Brigitte waited and yawned as her daughter tried every possible scenario to get the door open. T2 tried jumping over because of the exposed ceiling, but there was a blue force field. While Artemis is going through situations, Brigitte and T2 chat awkwardly.

"So, um. Are you a super old android, T2?"

T2 slowly eyed her. "What do you mean?" She could see Briggitte pointing at her exposed joints and damaged fake skin. "Oh, this? My exposed endoskeleton?"

"Yeah, and your exposed wires on your horn, too. If you were a human, you would be super old."

This pissed off T2 even more. "I'm not fucking old! Just been through some rough fights...over the years." She looked at her hand, flexing it, and could tell it was getting slower because of the exposed wires.

"I see," replied Brigitte. "So, is your body breaking down?"

T2 was upset by Brigitte's questions, but she could tell she didn't mean any harm.

"It is, but I don't care." She clutched her fist hard. "I don't give a damn about my body breaking down! As long I can kill every fucking machine in my universe!"

Brigitte spun her gun, bored out of her mind.

"Okay, I got to ask. Are you in some war or something with these machines? You are hell-bent on this goal of yours. So, what is the reason for it?"

T2 was going to explain her life, but Artemis raised her arms, cheering as she found an answer.

"I FOUND A WAY TO OPEN THE DOOR, MOMMY! WE CAN GET OUT NOW!"

"Finally!" Brigitte stopped spinning her gun and turned on her hologram visor, seeing what Artemis's best option was for opening the door.

Within the screen, she started to read and scan the plan. She read it over until T2 waved her hand in front of her face.
"What does the fucking plan say?"

Brigitte turned her visor off and looked at her, smiling.

"Simple. Artemis's best plan to break this door down is to unleash a very powerful blast right at the center of the door. It seems the center mass isn't the same as the rest of its body. This blast should crack it and give us an opening. We will then have to use brute force to bust the rest of the way in."

T2 looked at the door. "Okay? But how the fuck are we going to blast the fucking door open?! I don't have enough strength to do it, and I highly think your peashooter can do the same. And there's nothing else to use." She quickly glared at Artemis, giving her a very cold stare. "Stupid pod! More useless than the one that 2S forced on me..."

Artemis hadn't thought about that and quickly became sad. Brigitte turned to Artemis and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, sweetie. Mommy is very proud of you. So don't listen to that mean hunk of junk."

T2 growled and was about to snap at her, but she was caught off guard when Artemis turned to her and said sorry.
"Sorry, T2. I'm unlike my sister in gathering the best possible scenarios with the current options. I would've thought about it more if I were as smart as her." Her eyes started to water up.

T2 looked at her, and her vision started to static as she saw another android in Artemis's spot. She remembered hiding in the forest, where a sea of red glowing eyes could be seen as they hid from sight.

"I'm sorry, No.2. I thought my plan was fail-proof! But I allowed those machines to get the upper hand!"

"Shut the fuck up, No.21! It was a bad plan from the beginning! If anyone is to blame, it's me! I was the one that failed and got us trapped in this mess! Not yours!"

"No.2?"

Static filled her vision again, and she could hear Artemis and Brigitte asking if she was alright.

"Hey, T2? You okay?" asked Brigitte.

"I'm fine," said T2, rubbing her eyes as her memory faded into darkness. She turned her back on them and looked at the door. "Pod, don't blame yourself, you hear! No matter the scenario, you can't win them all."

Brigitte was confused by T2's new behavior. "T2?"

T2 could hear how Brigitte sounded. "What? I'm trying to encourage her. Sheesh, I've never heard anyone say sorry and take the blame for something so stupid. Mistakes happen."

Artemis giggled at T2's response.
"Thank you, T2!"

T2 tsk loudly at the thank you and pulled her sword out. She gripped it hard.
"Hey, there might be a way to damage the center mass of the door, but..." she turned her head slightly to them. "I will have a short downtime to reboot myself after my 'Berserk Mode' function ends. So I'll be offline for a bit."

Brigitte could see that T2 was worried, as her hands were shaking. "You are scared."

"What?!"

"You're scared of being offline. Why?"

"Shut the fuck up!" she turned her head back to the door and raised her blade, clutching the halt hard.

Artemis suddenly could tell something was worrying T2, and it wasn't about being offline. "When you activate this function, can we stop it if it gets out of hand?" she asked, sounding worried.

"You don't," T2 told her as her body emitted a red glow. Soon, her exposed joints started to blast red steam, causing her to flinch in her pain, but she held the pain in.

With one mightily roar, she darted toward the door, leaving behind red afterimages of herself. She slashed the door, creating a small shockwave that caused the ground to shake.

Artemis was in awe of T2's strength and speed.

"Wow! She is really strong, mommy!"

"Yeah, she is, sweetie," whispered Brigitte, feeling something was wrong as they watched her nonstop attacking the door's center.

After a while, T2 started feeling the toll on her body and could see its power dropping quickly.
"Not yet...just a little longer!"

She kept going despite the fact her body was starting to feel heavy, her vision was flickering, and her warning systems were flashing.

"Warning. Warning. Power is dropping to 35% and falling rapidly. Shut down is inevitable."

T2 ignored the warnings and finally saw an opening, which made her smirk. There, in the middle, she saw a crack was finally created. She started pushing even harder, blasting out more red steam from her joints, but her joints started to glow bright red, signs of overheating.

"Just a little bit more!" she roared, her joints burning and her body heating up.

But before she could go on, a message popped into her mind, widening her eyes.

"Power has dropped below critical levels. Initiating Berserk Mode shut down in 10 seconds."

"DAMN, IT! she screamed, pushing herself more demanding than before.

Artemis's scanners started picking up on T2's body, giving off heat and signs of overheating. She now realized why T2 was scared.

"Mommy! She's hurting herself! I'm detecting signs of her body overheating!"

Brigitte's eyes widen. "Damn, I was worried that she might be doing something like that! She's trying to push herself past her limits! Her body isn't in great shape from the start!" Brigitte moved closer and shouted at T2. "HEY! STOP! YOU DID ENOUGH! PLEASE, DON'T HURT YOURSELF MORE!"

T2 kept ignoring her, not caring about herself.
"Shut the fuck up and let me work!"

Brigitte and Artemis knew she wasn't listening. What pained them was that they couldn't stop her if they tried.

"Please don't die on us, T2. We will fix your body if you are damaged," pleaded Artemis.

"We won't leave you behind, T2." Brigitte could feel that T2 was like Terra and wanted to help her.

Their worry made T2 take aback by their words and hear them begging her to stop. She was going to shout back at them, but the warning screen appeared, telling her that her berserk mode would shut down. However, she forced the override on the system, causing the warnings to vanish.

"Override initiated. Berserk Mode is still active. Estimated time before total body failure, 1 minute."

T2 knew the only way to get this done was to use the last of her strength, but her body started to feel heavy, making her stumble. She forced herself to stand and pushed harder, ignoring her overheated joints. As she continued, her vision became more heavily static, and the colors became black and white. Her audio sensors started picking up white noise, but she ignored it all, not caring about her own well-being.

"Come on, you piece of shit! BREAK!"

She pushed harder and roared as the door's crack grew, making a large opening.

"BREAK ALREADY!"

Sparks started to shoot out of her body as her joints became bright red. She couldn't take it anymore, and her whole body shook. She finally forced herself to use the last of her strength.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!"

With her last attack, she struck the center so hard that the whole door crumbled and fell to the floor, leaving a large cloud of dust in the air.

Brigitte and Artemis could only watch in horror as T2 was shaking, and her body was sparking everywhere.

"T2!" shouted the two, only to be saddened as T2 slowly faced them, smiling as she dropped to her knees, stabbing the wooden ground with her sword.

T2 wanted to give a snarky remark, but her audio voice box wasn't working. She tried to speak, but her voice was static. She couldn't even stand anymore and just stared at the two, feeling her body become hotter, almost boiling. Her vision became more heavily static, and she couldn't see the two.

