Chapter 22- Reunion and Their Perfect Dreams
Yes I know it took longer to get this chapter up, but I also hope that means the quality is continuing to improve.
Anyway, hope you enjoy and please R&R.
And I only own my OCs
Outside City Hall
Rainbow Dash was zigzagging through the tall buildings with the group of Discord's pegasi hot in pursuit. She had no idea how she could lose them as she was running low on evasion ideas, so she kept herself flying at ridiculously high speeds with the hope that she would have time to think of a plan to get rid of her followers definitively.
"I have to ditch these guys somehow." She thought as she looked up to see three pegasi flying directly towards her in an attempt to cut her off from the front. They began to fly directly towards her, quickly reducing the distance. She groaned, "Ugh, okay, this is getting annoying."
She continued to fly towards the three pegasi until they were about ten feet in front of her. She then made a very quick, sharp turn upward; causing the three pegasi in front of her to completely miss her. Two of them even collided with other pegasi before spinning out of control. Rainbow Dash looked back and laughed as she saw one of the pegasi smash through the window of an office building. She stopped flying for a moment and turned to mock the pegasi that were still coming after her.
"Hah! I was wrong about you guys, you don't have the intelligence of a rock! You're all dumber than a rock!"
The group of pegasi continued to fly at her at high speeds.
"I think I know how to lose these guys once and for all," she thought with a grin before she flew off further into the city in an attempt to bide time to perfect her plan.
Inside Wilmont City Hall
While Rainbow Dash continued with her exciting flight outside, Ryan was sprinting up the stairs towards the fourth floor. The stairwell was almost completely dark, except for a few, small lights that still managed to illuminate it, even if it wasn't enough to provide adequate visibility for Ryan as he ascended. Not to mention they would occasionally flicker and make visibility even worse for the boy. He kept his hands firmly on his gun as he climbed up, alert and ready to use it on a moment's notice.
He then stopped for a second when he heard something up above. On the fourth floor, just one floor above where Ryan was standing, the stairwell door was flung open. Two S.W.A.T. unicorns entered the stairwell, scanning the area to see if they could find anyone in the stairwell.
That's when one of them caught sight of Ryan and pointed down at him, "There's one!"
Ryan quickly ducked as a ball of energy hit the wall right beside him, sending drywall into the air and covering his hair with dust and debris. Ryan quickly pumped the shotgun, aimed up at where the two unicorns were, and fired twice. Fortunately for him, one of the two the unicorns was hit in the shoulder since he didn't expect Ryan to have a gun on him. Therefore, he didn't have time to concentrate and use his magic to deflect the round before it reached him. The other unicorn also didn't expect it, but managed not to get shot by jumping back against the wall to dodge the shell.
Using this momentary reprieve, Ryan sprinted through the door that led to the third floor, and he continued sprinting with the hope that they wouldn't know where he went so teleportation wouldn't work.
Ryan saw a flash of black in his peripheral vision, which he assumed was the unicorns' teleportation into the room, and almost instinctively dove into the nearest cubicle. He hit the ground and made his way further into the tiny office space and crawled under a desk. His gun was pointed towards the entrance to the small cubicle; ready for the unicorns if case they walked by.
He waited and listened until the voices of the unicorns went away. One of them was still grunting in pain and swearing up a storm from the gunshot wound that Ryan had given him earlier. He waited for another flash of black and the voices to disappear, indicating that they teleported away, before he cautiously made his way to the entrance to the cubicle to make sure that the unicorns were gone. When he saw nopony around, he quickly scrambled to his feet and sprinted towards another stairwell. Once he reached it, he continued his ascent to the fourth floor to meet up with Rainbow Dash like he promised.
Meanwhile, in one of the other office rooms in the third floor, not the same part that Ryan was just in; the door broke open. Inside of the room was Applejack, who had bucked through it, and the other four girls as they all exited the office. Applejack looked at the door and chuckled in approval of her bucking skills.
"Dang, ya think Discord wouldn't put to much faith in these here doors when ah can just buck 'em open."
"I don't think he was really trying to keep us in there darling," Rarity said, "After all, it is more in Discord's nature to have fun messing around with everypony's mind rather than simply defeating them. That is what he did with us in the maze after all."
"Rarity's right." Twilight added as all five girls continued out into the hall, walking slowly and eyes alert. They were proceeding with extreme caution since they didn't have Twilight's, or even Rarity's, magic to help defend them if they encountered any enemies, so they weren't sure how they'd fare. After all, when Discord took their horns and wings the last time, they were still only contending with the mischievous draconequus. Here, however, they had to deal with unicorns that were patrolling the entire building.
As Ryan had been earlier, the five girls initially found that Discord had dropped them off in one of the parts of the building that was lined with cubicles and offices, which really did make up most of Wilmont City Hall. Eventually, however, they left the office area of the floor and entered a brilliant hallway with a great staircase that led up to the fourth floor.
The floor was pure, white marble, and there was a magnificent chandelier that hung from the ceiling. It would have been an even more spectacular sight if the chandelier and the other lights had actually been turned on, but even in the dark it was a sight to behold. With each hoof-step there was a loud echo that sounded in the otherwise quiet, empty corridor, showing how magnificent it was, especially for the town hall of such a small city. Large, gaudy paintings of past mayors lined the hallway to add to the magnificent, enormous feel of it.
"Wow it's so pretty." Fluttershy whispered in awe as she looked at the white walls that were covered with wallpaper that looked like it came straight out of Italy.
"I cannot believe such a beautiful sight exists in such a dreary, dark, and dismal place." Rarity said as she gestured to the rest of city hall.
"Well ah think it ain't usually this dang dark and depressin'." Applejack answered as she continued to marvel with the others. "There just ain't no light to prettify it now"
"Even I have to admit it's pretty." Twilight muttered with a small smile, deciding that taking a quick moment to relax wasn't too much of a problem.
"Yeah, it kinda reminds me of the Princess' castle! Except less vibrant, a teeny-bit more depressing and there's a bunch of unicorns running down the stairs ready to kill us all!" Pinkie Pie said just as the group of unicorns she had been referring to came galloping down the stairs with stoic faces, showing how hell-bent they were on doing their job for their boss.
