Hey everyone! Glad to see me posting the chapter on time? Of course you are! I just want to make a quick apology to anyone who isn't American and is reading this, seeing that it was posted on June 1st for most of you. I'm really sorry about that, and I'll be more considerate about that next week. Anyway, read the chapter and enjoy! :D
The elevator slowly came to a halt as Braeburn nervously prepared himself for what's to come. If I let Rainbowdash's father to die, am I any better than the Capitol? He asked to himself. Could he be anything more than a villain if he allowed villainous things to happen? Braeburn knew his orders were to allow this stallion to die, but… if he just followed every order he was given. Disobedience was suicide to his trust and rank, but it was the right thing to do.
"You seem nervous, Braeburn," Applejack commented as she looked over at her sweating leader. Without any knowledge of what he was thinking of, she tried to make him feel better. "I'm sure the mission will go well, and… and we'll all make it out alive." She ended this optimistic phrase with a kind smile.
Well, not all of us, thought Braeburn as he looked over at Rainbowdash's father. "Team, there's something that I need to say," he said in a soft voice, unlike his usual commanding tone. Suddenly the lights flickered and the elevator was completely black. He couldn't see a thing.
"What's going on?" Destiny said with extreme frustration. "There better not be a power outage right now!"
"This can't be an ordinary power outage," Rainbowdash commented. "Don't the lights normally flicker before they go out when there is one?"
"Dashy is right, they normally flicker. They didn't flicker this time," Derpy added.
"No this couldn't be some sort of power outage," Braeburn said. "Someone must have turned off the power from the inside!" Quickly someone kick the elevator doors down?
The sound of hooves going against the metal of the doors could be heard.
"It's too strong to break down," Derpy complained.
It was hard to see in the dark, but Braeburn noticed Applejack's orange fur as she moved Derpy aside to kick the door down herself. "Allow me to try," she said with confidence. A loud thud was cracked the door, and moonlight shone through it. Applejack was rearing up for another strike on the door, but before she could a the clattering of metal echoed through the elevator as silver bullets were shot through the crack.
"Duck!" Braeburn commanded. Almost all the ponies were down anyway, including Applejack.
"I'm hurt," Applejack managed to say over the sound of bullets.
"I'll help!" Derpy immediately responded, she crawled to Applejack as a small pool of blood started to form around her. Derpy grabbed her backpack and took out some bandages. "You've been shot in your back leg, it's pretty bad. I think I can wrap a bandage around your leg."
"Wouldn't the bullet s-still be in… in there?" Applejack asked. She gritted her teeth in pain, trying her best not to scream.
"It skid right through your leg dear, barely missing the bone. Or at least, that's what I can devise in this dim moonlight," Derpy remarked. "I'd say you're lucky it didn't fracture anything. But this blood certainly is bad." She wrapped a long strip of cloth around Applejack's leg.
"Alright well that's one problem solved," Destiny said glumly. "We got the door cracked open, and wrapped a bandage around Applejack's wound. That's peachy, but… what do we do about the gunner?"
"It's Doctor Whooves," Braeburn revealed. "Doctor Whooves is firing on us, and has been stalking the outer limits of District 13 for a while now. We haven't found a way to get rid of him, and now we're facing the consequences."
"You knew about this?" Rainbowdash asked in anger. "You couldn't have given us a warning or anything? Some leader you've turned out to be." She was quick to judgement, but then perked her ears as she noticed something. The bullets had stopped.
No one moved a muscle.
"The bullets stopped," Applejack moaned. She was softly gripping her hind leg.
"Does someone… want to look through the crack?" Derpy asked nervously.
"I will," Rainbowdash's father answered. He stood up slowly and silently, and peeked through the crack. Immediately the bullets began to fire again, barely missing the stallion's head.
"That was too close, dad," Dashy nagged. It didn't seem like her to worry about someone who didn't seem to care her entire life. But… she couldn't help feel loyalty to him. A newfound responsibility that she developed over the course of the past few weeks made her hard pressed to keep her friends safe. Something she only wished she could have had when she killed Tena….
"I'll try and come up with a plan…" Braeburn said in what you might call a… "leader's voice".
"Braeburn, can I ask you something?" Dashy inquired as the bullets continued to fly.
"Right now? You think that's a good idea?" Braeburn was clearly sick of Dashy's attitude.
