help; I howled, urinating a beautifully dark shade of red. I tried to ignore it and press on with the questions.

”So did all the EverSpirits treat their hosts with such hatred? Has that hating spell corrupted you too?”

”You’re going to regret that.”

    I chuckled, dipping my hoof in the undefined fluids I lay in. Pinkie watched as I stirred the mysterious liquids into a fine brown color; I smiled.

”Am I? What more fluids do you think you can extract from my body? You’ve got them all, Pinkamena dearest. What more do you hope to achieve?”

    A shot of distress came from my shins; I screeched, watching the orange flesh split down the middle, bones included. She smiled, ”I thought about vaginal bleeding, but I thought that might be over the top, so I went with bone marrow instead.”

    I fell into my disgusting pool of fluids, crying as loud as I possibly could. Another day passed and I soon realized that the one pony who once cared now hated every part of me.

    The day I ran out of table space was the day I was finally called for to fulfill my purpose in the Pegasi Army. After all this time, they had finally solved the problem with the machine or Project Raincloud as many called it. I sat up against the wall with numerous amounts of cuts and bruises. The door opened and the pony I had talked to during the whole experience greeted me, ignoring everything he stood in.

    “Do you even know what you’re stepping in?” I glared at him, enraged that all this time I had not been taken into caring hooves. He shook his head and looked down expressionless,

    “I don’t see anything, just concrete, and cloud as usual,” he answered, lifting the bottoms of both hooves. To him, I was just sitting down in the corner, but in my eyes, he was standing in an assortment of bodily fluids with drops of blood seeping from both my eyes and nose. I was in a state of true misery. The pony urged me to stand up so we could get started; I did as told and he escorted me to the main room. Never before had I felt so miserable, but I obeyed for the sake of Rainbow’s honor.

    Doctor Clouds took notice of my depressing behavior and quickly called for a glass of water. I drank and felt better only in the slightest.

    “All greetings aside,” he stated, “we’ve finally fixed the formula! Now you can do your part and help us end the genocide!”

    My mane stood on end; I was sick of hearing the ear-shattering screams from my window.

    “We’ve discovered, from the incident in the Meter Room, that with enough speed generated, you’ll be able to dispel the amount of light reflecting upon your body and… ahem… reshape Equestria into the one you once knew.”

    I smiled, it was better than having ponies slaughter each other in the streets.

    “So what do I do?” I questioned, following the Doctor to his table on the other side of the room, “When do we start?”

    The Doctor thought for a moment, then proclaimed, “We’ll be launching in a few hours. Sit tight and prepare yourself. We’ll let you know what to do on the launch balcony. Is there anything you hope to do before we start?”

    I nodded, “I-I want to see my sister once more.”

    The Doctor smiled and placed a hoof on my shoulder, “I think that’s a great idea,” said he, “she’d be proud of you, you know? She did so much here, her efforts can never be fully appreciated. We try to remember her efforts everyday; she’s a real inspiration”

    He pointed toward the elevator and I was let down into the basement, alone to find my sister in the maze of coffins.

    Left and right, I checked each one, looking at each description before moving on. Many of the names I knew and few I remembered, some of the ponies I found volunteered without me ever knowing about it,

”All these ponies died working for the Army?” I asked Pinkie, who followed closely behind me. She nodded, trying not to look at my face. The pain was all gone, but she still tried her best not to show that I’d won our argument through self-control.

”Yes and pretty soon, you’ll be joining them. This is Equestria’s judgment day; you’ll be launching the fireworks on this one.”

    I nodded and stopped by the box with the description of,

”General Rainbow Dash, creator of Project Raincloud and the Atomic Rainboom.”

    My head cocked, “What's the Atomic Rainboom?” I said aloud, looking over to Pinkie Pie. She rolled her eyes,

”It’s what you’ve been waiting for all this time. You’re the one unleashing it, are you proud?”

    I wasn’t sure what to think; I never thought of the doctors in such a way. They were all working their hardest, and on what? How long had I been in isolation? It all seemed like a few months, but really, how long was it?

    I fell to my knees and looked up at Pinkie, ”How long have I been trapped here?”

    Pinkie rolled her eyes but did not answer. She, too, did not know. All she did was sigh and say, ”Sometimes, the amount of time passed is not important. All we know; is that this is the last time anypony will consider the date.”

    An announcement fell over the intercom, a pony’s voice, who I defined as Doctor Clouds himself, made the final call. I nodded to Pinkie Pie; it was time.

    The sun was at its highest, the moon, not visible for anypony to see. I was loaded onto an elevator that arose to the peak of the highest tower in Cloudsdale. I looked out above all of Equestria now. Fires spread from East to West; I shed a tear for the friends I lost. Their cries of pain still rang in my ears; only one pony was with me at the top of the tower. He handed me something to wear around my neck, it was a pressure gauge.

    “What’s this?” I asked him, looking at Canterlot’s new flag. It was fully black with a pair of red wings in the middle. A red trim was also present. The pony, who I did not know, smiled and patted me on the back,

    “It’s a special pressure gauge,” he said, pointing at the number ‘100’, “When it reaches this number, you’ll know if you accomplished maximum speed. We’ll need that from you, so don’t slow down no matter what, okay?”