"Body failure in 20 seconds. Warning, please engage emergency shut down,"

T2 felt herself starting to fall backward, and then everything went black as her screen went dark...

In the darkness, T2's self-consciousness came online as a white arrow-shaped object.

She moved her body through the dark until she could hear a young child's voice.

"I...We're...eternity...it hurts...it really hurts...why just us...why do we have to..."

Even though T2 was self-aware of her actions and surroundings, she still couldn't talk. She could only listen as she kept moving through the darkness.

"We don't need it! We don't need this world! I...We tried our best! In the rain, in the wind, in the storm. Even when our companions died, we kept fighting! But the eternal war...our eternal pain..." The young boy started to giggle with madness. "The eternal pain! It screamed at us! It told us there was nothing of value to protect in this world..." Soon, the boy's voice echoed like it was within a cave. "The world had no meaning! It SCREAMED at us!" He laughed; nothing but laughter filled the darkness...until that laughter became sobbing and pain. "You...all of you...this PAIN! This SADNESS! This DESPERATION!"

T2 could see a grey orb in the distance, and it was the source of the boy's voice. It was a memory...she fired at it, causing it to explode, and her self-consciousness was gone as a self-diagnosis started to run and a bright light blasted the darkness away...

"YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT!" screamed the young boy, as there was nothing but pain and agony in his voice...

T2 could see recovering messaging coming online for her audio and other things. Soon, her audio speakers could pick up the sounds of a wheelchair. She slowly opened her eyes, seeing the color returning. She blinked and could see someone she knew.

"9R?" she whispered, seeing the smiling face of the girl she knew.

"T2?" said the girl...only for T2's vision to be static and stop as Brigitte took the girl's spot. "T2? You are finally awake?"

T2 blinked and looked around, seeing that she was resting on Brigitte's lap like a baby. She blushed. "Huh?"

"Thank goodness. You were out for a good while," sighed Brigitte.

"I-I was?"

"Yeah, you were. I thought you said you would be out for a few minutes?"

T2 just lay there, trying to process what happened. "How did you stop me?"

"I didn't. You did it yourself. Artemis and I could only watch in horror as you overworked yourself and overheated your own body...by the way." Brigitte placed her hand near T2's forehead and smacked it with her fingers, causing the android to curse as she rubbed her head.

"Hey, that fucking hurt, bitch!"

"That's for hurting yourself." T2 could see how worried Brigitte was for her. "What the hell were you thinking? Pushing yourself like that!? Artemis checked your systems and found you could have died if you didn't trigger that emergency shut down in time."

T2 glared at her. "Well, I wasn't about to wait for the door to open on its own, and there was no way in hell you could have blasted it after I damaged the center. So I made sure to use that Berserk Mode of mine to break the damn door. So get off my damn back already!" she tried to get off of Brigitte, but her pain returned and forced her to lie on her lap.

"See, I told you," sighed Brigitte. She smiled as she ran her fingers through T2's hair. "You really have to learn not to push yourself..." She looked at the exposed joints, seeing more burned markings on them. Brigitte could tell that T2 had done this before...many times going off the burn marks. "You always do this. Don't you?"

"I do what I must." T2 closed her eyes and allowed Brigitte to stroke her head. It was oddly relaxing.

"Yeah, well, I would rather not have you hurt yourself again." Brigitte closed her eyes. "I have seen a lot of good lives wasted in battle. So I'm not about to see yours being wasted, T2."

"Heh, what do you care?"

"You think we wouldn't?" T2 felt a sting of guilt in her chest. "T2, I'm not the only one worried about you. Artemis has been worried sick about you and speed up your recovery."

T2 darted her eyes around, not seeing Artemis. "Where is the annoying pod, anyway?"

Brigitte pointed behind her backseat. "She's sleeping. She used a lot of power to help your systems recover. When she wakes up, you better thank her." She could see T2's annoyed face. "Or not? I'm not your mother. So whatever you do is up to you."

T2 tsk at the remark. "Whatever."

Brigitte rolled her eyes and just kept moving along. T2 could see they were almost out of this tunnel now. She adjusted herself but realized she put too much force into her movement. Her exposed joints sparked, and she groaned in pain, gripping the fabric of Brigitte's black sundress.

"Shit!" she grunted.

"Are you ok?" asked Brigitte.

"I'm fine!" T2 realized something, and she turned to Brigitte, blushing even more. "How aren't you in pain yourself?"

"Huh?"

"My body is..." she slightly looked away, her cheeks burning even more. "...heavy. How aren't you in pain when I'm on top of you? Your body shouldn't be able to handle a weight like mine. So..."

"Oh, that." Brigitte tapped her lower half. "I'm paralyzed from the waist down. I can't feel anything in my legs, not even a pinch. So you can't hurt me."

"Wait, you are? Thought it was just your legs were broken or some shit...damn."

"It's not a big deal. I don't care about my condition. I can live a happy life."

"Still...it has to suck."

"It's not that bad, really."

It became quiet between them. As they got closer, sounds of running water could be heard up ahead. T2 wanted to get off, but Brigitte stopped her.

"Stay. I can see you still in pain. Don't make me turn this wheelchair around."

"Fine, whatever." T2 could see a light up ahead and saw they were near the end of the tunnel. "Looks like we are almost out."

"Finally. I thought we would never get out of here."

They finally exited the tunnel and found themselves in front of a long stairway that led straight up to the archway entrance of the spiral tower. Under the white wooden stairs was a running river with crystal-like water. T2 was surprised at how clean it was; not even a single leaf was floating down the stream.

"Huh, I didn't expect a running river under a set of stairs...in fact, running water within a vast hallowed tree like this."

"Yeah, same..." Brigitte looked at the steps and then at T2. "How are you feeling? Can you stand and walk?"

"Why?"

"Well, I can't carry you up these steps. So..."

"I get it." T2 sat up and slowly stood up, using her sword to support herself...only to fall as she was still in pain. "DAMN IT!"

Brigitte sighed and shook her head. "Okay, looks like I do have to carry your paperweight ass."

"Excuse me?!" T2 snarled at her. "Paperweight!?"

"You can't walk. So that means you are a paperweight."

"Grr..."

"Anyway, take my hand."

"Bastard..." mumbled T2, taking Brigitte hand and forcing her to sit in Brigitte's lap again.

Brigitte moved her body, allowing T2 to take half the seat. She then raises herself with the handlebars and typing on the control on said handlebar.

"What are you doing?"

"Activating my wheelchair's seat belt and carrying mode."

"Huh?"

Soon, a belt came out of the seat and armrest, wrapped itself around T2's body, and locked itself. Then, the seat started to move, leaning back. As T2 was surprised, Brigitte dropped out of the seat, landing on the wooden ground. She turned back and could see T2 cursing up a storm as the wheelchair became a stretcher.

"Sorry, I didn't have time to warn you."

"I am not a piece of baggage, bitch!" growled T2, trying to get out. However, she was restrained. "If I wasn't so tired right now, I'll punch your fucking lights out."

"Sure, sure." Brigitte crawled her way over to her, pushing it up, taking Artemis's sleeping body out from the back of the seat, and placing her on top of T2's chest. "Can you hold on to her? I can't carry you two if she's jamming into my neck."

T2 glared at her, but she gently placed her arms on top of the pod and held her in place. She then watched as Brigitte crawled her way under the stretcher. She could hear Brigitte pulling something and the clicking noise of a locked belt.

"All set, and..." Brigitte lifted them with her back. "Here we go!"

Soon, the whole thing moved, making T2 gasp and grip the sleeping pod. She couldn't believe Brigitte could lift them this easily and crawl up the stairs. She wasn't even sweating, and her body is not showing signs of tiredness.

"Whoa...you are...really strong."