"Well Twi, do we fight or run?" Applejack asked as she braced herself in a fighting position, her body low to the ground, her eyes focused on the unicorns heading to them, most of them seeming to be the S.W.A.T. unicorns, like the ones that Ryan faced earlier. In fact, most of them still had their raid helmets on, only now each one had a horn sticking out of it.
"Well considering Rarity and I can't do magic and they clearly can, I say we should…RUNNNNN!" Twilight shouted and jumped into the air before she and her four friends bolted. As they ran off, a blast of magic barely missed them and hit the part of the floor that they were just standing on, covering their bodies in marble dust. They didn't let this stop them as they continued to run away from the unicorns, now scared as hell.
With Guys
Back down on the second floor of the building, the five guys that were still in the group were walking down a tiled hallway that was lined with doors. Alex and Louis were leading the way, both of them fully alert for anything that might pop up and attack them.
Alex held his shotgun and pointed it towards each door that they walked by. His eyes were vigilant, yet confident, as he had by far the most experience with a firearm in the group, which would have come in handy when his stepfather was choking him had his shotgun been on his person at the time. But a certain orange, underrated, country pony made up for it.
Louis took care of the front and back, walking almost side-ways to the group, where one gun was pointed towards the back end of the group, and the other was pointed to the front end. This way, both ends were protected. His own eyes were as vigilant as Alex's were. He hadn't fired a gun in years, as soccer often made it hard to find time, but he was good enough at it when he was younger that it became like riding a bicycle, he never truly forgot.
Pete, Carl and James, meanwhile, just looked vigilant as well, their own firearms ready to fire at anything that came to attack them. As Alex was pointing his gun at a nearby door, he leaned over to Louis.
"You see anything?" Alex whispered. Louis shook his head.
"No man, nobody's following us."
"Do you guys think we should split up?" Pete asked.
Alex relaxed a little bit and turned to Pete while shaking his head, "Not as long as only Louis and I have fired a gun. The only reason Ryan went on his own is because he has experience, and Rainbow Dash needs him upstairs. You guys have never fired a gun before and splitting up would be trouble."
"Well how hard can it be?" James asked looking at the gun in his hands.
"Harder than you think." Alex answered.
"Well you can do it, and you're from Texas." James scoffed.
Alex stopped and turned around, glaring at James, "What's that supposed to mean?"
James shrugged, "People in Texas are generally stupider."
"Bullshit," Alex hissed, "you're generalizing an entire state for your own political biases?"
"Maybe."
"Jesus Christ you're such a hippy dick-bag, how you're the Element of Kindness I'll never know."
"Guys! Shut up, this is no time for arguing!" Carl hissed just before a blast of black, magic energy was shot at the group, causing them all to drop to the floor in cover. Alex wasted no time in firing a round in the direction of the blast while Louis fired about four rounds from his own magnums. There were two unicorns in front of the group that the bullets were aimed at. And while most of the rounds missed, it was still effective. One of the police unicorns fell down clutching his bloody stomach in pain while the other unicorn managed to deflect the bullets with his magic. The unharmed unicorn then looked down at his mortally wounded comrade and put his hoof onto his back before they both teleported away to safety.
But that was far from being the end of the attack. A massive group of unicorns flooded down the stairwell and began to go after the boys, shouting and charging their horns for an assault of magic energy.
"I think it's time to split up." James muttered in an ironically normal-sounding tone.
"Yeah, I'd have to agree," Carl added, "meet on the fifth floor in ten minutes!"
Everyone nodded and quickly dispersed. Carl and Pete wound up going in the same direction, Alex and James went a different way, and Louis went one way all by himself, and he was not happy about it at all.
"Why is it always the black guy who gets ditched by everyone!" Louis thought angrily as he made his way into an office wing of the second floor by himself.
Louis heard hoof-steps coming up behind him as he continued to run away, firing his guns blindly as he neared the doorway that led to the stairwell.
He decided that shooting wasn't going to do much good and pushed through the door ran upstairs. He climbed up about two floors when he saw the door up above burst open, revealing a unicorn shouting down at him. Louis turned and, without thinking, jumped down one flight of stairs so he could avoid the blast of energy heading his way. As the blast hit the wall where he had been, he continued to fly down towards the concrete step below him, no control of direction or speed as the ground rapidly approached.
"Well…shit."
He hit the ground with a painful-sounding "thud" and "crack" and toppled over to the ground. He hit the wall and screaming in pain. He grabbed his right leg as pain shot through it before he turned around to see the unicorn stupidly running at him. Louis used the chance to point one of his guns, which he fortunately still had in his hand, at the pony's head and fired.
The bullet tore straight through the pony's skull and the pony was dead as a doornail before he hit the ground. The body of the creature came toppling down onto the injured Louis, who now had to contend with the agonizing pain in his leg while he tried to push the heavy corpse off of him.
He finally pushed the dead unicorn off of himself and let out a sigh as he continued to breath heavily, pain shooting through his leg before it began to go numb, which was never a good sign. He looked down to see that blood was seeping through his jeans. He carefully pulled up his blood-soaked pant's leg, wincing as it went over the injured part, and looked down at his leg to see that it wasn't just broken; it was a compound fracture.
In lament's terms, his bone was sticking out of the skin and blood was running down his leg and onto the floor.
Louis couldn't help but laugh at the card fate had dealt him. His prized right leg that had been such a deadly weapon on the soccer field was shattered. It was almost like fate was screaming, "Yeah, you're destiny isn't to be a soccer player anymore buddy boy."
"Oh God, of all the bones to break," he laughed as he shook his head, "of all the fucking bones in the body to break."
Louis groaned as he slowly crawled to the door and realized he couldn't push it open. He groaned and sat back against the wall, hoping someone would find him. He knew that Twilight and the others could probably help his leg heal, but he also wondered if, based on everything he'd been thinking about recently regarding Rarity and his future life, that his break might have been a sign. Then again, it could have just been terrible luck.
He didn't have to wait long, for James and Alex burst through the third-floor door that was right next to where he was sitting. They turned to run up the stairs, only to notice Louis on the ground, his leg bleeding, his head bloodied, and dark laughter coming from him. They immediately stopped and turned to their friend with worried expressions.
"Louis what the hell happened?" James asked, staring right at the broken leg with the bone sticking out.
