The Dark Army Rises

Chapter 7: The Running Stops Here

Rainbow Dash sped around the outside of Canterlot, looking for a sign of her friends. The Elements of Chaos were slung over her shoulder as she flew.

'One heck of a talk,' Rainbow Dash thought.

The cavern was still stuck in her mind. She knew that her friends, especially Twilight, would love to know the truth about the night in the cavern, but Rainbow Dash could tell by the way their eyes looked that they didn't want her to tell another soul, dead or alive. She would just say that she found them after falling, and that she didn't know what they were. Such a lie would be easy, since she had alreaady lied about her past.

'No,' she thought. 'I mustn't think about it. I've been running from it for too long to return to it.'

She looked around. She would have called out her friends names, but the Dark Army would probably hear her. She landed on the ground and decided to continue on foot. She looked around. There was a lot to search in and around, as she saw rubble in all directions. She began to search.

******

Twilight landed in a ditch on the complete other side of Canterlot relative to Rainbow Dash's landing. She picked herself up and stretched. There were scars all along her flank and legs, but she had to find the others, so she pushed on.

She wandered around the outer border of Canterlot for what felt like hours when she saw a streak of color in the sky. It turned around then descended to the ground. She jumped with joy.

'Rainbow Dash!' she thought.

She began to gallop to the place where Rainbow landed. She ran as fast as she could, but when she arrived at where she probably landed, she was gone. Twilight swore, something she would never do under normal circumstances, but of course, these were not normal circumstances.

She began to, once again, roam aimlessly around. She felt sore and tired, but she continued for hours. Then a cry came out, a mixture of all her friend's voices, one word, one cry.

"TWILIGHT!" they all yelled.

She yelled back.

"I'M HERE!" she said.

She hoped they could find her, or heard her, for that matter. She was not incredibly loud like Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. She sat in the same place for a few more hours, yelling periodically to notify her friends. Her stomach began to growl.

'I'm pretty darn hungry,' she thought.

She waited for a while longer, still yelling, when the bushes near-by rustled. Twilight tried to focus on getting ready in case it was an attack, but she could barely focus on anyhting as her eyes drooped ever closer to sleep.Her friends appeared out of the bushes right as she fell asleep.

******

Rainbow Dash had found all of her friends together in a ruined building. It seemed that they found each other fairly quickly then came here to wait. She gave them the lie about the Elements, then they went to go search for Twilight. Once they found her sleeping, they all slept, too.

Rainbow Dash awoke early and began to pace, just like Twilight. Her friends woke up later to the sound of her hooves scuffing the ground.

"How long have y'all been up, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

"A while," she said.

Twilight had an important question that had stayed in the back of her mind while the epic adventures went on, but now it was prominent in her mind.

"Rainbow?" she asked.

"Yes?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"You were going to say something earlier, what was it?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash's face turned from calm to a slight panic, almost as if she was scared of something.

"Rainbow," Applejack said. "What was it? And I'm here to hold you down if you try to fly off."

"Fine," Rainbow Dash said. "I guess I've been running from it for too long. It's quite a story, though."

"That's fine," Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash sat down. She took a deep breath to calm her panicked nerves. She began.

"Alright," Rainbow Dash said. "Please don't think bad of me.

I've never told you about my parents or my life before Junior Speedster's Flight Camp, but, I guess I should tell my closest friends. When I was young, my parents were nice people. Their names were Starheart and Cresent Moon. They were very nice to me, but then I learned something about them that ruined their image.

When we were on our way to see a Wonderbolt performance, we took a little detour. They took me to the weather factory, and we took the tour. We ended up in a room full of other pegasi like myself, children. Now, before we go into this part, just to let you know, I was not always rainbow-colored. I was white-maned, with a blue coat before this day.

So, we went to this place, and my parents told me to wait there. I was loyal to my parents, so I waited. I waited for a while, and then my parents appear at the top of the railing to a machine in the room. Then, they get some pegasi in dark suits to pick up a small filly in the room. She was then brought to the top. And then, I learned what this place really was. It was a place of pony nightmares, the place known as the Rainbow Factory.

Then, I watched as they killed the small filly. My own parents, who I thought I could trust, were murderers. I watched helplessly as pegasus after pegasus was put into that machine. Then, after a while, I was taken up there. Then, I was about to be killed when I escaped.

I kicked my parents hard, and flew off as fast as I could on my newly functioning wings. My parents were faster than me, so they flew after me. They then got me and tied my wings down. As we passed over the vat where the rainbows that were made got collected, I shook free. I fell down into that vat, and sank to the bottom. I passed out, but I awoke later to find Princess Celestia standing over me. She had saved me from that vat, and shut down the Rainbow Factory. I learned later that when I shook free, my parents lost their air-balance, and fell into the whirring blades of the machine.

I went from orphanage to orphanage, eventually becoming psychologically unstable, and they had to confine me. I eventually became better, but I still had episodes where I tried to kill those around me. Usually, I succeeded. And when I met you, I almost never had them. But I still did. And there was no one to confine me. I could have killed you anytime when I had an episode. They only ever happened at home, but, I still could have killed you at anytime."

All of the ponies sat with sadness in their eyes, with a slight tinge of anger that she had never told anypony.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Twilight asked.

"I didn't want you to fear me," Rainbow Dash said. "I wanted to be normal."

"But, Rainbow," Applejack said. "Y'all never explained why y'all got that there rainbow mane."

"Well," Rainbow Dash said. "When I fell in the vat, it dyed my mane permanently. The Princess said I was lucky it didn't dye my coat."

All of them hugged. It was a sad story, but they were glad to finally know the truth. As they all sat back down, there was a sound from Rainbow Dash. They looked at her and saw something incredibly rare.

Rainbow Dash was crying...