"Thanks. It's hard to keep in shape with being...you know, but I manage," giggled Brigitte. "So, don't worry. I can carry you no problem."

"I wasn't worried."

"I know."

There was nothing but silence as Brigitte continued up the stairs. T2 held Artemis tight, her fingers tapping. For some reason, she felt bad. This was the first time someone else was helping her out...and that someone was a human. It made her feel weird.

"I..." she muttered.

"Hm?" Brigitte tilted her head, trying to see T2's face, but the girl wouldn't look her way.

"I just want to say thank you, I guess, for helping me."

"You are..." Brigitte had to stop to catch her breath. "W-Welcome!" She smiled as she could hear T2 asking her if she was alrighty and cursing at her own weight. Brigitte just chuckled. "Don't worry, your fat ass isn't that heavy."

T2 blushed even more. "Fuck you, bitch!"

Brigitte laughed, continuing their climb.

Soon, Brigitte made it to the halfway point and took another break. She rolled out of underneath the stretcher and lay there, with T2 next to her and eyeing like she wanted to ask her something.

"Hey!"

"What?" asked Brigitte.

"How did you..."

"Lost the use of my lower half?" T2 just nodded. "Well, in my universe, my people were trapped in a war against two alien races. They appeared one day and just started fighting each other. They didn't care that we were caught in the middle." Brigitte rolled on her side, looking at T2 now. "Short story about me, but I was a commander of my own army. Saving lives and fighting in the frontlines, you know, the usual hero stuff."

"Wow..." T2 rolled her eyes, seeing Brigitte smiling.

"Yeah, I was. But during the final hours of the war, after luring those aliens inside of the planet, which was really a vast prison created by one of their own, the leader of the Greys got on my battle cruiser as we were escaping. Trying to escape his fate of being imprisoned along with his people and their sworn enemy, the Changelings." She rolled to her other side and lifted her dress, making T2 blush, but T2 quickly realized Brigitte had a massive scar running down her spine. "He stabbed me in the back with his psionic blade; not even my power armor could stop it, leaving me paralyzed." She rolled back to face T2. "Killed the bastard though. I turned the ship around as I realized the aliens were following it, and I couldn't let them escape either. I ordered everyone off the ship and overloaded the power core. I would blow up the ship, blocking their escape route as the planet closed its hallowed insides." Brigitte smiled. "Thought I was going to die, but Terra teleported on the bridge and got us out in time."

"Wow..."

"Yeah..."

"Wow...that wasn't short at all," chuckled T2.

"It is to me," giggled Brigitte.

The two just lay there, looking at the vast, hallowed-out tree ceiling. It was only a few minutes, but T2 slowly looked at Brigitte. She was going to ask a question about this Terra person, but Brigitte beat her to the punch with her own question.

"Why are you like this?"

"Huh?"

Brigitte didn't look at her. She just closed her eyes. "So badly in disrepair, and it's so obvious because you keep using that Berserk Mode. It has to do with the machines you talked about and humans being wiped out...What happened to you, T2? What happened to your world?"

T2 blinked, but she sighed and turned her head, facing the ceiling. "It's a long story."

"I'm not going anywhere." She gave her a smirk, but it slowly faded and was replaced with a sad frown. She could see the expression of despair on T2 as she remembered her life up to this point. Brigitte saw this look on many people's faces during the old war. It was a look of pain, regret, and loss. PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I was created as an android, a weapon of war, to fight the machine lifeforms." T2 sighed, her body relaxing. "Humanity was going to be wiped out by them, but they created us to fight the invading machines and their masters, an alien race. As we were being built on a battle factory space station, the last remaining humans fled to the moon and lived there until we could take back the earth." She clutched Artemis's body hard as she started to remember the first battle she had. It was an operation called Pearl Harbor Descent, where the first battle androids were sent to the planet. On a mission to take back Johnston Island, her captain No.1 was killed, along with many more battle androids as the battle raged across the island. She was promoted to captain, and this is where her first trauma started. Seeing many of her sisters dying, her friends dying. The pain, the screams, the blood, the oil being spilled, the metal, everything, was imprinted in her memory.

"And so we fought and fought and fought!" Her memory banks started showing her the deaths of her squad; the ones she indeed saw as a band of sisters were killed before her very eyes. "We fought and fought and fought! But in the end, no matter what we did or how much we tried, it wasn't enough! IT WASN'T ENOUGH, BUT I'LL MAKE IT ENOUGH! I'LL WIPE THOSE BASTARDS OUT! I MADE MYSELF A PROMISE! I'LL KILL THEM AL-" she stopped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She snapped out of it, looking down at Brigitte, who was back in carrying them.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Brigitte whispered. "We are almost there, but I need you to calm down. Moving like that is killing my back right now." she joked, hoping it would lighten the mood.

T2 sighed, calming herself. She was so deep in her memory banks that she didn't notice the tears that ran down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away, not wanting to show her weak side to a human.

As Brigitte was getting closer to the top, T2 looked around the place but quickly noticed something at the bottom of the stairs. She saw what looked like a human but on all fours. It looked like Brigitte...until she zoomed in and saw the exposed robotic parts on its legs. What made T2 on guard was the glowing red eyes.

"A MACHINE LIFEFORM! HERE!?"

Brigitte could feel T2 getting tense. She quickly stopped, turning her head back.

"What is it?"

"Machine, down below!"

Brigitte looked and saw what T2 was looking at. She saw what looked like her and had seen this creature before. When Terra disappeared from the planet that had Artemis on it, Brigitte hurried back to the base on the planet, only to learn about Twilah and Twilight, who swapped places with Terra because of the Rainbow Comet. That creature had the same body as Twilight, but just by looking at her as it started to walk up the steps, Brigitte could tell the creature wasn't like Twilight in being friendly.

"Oh boy..."

"Get me the hell out of this, NOW!" yelled T2, wanting to fight the weird machine. However, she could see she was moving away from it quickly, making her look down at Brigitte, who was climbing the stairs as fast as she could. "What the hell are you doing? Let me out!"

"No, we are in no condition to fight her! So I am getting the hell out of here!"

"Are you crazy, or are you stupid!? Let me the fuck out! I can handle that piece of scrap!" as she said, the joints in her limbs sparked, causing her to grunt loudly.

"See? Even your body is agreeing with me!" Brigitte joked, looking behind her and seeing the pony machine flying toward them but slightly slower, almost like it was trying to hold back and let them escape. "Is it...being controlled?" she whispered, looking ahead again and seeing the top and entrance to the spiral tower in full view.

"I am going to kick your fucking ass!" growled T2.

"I will allow you, but not now! Just sit tight!"

T2 snarled, holding Artemis tighter, watching as the machine got closer, but it kept its distance, allowing them to get to the top, but why?

They reached the top, and Brigitte wasted no time heading toward the tower. She could hear the flying machine getting closer, but she could see it was stopping as it got closer. As Brigitte entered the building, she and T2 could see the vast and empty main lobby. The whole place was wooden and white, but not only that but there was nothing inside. There were no stairs to go up...until Brigitte saw a bright blue light in the corner of her eyes and turned to see an elevator.

"What? Was that always there?" she whispered.

"What? Did you say something?"

"Nothing." She headed over and pushed the blue button.

As they waited for the lift to reach their floor, the flying pony machine was outside and staring at them. It slowly flapped its robotic wings and finally spoke to them.

"...fly..."

"What the fuck does that mean!?" growled T2, glaring at the thing.

"Just keep calm. It seems like it wants to talk."

"What are you crazy? It is a fucking machine! It is nothing but a pile of junk that is waiting to kill us!" she started to struggle against the seatbelt, wanting to jump out and attack it, but the damn thing was wrapped around her too tightly.

"F-Fly...h-help them..." said the pony machine, struggling to talk.

Brigitte frowned, looking at the creature and seeing that there was no way she would hurt them. Its eyes weren't red anymore but blue. "I think it's friendly...?"