    With that, he returned to the elevator and proceeded to return to, where I assumed to be, the main room, calling out only one thing before he left, “You’ll know when to fly when the intercom announces it. Don’t back down, now!”

    I smiled; this was the day I had prepared for all my life. This was my purpose in history and I knew it.

”So now you see the corruption for yourself. What do you think about it? It’s a nice sight, isn’t it?”

    I sighed, ”It is a pretty view, sadly Equestria’s in such a terrible state… This will cure everything, right?”

    Pinkie stood with me beside the setting sun, her mane blowing in the wind. She sighed and shed a tear for nopony else but me,

”As you said, that’s all a matter of opinion. You bought into their words, which; can only hold merit to those who believe. You do whatever you will. Just… remember me in death, okay?”

    I laughed, ”This isn’t goodbye! This is just a new beginning!”

    She frowned and walked off the platform; she did not fall, ”If you say so.”

    A loud microphone screeched over Equestria; it was loud enough to be heard from every corner of the land. A pony with a growling voice answered the call. This is what that pony said,

    “TO THE PONIES OF EQUESTRIA, YOUR INCOOPERATION WITH THE PEGASI ARMY WILL HAVE COST YOU GREATLY. YOU HAVE ALL LAUGHED THE NAME AND NOW IT IS THE NAME OF WHICH ALL OF YOU SHALL FALL. THROUGH TIME, WE HAVE CARRIED OUT WHAT WE WARNED. NOW EACH ONE OF YOU SHALL FEEL THE PAIN INCLUDED IN YOUR REBELLION. WE NOW PRESENT OUR FINEST GIFT TO EVER BE BESTOWED UPON PONY-KIND, THE ATOMIC RAINBOOM.”

Pinkie looked back at Scootaloo, standing over the once-wonderful land of Equestria, ”That’s your queue, Scootaloo; do what you feel is right.”

    A cry of angry ponies could be heard from the surface muttering their curses against the pegasi who resided Cloudsdale. It was the only time Scootaloo had ever seen all the ponies of Equestria gathered together as one. While they all hated each other, the point of the matter was that they were all together in the end. The chosen pony lowered herself and checked the gauge. She lifted herself high in the air.

    “This is it,” she said, “This is my time to prove I’m not the little pony they said I’d be.”

    Higher and higher, she soared through the sky, challenging even the tallest of clouds. The mare would check her pressure gauge and smile; it was very well in the eighties. Knowing that as her queue, she turned around and flew as hard as she possibly could toward the ground. Lights of all sorts emitted from behind her; a bright orange streak of color trailed close behind Scootaloo. She closed her eyes and a bright white light flooded everything contained in the land of Equestria. The ponies that once kept the young mare awake through the night screamed no more as the loudest sound came from the unbelievable wing power that shook Equestria’s mountains and deserts without mercy. Even the pegasi who merely watched her devastating flight could not comprehend the blaring sound that ran through their heads. As she fell, Scootaloo’s sanity quickly fell at the mercy of Pinkie’s voice repeatedly screaming the same phrase, ”Now you’ve done it; now you’ve done it!”

All while the sounds of rumbling crashes echoed through her ears. She could feel no more; She only wished that she could see the magnificent sight she’d birthed. Never did the flightless mare take notice of the politics involved in her flight. All she knew is that after everything she’d been through, she had finally concocted my very own,

Sonic Rainboom.

THE END

Equestrian Absolution: Conclusion

”So now you know Equestria’s end.”

    I stood in the clouds and looked down upon the land of Equestria; it was how I remembered it, bright, shiny, and loving. All the ponies would smile and have fun while the rest would try to make their way in their studies. This was the Equestria I remembered and loved even more so. Pinkie stood on the edge of the cloud and looked down as I did. She looked toward the Everfree Forest and said to me in a voice so dim,

”It’s customary for the EverSpirit to pass on her duties to the user, but, seeing how the forest is no longer. It appears that tradition is no longer in effect.”

    I leaned over the edge and looked toward the forest; it was consumed by sand. Pinkie extended her reach to the rest of Equestria and, before my eyes, the land was immediately transformed into lonely deserts and abandoned canyons.

”This is the new Equestria, the one you helped shape. It shines not bright; it shows no love. Despite the pain and suffering you’ve caused, in the heart of history, there is always a victor. She lives, you know, the one you’ve scorned and shown no consideration. Don’t feel bad about it, nopony cared for her any more than they did you. She was cast out to face the world with nopony else but her better judgment. She was not killed in your fire; no, she was saved by her knowledge. As you sit here and watch for the rest of eternity, I hope you’ll understand that sometimes, there are some things we cannot change.”

    With those last words, Pinkie faded into nothing. I cried out to her,

”Will you not watch with me? Will I be alone? How can I live with what I’ve done?”

    Pinkie turned to me and smiled, ”My dearest Scootaloo, you’re not alive.”