Louis laughed and shook his head, "Fate…fate gave me my choice."
"What choice?" Alex asked before he turned to James, "Come on let's help him up."
They both lifted Louis before they turned to go back out the door they just came through to find an elevator from the third floor up to the fifth.
"Rarity…I have nothing here. My leg…my soccer…I'm going to live with her. Any doubt is gone. I don't care if my leg heals. Call me religious, but I take signs like this seriously." Louis spat. Alex and James exchanged confused looks before they continued towards the door.
"Why does it seem like this experience robbed all six of us any ties to this fucking planet that we had? Pete was exactly right when he brought that up earlier." Alex muttered as they pushed their way through the door that he and James had only moments before come through, "it's like fate's fucking begging us to move to Equestria to be with the girls. Like we have nothing left here, it's like we're characters at the start of a generic Human in Equestria fan-fiction that have noting to live for on Earth…or at least feel like they don't."
"Maybe that's it then." James muttered before they reached the elevators and pressed the "up" button. "Maybe we are destined to be with them. Sometimes generic endings do happen in real life."
"That's so damned cliché though." Alex groaned as the doors to the elevator opened. They all walked into it and pressed the "5" button. Just as the elevator's doors began to shut, a group of three unicorns appeared down the hall. They all stopped and turned to see the trio in the elevator. The entire group began to sprint after them while the doors to the elevator remained open.
"James, take Louis." Alex said as he pushed Louis into James, who struggled to keep him up as Louis bit his lip as more pain shot through him. Alex stepped forward in the elevator, took aim, and fired three times at the unicorns. One shell was deflected by the magic, but the other hit one of the ponies in the leg, causing him to tumble over and trip two others, leaving only two unicorns still running at the elevator.
Eventually, the elevator doors did shut and it began to go up to the fifth floor. Alex sighed and walked back over to help James with Louis.
"Why did we lose so much?" James asked. "Why are we losing so much."
"Because people in reality tend to lose a lot during war." Alex answered as a re-loaded his gun. "I mean, look at people who lived in Europe during World War II, or Japan. A lot of them lost everything with the bombs and whatnot. It doesn't mean fate is telling us anything."
"But it's like anything that gave us a purpose on Earth is gone." James said. "It's just strange. We had so little before this and now the little we did have is either taken from us, or proven to mean nothing. Face it we are becoming those self-insert characters."
Alex gave a small chuckle and pumped his gun once he reloaded it. "Que sera, sera, James. If my destiny is to be with Applejack I have no qualms at all. Besides, we already had this conversation at Carl's house."
James thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, good point. But my point is still valid."
Carl and Pete
Carl and Pete were both slowly made their way down a long, dark hallway. They had managed to ditch the perusing unicorns from earlier and were now simply trying to find a way up to the fifth floor, which was proving to be more difficult than either of them had initially expected.
"Pete stay here, I'm going to go up there to see if the coast is clear." Carl muttered as he slowly crept further down the corridor, his gun drawn, ready to be fired at a moment's notice.
Pete bit his lip anxiously as he watched his friend walk off. He could feel his grip on the firearm tightening from his anxiety and his desire to make sure the gun stayed firmly in his hands, even while his palms sweated and caused the weapon to slip around. He needed to keep a firm hold on it in case somepony came after him.
He was so focused on Carl and his gun, however, that he didn't see a nearby door open up, a familiar police officer made his way closer to Pete, eyes focused on the boy. He transformed back into a unicorn as he approached Pete before he charged up his horn.
"Nothing down here!" Carl shouted before he turned back to Pete. Suddenly, a blast of energy slammed into Pete and launched him into a nearby office. Pete fell to the ground, his eyes closed and his nose bleeding heavily. His gun lay by his side and he let out a groan, indicating that he was barely conscious.
Shaded Deceit crept into Carl's view and Carl's worry turned from his friend to himself. Shaded glared at Carl and smiled, "Ah boy, you probably shouldn't have let me become the one that got away back at the station."
Carl pointed his gun at the mocking unicorn and fired. Fortunately, aiming and firing the gun was much easier to him than he expected it to be, most likely thanks to all of the Call of Duty he played and the paintball matches that he did with Alex and James, in which Alex would always win.
The bullet, however, was easily deflected off of Shaded's magic shield and wound up in the walls around the unicorn. Shaded then used his magic to grab Carl and hurl him into the wall. Carl let out a grunt of pain as he fell to the ground in a heap, spitting blood and shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness from the impact.
He tried to get up as fast as he could to grab his gun, which had fallen a few feet in front of him. Shaded, however, used his magic aura to grab him again and hurl him into the wall opposite to the one that he was just slammed into. Again, Carl fell down, but this time he stayed down as his head hurt and his nose bled even more. He put his hand to his nose to stop the bleeding while Shaded just chuckled.
"You humans are quite resilient, I'll give you that much. In this reality I think resilience is a requirement for survival." Shaded walked over and, once again, lifted Carl up with his magic, once again, so he was levitating in front of the angry looking unicorn. "Unfortunately, we don't come from the same reality, and your resilience will wear out momentarily."
Just like that. Shaded's horn began to glow as he slowly approached Carl's forehead, which was bloody from hitting the wall. Carl just watched helplessly as Shaded came closer and closer to him. "Good night boy, say hello to your mare-friend's uncle for us."
The unicorn was so focused on Carl, however, that he didn't notice the figure standing behind him with a gun pointed directly at the back of his skull and an angry look on his face.
"Hey douche-bag!"
Shaded turned his head and his concentration fell for a split second as he saw Pete standing behind him with the barrel of his gun pointed at his face. His nose was bloody, the red liquid drying above his mouth. His left arm, which was not holding the gun, hung at his side and had a deep gash in it. However, he didn't seem phased, rather he just seemed pissed off at the unicorn that was threatening his friend.
"Friendship is magic motherfucker." He muttered before pulling the trigger of his gun.
Shaded was so surprised by Pete's presence that he didn't have time to concentrate and deflect the bullet before it tore into his skull. Shaded fell over to the floor, motionless and dead, blood pooling out around his head on the ground as his eyes stared down at the floor. They still showed the same shock that he had felt the moment he died, when his eyes fell on the face of the timid boy who claimed his life with the first bullet he had fired in his life.