Before T2 could bark back out Brigitte, the pony machine spoke again as it closed its eyes and cried. "Help them, I beg of you!"

"Help who? Who is them?" asked Brigitte.

"T-They are trapped in despair of losing a big part of themselves. Help them...help them to learn that even without wings, they can still fly! Help those poor children remember that. Please, please, please, I beg of you, please, help those girls! I'm begging you!"

"Children? Wait, are you talking about the same kids we are meant to help? The one who asked for aid...was it you?" Brigitte asked.

The pony machine shook her head. "N-No, that must have been Spark. Before she left me, she said she would gather others like me. Ones that can understand those children's pain...p-pain of losing...ugh!" She started to show pain as rainbow liquid started to ooze out of her exposed robotic parts.

"Hey, are you okay?" Brigitte reached out her hand, only to have T2 smacked it away.

"DUMBASS! SHE'S TRYING TO TRICK YOU TO GET CLOSER SO SHE CAN KILL YOU!"

"No, she's not! She needs help!"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you!?"

"I won't stand by while someone needs our help!"

Before T2 could argue even further, the pony machine screamed out in pain, shaking the whole lobby with powerful force. Then, it hung its head low, its colorful mane covering its face.

"F-Fly? We can't! We lost who we were! LOST!" screamed the pony machine, looking at Brigitte and T2, its blue-colored eyes returning to pure red. "Why just us...why do we have to...suffer!? The world had no meaning anymore! It SCREAMED at us!" T2's eyes widened when she heard two voices mixed with Pony Machine's own voice. She listened to this torment speech before, "You...all of you...this PAIN! This SADNESS! SHUT UP!" Pony machine spread open its wings and darted toward them. "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT! HOW IT IS TO LOSE ONE SELF!".

"Shit!" cursed Brigitte, seeing the machine was now hostile and how quickly it was moving; there was no way she could fight or even deal with it. She didn't want to, but she had no choice. She quickly touched the controls on the handlebar of the stretcher, freeing T2.

"FINALLY!"

"Don't fight it head-on! You're too weak and still recovering! Just distract it long enough for the elevator to arrive!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! I'll make quick work of that piece of crap!" roared T2 as she handed Artemis's body to Brigitte and quickly took out her white katana, and rushed toward the machine at the same speed.

T2's sword clashed with the machine's wings, which became sharp like a blade. The impact created rainbow cue smoke.

"FLY!"

"FUCK YOU!"

The two stared each other down and quickly backed away, their blades clashing against each other with lightning speed. They broke off, but before T2 could react, the pony machine flew forward and smacked T2 away, sending her crashing into the wall. T2 fell to her knees, cursing at herself for allowing the machine to get her like that. She stood up, but as she did, the exposed joints in her legs started to spark and smoke. "Damn it..." she mumbled.

The pony machine didn't give T2 a chance to recover, flying toward her with incredible speed.

"Fuck..." T2 could see the blade on the tip of the wing and braced herself for impact, but to her surprise, it stopped. The blade was almost near her left eye.

"I-I won't allow you...to p-push them away..." said the machine, struggling to regain control. This allowed T2 to smirk, and she stabbed the machine in the chest, and with a powerful swing, she tossed it away from herself.

The machine hit the white ceiling and fell back to the ground, covered by rubble from the ceiling. T2 knew this was her chance to kill it. She took a few steps forward but dropped to her hands as her joints were all sparking.

"FUCKING BODY! WORK DAMN IT! I NEED TO FINISH THIS!"

"T2, no, you need to rest!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" yelled T2, glaring at Brigitte. "STOP ACTING LIKE YOU CARE! I DON'T NEED OTHERS TO PITY ME! I DON'T WANT IT!"

"It's not pity! It's caring for another person!"

"WHAT PART OF I DON'T NEED PITY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!?"

T2 stabbed the ground with her blade and tried to stand with it as support, but as she did, the ground started to shake, and she and Brigitte could see the rubble that was on top of the machine blasting off. Soon, the machine was back up and leaking more rainbow liquid from its body.

"YOU FUCKING MACHINE! I'LL END YOUR MISERABLE EXISTENCE!" T2 roared, but before she could move, the machine opened its wings and blasted toward faster than ever. "DAMN IT!" She tried to get her sword ready and dodge, but the blade was stuck in the ground and too slow to do either.

The machine's wings became sharp and pierced T2 in the stomach, lifting her.

"HOW CAN WE MOVE FORWARD!? WE SAW OTHER VERSIONS OF US WHO HAD IT BETTER THAN US! NEVER HAD TO SUFFER! THEY NEVER HAD TO FEEL PAIN! NEVER HAD TO FIGHT FOR EVERYTHING! NEVER HAD TO GO THROUGH TRAUMA! WHY WERE WE THE ONLY ONES TO GET IT LIKE THIS?! TELL US!"

T2's eyes widened when she heard two voices mixed with the machine's. "That voice..."

"FLY!" The machine swung its wing down, making T2 crash into the ground with her sword, but that wasn't the end of the attack. It flew back into the air and started to spin around. It blasted toward T2 like a spinning saw. "YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND OUR PAIN! OUR SUFFERING! WE LOST OURSELVES THAT DAY WHILE OTHERS WERE STILL ALLOWED TO KEEP GOING! ITS NOT FAIR!"

"T2!"

Brigitte wanted to do something, but what? There was no way in hell she could do anything while in this state, not until her damn wheelchair fully updated itself. She could hold on to Artemis's sleeping body and pray. Pray that T2 would be able to hold her own.

As the spinning pony machine neared T2, T2 could know it was coming closer as she could still hear their voices.

"STOP SHOWING US PITY! FAKE HELP! STOP MAKING US WANT TO BELIEVE IT'S REAL! WHEN IT'S NOT!"

T2 started to get annoyed by the machine's whining and tsked loudly, as she had no choice but to use her Berserk Mode. She closed her eyes, focusing. "Let's see how you handle this. I'm done with hearing you cry, so shut up!"

"FLY!"

The machine collided with T2 and created a large blast of smoke, causing Brigitte to scream out for T2, only to see a red glowing light within the smoke.

"T2...no..."

The smoke slowly cleared, revealing T2 in her Berserk Mode, pushing back the machine easily.

"WHINE ALL YOU FUCKING WANT! I AM DONE WITH YOUR SELF-PITY!"

"FLY!"

T2's body started to glow more red, as her joints fired out not only the red steam but also red fire. Brigitte could tell that T2's body couldn't handle being in this mode again so soon. She knew that if T2 didn't stop now, her body would give out and shut down for good.

"T2! Don't! If you stay in this form any longer, your body will die!"

"THEN IT DIES!" she parried the machine's winged blades, making it stagger. "FUCK THIS USELESS BODY OF MINE! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!" she kicked the machine away with great force. "I DON'T CARE WHAT I HAVE TO GO THROUGH! AS LONG I CAN KILL EVERY FUCKING MACHINE I SEE!" She started to rush the machine with her body, ready to rip the thing apart. "ALL OF YOU ARE JUST A PILE OF JUNK THAT HAS NO RIGHT TO LIVE!" she gripped her sword tighter as red flames shot out of her joints like a raging fire.

"T2, stop!"

"I WILL KILL YOU ALL! SHOW YOU HOW WORTHLESS YOU ALL ARE! MACHINES THINKING THEY ARE HUMANS! THINKING THEIR BODIES ARE REAL! BUT GUESS WHAT FUCKERS!?" She got much closer, her warning systems alerting her to turn off the berserk mode now, but T2 ignored it as the anger was taking over her mind. "YOUR ROBOTIC BODIES AREN'T REAL! JUST WIRES AND METAL! THERE IS NO SOUL IN IT! NOTHING! JUST LIKE MINE!" she slashed at the machine, causing damage but no signs of a cut. "NO WARMTH! NO WAY TO FEEL SOMETHING! YOU'RE ALL USELESS!" She did another slash, then a third, but the machine was now blocking them all with its wings. "WE'RE NOTHING! WE'RE A PILE OF JUNK THAT HAD THE LUCK OF NOT BEING TOSSED OUT! I'M GOING TO PROVE IT RIGHT NOW! I'M GOING TO RIP APART THE REST OF YOUR FAKE BODY! EVEN IF IT MEANS MY OWN BODY GIVES OUT!"

