Gilda looked up at her father. Ever since she had returned, things had been getting worse. At first, it was just a few emotional outbursts from him, but as time went on, he got worse. He got angry. Eventually, he just disappeared for a time. Now, though, he was sick. The doctors said it was something to do with his head-wound never getting properly treated, but there was something else going on here, too. When he had come back, he had brought weapons and other materials, and she couldn't understand why.
At least, she couldn't until she saw the news. He had tried to take her on with a type of armor and a couple of whips, but failed miserably and was sent back here. Somewhere in between then and now, though, he had gotten sick with something. It was eating away at him and she could barely watch as he withered away. He was growing weaker every day and could barely stay awake anymore.
A loud noise caught her attention. It sounded like he was moving around, so she went to help him. When she got there, though, she froze. His feathers had mostly fallen out and his fur was matted and shimmering with sweat. His face was pale and he could barely look at her in his state.
She rushed over to him and helped him sit up so he could drink from the bottle on the table nearby. He gulped a few times before moving it down with his talons. Just over two years had passed since he came from that stupid attack, but it was a lifetime to him. Everything hurt, everything was too much.
"Dash," he said weakly.
Gilda chuckled ruefully and shook her head. "Still around."
"She-" he coughed a bit, some mucus and blood coming up. "She did this."
"I hate her just as much as you do," Gilda replied. "But you can't blame her for you getting sick."
"Poison," he said, his voice weak and his eyes distant. "She... poisoned me."
"She wouldn't do that," Gilda said. "She might abandon you and beat the crap out of you, but she wouldn't poison someone."
"Not on purpose," he rasped out. "The reactor. When it went off. Palladium."
"What are you talking about?" Gilda asked.
"Poisoned metal," he replied, holding back a cough. "She put it in me. She did this."
Gilda was confused. She knew Dash, even if they weren't on the best of terms. She would never do something like that. But she had been doing a lot of strange things lately. She had been attacking people. They probably deserved it, but she was never much of one to get that close to the fighting, not when it could end with her death so easily. She had been doing a lot more propaganda, too. She never liked that stuff, but now she was involved directly. So maybe this was just another thing that had changed. Maybe she had poisoned her father.
He touched Gilda's shoulder gently, snapping her out of her thoughts, and handed her a key and a piece of paper before leaning back in his bed. His breaths came out raspy and quick for a minute before they stopped. Gilda looked at her father, anger building. Rainbow Dash was responsible for this. It explained why it was so bad only after that confrontation. It was the only thing that made sense anymore.
She let a screech out into the air in her rage. She would get back at Dash. She would avenger her father's death. But not just by killing her. That would be too easy, and she wouldn't get to savor it as much.
She would make Dash bleed.
Rainbow checked her HUD briefly to make sure everything was set up properly. She would only get one shot at this and it had to be perfect. Everything was about this moment, this event. Tonight, everything would change.
Music started playing in her helmet as she jogged off the edge of the airplane in her newest suit. She listened briefly to the first few strums of the guitar as she fell before starting the boosters in the suit. Angling down, she weaved through explosions as they rocked through the night, watching as her target grew closer by the second. She carefully twisted and turned, using her new wing adjustments to help steady her fall.
A small roar filled the air as she got close enough to the building. So many ponies waiting in there, screaming her name. They were the reason she did things like this.
Two seconds before she hit the ground, Rainbow flipped around and spread her wings as she crouched on impact. Screams of approval and amazement filled the air and she couldn't help but smile. The mechanical arms under the stage moved up and started working on her armor, taking off her helmet first as she watched the crowd in front of her. The music got louder as it echoed through the building, bringing an even bigger smile to her face. The machines spun around in a circle, mostly so they could get the armor off of her easier, but also to give her a good look at the dancers behind her.
Soon enough, the spinning stopped and the armor was off, leaving Dash in a simple suit and tie. As the music stopped, she looked out at the huge crowd in her building and couldn't help but stomp one of her hooves with them. "It's good to be back," she said loudly into the microphone around her hear. The crowd cheered louder briefly before eventually dying down.