Once Shaded's magic aura that had surrounded him disappeared, Carl fell onto his back with a hard "thud". He groaned and rubbed his back before he looked up at Pete, "I honestly didn't ever picture you doing something like that."
Pete walked over and outreached his hand to help Carl up, a small smile on his face, "I'm not the wallflower I was a few days ago."
"No Pinkie made sure of that, didn't she?" Carl chuckled and took Pete's hand as he hoisted him up. Carl walked over to the ground where his gun had fallen and picked it up.
"Come on," Carl said as he said, "we've got some girls to save."
After Carl and Pete's ordeal with Shaded Deceit, they went off to save the girls, who were still running as fast as they could away from the unicorns that were chasing them.
The five of them were now in a different hallway. Not as magnificent as the other one, but the floor was still marble and it had a grand feel to it, which the girls really didn't notice as their main concern were the unicorns chasing them.
"What do we do now?" Pinkie Pie asked as she turned to Twilight as they continued to run.
"Ya don't happen ta have yer party cannon with ya now, do ya Pinkie?" Applejack asked Pinkie Pie, to which she glared.
"Of course not, you don't think I would have used it already if I did?" Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes as she continued to run, "I might be random Applejack, but I'm not stupid."
"Girls, look out." Fluttershy said louder than she normally would have as she pointed to five unicorns that had teleported in front of them, cutting them off. All of the girls screamed and skidded to a stop as the other unicorns began to trot over to them with devious smiles on their faces. The girls looked left and right, and saw they were surrounded. There was no way out.
"We're trapped." Rarity said with fear as the unicorns slowly approached them, evil grins on their faces as they inched closer, their eyes full of anger. The girls took a few steps back, only to stop when they remembered the unicorns that were behind them. They looked at each other with panicked faces as they realized there was no way out without Twilight's magic.
"This is it girls." Twilight said as they all hugged each other.
"Ah never thought it would end like this." Applejack muttered.
"Yes, I always thought our downfall would be from a sugar overdose at one of Pinkie Pie's parties." Rarity said regretfully.
"Hey!" Pinkie Pie complained before turning her attention to the unicorns.
The group of unicorns that were in front of them walked closer, and closer, and closer, their horns glowing as she prepared to attack. Twilight gulped and closed her eyes as she felt her friends, as well as herself, shaking in fright. They hugged each other tightly, awaiting their imminent doom.
Just then, there was a clanking sound coming down the hall, like something was sliding across the floor towards the crowd that had gathered in the middle of the hallway. All of the unicorns that stood in front of the girls turned to the source and saw a large fire extinguisher sliding to a stop right in front of them. The unicorns behind them were still charging their magic, but also peeked through their eyelids to see what the noise was.
Twilight and the others opened their eyes to see the five unicorns stared down at the fire extinguisher with confused faces. Suddenly, Twilight then saw Carl and Pete pointing their guns at the extinguisher.
"Is that Petey?" Pinkie Pie asked as she pulled out a pair of binoculars from, again, nowhere (and she couldn't get her party cannon, go figure), and looked through them to see her colt-friends face as he held his gun out.
"It is! My Petey!" she grinned as she tossed the pair of binoculars behind her. The binoculars then clocked one of the unicorns in the head just as his horn was done charging. He let out an "ow" and turned his head away just as his horn let off a blast of energy. This misfire hit a unicorn that was right next to him, who then misfired and hit another one of his comrades. This resulted in a chain reaction of the unicorns behind the girls being flung into each other by their own misfired magic blasts that had been meant for the five mares, but was now hitting their friends.
Carl and Pete quickly fired their guns at the extinguisher, causing it to explode into mist, which surrounded the panicking unicorns that began to scream and blindly fire magic around in a panic. Carl and Pete lowered their guns and looked at where the girls had been, even though the smoke was preventing the two boys from getting a view of them.
"Twi! Follow my voice!" Carl shouted from behind the cloud of smoke that was in front of the girls. "And go around the smoke."
"Come on everypony." Twilight muttered as she led the girls around the white cloud from the extinguisher until they found Pete and Carl on the other side. The two boys gestured for the girls to keep running after them. They sprinted away from the chaos, which was only brought on by one pair of cartoon binoculars from a random pony and a single fire extinguisher.
Not the most competent group.
City
Rainbow Dash had finally found the opportunity to do what she had wanted to do for the past few minutes, which was get rid of the pegasi once and for all.
After evading a few other close-trailing pegasi, who wound up with crashing into each other or smashing through buildings that the elusive cyan mare managed to weave in and out of, she had finally found the opportune moment to send them packing. It was time for the big guns, and most bronies probably know what that means.
She began to rapidly fly up, trying to get as high in the air as she possibly could while the pegasi trailed close behind her, eyes not blinking at all as they focused on their target. Rainbow Dash's face was determined as she burst through clouds as she climbed way above the city. Eventually, she was high enough in the air to perform her special trick on these losers.
She grinned and looked below her, scanning the city until she spotted City Hall. Se knew that once she did what she had to do, she would have to find the fourth floor to meet Ryan, whom she assumed was worried sick about her. After all, he was so hesitant to even let her be a means of distraction; she couldn't imagine how nervous he was while she was actually being chased.
Once she spotted the window that she was planning on flying towards, the one on the fourth-floor above the "W", she looked down at the approaching pegasi and waved, "Hey slowpokes! I dare you to keep up with me on this one!"
With that, Rainbow Dash went straight down towards the ground, the pegasi right behind her. As she got closer to the ground she could feel her body fit within a cone of force as she came closer and closer to breaking the sound barrier. Her eyes were focused, even when they had to shut every now and then as air rushed against her face.
Inside of the building, Ryan was already on the fourth floor just above the "W", watching Rainbow Dash making her descent.
"What on Earth..." he began only to realize exactly what she was doing, "Oh God, she's doing a..."
Before he could say anything else, there was a sudden blast of rainbow color in the sky, making Ryan jump back and shield his eyes from the epic flash that was known as the sonic rainboom.
In the air, Rainbow Dash zoomed down towards the ground, hearing the pegasi scream as the shock wave from the blast sent them flying in all different directions. Building windows shattered, car alarms went off, and the city was now lit up in an array of different colors rather than the plain, eerie orange tint it had before from the inferno. Even the anarchists and soldiers who were still fighting each other in another section of the city looked up in amazement at the beautiful, rainbow-colored spectra that had filled the sky with a beauty that was never meant for this world.