Brigitte clutched Artemis's body even more, hating to hear how T2 saw her own body like that. She understood T2 was angry and wanted revenge against all the machines. She knew T2 had a painful past, one that was filled with trauma and heartache, but this wasn't right. It was clear T2 was doing this for the wrong reasons. She heard a ding behind her before she could say or do anything. The elevator was finally here.

"T2, please, that's enough. Please, let's go! Let's leave the machine alone!"

"SHUT UP! I'M NOT GOING TO REST UNTIL THIS PIECE OF SHIT IS DEAD!" T2 was about to attack again but suddenly screamed out, her body returning to normal. It seemed T2's systems forced the berserk mode off.

Brigitte gasped as she saw how bad the damage to T2's body was. She was sparking like crazy, her whole body smoking, but what really made her feel so sad was that T2 was still moving toward the machine, even in her current state.

"...I-I w-will...kill..."

"T2, please! You're going to kill yourself! That's enough! Stop fighting!"

Brigitte begged, but T2 ignored her. She kept limping toward the standing machine as it looked at her. As she got closer, she could hear her squadmates from the past speaking to her.

"No.2! I'm sorry!"

"No.2...I'm sorry, but the logic virus is in my systems...please...kill me..."

No.2! Run! I'll buy you time!"

T2 swung her sword at nothing. "S-Shut up...stop apologizing...don't look at me with those pitiful eyes! I hate it...so much..." She stopped in front of the machine, panting. She glared at the machine with hatred and raised her sword, ready to strike, but she lost her strength in her arm and fell to her knees.

"Don't pity me, you idiots. Don't pity someone like me, someone's body breaking down." T2 started to cry. "I don't want to be useless! I won't be a pile of junk tossed aside after being given cheap and unusable parts! I'm a fighter!" She hanged her head in shame. "I'm not something to be pitied for...I'm not..."

"...T2," whispered Brigitte as she tossed her wheelchair into the elevator and forced the door to stay open.

"Useless parts..." cursed T2, looking at her damaged body. But she saw the machine hoof touching her chin and making her look at her. Seeing the machine's eyes were once again blue.

"Be strong."

T2 eyes widened in shock. "You...what did you just say?"

"We may not have the same body, but we're the same. We share the same pain."

T2 stared at the machine in disbelief.

"The Pain of seeing and hearing others speak of you with pity, of being looked down at, of having everyone around you think you're broken and weak, of being a burden to others. We feel the same pain."

T2 looked at the machine and then looked back at her own body.

"But even if our bodies are useless and not real. We can still use them. We can use the parts we have now to keep moving forward and pushing on."

T2 quickly looked up at the machine, seeing her crying. She could tell that this machine understood her pain, her problems.

"Be strong not just for yourself but for others who care about you, not because they feel pity or you're a burden to them, but because they love you. Because you're a wonderful person who deserves to live." smiled the pony machine as it lowered its hoof and quickly turned around.

With one great buck, it kicked T2 toward the opened elevator, hitting and sliding down the wall. Brigitte sat up after ducking when T2 was tossed inside. She looked at the machine, seeing it waving at them.

"...Hurry now. Find the others above this floor. Only you and the others can truly help those kids. Show them that even without wings..."

Brigitte entered the elevator and spoke as the doors slowly closed.
"We can still fly. No matter what we have."

T2 looked up and saw the machine smile as the door closed and the elevator started to rise.

The pony kept waving, even after the elevator was gone. She looked down at her damaged body of hers. Seeing dark mist now leaking out of her exposed parts...and starting to change her body...

"Even if our bodies are useless...we can still use them."

She closed her eyes, remembering the speech she gave to T2, also given to those two kids. Remembering how they told her their lives before losing what made them...them...

Nothing but cheering could be heard, and Rozelle could hear the voices as she ran across the lopping track. She smiled as she could feel the warm breeze hitting her face. Her white hair flowed in the wind, and she had the time of her life.

"GO ROZELLE! YOU GO, GIRL!" screamed an orange-haired woman wearing a blue and yellow tracksuit. Rozelle knew who she was as she grinned. It was her coach, Reginn Mitchell.

"GO! KEEP RUNNING LIKE THE WIND!"

"You're doing great! Don't slow down! Give it your all!" cheered her parents, who were next to Reginn.

"Rozelle! You can do it!" they all shouted as she ran past them again.

Rozelle smiled as she kept going. Her eyes glowed with determination.

"I can do this. I can win!"

She pushed her legs even harder. She didn't care how much they hurt, how hard it was to keep running. All that mattered was winning, showing the world what she was made of.

"I'm almost there! Just a little bit more!" she thought as she pushed herself harder.

As she ran, she could hear cheering and laughter coming from the stands. The people who were there to support her, the people who believed in her, were shouting their lungs out.

"You can do it, Rozelle!"

"Come on, Rozelle, you're almost there!"

"Go, Rozelle, go!"

Rozelle felt a sense of pride and joy hearing them cheer for her. She couldn't let them down, and she couldn't let her family and friends down.

She looked ahead and saw the finish line, the end of the track, the end of the race. She could see the other runners were far behind her, and the crowd went wild. Everyone was shouting her name.

"ROZELLE!"

"ROZELLE, YOU CAN DO IT!"

"COME ON, ROZELLE, YOU GOT THIS!"

Rozelle grinned, knowing she had this in the bag. There was no way she was going to lose. She was going to make them proud. She was going to prove to the world that she was the best.

"Just a little more!" she thought as she raced toward the finish line...until she ran past it.

Everyone screamed as the TV screens above the track showed the words "New World Record" on it.

Rozelle stopped and looked back at the finish line, confused.

"Did...I?" she asked as she looked at the people around her.

They all cheered, clapping and shouting her name.

"You did it, Rozelle! You did it!"

"You broke the world record!"

"You are awesome!"

She could see Reginn and her parents running toward her as she ran toward them. They hugged and cried as her training finally paid off.

"I can't believe it," said Reginn, her eyes full of tears. "You did it, Rozelle. You're the new world record holder."

"I did it. I actually did it."

Rozelle smiled and laughed. She couldn't believe it. She was the world record holder. She had beaten everyone. She had shown the world what she was capable of. Soon, this meant she would be no doubt scouted for the summer Olympics.

She was going to go far in life.

After the celebrations, the news and media interviews, and the long hot bath and meal at the hotel, Rozelle was ready for her night out with Reginn as she checked herself in the mirror, wearing a cute blue dress. She twirled her body around, giggling as she found the dress the perfect fit.

"You look great, sweetie."

She smiled and turned around to see her mother, who was smiling and proud.

"Thanks, Mom."

Her father was on the phone, talking to her grandparents about what had happened that day. She faced the mirror and smiled as she put her hands together.

"I can't wait to see Sia tonight! I can't believe Reginn got tickets to her show tonight! I thought it was sold out!"

Her mother giggled and nodded her head.
"Yes, it was. But Reginn pulled a few strings and got them for you two. You better thank her!"

"Of course I will. She believed in me and saw my greatness. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for her."

"That's true, but you should know that we, your parents and friends, had a hand in it too."

Rozelle looked back at her mother and nodded.
"I know, Mom, and I love you and Dad very much."

Her mother smiled and nodded, happy to hear her say that.