"Do you know anything about my old team? The careers… I mean."
"Them? Oh not much…"
"What about Tena? Did you all… choose her to be saved too?"
"If we could choose everyone to be saved, we would have, Dashy, I'm sure of it…" Braeburn said without quite answering her question.
"Well, did you?" Dashy wouldn't give up until she gave an answer.
"No," Braeburn answered.
"So you chose me? A selfish brat, over her…"
"Not exactly," Braeburn added. "You weren't our first choice, but your father begged of it."
"You didn't… want me?" Rainbowdash was confused now. "Who was it going to be then?" Destiny was looking bored from this conversation. Her green fur glimmered in the moonlight, showing her dark, frustrated eyes. Applejack looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't bring herself to do it with all the pain she felt.
Braeburn took a break to think, most likely because his mind was focused on other things, like the imminent death they were faced with. "Rarity, she was our first choice, and already part of the rebellion."
"Rarity?! Of all people her?"
"Alright enough of this conversation; I'm taking things into my owns hands!" Destiny shouted. It looked like she was trying to morph into something to get out of the elevator. "I can't shapeshift, something is preventing me from doing so!"
"That's not good," Derpy stated the obvious.
"Everypony, please be quiet," Applejack said. The bullets continued to fire, but other than that, the elevator was deathly quiet. "Where did Spitfire go?"
"Oh my gosh! I didn't even noticed her leave," Rainbowdash said, "I'm impressed!"
A quiet beeping sound was heard from the wall opposite of the door. It slowly started getting louder, and most of the other ponies noticed it. Then the beeping stopped, and little flames started forming cracks in the walls, making it fall to pieces. Spitfire stood behind it, the bullets continued straight towards her chest. And yet, they didn't even touch her. They stopped in midair, right where the wall would be!
All the cadet ponies gasped in awe, while Rainbowdash's father only gave a light smirk, and Braeburn gave a satisfied gaze in his eye.
Spitfire perked up, looking at her teammates. "It's some sort of bio-chemical that allows the passing of life forms through solid objects. There's no way anything else is getting through this thing!" Spitfire proudly announced. "Make sure to get through her fast, though, it only lasts about twenty seconds." Rainbowdash's father, Derpy, and Destiny walked casually through the door while Dashy and Braeburn carried Applejack across. The last three ponies barely made it through the temporary passage.
"Where to now, boss?" Derpy asked immediately.
"The helicopter should be landing approximately one kilometer due east," Braeburn answered with just as much haste. "Let's get the heck out of here."
Then the metal footsteps sounded. A loud clanging sounded throughout the entire meadow, and a bright light came from the elevator door, that they could see on the sides. The light from the electricity… which… was now back on. The elevator started slowly moving downwards underground, it's grass roof barely over the heads of the ponies now.
"Oh no," Destiny whispered. "He's getting closer and our cover is about to go!"
"We can't get by on our own," Applejack figured out. "We'd need some sort of distraction."
Braeburn gasped and looked immediately at Rainbowdash's father. "There was an original plan, but I wouldn't do it without your father's permission." Braeburn said, but not directed towards anyone, really.
"I understand," her father answered as the elevator slowly got even lower. He immediately ran out from behind the elevator. "Hey you!" Those were the last words he could shout before he was coated with bullets. The elevator was at the height of the ponies' upper legs now, there was no more cover until they would reach the forest.
"Everypony run!" Braeburn shouted. And everypony, did. Except for Rainbowdash.
"My father," Dashy whispered to herself. She looked back at him as he fell to the ground, and she watched as an unmerciful Doctor Whooves put away his machine guns. Well, they merged with his sides, making him look like any ordinary pony. Except for the skin on his leg, which was still ripped off, revealing the cold hard metal inside of him. "You killed my father!" she shouted at the metal beast.
Braeburn looked back as he reached the edge of the forest, along with the others. "Rainbowdash, get back here immediately!"
She ignored his orders. "Why would you kill him? What did he ever do to deserve that?" she yelled at Doctor Whooves.
In a metallic and robotic voice, Doctor Whooves answered, sending shivers down Dashy's spine. "He… rebelled."
"Then send him to prison, torture him! But kill him?" Rainbowdash couldn't help but remember her first encounter with him. The real Doctor Whooves.
She could picture her over his body, Tena standing behind them in the long grass.
"Kill him now," Tena said.