Rainbow Dash laughed in triumph as she flew closer to the building's fourth floor window, right where Ryan was. She could see him cheering for her through the window, much like Fluttershy had after she performed it at the young fliers' competition.
She smiled and gave Ryan a small wave as the approached the building. She aimed to fly towards the window that Ryan was at and was about to slow down when, suddenly, her wings began to feel strange. She looked at them to see them become transparent and, eventually, disappear, leaving her airborne without any means of control to stop herself from slamming into the window at full speed.
Discord had lied to Ryan. She wasn't to become wingless once she entered the building; she was to become wingless once she was close-by to it.
Her eyes went wide in fright as she came closer and closer to the building, staring to fall down as well so that she was no longer going towards the correct window. Thankfully, she didn't fall too far as she went right through the window below Ryan. In other words, she went through the third-floor window that was underneath the "W" in "Wilmont City Hall". She put her hooves over her face to brace herself before she crashed into the building. She slid across the floor before coming to a stop in the middle of a hallway. Fortunately, she didn't hit anything that could have caused serious injury so she just lay on the ground, exhausted and shaken.
"Rainbow Dash!" Ryan shouted before he quickly made his way towards the staircase to the third floor. His gun ready, as he knew that he needed to get to her before any of Discord's minions found her. But as he ran, he could feel the blood within him boiling, like a suppressed rage was finally coming to the surface. Discord had lied to him and Rainbow Dash could have been killed. Discord had lied to him, just like Lawrence had lied to him when they were kids.
With each step, Ryan no longer felt the desire to use a gun on Discord's men, he wanted to unleash his rage with his fists.
Down on the third floor, Rainbow Dash groaned and slowly got to her hooves, shaking her head as glass fell out of her mane. She started to walk, a small limp as the glass did cut one of her forelegs that she used to protect her face. She looked around the dark hallway, knowing that she was a floor below Ryan. She gulped and began to breath a little easier now that the ordeal was over.
Or so she thought.
She was suddenly pushed against the wall, a hand at her throat to keep her in place. She opened her eyes to meet the taunting glare of the police officer that they had left strapped to the chair back at the station, still in his human form.
The officer that had been spared from James's wrath was now threatening the love of the very person who fought for his right to live. He held his hand-turned-hoof up at Rainbow Dash with a threatening grin, "You're colt-friend should have let that other boy kill me when he had the chance."
Rainbow Dash struggled to get free, only to realize how futile the attempts were. She watched as the officer's hoof approached her forehead. She strained her head as far back as it could go, which wasn't much since she was pressed against the wall.
Just before the hoof touched her head, someone who had just burst out of the stairwell ran over and tackled the officer. He was sent flying about ten feet before sliding to the ground in a heap with the person who had brought him down.
Rainbow Dash landed with a thud onto the floor. She rubbed her throat, which was sore from being pinned. She coughed a little bit to clear her throat and looked up to see Ryan pushing himself to his feet. She watched, stunned, as he ran over to the delirious officer, who was just starting to shake off the hit and body slammed him.
Once he had the officer back on the ground, Ryan got onto his chest and threw a brutal punch into the officer's head, and then he threw another, and another…blood began to spray up into his face. With each punch, his parent's memory and images of Rainbow Dash being tortured and her wings broken flashed into his mind, building a rage within his soul. Ryan was done showing mercy, done being the nice guy that he had always tried to be for Rainbow Dash's sake. Now all he saw now was red, the same color red as his parents' blood, the same color red as the rage he felt building up within him. The rage that he had tried to repress before, but now was unleashing it onto the helpless officer.
Rainbow Dash watched in horror as Ryan stood up and began to stomp his foot into the officer's face with extreme force three times until there was a splat on the floor and the officer was dead, and without a head and his brains all over the ground as Ryan stood over his corpse.
The angry teen fell to the ground in a sitting position, his breathing was quick and heavy, and his eyes wide from the adrenaline that still coursed through his veins. His body was shaking as the realization of what he just did formulated in his head. He just killed somepony, in this case almost exactly following the method of killing that was used in Drive, a death that actually scared him shitless in the theatre when he first saw it. But now, he went out and did exactly what the Driver had done. His rage for what these bastards did to him, his parents and Rainbow Dash, all pushed him over the edge to the point of killing the very person he had defended against James earlier in the night.
He sniffed and slowly looked at Rainbow Dash with eyes that showed some remorse and sadness before he muttered, "I'm sorry Dashie…I couldn't…I couldn't hold back anymore."
Rainbow Dash just stared for a minute, which made Ryan think she hated him for doing what he did. He suddenly was scared that she was scared of him and his violent actions. After all, these ponies came from a world where this kind of vengeance was most likely frowned upon and horrifying to even think about. Even if he thought an "eye for an eye" was right and proper justice, he was more worried that Rainbow Dash would hate him for it, and he could feel tears coming to his eyes as he saw her just staring at him with an expression that he couldn't read. He wasn't sure if she was mad or not, but he was worried.
"Please don't hate me." he muttered sadly to the cyan pegasus.
He worry ended when Rainbow Dash ran over to him and tackled him to the ground, giving him a combo of a tight embrace and a kiss planted on his lips. Ryan was initially shocked by her reaction, but eventually calmed down and began to hug and kiss her back. They remained on the ground, holding onto each other and kissing for about twenty to thirty seconds, both just glad to be back together after so much worry. They eventually broke their kiss and looked into each other's eyes.
Rainbow Dash smiled, "I understand Ryan, I don't hate you for this. I could never hate you for anything." Ryan smiled and sighed in relief, glad that she didn't hate him for what he did. They then both stood up and went off to join the others.
About a minute later, everyone and everypony met up on the fifth floor. James and Alex were still supporting the injured Louis, who Rarity immediately ran over to once she saw his leg.
"Oh my goodness, Louis what has happened to your leg?"
"Broken." He said with a laugh.
Rarity looked up at him with worry as he slowly got down to her level and hugged her tight. She hugged him back, "Don't worry, I'm sure Twilight has a spell that can help you with that."