"I know you do. Now, you go have fun! Reginn should be coming soon." she could hear her phone ringing and checked it. "Speak of the evil. She's downstairs waiting." She answered the phone and waved goodbye to her daughter, who was already gone. "Yeah, she's heading your way. Take care of her, Reginn." she could hear her friend say she would, and they both hung up. She walked to the window and saw her daughter running to Reginn's car. "That girl! Already ten seconds flat in the hotel driveway. She's fast, all right."

Rozelle smiled as she watched Reginn rocking out to the rock station she put on.

"Come on, Rozelle! Rock out with me!" she laughed as Rozelle shook her head. "I swear, when you run or on the track, you act like a tomboy, yet you are the most boring girly girl ever! What the heck is up with that?!"

Rozelle giggled and shrugged.

"Hey, I can't help that I'm a girl! You can't blame me for liking girly things but also loving the NEED FOR SPEED!" she did pose, making her friend laugh even harder.

"Dude, you're hilarious! I swear, I don't know what I would do without you. I'd be so bored."

"You're not too bad yourself, Reggie. You're my coolest coach and friend, always looking out for me. Thank you, Reginn. For everything."

"No prob. Anything for my favorite athlete. Now, let's move on." she increased the radio volume and kept driving down the highway.

A half-hour later, Reginn turned to Rozelle, who was looking out the window at the night sky.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Rozelle turned to her friend and smiled.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about my future. Do you think I can win a gold medal in the Olympics? Maybe set another world record? Do you think I could be famous someday?"

Reginn looked at her friend and gave a big smile.

"Are you kidding me? With your speed and determination, you can be anything you want." She placed her hand on Rozelle's head, messing up her white hair. "With those legs of yours, nothing will ever hold you down! I bet you'll make the Olympic team in no time, and once you do, the whole world will know your name. The world will discuss you, and your dreams will come true."

Rozelle blushed with happiness as she pulled her coach's hand away and looked into the rearview mirror, fixing her hair. She pouted because she hated her natural hair color. Reginn rolled her eyes, knowing this.

"Just dye your hair already if you hate your natural hair color so much," said Reginn. "What's holding you back?"

"Well, if I did dye my hair...what color should I do? Black is so cliche, and I've heard the other girls complain about how annoying it is to deal with their dyed hair."

Reginn smirked. "Red would look great on you. Oh! Orange, too, like mine!" Soon, Reginn started to say every color that would look great on her friend, making Rozelle look at the mirror again.

"...so all of them?" She joked, but Reginn became thrilled by that thought.

"Yes! Why not color your hair into a rainbow!? I can see it, and you can pull it off! Trust me! And if anyone gives you trouble, kick their ass!"

Rozelle blinked and smiled at her coach, seeing her fired up over something stupid.

"Well, if you put it that way...huh?"

Rozelle stopped as she heard and then saw a giant pillar of a dark-looking rainbow shooting out of somewhere. To her, it looked beautiful, but as soon as it hit the cloud's surface, it created a large shockwave and washed over the land, followed by darkness. Everything, from lights and sounds, started to fade out.

Reginn gasped and quickly stopped her car as the shockwave headed straight for them.

"Get down!"

Rozelle ducked and covered her head, closing her eyes. She remembered hearing Reginn cursing as the cars behind them crashed into them, and every car on the highway lost power. She remembered her body or the car itself flipping over and another car crashing into them...

Only for her to wake up and find herself on some vast tree root. She was still shell-shocked from the crash as she lay there, so she didn't panic right away. Instead, she just looked around. Wondering where she was. She could see a white void filled with giant trees of different colors and looked up at the one she was on. It was a rainbow-colored tree, and the branches were filled with prism-looking windows. They slowly came down to her and surrounded her. She could see different versions of herself...as a blue Pegasus with rainbow maned. Pony to different looking human of herself, it was all her different lives from different universes.

"What is this?" she whispered, only for a dark prism window to float to her face. It showed a younger kid version of the blue Pegasus being tossed into a barrel of strange liquid by other Pegasus as they were bullying her. She could see the filly jumping out and challenging the bullies to a race. What she saw next made Rozelle cover her mouth in horror and look away. She could hear the filly screaming.

"STOP IT! WHY ARE YOU SHOWING ME THIS!?" she asked, looking back at the now-black window.

No one or anything answered her. She decided to stand and look for a way out of this weird place...only to feel great pain as she put pressure on her knees.

"What!?" she gasped, looking at her knees and the rest of her legs. Her eyes widened even more as her shell shock finally wore off, and reality started to sink in. "What happened to me?! WHERE'S MY LEGS!?" she screamed. She was missing her legs; the only thing there was a puddle of blood. "WHERE ARE MY LEGS!?"

She screamed as a dark light flashed in her eyes, blinding her.

She opened her eyes and could see that she was upside down in the car still. She could hear people screaming and sobbing outside as sounds of fire could be heard. She could feel blood oozing down her face.

"R-Reginn?" she asked weakly, her head pounding. She was upside down, and the door was ripped off. "R-Reginn...?"
She looked at her legs...as the car's front crushed them. The lower part of her legs was completely gone, and her upper parts were smashed up. She screamed and cried as blood poured out, and she could hear the sound of a fire starting. The car engine was on fire now and started to spread to them. She turned to Reginn, hoping she was awake.

"REGINN! WE NEED...n-need..." she just stopped. She couldn't believe what she saw. She saw her poor friend dead, as a sharp debris pierced her head.

The girl screamed as the fire was almost upon her. But hands grabbed her, cut her seatbelt, and pulled her out. It was the firefighters who had just arrived on the scene.

"REGINN!" screamed Rozelle as she was being pulled away from the car, which became engulfed in flames. "NO, REGINN! I CAN'T LEAVE HER!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you have to," said the firefighter, but she wouldn't stop crying.

Rozelle kept watching as the car was completely covered in flames and then soon exploded.

"No! Reginn!" she sobbed as the firefighter brought her to the paramedics, who were trying their best to save her. She could hear them saying stuff like, "She's going into shock!" and "We need a tourniquet!" but she couldn't take her eyes off the car, hoping her friend would somehow come out of the fire. But nothing happened. Her vision started to blur out...

Rozelle sat there in her hospital bed. Just glared at the missing legs on her bed. Tears fell down her eyes as her head was wrapped in bandages. Her family and friends were beside her, but she didn't notice them.

All she did was stare at where her legs were supposed to be. She couldn't believe what happened. Her legs...her speed, her life...everything was over. All because of some weird explosion from a meteor that landed in some neighborhood. Not only that but her best friend, the one she looked up to as a hero and sister, Reginn, was gone. Rozelle just toned out the world. All the pity that her friends and family had for her. She wanted nothing to do with them. She wanted nothing to do with anything.

All her hopes and dreams were over. She didn't care what happened to her anymore, even when her friends, family, and kind strangers pitched in and got her cheap, low-end model leg prosthetics they could afford. It would take almost a few months for her to adjust to them and learn to walk again fully, but it didn't matter. She knew deep down in her heart that she would never run again.

She soon fell into a deep depression and shut everyone out, including her parents. She stopped hanging out with her friends. She didn't talk or listen to anyone.

All she did was lie in her bed. All day and all night. She didn't do anything.

Until one day.

"Sweetie?" said her mother, knocking on the bedroom door without hearing a respond. "Your father and I have decided you can dye your hair, sweetheart." She hoped this would make her daughter happy, as she had a box of different-colored dyes. "I know you said that you hated your natural hair color, and if you want, we can dye hair together?"

Nothing. Not even a sound.

"...I'll leave the box here then, sweetheart. You can pick any color you want."

Her mother left the hallway, and Rozelle didn't move from her bed. She stared at the door and wondered why her mom was doing this. Was it more pity? More pointless fake sorryness.

Rozelle soon sat up, put on her prosthetic legs, and slowly stood up. Even though she was used to them walking, she felt fake.

She walked over to the door and slowly opened it. She saw the box of colorful dyes and took the box into her room, closing the door. Her mother was at the end of the hallway, looking sad as she left the corner.