"Wait," Dashy responded. How vile she was… "I want to see you quiver in fear. I want to see you beg for your life."
"Never," Whooves said sternly. "I won't beg for mercy."
No matter what she would do to him, he wouldn't quit the rebellion. And now he's punishing those who stand up for truth and righteousness! "So tell me, why did you really kill him? My own father…" Rainbowdash demanded.
Whooves started humming an eerie tune, as his metallic voice changed into something more… pony-like. He now hummed as Doctor Whooves would hum. Sounded as Doctor Whooves would sound. "Pleasure."
The fact that Dashy heard it from Whooves' own voice made her feel worse.
"Get back here now!" Braeburn called out.
"Then shoot me too, enjoy the pleasure of yet another target," Rainbowdash commanded.
"No," Doctor Whooves said smugly. "That would… ruin… the pleasure." He stretched out the last word and gave out a laugh. His voice changed into another voice she had heard in the past. The voice of… Trixie. "See you in District 6, pegasus." With that, Doctor Whooves turned around, and walked into the forest.
"You rotten son of a - " Rainbowdash called out, but before she could continue, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Braeburn.
"I don't care how you survived," Braeburn said before Rainbowdash could say anything. "I don't care what you said. We need to get to the helicopter immediately."
"Of course," Dashy obeyed as the two walked off, and without looking back, left her father's dying ground.
20 years later
Doctor Whooves and Applejack stood together at a gravestone, right at the edge of a forest nearing the seemingly ancient District 13. Applejack gripped a set of flowers, petunias, in her mouth, and she bent down to place them on the ground.
"I'm so sorry," Doctor Whooves said apologetically. "There was nothing I could do to control it."
"You always say that," Applejack said sadly.
"You know I was in the control of the Capitol," Doctor Whooves continued defensively. He started to cry quietly; the tears ran down his face.
The tears were coming out of Applejack's eyes as well. After a minute or two of mourning, she stopped to say something. "You know, sometimes I forget that you aren't a real pony," she said to Doctor Whooves. "For a hologram, you sure know how to make real emotions seem… well… real."
"I'm so sorry," Doctor Whooves said again, in the same apologetic tone. "There was nothing I could do to control it."
"I know," Applejack said. "You can't help but say the same things over and over again. It costs too much money to make you say more things."
"You know I was in the control of the Capitol," Doctor Whooves continued defensively. He started to cry quietly; the tears ran down his face.
"The one problem I have, is that you didn't just hurt Rainbowdash. You hurt me," Applejack cried.
"I'm so sorry," Doctor Whooves said a third time. Applejack had heard this so many times. It almost became monotonous. "There was nothing I could do to control it."
"You killed my friend, Whooves!" Applejack shouted at him. The tears were unstoppable now.
"You know I was in the control of the Capitol," Doctor Whooves continued defensively. He started to cry quietly, the tears ran down his face.
"Wonderbolt Holotron number nine-seven-five?" Applejack asked.
"Yes?" Doctor Whooves responded in a robotic voice.
"How many times has this program repeated since I received the store item?" Applejack asked.
"One-thousand three-hundred seventy-five times," Doctor Whooves responded immediately.
"Wonderbolt Holotron number nine-seven-five?" Applejack asked again.
"Yes?"
"Shut down Doctor Whooves replacement program," Applejack shivered as she said this. Doctor Whooves immediately transformed into a transparent blue color, then disappeared altogether. The orange mare bent down at the gravestone, and looked at it intently. "Rainbowdash…" she paused. "You and I were special…. The last two Elements of Harmony, that was us! The last two survivors of those terrible games… just you and me…. Now what do I do without you, Rainbowdash?" She broke out into tears.
She picked up the soft petunias, and held them close to her heart. Dropping the petunias again, she continued her lament on the walk home, without turning back to see the grave of her friend who saved her so many times.
Whoa, that was deep. Don't wanna get too into it. I'm sure you'll all love the coming chapters! It gets waaayyyy better. So for those of you who would like a reminder, here is a schedule for the next five chapters left.
Chapter 40: A Dangerous District (Release Date: June 7)
Chapter 41: Success has its Price (Release Date: June 14)
Chapter 42: Raze (Release Date: June 15)
Chapter 43: Halfway There (Release Date: June 16)
Chapter 44: The Search (Release Date: June 17)
Hope you all enjoy! And remember to review!