"Well it's painful as hell so I'd hope so." Louis laughed before he grimaced.
Soon, everyone and everypony were reunited with their partners and after their quick hugging session. Pinkie Pie seemed worried about the blood that Pete had all over his face, and even told him how she'd throw him a party when they got back to Ponyville. Applejack and Alex hugged like normal, telling each other how they didn't want to be separated like that again. James and Fluttershy did the same, but James had to do a little more to console Fluttershy, as she was still a bit frightened after almost being killed.
Ryan and Rainbow Dash were back holding each other, foreheads pressed together as Ryan continued to praise her for performing her sonic rainboom as a means of losing her followers. She just blushed at the compliments that Ryan rained down onto her, as if she were his role model.
"You're acting like Scootaloo." She laughed.
"I just can't ever get over how awesome you are Dashie." Ryan said with a smile, which Rainbow Dash returned by nuzzling against his neck.
Meanwhile, Twilight was hugging Carl like he was her soldier husband who had just gotten back from battle, "Thanks for saving us Carl."
"Don't mention it," Carl said.
"I felt so helpless without my magic," Twilight sighed, "Like I was useless."
Carl broke the hug and shot Twilight a serious look, his eyes meeting hers, "Don't you ever call yourself useless, Twi. You're so much even without your magic. You're smart, kind and a great leader. You're magic may be a part of who you are, but it is in no way the only thing that defines you."
Twilight blushed and smiled at Carl's compliments before he kissed her forehead and stood up. Eventually, the entire group turned its attention to Carl and Twilight for the plan.
"Now what do we do?" James asked.
"Find Discord and end this." Carl answered, "and I do believe he is on this floor."
"How do you know?" Twilight asked; only to receive an answer that consisted of Carl pointing to a plaque on the wall that said "Mayor's Office" and had an arrow pointing down the hall.
"Come on, let's go."
Obscure's Office
Obscure sat on the ground with his head in his hooves while Crescent sat beside him, his eyes not leaving his future self for any reason.
"Your conscience is eating away at you isn't it?"
"Fuck off."
"No, I won't." Crescent said stubbornly before he put his hooves onto Obscure, "you won't let yourself forget who you used to be. And as long as your conscience exists, so do I. And I will continue to follow you until you truly understand everything that you've done."
Obscure looked up from his hooves at the colt, his eyes now showing a hint of sadness that they never showed before. "Why can't I forget?"
"You won't let yourself," Crescent said sadly, "Think back to the day that Discord spoke to you in the courtyard, when he was still in stone."
Obscure sighed and spoke, "How the hell could I forget that day? That was when the Princess chose Bright over me to come here to this world when the bucking prophecy told her to send her most faithful student to protect the element of magic, the only one we knew the identity of at the time. Carl Lewis." He growled his name with the upmost contempt.
"Looks like she chose right." Crescent muttered mockingly, which made Obscure shoot him an angry glare. "After all how faithful of a student can you be…"
"I only disobeyed her because of that!" Obscure shouted before turning away from the colt that only continued to lecture his older self.
"And therefore you were not faithful," Crescent growled, "if you were you would've respected the Princess' choice. Think back to those dreams you've been having recently, the memories of your past. How Bright was always proud of you, how he always applauded you when you bested him. How he didn't let envy consume him…unlike you. You've proven that you're no better than those anarchists that Discord is using."
"Are you comparing me to those anarchists?" Obscure growled, "I am NOTHING like them, I'm above them! I RULE them with Discord!"
"Are you? Do you rule them?" Crescent asked, "How Discord is controlling them."
"Simple, he took advantage of their desperation in the bad economy and made them…." He trailed off, his eyes growing wide as the realization began to hit him.
"He made them hate those they envied. He used envy to turn them into monsters, which is exactly what he did to you. Think back to the day in the courtyard after the Princess told you how she chose Bright over you."
Obscure's Memory
Obscure began to remember that day, his seething, internal anger as he left the castle after hearing the news. He had pretended to be fine with the decision for Bright's benefit, and even wished him luck, but on the inside he kept questioning the decision. Why did she pick Bright over him when he had become the superior unicorn over the years? He wasn't sure what the great evil was that she was talking about, but he knew that he'd be able to handle it better than Bright would; yet he was chosen.
As he questioned himself and got mad at both Princess Celestia and Bright, he didn't realize that one of the two spirits of a certain Draconeqqus was watching from within his stone tomb.
Obscure continued by Discord's stone body when he suddenly heard a voice say, "She betrayed you."
He froze in place and turned around, looking around the courtyard frantically for the source, but he didn't find anypony.
"Um…hello?" he asked. When nopony answered o appeared, he turned around to walk away when the voice was heard once again.
"Crescent, she went against you. Both the princess and your best friend."
"N-no they didn't." Crescent stuttered, even though he did feel as though he was betrayed. He began to feel nervous at the sudden voice he was hearing. Was he going crazy, or was somepony actually talking to him?
"Why put yourself in such a state of denial? All it does it cause you pain, let it out. Tell me the truth, so you can accept it."
"Who are you!"
"The one who thinks you are a victim of politics."
That's when Crescent noticed the voice was most intense around the statue, making his eyes go wide as he realized whom he was talking to.
"Y-you? D-discord?"
"He-he, quite observant of you." Discord chuckled, even though he was still nothing more than a statue in the eyes of Crescent.
"B-but you're stuck in stone! You're a statue! How are you talking?"
"Doesn't mean I still don't think. I'm trapped in here, not dead. And quite frankly, I'm getting quite bored." Discord laughed, "but you act so shocked. After all didn't the princess tell you what she chose Bright for?"
Crescent nodded, "Yeah to fend off an incoming evil."
"In another world. Awww, but she neglected to mention was how she plans to stop me? I'm quite disappointed in her." Discord said with a laugh, "Yes Crescent, I am the great evil she chose Bright to help stop. That she chose Bright to stop over you because she doesn't trust you."
Crescent shook his head, "Then I'll tell her you're talking to me, I'll tell here what you're telling me right now!"
"Now why would you do that to somepony who's trying to sympathize with you by ratting him out to the one that degraded you?
Crescent just stared blankly at Discord, not noticing as a yellow mist began to surround him. Slowly, he began to see images of Princess Celestia and Bright at graduation day, her handing him the medal for being top of the class.