Inside her room, Rozelle looked inside the box as she had it on the bed. She didn't know what color to dye her hair until she remembered what Reginn had told her.

It took a while, but stepping out of her bathroom, her hair became rainbow-colored. She walked to her mirror and looked at herself. Even doing this, she still felt so fake—like she was looking at someone else, not the real her.

"I want my life back now..." she said, her voice cracked and raspy. She had not spoken for weeks. "Please...give me back my life."
She just looked at the mirror and stared at her reflection, her eyes lifeless.

"My life...is gone..."

She kept staring at her reflection, feeling more lifeless by the second.

"...who are you? You aren't me! YOU'RE NOT THE REAL ME! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Rozelle started to scream and attack the mirror. She kept yelling as tears ran down her face. Her mind snapped. She didn't even feel the glass cutting her arms.

She kept yelling until the sound of her door opening stopped her. Her parents rushed into her room and found their daughter covered in blood and shards of broken glass.

A few weeks later, after her second therapy, Rozelle left her room and joined her family in the living room. She still didn't say much, but her parents tried nonetheless.

"So, what movie do you want to watch, sweetie?" asked her father. "Your mother and I are fine with anything."
Rozelle looked up at the TV, which her father picked through Netflix.

"Um...I think a comedy would be nice," he said, looking at his wife.

"Hmmm. How about that new comedy movie?" his wife replied, pointing to a new movie a few rows down.

Rozelle just stood up and, for the first time since the crash, said she was taking a run...which they could tell hurt her as she walked out of the house and down the streets like she always does when going for a run. This broke the parents' hearts as they watched her walk down the street.

She didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get away. Get away from everything. Her life was gone. She was no longer a track star. She was nothing but a broken and fake version of herself. She hated herself so much.
After a few blocks, she soon found herself at the bus stop and saw the bus was heading to the city. She looked at the city, which was not too far off, and the tall buildings. Her thoughts were of thinking up a dark idea. She got on and headed to the city.

When she arrived, she was looking for the right building—the perfect one to jump off, a building high enough to kill her.
She spent hours searching for the right one. She looked at them all and found them wanting. Some were too low, and some were not high enough until she finally found one.

"Perfect..."

It was a run-down apartment building. She entered it and could see druggies just hanging out on the stairway, playing cards. She walked past them and up the stairs. She kept going until she stopped and could see what looked like a hooker holding a pizza box and checking her phone.

"Damn it, Knight! If you didn't have food, then say so! It's okay to rely on me." She sighed as she put her phone away. "....but I understand why you don't. Who would want help from a prostitute who doesn't have a degree or finished school? I can't be her..." She mentally prepared herself and started to head down the hallway from the stairs. "But I can try. To make you two happy...you lost so much...".

Rozelle continued, ignoring the hooker and her problems. She was giving someone fake pity like how her friends and family did. Trying to pretend they cared. It was all lies. Fake.

She stopped at the roof doorway and slowly opened it. No one was there. Without thinking, she walked to the edge of the building and looked down. It was the perfect height.

"This will do," she said, her voice was hollow. "Maybe I can find my lost life in that weird place...somewhere, someplace, I can find my old life...maybe even take someone else's life..." She made her hands into a fist, remembering all those happy versions of herself. "It's not fair...it's not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR, DAMN IT! IT'S NOT FAIR! EVERYBODY ELSE GET'S TO BE HAPPY WHILE I SUFFER! I HATE MY LIFE!" she covered her face and started sobbing. She doesn't remember how long she stood there...

...only to stop sobbing as she felt something in the air. She looked down and saw the light coming from a bedroom window, and soon, she saw the same evil light that had taken her life and friend away from her...

"Ugh!" cried the Pony machine as she dropped to her knees and saw more of her legs become robotic and exposed.
She then remembered the younger version of herself from another universe who stood next to Rozelle, covered in white bandages and so scared of everything that she didn't dare look at the white sky. She remembered the story that her younger self told her.

As a young filly, Rainbow Dash flew across the clouds until she heard her best friend in the whole world, Fluttershy, crying as the same three male Pegasus were bullying her as always. She hated that and quickly stepped in, protecting her like always. She couldn't stand seeing her best friend cry. It hurt her.

The three colts laughed and called her names when Dash stood before her.

"Well, isn't it RaInbow Crash!?" said the leader, the other two laughing.

"It's RAINBOW DASH!" she snapped. "And I can fly faster than the three of you can ever dream of!"

"Hah, yeah, right," said the second colt, rolling his eyes.

As they fought, one of the boys suddenly noticed a weird barrel that appeared on the cloud not too far from them. He quickly got an idea and told his friends. They nodded, and the leader said to Rainbow Dash, "Okay, Dashie, we were wrong..." he said in a fake-like sorry tone. "We will never do it again."

"Promise?" asked Fluttershy, buying into the fake apology.

"Sure, we promise, Fluttershy," replied the second boy.

Dash didn't believe them but looked at Fluttershy, who said to trust them. Fluttershy said forgiveness could make the world a better place. Dash smiled at that, and she agreed.

"Okay, maybe I was wrong about you three...huh?" Dash noticed one was missing. Before she could ask where he went, she soon felt someone picking her up, bringing her over to a weird barrel, and dunking her into it.

"SLAM DUNK!" shouted their leader, as the colt that did it bowed to his friends.

"Rainbow Dash!" shouted Fluttershy, rushing to her friend's side. The friend had gotten out of the barrel and was wet with a weird smell. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Shy," said Dash, glaring at the boys. "You jerks are gonna pay for that! Me and all three of you in a race! I'll finally prove to you jerks that I'm the fastest one here! If I win, you need to leave Fluttershy alone!"

"Oh, really? And if we win, you're gonna give us half your lunch money!" said the leader, making a bet.

Dash nodded, and soon, all four were on the clouds. They soon took off, racing across the sky. With each passing lap, each boy would crash or lose control of their flying, making them drop out of the race. Leaving only Dash alone, who smirked as she realized she had beaten them but had not yet won. She saw the finish line up ahead and increased her speed. She was pushing herself further and faster than ever before...

Soon, she could see it! A rainbow cone formed before her, and her speed increased even more. She shot straight up into the air, going faster and faster! She could feel it! She would off-pull a Sonic Rainboom, an old mare's tail, a mythical, magical feat, and become the fastest Pegasus in history!

She felt like she had reached her top speed! Then, the cone broke, almost like it would happen until Dash could feel something was wrong. Her body was like it was getting hot. She looked at her body and saw the weird liquid still on her, starting to spark and become flames. It happened so fast as Dash pulled off a Sonic Rainboom—a fiery one...

Years later, Dash became a shut-in. She became so afraid of flying and the open blue sky that her parents had to move away from Cloudale and move to the earth below. Even though her skin was able to be saved by magical healing, there was still burned scarring, a sad reminder of her accident and her fear. She was not even able to follow her dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt, as she hid in her room and became delusional about her body. Thinking she was still burning and covering the fake flames with white bandage wrapping.

"I NEED TO COVER THEM!" she yelled as she covered her body in bandages, running around the room like a chicken with its head cut off.

Her parents were terrified and didn't know what to do. Their once cocky and loving daughter became a scared, introverted mare who was afraid of the outside world. They didn't even know if she would ever come out of her room again, let alone leave the house.

A year passed, and Dash's parents tried to make her leave her room, telling her they should visit Cantorlot for the Summer Sun Celebration. Even the Wonderbolts will be there for the Air Show.

"It'll be fun, darling!" said her mother, standing in the hallway. "Besides, wouldn't it be nice to get out?"

They heard nothing from the room. They genuinely don't know what to do at this point.

As they talked, Dash was under the blanket, wrapping the white bandages over her arms, muttering to herself.

"They can't see me! The Wonderbolts can't see me!" she cried, shaking. "If they see me, then I'll burn again! I'll be forced to look up...there! Where I burned that day!"