Dash smiled brightly at the crowd. "Today is a momentous occasion," she said, her voice echoing through the stadium. "Today marks the three year anniversary of my return to Equestria from the talons of the Griffons. Today marks the I rose from the very ashes of civilization to come back here. And today marks the grand reopening of one of my best friend's most popular accomplishments, the Sparkle Expo Center!"
Cheers rose up once again. "And not only that, but today, my company is renamed Dash Enterprises!"
Laughs joined the crowded ponies at that statement, causing Rainbow to chuckle a little to herself. She waited a moment, but the noise died down again before she continued. "In honor of Miss Sparkle's great achievements before I became CEO, this Expo Center will be open all year long to display the newest in Equestrian technology for all of you to see. For the next twelve months, inventors from all across this great country will be up here to show off their ideas and try to live up to me."
The crowd laughed again. "But for tonight, please welcome a guest we haven't seen since her trip to Canterlot, the former CEO and my close friend, Twilight Sparkle."
The wall behind her changed, a digital display taking up the large space. A round city sat on a table there with some simpler technology around it. The view changed and Twilight walked into the shot. "Welcome to the city of the future," she said into the camera. "This is what we're working towards at Sparkle Industries. And not just one of these, but every city to be like this. Every city will be peaceful and safe once again. Every city will have the luxuries of new technology.
"Many of you might be afraid of this, though. You might be afraid of everything changing too fast. You might even be one of the many ponies opposed to this kind of technology. But Technology is the future. Anything can be achieved through technology."
Dash, who had trotted off stage, watched as the old recording played on the screen. It was nice to hear her voice again. It had been a while since she had been there, and she hadn't really called, so things had gotten a little lonely. It was strange to not have her friends so close by anymore.
She shook her head to clear it. She had other things to worry about right now. She picked up a small object and held it to her shoulder. After a small prick of pain, she pulled it away and looked at the display next to the dot of red on it.
21%
She swiveled her head around and licked at the small wound, the coppery taste of blood making her grimace a little. It was still taking some getting used to, doing this so often. What was worse, she couldn't figure out exactly how to fix the problem so she wouldn't have to. It was getting annoying, and the process was speeding up. She needed to find a solution before she wouldn't be able to. It didn't help that the type of technology she needed was just complicated enough to stay just out of her reach.
Once the recording ended, she walked back on stage and said a few closing words to the audience. When she left, people crowded and pushed for autographs, but it was nothing new. Most of them just wanted to be able to say they had met her.
The next day, she went to Shining Armor.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked as she approached the table he was at. After everything had happened, he had been formally arrested and had been in jail since. It wasn't high security; he had received leniency because of his cooperation in stopping Saarken and gotten off easy with five years of jail time and 100 hours of community service.
"I have a bit of a problem," she said. "You're the only one who can help me."
"Now I highly doubt that," he said. "There are plenty of ponies you could go to other than me. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I really don't understand why you'd come to me. Especially after what I had done to you."
"It's about the reactor," she said.
"Nicely done on the upgrades, by the way," he said. "It looks better than it had before."
"The upgrades are the problem," she said. "I can't seem to find the right one."
"What exactly are you talking about?"
"It's the palladium," she explained. "I'm having... issues with it. I need a replacement for it."
Shining snorted. "There is none," he said. "When I was originally designing that thing, I searched for all viable elements. That's the only one that worked."
Rainbow sighed. "I was afraid of that."
"I'm guessing you checked that already, so why ask me?"
"I thought I might have missed something," she said. "I didn't think there was much of a chance of it, of but it was possible."
"Modesty and doubt from Rainbow Dash?" he asked. "Where exactly is this going?"
"It's nothing important," Rainbow answered.
"And I didn't try to kill you," Shining said. "Come on. Spill."
"Maybe next time," Rainbow said, getting up and walking towards the door.
Shining just watched in confusion as she left, guards coming up and leading him out of the room. Rainbow watched as they did from the door, waiting until he was out of sight before actually leaving. She had things to arrange and ponies to see, and not much time to do so. She didn't expect to get much sleep in the coming weeks, but that was fine.
She'd have plenty of time to sleep once the reactor killed her.