"But…but I got that medal." Crescent muttered, "I was top of the class."
"Well it seems like Bright's being treated like top pony now, so maybe the past should have been what you're seeing. After all, this is how Princess Celestia sees it."
Discord's eyes began to glow, as did Crescent's. Soon, his mind began to be filled with images of Princess Celestia rewarding Bright for accomplishments that Crescent did. He could feel his rage growing within as he saw his best friend getting credit for everything that he did, even though it wasn't true. He saw Bright getting special attention from the Princess; he could see the Princess congratulating Bright when Crescent did something. Slowly, Crescent was making his transition over to Obscure Darkness. His cutie mark glowed and suddenly there was a skull that was now on Crescent's flank along with the moon.
The yellow glow in his eyes went away, revealing that they had a new, cold look, as if all of the kindness was sucked out of him, only to be replaced by coldness. He looked up at the statue as a yellow mist began to rise, showing an almost draconequus shape. The figure looked down at Crescent and smiled.
"How do you feel Obscure?"
Crescent, now Obscure Darkness, smiled and gave a nod. "Brilliant, sir. Simply brilliant."
"I have split my soul in two and I must now rebuild my strength after being trapped for so long. Not to mention I feel absolutely drained of energy."
"Where shall we go?" Obscure asked with an excited grin.
Discord chuckled, "There is a place out there, a reality…a world that is in constant chaos. Where universal harmony is impossible to achieve, and evil is always present. It is a place completely different from Equestria. There, I can become stronger and take over both this, and that, reality. Splitting my soul in two takes out a lot of my strength. It'll take years before I'm strong enough to regain all of my power, but it will happen. But it is easiest to do in that world, a world where I can thrive and gain power. "
"How will you do that?"
"We, Obscure, we will do it by ruling."
Obscure grinned as Discord laughed. Slowly, they both were enveloped in a yellow light and disappeared. Obscure began to laugh as well as he disappeared.
What he didn't notice was that Bright had watched them disappear from across the courtyard. He didn't see anything other than the two of them laughing before they vanished into thin air.
"Crescent!" he shouted, running over to Discord's statue, only to realize that the draconequus image and his best friend were gone. His eyes were wide in panic as he ran back to the castle to alert the Princess.
Wilmont City Hall- Present
Obscure's eyes shot open and he looked over at Crescent, his body shaking as he remembered the events of that day. For the first time, he saw Bright's expression after he vanished, his horror and fear. The fear of a friend when somepony he truly cares about has something bad happen to him. Obscure wasn't sure how he was suddenly able to see Bright's after he vanished when he didn't in reality, but it didn't matter. For the first time since he had left that reality for Earth, he felt terrible for everything that he had done.
It wasn't like he forgot his conversation with Discord; he always did remember that day in the courtyard. However, he never really let himself accept the fact that Discord had manipulated his thinking to such an extent that he had become a completely different pony. His envy was so great before Discord had gotten to him, that he unhesitatingly accepted what he had been shown to be true.
He turned to Crescent, who just looked at him sadly, "Now are you still in denial?"
"H-how…how could I not realize that?" he asked. "I mean…"
"Discord had a power over you," Crescent answered, "and it was too painful of a truth to realize after you've done so much evil. But in the end, if one is truly good, one's conscience always wins out."
"But how was I able to see Bright's reaction when I didn't see it in reality?"
"Magic has allowed you to see the complete truth, Obscure." Crescent smiled, "Because even with all the changes that you've gone through, one thing has remained consistent. You've great at magic, and you've always had a little good in you deep down that's wanted to know the truth, no matter how much you repressed it. Eventually, you had to discover it. Now you have."
Obscure just stared for a moment as Crescent gave him a faint smile. Obscure then turned his head away from the colt and let out a sad sigh, now beginning to wonder what he should do, and if he really could redeem himself after everything that he'd done, and if he'd even deserve it.
As Obscure continued to mull over his past and future fates, the twelve elements all began to make their way around the fifth floor, trying to find Discord's office. Carl and Twilight were in the lead while everyone and everypony else were following close behind them, looking around to make sure nopony tried to pull a Houdini on them.
"So how do we beat Discord? We just show concentrate on our elements?" Carl asked Twilight.
"Let me handle it, I can activate all twelve of the elements." She answered with a smile. They made their way down the hall towards a large door with a gold plate that read "MAYOR CHRISTOPHER DROCSID". The door looked like it had been broken into, due to the failed S.W.A.T. raid that happened earlier in the night.
Carl looked back at the others and whispered, "Get ready for a fight. Don't expect this part of Discord's soul to go down as easily as his half in Equestria did."
They all nodded and got their guns ready as Carl sighed and pushed the door to the office open to see Discord standing in front of the window, peering out over the city. As the group slowly walked into the room, they had thought Discord didn't notice their presence. That was, however, until they heard him start to chuckle menacingly. He slowly turned around to face the group.
"Ah it is so good to see you succeed at my little challenge." Discord muttered as he put his paw to his chin, "but I still feel you did so a little too easily."
"Enough with this challenge stuff!" Rainbow Dash growled, "back in Equestria you're other half reversed our personalities so we were all jerks, and then you separated us and took our wings and horns away…we're done playing around!" she pawed at the ground and snorted like an angry bull.
"Give it up Discord, we have the elements, and in a few seconds you'll be back in the stone prison where you belong." Alex said as he stepped forward, Applejack right beside him.
"Oh no, no, no. You see; that's where you're wrong. I nowhere near done; in fact, there is one more trick I have up my sleeve. And if you manage to overcome it, I'll truly be impressed."
"I don't think so." Carl answered, "Twilight!"
Twilight grinned and began to close her eyes to start the activation of the elements, only to have Discord shake his head, "Not so fast." And with that, he snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, a yellow mist began to climb up from the ground underneath each boy. Twilight opened her eyes when she heard Rarity scream. She looked to see Carl was completely surrounded by the yellow aura, as were Pete, James, Louis, Ryan and Alex. They boys were lifted into their air; their eyes wide open in shock. Once they were in the air, Discord smiled and snapped his fingers. Suddenly all six boys were released and fell to the floor with their eyes shut.