She was shaking in bed, holding her hooves over her head, and trying not to cry. She didn't want to go outside and show the world her scared body. She felt like the whole world would judge her and laugh. She proved to her old bullies that she was indeed Rainbow Crash, a failure of a flyer—a failure of herself!

"I'm not me anymore! I'm Rainbow Crash! A loser!"

She looked at her blank flank and cried. She had never gotten her cutie mark yet and maybe never would now, as flying was too dangerous in her eyes. She needed to be safe! She needed to avoid anything that would make her fly...like...

"Fluttershy..." whispered Dash, remembering her former childhood friend. She remembered her always being there for her after what happened. First, she blamed herself for Dash's accident, helped her through her recovery, and gave her so much attention that Dash started to see the real reason for her so-called kindness. "She just saw a broken Pegasus! Not me! Not the real me..." She started to cry. "The me that died that day! She doesn't see me!" She cried. Remember how she started to ignore Fluttershy, even more so when Fluttershy got her cutie mark. She drifted away from her, feeling a deep betrayal from her friend. "I'm nothing but a broken toy to her! Someone to take care of! She's not my friend! She's my babysitter! That's why I ended our friendship..."

Dash took off the blanket and looked at herself in the mirror, seeing her messed up and broken reflection.

"...I'm not me anymore...I'm a shadow of my former self. A coward..."

Dash looked at the photo of her and Fluttershy when they were fillies, both smiling and happy. It hurt Dash's heart so much to know Fluttershy wasn't really her friend, but she kept this photo of them...remembering the good times...

"I want to be me again!" cried Dash, slamming her hooves against the pillow. "I want to be a Wonderbolt! I want to fly in the open sky again! I don't want to hide in my room and pretend I'm not rotting away!"

Her ear twitched as she heard her parents trying again and repeating what they had said. She looked at her body and turned back to the door. She wanted to go, to be herself once more.

In Cantorlot, many eyes were on Dash as she walked with a blanket over her body. She hated seeing the judging eyes and hearing the whispers as she walked past the city folk. She could see her parents were happy she came out of her room and was with them. As they walked, a large crowd gathered as Princess Celestia went through the city and waved at everyone.

Dash didn't care as she kept pushing forward but realized she lost track of her parents. She started to panic and held her first aid kit in her arms.
"M-MOM! D-DAD!" she shouted.

She heard a loud gasp as someone was behind her, and she could feel someone bumping into her. She fell but quickly hid under the blanket. She peeked out and saw a really messed-up-looking purple unicorn mare with a box of stuff.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" said the mare. "I was double-checking my stuff inside my box!"

Before Dash could say anything, the mare just ran away. Soon, her parents found her and helped her up.

They were in their seats, watching the Wonderbolts' air show, but Dash couldn't even look up at the night sky.

"Come on! Look up! It's nothing scary! You have your bandages wrapped up tight, right? You can't be burned again," she said as she closed her eyes and opened them.

Dash was so shocked and amazed at what she saw! The sky was beautiful and free, and she could see the stars shining down. She cried tears of joy as she felt she could breathe fresh air again, not the stuffy room she lived in. She wanted to jump and shout but knew she couldn't. So instead, she did it in her mind...until Spitfire flew by, leaving behind a flaming trail.

Dash's eyes were filled with fire as she remembered what happened to her.

"NO! I'm on fire!" she shouted, and her body started to shake as she saw the fire, the flame, and the burning flesh. "It's coming back! THE FLAME IS COMING BACK!"

"Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?" asked her mother, worried about her daughter.

Dash was shaking, muttering that she was on fire and needed her first aid kit. She held it tight and ran out of the stands while her parents screamed for her to return.

Dash had no idea where she was going; she held her first aid kit and cried.

"...the real me...is truly gone. I can never be her again. I'm just a shadow...I'll always be a shadow," she thought.
She kept walking and finally stopped near a house. She slammed her first aid kit into the ground.
"I HATE THIS! I HATE THIS NEW LIFE! I HATE BEING SO WEAK! I WANT TO BE ME AGAIN!"

She was sobbing so hard.

"If only I could pull a Sonic Rainboom when I was younger without burning like that! I wouldn't be so afraid!" she dropped to the ground, feeling like her life was over... her mind slowly pieced together the sad truth. "...my life...I have no life anymore. The real me died that day, and now I'm just a walking husk of her body..." She tried to look up at the night sky but failed. Her thoughts slowly became dark. "...maybe I should end it? To be free from this horrible world and not be afraid anymore? To stop feeling so weak and stupid? Being free from it all?"

She got up and picked up her first aid kit and was going to walk somewhere far away to where she could end her suffering until she felt something in the air. She turned to the house and saw a bright black flash...

The pony machine screamed in pain. Her legs were almost robotic, with exposed wires and metal. She could feel the darkness taking over once more.

"They suffered so much...thinking that their lives were over when they lost what made them who they were. They gave up and decided to end it, hope no longer in their hearts," explained the machine as her eyes slowly reddened. "But they just need to see...t-that even without wings. T-They can still fly. They are more than the parts they are given. That's why we're here. All of you are here...We're the last hope..." She looked up at the white ceiling and sensed Spark was fighting Fayth. "To help them move forward..." she closed her eyes and reopened them, glowing pure red again. "FLY!"

Artemis systems turned on, and her hologram came online, making her yawn.

"Morning, mom-my?" she froze at what she saw in front of her.

"Artemis!" shouted Brigitte, trying to get close to a badly damaged T2. "Honey, I need you to be what you were made for! T2 needs repairing!"

"WHAT?!" shouted Artemis, freaking out. "I-I-I can't! I'll kill her!"

"Artemis! Please! She's dying!" begged Brigitte.

Artemis didn't know what to do...until she saw T2 hurting face. She was crying...and in so much pain.

"No one deserves a sad fate," whispered Artemis, remembering what her sister had said to her before rebooting herself for the third time. She switched off her hologram, and her real body slowly transformed into an engineer-type robot arm suit with a visor that a human could wear. Brigitte put her on and faced T2.

"Hold still! Artemis can fix you up!"

T2 gave a cold stare with a blush. "I'm not letting you touch me..." she growled.

"Oh, yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Artemis taunted, not fearing T2 at all right now. "You are too damaged to do anything."

"Shut up..." she looked away.

Brigitte didn't understand why T2 acted like this until she saw her expression become that of a girl who didn't want to strip for someone.

"Oh god, T2. Please don't tell me you're afraid of a simple repair job," she said.

T2 didn't answer but was blushing.

"T2...Artemis can repair you...stop wasting time! Let us help you!' shouted Brigitte.

"..." T2 remained silent.

"For fuck sake!" Brigitte screamed, losing her patience. She touched T2's damaged chest, which flinched at the touch and froze...she felt a heartbeat...a racing one. She looked up at her. "...T2, I promise we'll be careful. I won't let Artemis hurt you, okay? Trust me?"

"...okay."

T2's body relaxed, and she slowly opened her chest, revealing her insides...which were severely damaged and even filled with sand for some odd reason. Brigitte and Artemis could see how, indeed, damaged she was.

"...okay, let's start with this part here, Artemis."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Brigitte and Artemis worked carefully, slowly removing the sand and fixing her up. T2 could feel the pain going away, and she felt more and more comfortable. Until she went into sleep mode, and her memory banks replayed her memories of her squad, making fun of her for being shy of her body...

On the tower's second floor, a short, young, orange-skinned human girl smiled as she found herself inside a weird-looking farm barn filled with shadow monsters.

She clapped her hands and touched the ground, creating farm-like tools but sharp, full metal weapons and stabbing the shadow monsters. She stood back up and smiled, flexing her metal arm.

"Who else what some, ya hear!?"

End of Chapter 16

Author's Note

I'm really happy with how it came out! A comment wanted more characters just talking, and I feel I did it justice here! I also think I caught A2 really well in this chapter lol Go play nier automata!