"Carl!" Twilight shouted before running over to his side. Soon, everypony else ran to their partner's sides to see what was wrong with them. When they got to their side, they noticed that they were all unconscious.
"What did you do to them you brute?" Rarity asked in anger as she looked up at Discord, her blue eyes like daggers at the monster in front of her.
Discord pointed at himself as if he was stunned that she was blaming him for anything, "Who? Me? Rarity, I didn't do anything bad to them. All I did was lull them into their perfect worlds."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked nervously as she looked back down at James' sleeping form.
"They are in a deep sleep that can only be broken by a spell, and since Twilight still lacks her horn, you have no chance. But even if she did, your little friends are dreaming that the one wish that they had before they met you has come true. Based on how horrible their lives are overall; I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't get them to wake up. They simply won't accept that the dream is fiction." Discord chuckled at the girls, who looked both angry and horrified, "Not to mention many of them may not even recognize you based on what point of their lives they are dreaming about. Believe it or not you girls have only been known on this planet for two years. Good luck."
Discord laughed before he teleported away, leaving the girls to deal with the arduous task of waking up the boys.
"Great, now what are we supposed to do?" Rainbow Dash spat.
"I don't know," Pinkie Pie said before grabbing Pete by the shoulders and shaking him violently, "PETEY! WAKE UP!" she shouted, only to see that it had no effect, he was in a deep sleep. She suddenly became sad and her mane fell flat against her head.
"Okay Ryan! Wake up!" Rainbow Dash shouted directly in Ryan's sleeping face. Her cheeks were bright red from how loud she pleaded. "Come on dude this isn't cool."
"This isn't funny at all Louis, please, for the love of Celestia wake up!" Rarity said as she began to tear up, her face showing how much she was holding back her tears.
"Alex please wake up, ya hear me?" Applejack said as she nudged his sleeping body. She then lay down and pressed her head against Alex's face, a tear rolling down her cheek, "Please wake up Alex."
"Um…I don't think we're going to wake them just by shouting at them." Fluttershy said in her meek voice that also had a hint of her sadness over toe situation as she looked down at James. "I wish we could though…poor James."
"Fluttershy's right," Twilight sighed, "Discord's put them into a deep sleep and we can't awake them without going into their heads and waking them up there."
"How does that work?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I…well…" Twilight began before she looked down at Carl in defeat, her eyes full of sadness, "I don't know."
"I do." Came a male voice from behind them. They all turned to see Obscure Darkness walk over to them with a somber face.
"You!" Twilight growled, recognizing his unicorn form from the day at the mall, "Why should we trust you!"
"Because I want to redeem myself as much as I can for all of the bad I've done." Obscure sighed, "Especially what I did to your uncle. Twilight I don't expect to get any forgiveness, and I don't deserve it, but I still want to do what's right while I still have the chance."
Obscure shut his eyes and his horn began to glow. Twilight began to feel strange as, suddenly, her horn was back on her head. Not only that, but Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had their wings back, and Rarity had her horn as well. Twilight reached up and touched the tip of her horn in shock before looking back at Obscure.
"But…I thought…"
"There's no time Twilight," Obscure said sternly, "you must use your magic for you and your friends to enter your partner's dreams. Just like I assume Princess Celestia taught you so you could keep in contact with her on a face to face basis."
Twilight's jaw dropped, "How…how did you know?"
"Because I was her student as well." Obscure said with a small smile before he closed his eyes and let out a remorseful sigh, "before I turned against her." He opened his eyes and looked back at Twilight, "Just use the spell she taught you to go into people's dreams, I know you've learned it."
Twilight nodded, "Yes I…I did."
Obscure nodded and turned to walk off when Rainbow Dash couldn't hold her tongue in anymore.
"Hang on a sec, why should we trust anything you say? Only a little while ago you were on Discord's side, and now we're supposed to buy what you're telling us? Tell us why we should take what you say with more than a grain of salt?"
Obscure stopped and replied without turning around. "Because right now if you have any chance of defeating Discord and saving this planet, as well as possibly Equestria, you must wake them up. Even though I've done some terrible things, I am truthful about this, and I don't wish to see this continue anymore."
With that, Obscure walked away, but then Rarity called, "Wait, who are you?"
Obscure stopped and slowly turned around, "Crescent. Crescent Light."
"Wait!" Twilight said, holding out her hoof, "you were friends with my uncle, weren't you?"
He nodded, "Yes Twilight I was. He was a brilliant unicorn." He smiled, "and I can see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
With that, Crescent closed his eyes and was enveloped in a black flash. He was gone, off to confront Discord. Twilight and the others looked at each other before looking back at the boys.
"Well Twi, do we go for it?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight nodded, "Yes, everypony get next to their partners."
Everypony listened and got next to the boy who had the same element as them and lay down. Twilight looked down at Carl's sleeping form, feeling desperation to wake him up.
"What do we do when we are in their minds, if you don't mind me asking?" Fluttershy asked meekly.
"We tell them they're dreaming." Twilight answered, "and be persistent. After all, if what Discord said was true, they're in their perfect world. Convincing them to leave it and come back to a reality they hate won't be easy."
"Well let's do it!" Pinkie Pie said with great enthusiasm, "I want Pete to wake up so we can beat Discord and I can throw my Beating Discord Party!"
Twilight nodded and closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow and soon, a violet aura surrounded everypony and their partners. Soon, each of the girls began to feel drowsy and eventually, they all fell asleep, entering the minds of their partners.
Yes, time for the dream worlds of each boy. Hopefully this chapter was enjoyable. However, it will be nice to go back to writing more character drama in the next chapter, as I have been writing more action-based chapters recently.
If anyone watched Digimon Season 2, Discord's spell was based on the "dream world" idea in one of the last episodes of the season, where the digi-destined imagined that they lived in their perfect world. (at least I think, based on what I remember watching as it's been a while).
And I hope this makes up for Ryan's lack of vengeance against Lawrence. So much for being Mr. Innocent I guess ha-ha. Since he is basically my self-insert character (My name isn't Ryan though) I felt like I'd have him do to somepony who threatened Rainbow Dash what I'd do to them, which was beat the life out of them.
I hope this story is going in a reasonable direction, and I don't have too many plot-holes.
So thanks for reading and, as always...
Go Giants! Go Rainbow Dash!